Introducing and Producing Your Show

When doing a radio show on air it is important that you introduce yourself and your show effectively when you begin. A good radio show opening link should consist of:

• An introduction to yourself – Who are you?
• The show you are doing – Is it a specialist show? A chart show? Breakfast? Drivetime?
• Whats coming up music wise – Is there a great song from Whitney Houston I will want to hear as a listener? Or do you have a brand new track from One Direction to play?
• What are you going to be talking about – The general topic of your show. Are you talking about names, or food or places you have been? Keep it simple and interactive and easy/interesting to listen to.
• What to stay tuned in for – Do you have any special guests coming in on your show or do you have a special feature?
• How to get involved – Phone number, Facebook, Twitter etc.
• Introduce the song you are about to play.

The opening link to the show is generally a 30 second link after the news and before the first song. You need to keep it brief and only mention the important things that will keep people listening for more, you don’t have to include everything in the list above, they can follow on in later links. However, clear and concise is the key, but there needs to enough content to make the link effective and successful.

The links that follow must all flow and be consistent. Again they need to be concise, but have enough content to keep the listeners interested; they also need to consist of topics that are relevant to your target demographic, there is no use talking about classic cars on a station for 15 year old females, the same as it doesn’t make sense talking about the latest Justin Bieber or One Direction concert on a station aimed at 68 year old men.

The point is to know your audience and know your station, that way you can produce successful content relevant to your audience. Clarity and consistency will obtain your audience and topics of interest and relevance will ensure that your show is successful. If all this criteria is met and planning is prepared before hand then links in the show should just naturally flow and the show will be of quality and worth its listenership.