Why Do Radio People Sound Fake?

Video Video two: Being on the air versus doing commercials Video: Its about the listener Video: Lacking showmanship Video: crank it up a bit Writing daily is like snapping digital photographs. Once the shot's been taken it's quickly stored on hard drives, printed on Kodak paper at a nearby Wal-Mart only to be trapped in a frame or book. Then again if you're like me photographs are usually s loosely tossed into a kitchen drawer for someone's toddler to dig through a long long way into a future not even Latoya Jackson can predict. Today, the inquisitive journeyman wants to take the elements of the present and step back four years. The Summer Olympics in Beijing China were still four days away. Which means Michael Phelps was only known to a small circle of a swimming communities. Back home in the States, 2008 seemed to carry a vibration I've dubbed "A single moment" like that of 9/11...a pinpoint, a place, a time most of can instantly regurgitate and know exactly where we stood as The Great Recession tore up the American Dream. Beginning to bare, if not already there were pantries and cupboards. Favorite restaurants and unique places to shop faded with night. Corporate CEO's made millions while joblessness emptied the vision of belief. Lack of trust became our tour guide. Bible thumping churches lost faithful members while New Age Religion served as a Band-Aid. Four years ago to the date. How much has changed? A writer's vow to document a measurement of growth and or identify a deserted island. This is how the Blog was printed on Lite1029.com. Monday 08-03-2008 9:55am ET I preach it every day, “The human voice is a musical instrument, fully capable of reaching across valleys, through walls ten feet thick and over decades most have forgotten.” Jokingly, I’ve always thought of myself as an elephant…for this giant mammal is said to never forget…interestingly enough, when it comes to vocal tones…nor do I. It happened just the other day…a radio commercial was brought to me to impersonate. “Why?” I asked, “I’m the one who originally produced it, it’s someone else’s voice but it’s been through my imagination” Because I never toss sound aside, I was drawn to November 2007 and there it was a vocal print ready to be modernized. Have you ever done that? You haven’t heard someone’s voice in five to twenty years and the moment they speak…visions of your chapters take shape faster than ice cream melting on a Carolina summer day. It’s too easy to recognize a President’s voice. If we hear Demi Moore, Mel Gibson, Ryan Seacrest or a local weatherman, we know it immediately. This is why I can’t stand any type of commercial of endorsement that says, “Hi I’m so and so…” Do you love yourself that much? That’s like telling a radio listener, “Those golden vocal tones belong to Steve Perry, Rod Stewart, Michael Buble or Elvis Presley.” A program director once said to me, “Radio listeners are the smartest people on earth…don’t ever doubt their knowledge because the smartest move they make could be changing the dial.” Gulp! What about newsmakers? Outside a President or sports hero like Michael Jordon are there voices inside the headlines that instantly shape their dimensions inside your thought process? I would’ve said yes…until last night. CNN did a special report on the Dahli Lama. I have studied his life, his wisdom, his endearing methods of inspiring and influencing not one but several generations. Not once have I heard him speak. While studying his words, the imagination laid out for me what I assumed would be his voice only to take note, “Dude…you were so way way way off.” Powerful! It was dominating but full of care. Blessed with brilliant color and yet at times he seemed to want to be just black and white. I don’t accept voices too well. When Julia Cameron released her Artist Way books on CD…her shapes and sounds literally infected me rather than affected me. An Anthony Robbins series is like eating burnt toast. Compared to his books, on Oprah’s web page the sound of Eckhart Tolle’s voice is nothing more than fingernails scraping across a chalkboard. How do you react to the human voice? What is the presentation you put out there for others to grasp? Are you calm or too calm? Are you loud and boisterous? Can you angle your conversations beyond parenthood and corporate meeting? One of my mentors in radio life is writer and producer Jon Causby from The Ground Crew who shared an interesting concept with me, “Think of your voice as a computer screen and each person you are should be a new folder. When it’s time to be this person, go to that folder. When you need that person…you know where to locate him or her.” Charles Holloman from CHP Audio taught me to give my voices and personalities a character name. When you need to become this person at work, invite Hank or Glenda. If you’re trying to be competitive River Phoenix and Meg Ryan might work. Radio people face the cliché all the time, “Talk like a DJ.” Many physically believe those on the air have created a sound that can be brought back to life at the drop of a hat. Wanna know why it’s not so easy? High tech equipment finely tuned to separate high end from low are compressed to make a voice sound stronger, thicker and less thin…its used to enhance the presence. Only to hear someone say, “I can’t hire you because you sound like an announcer.” There’s always the loud speaker at Harris Teeter. It’s only natural to not like the sound of your voice. Almost 30 years of radio and I can’t stand to carry it with me. In my heart it’s a giant out of tune tuba. Like all musical instruments…I’ve learned to play it and believe every human on this planet has the full capability to sound brilliant if they so elect. How many General Managers have you had...who are strong inside the four corners of decision making but put them in front of the staff and the entire room allows their ambition to leave? Books written to enhance leadership skills are a good tax write off. If you want to truly win…maybe it's time you look at your voice in the mirror. Simon Cowell from American Idol can’t stand to hear someone sing out of tune. As viewers, we think it’s funny to watch another person’s failure. In the world of business where failure is not tolerated…an out of tune sales pitch or simple welcome will cost you dollars and cents. ***Dateline August 3, 2012 Not "Training" but introducing average every day people to an exercise of learning how to "speak in tune" has evolved into sharing four hour lectures at Universities and Schools of Broadcasting. 99% of the time the "opening" of a brand new sentence is what pushes us toward vocal tones the receiver found difficult to digest. We over inflect the wrong words. Speak too softly when making a point. Or when business owners step into my studio to record commercials they're energetic about what they sell but when it comes to saying the name of the business, the sentence curves downward creating a negative. I'm not shy to ask, "How long have you hated your job? Because it's coming across that you don't believe in it." Why do I let me fingers share conversation with you daily? Because I will always believe in you first... arroe@arroe.net