Across the country, many working professionals are adding radio broadcasting to their marketing efforts, either as on-air experts or as hosts of their own radio shows. The main reasons why:
- Traditional paid ads have reached the saturation point. Many people simply tune them out. An alternative is needed.
- In a complex world, people crave informed advice. They listen to it intently, and because it’s information, not hard selling, the person delivering the message is automatically considered credible.
- The fact that the radio station has chosen to air a particular expert’s views is an additional implied endorsement of the expert.
- Add to that, unless they choose to be sponsors of their own shows, on-air experts don’t have to pay for this exposure. There’s got to be a catch, right?
There is.
Your Advice is Only as Good as Your Delivery.
If, as an on-air expert, you lack broadcasting skills to go with your subject expertise, you can easily tarnish your image instead of burnishing it. If your delivery is halting, your voice weak, your sense of time constraints off, or you don’t know your way around a studio and a mic, your radio career will be short, as you simply won’t be invited back.
But where can you get these skills?
Do what Attorney Fanger did. Call on Broadcasters Mentoring Group.
BMG has been training broadcasters for decades, but unlike traditional radio broadcasting schools, its program is uniquely suited to the busy professional’s needs. There is no brick and mortar campus to which to travel, no scheduled classes or lectures to steal your valuable time, no set semester starting date.
Instead, BMG utilizes the apprentice-mentor model, in which a working broadcaster in a local station teaches the needed skills at whatever times you’re available, with a total commitment of about 10 hours a week.
In fact, says Alan Fanger:
“Reading about BMG’s business model, I thought it was nearly too good to be true. The idea of matching a mid-career professional with a broadcasting industry professional in a hands-on, one-to-one mentorship spoke directly to my needs and time limitations.”
Here’s how the program works, in more detail:
- When you apply, you tell us the names of four or five local radio stations where you’d like to train.
- We then locate a working broadcaster at one of these stations who will serve as your mentor during either a three month or a six month training period.
- You meet with your potential mentor and, if both feel the arrangement is right, you start training.
- Your weekly get-togethers are at the actual working radio station where your mentor works, with all training done strictly around your schedule.
- A major element of the training is creating your own weekly radio show. Your mentor reviews it each week, providing detailed feedback and ideas for improvement. And as time passes, every show is better than the last.
In the process, you learn every needed aspect of on-air broadcasting, including:
The Audio Studio Environment
- Radio Studio
- Microphones
- Working with a Microphone
- Mic Fright and Why Broadcast Performers Get it
- The Audio Console
- Recording Equipment
- Digital Audio Equipment
Vocal Development
- How Sound is Produced
- Diaphragmatic Breathing Technique
- Proper Breathing Posture Avoiding Thoracic Breathing
- Key Elements of Vocal Development
- Volume
- Pitch, Rate, and Tone
- Articulation of Sounds
- Pronunciation
- Substandard Pronunciation
- Common Vocal Problems
- Maintaining a Healthy Voice
Performance Development
- Developing a Broadcasting Style
- Vocal Elements
- Copy Marking
- Word Usage
- Language Changes
- Avoiding Amateurish Announcing and Inept Delivery
- Audience Rapport
At the conclusion of training, you receive a BMG certificate affirming you are ready to appear on-air. BMG is well known in the broadcasting industry. That evidence of training could be the deciding factor in a station feeling comfortable choosing you as its on-air expert. Alan Fanger has been comfortable in his choice of an organization to teach him broadcaster skills. “I am proud to recommend BMG,” he says.
Let BMG help place you on-air
An additional reason for training with BMG is that Fanger’s relationship continued well after his formal training ended. Both your mentor and BMG maintain a wide network of industry contacts and will be ready to recommend you when the need for an expert becomes known. BMG founder Michael Madden has long experience in broadcasting career planning:
“Once the mentorship was over,” Alan explains, “Michael spent many an hour with me on the phone, honing in on strategies to market myself as a legal analyst. Eventually Michael’s efforts led me to Jordan Rich.”
If you have any notion of increasing your business profile through broadcasting, your first step should be to discuss your needs with our founder, Michael Madden. There’s no cost or obligation to do so. Just fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch. We look forward to hearing from you … and to hearing your first appearance on-air.