Pet peeves of a call screener

[Richard Pryor]

Of the time I did call screening there are 2 things that absolutely drive me nuts in talk radio:

• Callers who say on the air "like I was telling your screener"

Why do people do this?! You never hear people on Conan or Letterman say "like I was telling your producer...". STOP SAYING IT! It pisses the hosts off too, I'll never forget the time my host hung up on a guy and put me on the air to tell him what the guy said. Nobody says to people "like I was telling my aunt or uncle or whatever" so stop saying it on the radio.

• Callers who say "I'll hang up and listen"

Do these people not want to have a real conversation with the hosts? If you can't handle someone adding to your comment or refuting it then you shouldn't be calling into talk shows. Pleeeease do us screeners all a favor.
[/list]

Anybody else feel like I do?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Yes, the first one deprives the listeners of part of the message if the caller does not fully restate it, making the "as I told the screener" a bit redundant.

On the second complaint you have, let me respond with a LISTENER complaint. If the caller has a non-combative question, I don't find that objectionable. What I do find objectionable are HOSTS that treat callers like so much dog-droppings-on-my-shoe when a caller offers a contrary point of view. The host is a professional. He/she should be able to have civilized conversation regardless of the caller's view. (Yes, there are a few callers who are complete idiots, but the audience can see that. The host should dispatch them with human decency.) The callers are NOT professionals. As a screener you seem to feel it is beneath your dignity to deal with amateurs. If the caller were a profession, he/she would have YOUR job, or maybe the HOST'S job.

 

[Prais]

Mr. Goat, YOU the man (so to speak).

Baaaa Baaaaaa (goat sound)

 

[oaktree]

It's the "Human Condition," just like those who say "Thanks for taking my call." Callers don't understand the reason or need for "screeners" in the first place. They think that the host is on the other end of the line and they feel a little offended to have to face your decision to put their view to the call in screen. They want instant gratification in getting to the host -- not dealing with you.

So, as a reaction, if the host wavers whatsoever, it comes back to "...but as I was telling your screener" as a way to shift "nervous blame" to you, not to their opinion. Humans are humans by nature, not "call screeners." The people that drive me nuts are those who out-and-out lie to the screener as to their original intent or agenda then, when they get on the air, the screw the sceener with a completely different vision, view, opinion or even topic. That's why you're their and sometime,s they get through you. You're the gateway, like a secretary. Sometimes, I think that screeners tend to try to do their own show on the phone and that irritates listeners. The listener doesn't want to deal with a traffic cop. They want to be on the air. It's how you handle it and how you do it well.

As for "I'll hang up and listen," it clearly means -- "OK, I've dumped it in your lap, I don't have (for whatever reason) the reason, courage, nervousness, etc. to have a dialogue with you (especially if you might rip me to shreds, so, I'll hang up and listen to your comments.) Some people are like that. They just want to make "their" point and/or agenda known. They have no opinion or care what you (the host) has to say. They just want to get their point out there and across. Do they listen to your comments "off the air"? Sure, but they have already gained the benefit of having their opinion out their. Many hosts don't listen to their callers, the argue a point and that's it. So, some callers don't want to deal with that.

Trying to set "rules" like this won't work. They think they are talking one-on-one with a host, not being heard by hundreds, thousands or millions of people. And they do it anonymously. That's all they want to consider.

Some hosts are there to create a stir of controversy. Some callers are there to say "I don't give a crap about what you think," and that's why they do it.

For years, Larry King "winged it" and never used a screener. It better made it a level playing field. If he didn't like the call, it was "Denver, hello ..." or "Miami, hello."

 

[little1]

• Of the time I did call screening there are 2 things that absolutely drive me nuts in talk radio:
  
  

  • Callers who say on the air "like I was telling your screener"

  Why do people do this?! You never hear people on Conan or Letterman say "like I was telling your producer...". STOP SAYING IT! It pisses the hosts off too, I'll never forget the time my host hung up on a guy and put me on the air to tell him what the guy said. Nobody says to people "like I was telling my aunt or uncle or whatever" so stop saying it on the radio.
  

  • Callers who say "I'll hang up and listen"

  Do these people not want to have a real conversation with the hosts? If you can't handle someone adding to your comment or refuting it then you shouldn't be calling into talk shows. Pleeeease do us screeners all a favor.

Anybody else feel like I do?

Nope.
Maybe you're just a crappy screener. If you're letting the listener tell you exactly what they're going to tell the talk show host, you're sucking the life and enthusiasm out of the caller, because you're making them do it twice. Screen to get the name, location, and the general topic they want to talk about

This :" okay Richard Pryor, where you calling from? Dallas, and you w ant to talk about...Cowboys back up QB, okay let me put you on hold...

not this: "Richard, Dallas, really, you think they should re-sign Jon Kitna, even though Romo is 30, you still think they need a veteran back up, they shouldn't just go with a couple of young guys, okay, let me put you on hold....

