Radio speaking.

 

In discussing the problem of how to be effective via the microphone, my task really is to adapt modern principles of effective speech to their use in the particular case of radio. A study of speech principles will reveal the little -realized fact that, aside from a few allowances due to the mechanical limitations of a microphone, the best radio speaker is the one who follows most closely the dictates of a competent textbook on public speaking. The added difficulty that lack of a visible audience presents in broadcasting only increases the necessity of observing speech rules. The often - remarked fact that many good announcers know nothing of platform speaking, while many good platform speakers are a failure on the air, is not a refutation of my statement. Reference to a speech textbook would confirm the technique unconsciously used by these announcers, while an analysis of the so-called good platform speaker would show that his success grew more from showmanship and dramatics than from effective speech. A textbook on speech usually is divided into chapters devoted to advice concerning each type in turn: the argumentative speech, the humorous talk, or the expository discussion. Obviously, all these possible types of talks have their turn on the air. In the case of the radio announcer, the same individual is compelled constantly to change his style from one form to another, so that he is confronted with the difficult task of attempting to handle all types of public speaking equally well. Very few announcers specialize in one type of work. The average announcer must be prepared in the same day to give the dramatic ballyhoo of a spectacular program, to read the 3 -minute commercial advertisement for a so-called health salt, to read the announcements for a program of classical music, and to introduce a professor or a minister. All these variations and many more come as grist to his mill. An added complexity in the study of radio speech is the increasing attempt of radio -program planners to get away from straight speaking, through the use of other interest -catching devices. The interview, composed of questions and answers, is being employed to hold the listener's attention. Round -table discussions by a small group of authorities are used to gain informality and, at the same time, to make the speakers feel more at ease. Debates and dramatic skits are also heard over the air. All are interesting variations and require training different from that given to the orator. The absence of a visual audience and the inability to aid his delivery by gestures is a serious handicap to the speaker. Allow me to make clear just what the lack of a visible audience means to the speaker. First of all he notes the absence of circular audience -speaker responses. In any speech textbook one will find a discussion of the stimulation that an audience gives to the man addressing it. Public speaking is usually a type of circular social behavior, in terms of social psychology. The speaker first stimulates his audience, but we sometimes overlook the fact that the audience in turn stimulates the speaker. This circular process goes on throughout the entire speech, playing an important part in its success. Anyone who has done much public speaking will realize the subtle but potent influences the audience has upon the speaker. The best speaker is inclined to be the one most sensitive and responsive to these influences, one who has the "feel" of the audience and who adapts himself to it both in his manner and in the content of his material while talking. It is needless to point out that the radio has entirely broken the chain of this circular process for the speaker. Radio performers drafted from the stage and platform are the first to feel the handicap of this situation. Another important psychological factor in broadcast speech as differentiated from platform speech lies in the distribution of a radio audience, for an audience divided into a series of small family groups deprives a speaker of all the advantages to be gained from interstimulation, so commonly noticed in crowd psychology. Those infectious waves of emotion that sway a large mass of people, seated elbow to elbow, are lost in radio. Furthermore, radio listeners are entirely free of those social inhibitions, compulsions, and conventions which dull speakers often rely upon to keep a visible audience in their seats. People who would be embarrassed to walk out of an auditorium while some would-be spellbinder is speaking do not hesitate to shut off the radio speaker. These factors force the radio speaker to be more painstaking in the preparation and in the presentation of his talk, if he expects to hold his audience. The radio speaker has only one set of stimuli to work with instead of two. He can use only the audible speech symbols and he has no appeal for the eye. To quote from the Little Book of Broadcasting put out by the National Broadcasting Company, "Few of us realize, until put to the task, the extent to which the eye and the ear, when working together, are influenced by the impressions that come through the eye. We early found by experimentation that, when the sense of hearing alone is involved, we have a very different and a much more difficult problem on our hands." The problem that must be met here is not merely that of more strenuous effort at good speech, but it also involves more careful attention in the writing of the speech. Added to this complete dependence upon one set of stimuli is the fact that this concentration seems to help the auditor more easily to detect the mental attitude of a speaker. Harvard psychologists recently announced that insincerity seems to be detected more easily over the air than from the lecture platform. This is a note of warning to the careless radio announcer who may tend to allow his lack of interest in or his disagreement with his announcements to reflect itself in his voice. An exercise in mental hygiene seems to be indicated for one who would be successful. As Milton Cross put it, "An announcer's voice must be healthy, well dressed, and cheerful." A continual conscious effort must be made toward that end. As a last preliminary consideration of the subject, remember that practically all programs of every kind are prepared in advance to be read. Those which are extemporaneous are rare exceptions when compared to the general mass. This rule is due to several factors: (1) the necessity of split-second timing makes it imperative that a speaker be chained down to a definite timed manuscript; (.2) lack of a visible audience makes extemporaneous speaking a difficult task for anyone, even if it were allowed; (3) self-imposed rigid standards as to the nature of material allowed on the air requires the station to ask for a manuscript in advance of its broadcast. The necessity for reading imposes a preliminary hurdle which must be jumped in attempting good public speaking on the air.