Presentation to Falmouth Business club by Simon Neild and Andy Coote, presenters at Source FM, community radio for Falmouth and Penryn

1. Using Radio for Business Benefit
Simon Neild and Andy Coote
SourceFM

2. Radio –opportunity
or problem?
 That all depends on how you approach the
interview process.
 Ask yourself -
 What do you need to know?
 Before you agree/appear
 On the day of the interview
 How should you approach the interview?
 And after the interview -
 How do you get asked back?

3. Ahead of the Day
 Which Station?
 Who is the interviewer/ what type of show?
 What is my message?

4. Which Radio Station?
 National Radio – BBC R4, BBC R5live
 Big audience, large geographical area
 Typically short time slot – often with a lot of waiting about
 BBC Local Radio - Radio Cornwall.
 Smaller audience
 News maybe short but features longer
 ILR Local Radio (Pirate, Heart)
 Local audience
 Mostly news and music
 Community Radio (SourceFM, Penwith, Redruth
Radio, Hub, St Austell Bay)
 Hyper local audience
 Volunteer presenters
 Scope for features at longer, more leisurely pace

5. Type of Show
 What is the show you will appear on?
 News/features/discussion?
 What subjects do they cover?
 How long do their packages run?
 What type of interview?
 Crisis interviews
 Ideas selling interview
 Social interview

6. Who will be
Interviewing you?
 Know your interviewer
 understand their technique
 listen to replays of their interviews online
 What is their approach?
 Proving/disproving a specific point
 Researched and guided
 Blank canvas
 Most presenters (or their producer) will discuss a
brief with you but then ask their questions in their
way

7. Your Message
 Consider your subject from a listener’s point of view
 Develop the points they need you to get across
 Know your success criteria (different for everyone) –
 Message clear
 Sales enquiries (or at least website hits)
 No stupid remarks or embarrassing silences
 Feeling proud on listen back
 Make bullet points of key issues – don’t script it
 How long have you got?
 What MUST you get over –
 Prioritise - Don’t try to put 10 mins of content into a 5 min
interview.
 Better to have 2 mins properly explored.

8. On the day
 Arrive in good time
 Be calm – use relaxation techniques
 Deep breathing
 Meditation
 Yoga
 Warm up your voice and face
 Eating beforehand – avoid anything that affects
your voice
 Know your key points and be ready to express
them freshly
 Don’t learn (or worse, try to read from ) a script

9. The Interview itself - 1
 This is a performance –
 Entertain/ engage as well as getting your point across
 Where appropriate, be upbeat and positive.
 Avoid using negative sentence constructions.
 Radio interviewing is a conversation – be present not
distracted
 Be a good interviewee – help the interviewer
 Have something to say
 Nothing worse than one word/one sentence answers
 Listen to the question
 Link your key points to the question –
 sometimes that may require a bridge
 Interviewer should say much less than interviewee

10. The Interview itself - 2
 Stick to the point –
 One answer, one point
 Don’t explore the byways
 Don’t ramble or tell questionable stories
 Keep an eye on time
 Build rapport with interviewer
 Don’t antagonise the interviewer
 Better on side than against you
 Eg Paxman and Chloe Smith after the fuel duty rise was
cancelled - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ31jMsKOXg
 Compare with Boris Johnson (don’t try this at home!)-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgThJK8xfKw
 Respect for interviewer – esp true for pre recording

11. Getting Asked Back
 Take an interest in
 the presenter,
 the station,
 the audience
 Give value
 Entertain and inform the audience
 Be engaging – to the presenter and the audience
 Help the presenter by being available and easy to talk
to
 Be memorable – in the right way!

12. Your Presenters
 Simon Neild (simon@snanet.co.uk) presents
 About You (Wednesdays at 4pm)
 Inside Local Music (Thursdays at 3pm)
 Andy Coote (andy@bizwords.co.uk) presents
 Business Breakfast (Fridays at 8am)
 The Source is on
 96.1FM in Falmouth/Penryn and surrounds
 The internet via www.thesourcefm.co.uk/listen