If the caller is shooting their wad with teh screener, you've got a crappy screener.

And the reason a lot of people say they'll hang up and listen is because they only have the one comment they want to get out. THEY don't feel the need to have a conversation with the host. But a lot of that is training. If you train your listeners to stick around, because the hosts wants to talk to them (or more likely because you don't get that many callers and therefore need to keep the few you do get around as long as possible (cough* the fan*cough cough) they'll stick around. If you train people that they most likely going to get their comment out and then put on hold or cut off to make room for others, people will make a premptive strike and pull the "I'll hang up and listen". Gives them a little control, rather than you (or the host) being in control.

 

[oaktree]

Well said.

Doesn't mean, "You wanna be on their air?" Hold on." But it doesn't mean doing your own show prior to the caller getting on the air. Don't want them on the air? Dump 'em. They sound on topic and can say words in sentence form? It's their show -- not the screener's.

No caller cares about your peeves. Your goal, to them, is to get the host to hear there's. That' simple. Some screeners think it is their job to "protect" the host in their screening. With Rush ... Hannity and the national names with an "agenda" -- certainly. But in most every other instance, it's not the screener's job.

It's the host's.

 

[jeffdfw]

Just be glad your not a screener at The Fan... At The Fan you have to instruct each caller to start their conversation with "First time caller..." so it sounds like there is a massive switch to The Fan.

 

[smedge2006]

screeners think it is their job to "protect" the host in their screening. With Rush ... Hannity and the national names with an "agenda" -- certainly.

The people that drive me nuts are those who out-and-out lie to the screener as to their original intent or agenda then, when they get on the air, the screw the sceener with a completely different vision, view, opinion or even topic.

I kind of think the first is the prime reason for the second.

As someone who used to be a call screener a long time ago, let me say that there is entirely too much call screening going on these days. It's sucked the spontaneity and originality out of all spoken-word formats (along with syndication) and turned what used to be called "two way talk radio" into one and a fraction way talk radio. And why is it ever okay for a screener to be protecting some host's agenda? Let the people speak!

 

[Dr. o Fun]

Having screened a call or two, there were a series of questions I always asked.

<Name of talk show>, would you like to talk with <name of host>? Yes.

What do you want to talk about? This answer determines whether you put them on the air or not. Are they coherent? Are their thoughts succinct? Do they have a heavy accent?

What's your first name? Russ.

Where are you calling from? DFW

Turn your radio down, don't ask the host "how they're doing", jump right into the issue, listen to the show on your phone and <name of host> will be with you shortly.

Voila... no chit chat.

dr

 

[Sperry]

In response to smedge, and as a pure listener who never calls in, too many callers seem to think their opinion in really unique and the station is there to give them their fair bit of uniterrupted air time to voice it. Yetch.

It's rare, very rare, that I ever hear a listener comment that entertains or interests me. I listen because I like the hosts and guests and the bits and all. Not some dipstick who doesn't know what end of his phone to use and has zero to actually add to the entertainment of the program. Also, how many d@mn times (on every show, on every station, every day) do people have to be told to turn their radio off/down while on hold? SERIOUSLY!!!!???? Nothing, as a listener, gets me more than that.

I do like the way The Ticket uses their callers sparingly to drive the host's points and not the other way around. They also use the callers for comedic effect and it works well for them.

Caller driven radio does not interest me, it isn't nearly as interesting or entertaining, and I think that's bourn out in this market by the ratings......

 

[bdabagia]

They also use the callers for comedic effect and it works well for them. Caller driven radio does not interest me, it isn't nearly as interesting or entertaining, and I think that's bourn out in this market by the ratings......

Amen, brutha. Very rare is the caller who's anywhere near as interesting or glib as the host. I had a PD once (in Dallas, RIP) who insisted that I put as many callers on the air as possible, but we had the same people calling every night and most of them didn't have anything to say!

I do like the way The Ticket uses their callers sparingly to drive the host's points and not the other way around.

They get it.

 

[oaktree]

A research report a couple of years ago proved the point well ... that while listener's think it's "their show" -- the worst thing on talk radio is listener calls. The other major negative is 'super-screening' where it's made to make sure that callers not only identify with the host's views, but totally agree with him/her almost at all costs.

That is boring radio when the host and caller agree on everything.

I also have to question why, out of nervousness, it's "Hi, Rush, how are you?" on every single call.  It's nervous energy, I know, but it adds up and adds to the boredom.  Does the listener actually care? Probably not. And especially in three hours of hearing, "Fine, thanks."  I'd love sometime to hear the obligatory, "How are you?" only to hear, "Look dude, I'm p.o'ed big time, the sewer backed up at home, my wife has PMS, the kid flunked english and the daughter got knocked up. Now, how do you think I feel?"

