Amen to what Studs Terkel says about radio as the most intimate medium. While I've always believed this myself, I've struggled to actually achieve intimacy on the air. I always seemed to be preoccupied with music rotations, liners, tight segues, getting things said in 15 seconds or less...all that stuff that we music personalities can obsess over. I worked hard at executing a format well, paying less attention to crafting an intimate on on-air communication with a listener.
These days, on my little blues program on a college-owned radio station, I have total free reign not only of the music I play, but also when I choose to open the mic and what I choose to say. I feel like I'm getting better at intimacy with the listener. I can tell by the way they relate to me. At a station event, every single one of 'em addresses me by my first name. The e-mails I receive are always casual and buddy-like in tone. I have the sense of honestly connecting with them - even though I've only done the show for about 6 months. The same is true in my communication with local musicians.
The only other time I experienced this was a few years ago when I was working at a standards-formatted station, where again I had some flexibility in the music chosen and could present the music exactly as I chose to. I could completely relax and be myself on the air. Again, listeners enthusiastically responded as if I were an old pal.
Interestingly, in both of these situations, I am passionate about the music genres. Much of the intimacy I build with listeners is based on a shared enthusiasm for the music. I'm not sure I could achieve the same thing or connect with listeners in formats and genres to which I'm indifferent, like soft AC or country.
One more thing about radio as an intimate medium: NPR has this down cold. The intimacy of their presentation is in their DNA, going back to the earliest days of All Things Considered. They get it. Countless times I've found myself drawn into a subject previously of no interest to me, simply because of the reporter's great writing and the intimacy of his on-air presentation. There, the spoken word is high art.
Nick Seneca
