The Bible, Testosterone and Luck: How to Give Your Radio Audience Sex and Spirituality
Fables, folklore, bible stories. In the old days people spoke their stories. Generation upon generation repeated them until they were woven into the fabric of a culture. We've lost most of that. But good stories tend to live on in the imagination and get retold over and over again. When chemistry gets sparked between two people *hot* moments are created. Later we relive those *hot* moments in our minds, never tiring of them. So what makes a story, or a moment *hot*?
1. Do your stories have an *X-Factor*?
Ira Glass, host of the NPR program *This American Life*, talked about Bible stories and what he learned from them. He said that many of them start out with stories like you and me, but then there's the *X-Factor*, something weird happens. He says there are three qualities of a story that make a great radio show.
1. Anybody can relate to it. 2. It's surprising. 3. You can see it.
When you're telling your stories check to see if you have a twist, an *X-Factor*, that makes your audience stop, reflect, or gasp. Is there something counter-intuitive, weird or just plain unexpected that you can highlight? We all love a bit of strange. Give us a taste of that special moment.
2. Does lightening strike?
Glass says for every story he runs he wants lightening to strike. How does he get it? He tries, and tries and tries again. He throws out entire stories he's worked on for months. He reworks segments. He interviews more people, does more research. He experiments until he finds the right mix, the magic formula that will keep audiences tuned to his show. He says, *If you try enough things luck will strike.* It's the entrepreneurial mind-set.
Experiment. Go a little wacky. Exaggerate. Try something you've never considered--or have considered and ruled out. Take a chance. Don't wait for lightening to strike, go looking for it.
3. Are you willing to embarrass yourself?
Most people shy away from making a fool of themselves. Don't. Another word for this type of willingness to not take yourself so seriously, is vulnerability. We admire the people who are honest and fresh. Surprising things can happen if you let loose a little and stop worrying about how you're perceived by others. Say something outrageous without censoring it. Respond in the moment with a tear or a laugh or a snort. Speak your mind with passion.
I love the mythologist Michael Meade for this reason. He's a very manly man, but he will get choked up or respond to difficult emotional situations posed by students during his workshops with kindness and compassion that's free of sentimentality or silliness. If you're interested in myths, storytelling and your place and the place of elders in our society, I highly recommend his audio tapes http://www.mosaicvoices.org. You can learn an enormous amount by the way he tells his stories. He's a master at it.
4. Can you use pauses as your music?
The music creates motion and puts a frame on the story and makes it seem like a fable, explained Glass. You can use it to give the audience direction, to tell them when to pay attention or when to reflect. When the music fades or stops, that's your cue. Like traditional storytellers in Africa Michael Meade drums while telling his stories. He uses the beat to speed up or slow down the tension. You can use your voice as a drum by emphasizing words or beats, speaking faster or more slowly to move your audience through a story. You can use pauses as pacing and to give them a chance to breathe in your words.
5. Do you talk in images?
Great writing speaks in image. So does great speaking. The truly captivating speakers speak with poetry, art, metaphor and meaning. For example, Buddhist Zen master, poet and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, says, *There is a gatha (teaching) that says, 'Words can travel thousands of miles. They are to build up more mutual acceptance and understanding. I vow that my words will be like gems. I vow that my words will be fresh like flowers.* Make your words fresh like flowers and we will be drawn to them.
What about the testosterone, you mentioned in the heading, you ask? Well, not everything is literal. So see if you can find it in the rhythm or pacing of this little story. You don't have to tell all in order to give audiences what you've promised.
Copyright (c) 2006 by Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.
Susan Harrow, http://www.PRSecrets.com, is a media coach, marketing strategist and author of *Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul* and *Get a 6- Figure Book Advance.* Clients include CEOs, authors and entrepreneurs who have appeared on/in Oprah, 60 Minutes, NPR, TIME, USA Today, People, NY Times
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