As for "comedic relief" -- many callers set themselves up for it.  Hosts should, however, play to it, and not use it to make fun of a caller.

We have a guy in the Bay Area all night (Ray Talifiero on KGO) who enjoys baiting callers and reducing them to rubble. Screaming, hollering, name calling -- I don't know that it plays that well, even with the lunatic fringe, but some just lap it up like milk in a saucer.

I'd also like to hear -- just to break the habit -- "Thanks for taking my call."  Host: "Screw you. I don't want to take your call. See ya." The host / screener get paid to take your call when they take calls. And the "John , on a cellphone," is one that drives me crazy.  Does John get special treatment because he is not paying attention to the road and calling in?

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

A research report a couple of years ago proved the point well ... that while listener's think it's "their show" -- the worst thing on talk radio is listener calls.

The marketplace in which radio plays is now structured in such a way that every form of programming gets to be a little bit like highly processed food. The debate I long to see played out here, in public, in congress is: Does the marketplace actually provide what people want, or has the marketplace been fine-tuned to serve only the investor.... the listening public be damned!

Take a look at today's automobiles. It gets harder and harder to tell brands apart. Because of our need to focus on better gas mileage, the physical science of the wind tunnel tell every company what body shape their cars must have. And the windtunnel tells EVERY car company the same thing. Science is science. There is not one set of physics for Toyota, another for Ford and yet another for Mercedes.

The "windtunnel" of radio and the advertising world mashes and squeezes and kneads all music programs until they all sound alike and function alike. Oh, they focus on several styles of music, but once you pick one, your station will sound exactly like every other station in America that plays... say County Music.

The "windtunnel" of radio and the advertising world has similarly mashed, squeezed and kneaded news until it is no longer journalism.

Larry King talk has always been different than Joe Pyne talk which was different than Milt Rosenberg at night on WGN, which is different that Terri Gross on NPR. Telephone call-in talk has evolved into what we hear from Rush and Hannity and Boortz, etc, and here in this thread the consensus is that the worst thing a call-in show can do is take phone calls.

There is something wrong with this picture.

I find myself listening to less and less radio. My adult children don't devour radio the way my generation did. And I am not sure my grandchildren know what radio is, much less OWN one.

I know the ratings-quoters will jump in and try to tell us that more people than ever are listening to radio. I don't believe it.

The marketplace windtunnel is about to squeeze, mash and knead radio into extinction.

For those of you who follow the same topics I do and read a lot of my posts, you know that I am just all over the place with style and content. When I did talk radio it even more "all over the place". It wasn't all that good. But for years and years after I was out of the business I ran into people who would say "Oh, you're the guy.... " I remember being awakened 20 years later on a Sunday afternoon by someone who called my home number and began the conversation: "Remember me?". yes, Blanche, and I still do 40 years later! Some days I had a guest and it was more like Larry King or Terri Gross. Some days it just me and the phone and the callers and we typically got 40 to 60 calls into a one-hour show. And zero, nada, zilch screener.

Was it a good show? No, but it was in keeping with the rest of what that station broadcast. But it did something that is missing in today's world. But it, like the disc jockey of that era is gone. And like the news department of that era is gone. I wish I could say that what we have today is better for community, better for civilization, better for "tribe" that what we used to grind out... but I can't make myself say that.

 

[Sperry]

The marketplace in which radio plays is now structured in such a way that every form of programming gets to be a little bit like highly processed food. The debate I long to see played out here, in public, in congress is: Does the marketplace actually provide what people want, or has the marketplace been fine-tuned to serve only the investor.... the listening public be damned!


In Congress?

The airwaves are public and sold by the gov't for a dollar sign. What the Hell is then done with them is the buyer's choice within FCC guidelines. The public very clearly and succinctly, via ratings and advertising generation, determines whether a station/format is successful and sustainable. No enterprise works directly against the customer...........AND SUCCEEDS. It does not happen. In any industry. Anywhere.

What the Hell does the Congress know about the general public's interest in radio? In NYC. In Chicago. In Port St. Lucie. In Maine. In Laramie. In Honolulu? Not one darned thing. They can't, don't know, and should not be given any regulatory abilty to demand a product over the radio in any market anywhere. That's what NPR is for. What? You have some demonstrative ability to divine the wants and needs of any and all radio listeners everywhere in the country that you can pass on to the FCC? Please, do share.

Back to the thread, listeners don't tune in to hear the callers. If they did, why not have a pure open mike for any and everyone to call and voice their particular gripe to their content?

