1. Be yourself!
Don’t act up and don’t try to be like somebody else because you’re not! You wouldn’t live your life as somebody else, so why pretend on the radio?
If you go out and engage with your audience face to face on roadshows etc, they will tell instantly and will say stuff like, you sound and act so different on the radio!
2. Talk to the audience like you would to your mate down the pub (or for the younger presenters, like you were at college/uni)
Example – If you were talking about the football game you went to at the weekend – YOU WOULDN’T SAY something like “I went along to an exceptional game of football at the weekend, Birmingham City FC beat Aston Villa FC, 5 goals to nil” YOU WOULD SAY something like “went to the footy on Saturday and watched blues absolutely smash villa, 5 nil”
3. Don’t read from a script
Again you can tell a mile away that you’re reading a script, plus if you read a script it’s really easy to trip over words! I would recommend jotting down notes or bullet points etc and then just skimming over them before you put the mic live. If it’s a link you believe in (like they all should be) you will know what to say anyway without any notes… (Obviously do your research and know what you’re talking about)
4. Be a master at story telling!
I think this is one of the most important features of a presenter, if you can capture your audience and engage their imagination then you have won them over and they will keep coming back to hear your amazing stories!
This will also help with your social life, if you can hold a listener then you will be able to hold a room!
5. Know your audience
Every radio station will have a different audience and as a good presenter you should adapt to that audience and be ‘in with them’ almost as if you’re their mate, know the local area and talk about the things they’ll know about and that they’re interested in. If you’re presenting a show in Newcastle but always talk about things going on in Birmingham then they won’t be that interested.
If you’re doing a network show, broadcast over a load of areas, still know your audience and where they are etc but just be a bit more spread.