When I managed an NPR station just east of the middle of gods creation nowhere Alaska, I was willing to take ANYONE who could coherently form sentences, read PSA's and weather forecasts and train them to be announcers/dj's.
And it went surprisingly well for the half dozen or so I accomplished that with over 5 1/2 years
I showed them the basics of technical operation for the console and automation (Imediatouch, now Zetta).
Many were nervous, unsure and their first few times on the air.. would step over themselves, one person even said the wrong call letters a few times..... and often they'd leave out whole weather forecast zones (at our busiest hours, 7am & 12noon, we had 7 forecast zones to read..)
I told everyone a few simple things.. "Don't focus on what you're saying or how you're saying it... just go for it. When you're thinking about what you're saying or ow you're saying it, you're thinking too much while also trying to do your job. Just for it and we can go over after you get off the air what you messed up. Also, outside of speech...don't worry about what you did wrong.. there isn't much you can do that I can't unf&^k in 10 seconds or so, including dead air. Its no big deal even if we have a few seconds of dead air. This is McGrath, Alaska.... its not Anchorage, Fargo or Billings. We can get the basics down then fine tune the rest of it. This is also the place where you could do the worst show of you're life but listeners will still listen and tell you that they enjoyed your show because you are a voice and name they recognize. We can fine tune the problems later" (I had a volunteer early on who played alt rock and a tinge of classic rock ad an elder who I know liked only country would listen.. why? This was a McGrath native.. a name and voice EVERYONE knew!)
Would my style of training work anywhere else? Nope. But in a town of about 275, I had to work with what I got and make it work as best we could
And it went surprisingly well for the half dozen or so I accomplished that with over 5 1/2 years
I showed them the basics of technical operation for the console and automation (Imediatouch, now Zetta).
Many were nervous, unsure and their first few times on the air.. would step over themselves, one person even said the wrong call letters a few times..... and often they'd leave out whole weather forecast zones (at our busiest hours, 7am & 12noon, we had 7 forecast zones to read..)
I told everyone a few simple things.. "Don't focus on what you're saying or how you're saying it... just go for it. When you're thinking about what you're saying or ow you're saying it, you're thinking too much while also trying to do your job. Just for it and we can go over after you get off the air what you messed up. Also, outside of speech...don't worry about what you did wrong.. there isn't much you can do that I can't unf&^k in 10 seconds or so, including dead air. Its no big deal even if we have a few seconds of dead air. This is McGrath, Alaska.... its not Anchorage, Fargo or Billings. We can get the basics down then fine tune the rest of it. This is also the place where you could do the worst show of you're life but listeners will still listen and tell you that they enjoyed your show because you are a voice and name they recognize. We can fine tune the problems later" (I had a volunteer early on who played alt rock and a tinge of classic rock ad an elder who I know liked only country would listen.. why? This was a McGrath native.. a name and voice EVERYONE knew!)
Would my style of training work anywhere else? Nope. But in a town of about 275, I had to work with what I got and make it work as best we could