How often, at the grocery store or in the parking lot or at the Home Depot, do you walk around asking complete strangers their opinion on sports or politics or whatever? Ever? NONE. You don't want to hear it. You don't care. I don't either. Conversely, I've never had a complete stranger ask me my thoughts on ObamaCare or the Cowboys or the Mayor while buying groceries at Albertsons. Why? The average person doesn't care about the other average person's opinion. Can't care less.

Talk radio is the same. We like the product and the host............care not a whit about the corn-cobs that call in with their tripe.

If I wanted that I'd talk to my neighbor............and I don't.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

How often, at the grocery store or in the parking lot or at the Home Depot, do you walk around asking complete strangers their opinion on sports or politics or whatever? Ever? NONE. You don't want to hear it. You don't care. I don't either. Conversely, I've never had a complete stranger ask me my thoughts on ObamaCare or the Cowboys or the Mayor while buying groceries at Albertsons. Why? The average person doesn't care about the other average person's opinion. Can't care less.

Talk radio is the same. We like the product and the host............care not a whit about the corn-cobs that call in with their tripe.

If I wanted that I'd talk to my neighbor............and I don't.

Ah, yes. You and I look through opposite ends of the telescope as we observe the world.

Apparently you are rather self-contained, maybe a bit self-absorbed. You are what we learned in psychology is an introvert. (Has nothing to do with bashful vs gregarious.)

Where I live people in the grocery store or the home depot or the doctors office or the waiting line for security at the airport routinely initiate conversations and ask opinions on sports, politics, religion and the weather. It is not at all unusual around here for someone so say to a total stranger: "Whut do ya think about what that S.O.B. Obama did yesterday?" I have a feeling you avoid the average person, thus you have no idea whether the average person would like to have conversation with you or not.

Radio has always attracted a "sub-culture" of people as employees. They enjoy whatever is the current pop music. They tend to like to party. I was once turned down for a job selling automation equipment. The sales manager looked me in the eye and said: "You will get a customer to the point where he says, I'll sign the contract tomorrow morning. Tonight let's go drinkin and chasing women. And you do not know how to do that, and I have to have a sales person who thrives on that." I'm not sure radio people know what the average shopper down at Home Depot wants to hear on the radio today.

More importantly than worrying about the future of radio, I worry about a NATION where people vote... people who look upon their fellow citizens as corn-cobs that have no ability to communicate at a level above tripe.

Congress made a significant mistake in setting up a transaction where "licensees think they have PURCHASED a segment of what was the public airwaves." I felt better when broadcasters thought that they were trustees and guardians and maybe they should concern themselves with a corn-cob like me.

The legend here in Georgia and North Carolina says that when the White Man came and proposed to the Cherokee Indians that they sell their land.... the Chief responded: "How can we sell what we do not own? We do not have the ability to understand what you are asking. I guess next you will offer to purchase the sky?" So the self-contained, self absorbed White Man put them into a death march known as The Trail of Tears and took them to Oklahoma.

Today we may be close to realizing that Radio is on a death march.... because we thought we obtained a deed to the sky.

 

[marksman]

Callers are the bane of talk radio.

99% of callers are bad. I appreciate talk shows that realize callers are not interesting, not entertaining and not worth listening to...

I also don't like the fact that on all shows only a tiny portion of the listeners ever call, and if the show is small enough, this means you hear from the same three callers every other day.

I don't call to listen to some randoms who I don't care about talking from their cubicle or from their gun range.

 

[smedge2006]

Callers are the bane of talk radio.

Sort of like saying songs are the bane of music radio. Not an exact analogy, and I've taken issue with it in the past. But I'm sorry, you don't turn down free talent. Especially not in these budget-strapped times. And you can't say "interactivity is the future of media" when you've gone from the most interactive to the least interactive electronic media. Somebody suggested just throwing out the host and having an open mike show. That's a great idea for dayparts that are currently syndicated. No host, just a screener and people get on until someone else calls in and knocks them off.

 

[Prais]

"The average person doesn't care about the other average person's opinion. Can't care less."

then WHY has call-in radio worked on great statons since the 1960's? YES - it has worked well on places like WGN, KMOX, etc.

"If I wanted that I'd talk to my neighbor............and I don't."

Maybe its a generational thing. Old people DO "talk to their neighbor" - even in BIG cities.

Goat, with respect, if you didn't care "what your neighbor thinks," WHY have you commented on R-I 1600+ times, with many LONG posts DETAILING YOUR personal opinion ??? You may THINK you don't care, but you really do!

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Good morning, Prais. Go back and read what I quoted from Speery, and what I said. I just did.

It wasn't me who said "I don't care what my neighbor thinks."

 

[Prais]

Sorry. I just woke up and have a full day off today, OMG. Apologies. Now that I've read the whole thread I believe that you and I think along the same lines.

Now, I'll walk and have my bagel and coffee and listen to Greg Jarrett.