Steve’s Pet Peeves – Volume 3
When you listen to 7-8 hours of radio each day like I do (each hour a different show), you’re bound to hear things that bug you.
Most days, shows are hitting it out the park. They’re on the right topics cut from that day’s pop culture, things going on locally, and stories about their lives that position them as just like the listener. Add to that some treatments of those topics which make the breaks sparkle.
Other times, I might get something small that makes me scratch my head wondering why they did that.
Here for you, another installment of Steve’s Pet Peeve’s Volume 3. It bugs me when I hear shows that…
- Use words like: up chuck, throwing up, eating poop, projectile vomiting. Using what I call “stop listening” words. Instead of saying “I was up all night barfing,” why can’t you say, “I was sick to my stomach”? The audience knows what you’re saying, and you aren’t using cringe words that make a portion of your audience turn away because they’re too graphic.
- Breaks that start with unexplained laughter. Listeners feel left out when they aren’t in on the fun you’re having in the studio.
- When something suggestive is said like, “It’s 69 degrees right now,” and the show devolves into a bad version of Beavis and Butthead.
- Shows that try to gratuitously manipulate listeners to stay. Like doing a half a break and then teasing the payoff, making them wait any amount of time for resolution. Just give them the bowl of ice cream in one break and you’ll accrue positive images.
- Shows that don’t keep their promises in an effort to manipulate a few more minutes of listening. If you promise the content at 7:30, do it at 7:30, not 7:36 in an effort to get more minutes of listening. You get two minutes either side of a promise to make good on it. Don’t do that to them.
- Features that are time-stamped need to be at (or very close to) when you promise to do it.
- Explaining games in more than two sentences before playing the game. Listeners don’t have that mental bandwidth at any time of the day for an explanation of anything. More than two sentences might mean it’s too complicated to play. As I always say “when you’re explainin’, you ain’t entertainin’.” You can use that.
- Shows that play a trivia game and get irked when the caller doesn’t know the answer to a question they think is easy. Not a great look. Be empathetic in those moments – these are your fans contributing content to your show.
- Playing the Mission Impossible, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, or the Price Is Right music when playing a game. They’re all dated and predictable. Let’s challenge ourselves to update that stuff.
- Talent who forget that every day you have new listeners who don’t know who you are. I’m a new listener tuning in and have no idea who’s who. I recently checked out a show I don’t work with. Both co-hosts were male. I left after 90 minutes not knowing who was who. Help me.
Deep breaths, Steve, deep breaths. In with the good air, out with the bad!
Have a pet peeve for Volume 4 (oh yes, there will be a volume 4!)? Email me here.