BETTER RADIO PRODUCTIONS ARE NEEDED

Aug 25, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

A few weeks ago, I tuned in to one of my favourites nightly radio programmes, Doctor on Call. The doctor who was supposed to be on call must have turned off his beeper (or cellular phone) because when the time came for his grand entry, radio aficionados were told that the programme would not be available that night.
An interlude of music was substituted. It seems that little thought was placed into having a replacement doctor for that night or even to digging up the archives and pulling out an old programme which could have substituted for the absence of that night’s ‘Doctor on Call’.
When you are producing a feature, and running it as a continuous series of programmes, it is always necessary to have a few episodes in the bank so that you are not caught in a situation whereby you have to cancel a programme because there is no episode available.
If it is a live programme, and the presenter who usually appears cannot do so, then the producer has to make arrangements for a substitute presenter, otherwise the public will begin to lose interest in the programme.
CNN’s Larry King is one of the best television interviewers around. He conducts his shows with absolute control. You will never find Larry getting into an exchange of views or a debate with his guests. He allows his guests to do most of the talking and to give the opinions. He limits himself to asking questions. He probes. He seeks reactions from his guests. If he needs to confront them on an issue, you will never find Larry taking an aggressive stand and contradicting his guests. He would simply say, ‘But how do you respond to those who say…” This is his style.
In Guyana, we have some radio and television hosts who feel that the programme they host is for them to give their own views. They try to engage in tit-for-tat with their guests. This is a style mimicked from the BBC Hard Talk programme where the host tries to put the guests in the hot seat. We do not need to do that in Guyana.
But ever so often we have hosts who try to steal the limelight on their shows, thus reducing the quality of the interview. A few weeks ago, one of Guyana’s leading luminaries appeared on a local television show. At the end of it, the host spoke more than the legal luminary. This was a real turn-off, because here was an opportunity to really hear one of Guyana’s foremost legal minds, and instead the interviewer spoke more than the interviewee. When next that host appeared, I simply turned off, since it was hard to endure that again.
A whole generation of broadcasters has gone off the scene. Most have retired, migrated or gone to the Great Beyond. We have a new generation that needs the necessary training in modern broadcasting because the media has changed from the old days, and while there are some things which can still be learnt from the old-timers, there is a completely new set of skills required.
Today, there are all manner of persons who feel that once they have the necessary sponsorship and can play a few music videos, they qualify as television hosts. In the case of radio, there is an urgent need for good producers. Local nighttime radio has become something of a drag, because enough effort and resources are not being channeled into producing good programmes for listeners.
Already there is a fallout. There used to be a time when it took great skill for all the death announcements to be slotted into the available time. A few evenings ago, there was only one death announcement on radio and one message. Radio still has a greater reach than television. Yet, television death announcements outstrip those aired on the radio.
There needs to be greater investment in producing good local radio programmes for prime time listening. Playing a musical interlude or simply having programmes which amount to nothing more than musical shows cannot substitute for having an interesting interview, a call-in show in which the audience participate or simply some educational or discussion programme. Long gone are the days when you could look forward to a sports programme. Most of them these days feature someone being interviewed, a most boring format for an exciting field such as sport broadcasting.
Radio is not going to disappear. What will go unless good programming is produced is the audience. Who knows, most of the listeners may have already permanently switched to television.

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BETTER RADIO PRODUCTIONS ARE NEEDED

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