As a Content Director I get asked this question alot from announcers that want to make a splash in the radio industry.
My response is standard across the board from Community radio, Country radio, Provincial radio and even to Metro if you’re a new show to a market.
3 mins 30 seconds…
You’ll hear me say this alot. “Waffle is a dessert not a radio talk break.” You can communicate well with your audience and tell a good story in 3 – 4 mins. It takes practice but that’s what is going to take your show to the next level. The art of telling a good story is not about how long the story goes for, its about the detail and journey you can take your audience on.
You want to get your audience to a point where they are enjoying listening to the content you present. One of two things are going to happen after 3:30 mins, Your listeners are either going to say “what are they talking about this is boring” or you’ll fire off the adds and your listeners will laugh with you on the way out!
Now there are exceptions to this rule but the content you are putting out there needs to be really compelling to push past that threshold. Tears or Heart moments are normally exceptions to this rule when your audience is on an emotional ride with the content but even then you want to make sure you are not taking it too far – always leave your audience wanting more.
Use the other Platforms
If you have taken a 10 min interview and cut it down to 3 and a half mins you can always still use the rest of the audio.
Choose the best piece of the interview for radio and make sure off the back of the interview you hook towards the full version on line at your website. This way those that actually do want to hear more can consume it on one of your other platforms.
Keep it tight
LB
