By Qabaqongo France
There are so many things that radio presenters do, that can really put a listener off. Please allow a self-centered commentary just for today, because I will be talking on things that annoy me, personally. I would have liked to state things that other listeners find annoying but I have not made an effort to establish what those are, as I have not asked them or searched through social media in order to find out what their complaints are.
I would also like to put a disclaimer that some of the annoying things done by the presenters have more to do with what their producers order them to do, in terms of time, topics, and others factors, since by definition a producer wields more power than the presenter. Since I can’t really know what exactly happens behind the scenes at times, some of my views with regard to what happens on air and what they do, could be unfair. However, I don’t think that that is much of a consideration as they work as a team, and if I can’t blame a presenter, then I blame a producer. Unfortunately, it’s mostly expected that the presenter gets more blame than a producer, and this has less to do with who between the two of them, is in the wrong. And whether or not this should be the way things are done, that’s not the point. At least, not in this article.
Okay, can I start listing those annoying things already? Sigh. Okay, let me …..
1 Speaking over a song. There is definitely nothing I find wrong when a presenter speaks over a song that is fading in the background, especially when they are back to announce it or sharing some interesting facts about the song or the artist. What gets me is speaking over a song when they have not even played 70% of, it’s just wrong.
In many commercial radio stations, many songs are already shortened before they are playlisted, to go on speaking over the already shortened song, is just being disrespectful.
There may be a part or parts of a song that I really love, like a certain verse or chorus or instrumental, that I mostly consider the climax of a song and is found towards the end of a song, I get irritated when a song is cut short while I am waiting for that part to come on. I can excuse them if they need to urgently go to news or an important live feed or commercial ad break, but other than that, no.
2 Coming back on air from a song or commercial ad break, laughing, hysterically. Not that they are not allowed to laugh or that they have an obligation to share with us what they are laughing at or about, however, if they are going to just come on air laughing, then leave us wondering why they are laughing, then go on to pretend like nothing has happened, then I might have a bit of a problem with that. But since what they are laughing about may be immaterial to the topic during that period of time or inappropriate to be shared on air, then I guess, sometimes I have to let this slide.
3 Singing or rapping along to a song. I wonder what makes them think that I am interested in their singing and rapping or how well they know the lyrics of the song by heart. MXM! I don’t tune into a radio show for that. Hippo yawn.
Okay, maybe I’m a bit harsh. They can sing once in a while – but not get ahead of themselves. They ought to remember why they are on radio studio in the first place, and know their place. And I wouldn’t take kindly to them singing or rapping along to my favourite song when it is on normal play-listing.
4 On interviews and call-ins, finishing off the sentences of someone who stutters or speaks slowly. I mean, how rude! I will never excuse this no matter what the reason may be. Impatience and time constraints, my foot. I find that to be unacceptable. People must be respected and allowed be finished with what they want to say, by themselves.
5 When they are standing in for another presenter, and they get a compliment from a listener through social media or email, that they are better than the original host, then they go on to read that comment live on air, and hint to the management if they could make some changes. Sies!
I would understand if they complimented them live on air then thanked them since the presenter wouldn’t have possibly known what they were going to say, unless they asked them to call in and say such. For them to go to those lengths is inappropriate. How must a presenter they are standing in for feel?
Anyway, if it were me, I wouldn’t read that compliment live on air even if they complimented me without mentioning the presenter I’m in for. I would reply by only thanking them via social media.
6 Getting the station’s contact number and social media details, wrong. The excuse that they are new on the station is lame. It’s not rocket science, to know these things off by heart is easy and two minutes is enough to do so. Respect for the brand they’re working for and its listeners, and their craft, should be important.
7 Not making an effort to pronounce people’s names, song titles, etc. correctly. Like, really now? How disrespectful is that? I get it that in some instances, accent, dialect, spelling of the word or name, etc. , may come into play, however, some people don’t regard proper pronunciation high enough. It’s good to ask a person if they (a presenter) are pronouncing their ( the person in question ) name right, and if not, ask to be corrected.
8 Saying ” uhm” or ” ehhh” and other conversation fillers during a live read. Are they for real? Sigh.
9 Allowing a caller that they know personally, to talk about things that are between the two of them, which are not related to the topic in any way. I don’t give a flying monkey about their and their friend’s business. I want better content.
10 Promoting musicians they are friends with. It’s not their or their family’s station. Fair and equal promotion of all musicians is essential.
11 Playing a song and not announcing its title and artist. A large population still relies on radio to introduce them to new music, so it is wrong to just play music and do that, even when you think a song is popular or think a listener is familiar with the musician or think the title can be easily established through listening to lyrics.
12 Asking an interviewee a question that you should already know the answer to prior to interviewing them. I do understand that sometimes a presenter may ask a question that has an answer that they may already know, since a listener may not know what they know.
Nevertheless, questions like, ” Which record label are you under? ” are unacceptable. A presenter should provide that information when introducing that musician.
13 Telling us about their personal life all the time. Smh. They must stop it, especially when it’s not juicy.
14 Not allowing an interviewee to share their online media details by saying that they will post them on their or the station’s social media pages, whereas time was wasted prior to that. And not everyone listening is on social media.
15 Frequently telling us what their name is and giving frequent time updates. I’m somehow torn between their doing this and their not doing it, because there just might be first time listeners tuning in at regular intervals during a show, and they may want to know who they are listening to. And there may also be listeners tuning in at regular intervals in order to receive time updates. But then again, I’m almost certain that when a presenter frequently tells us what their name is and frequently give time updates, they don’t have these in mind. They usually do it because they don’t have something of substance to say. Besides, time updates are easily accessible in this day and age. So, they must stop going on as if we have short memories or can’t estimate what time it would be now if they last provided a time update, say perhaps, about 3 minutes ago. So please, okay? And more…
16 Attributing a mistake or mistakes they make when introducing and interviewing a guest on air or on the line, to the producer, since they are the one who gave them the information regarding a guest, and they presented it as is. – That is unnecessary. Thank the guest for correcting you and apologise then continue with the interview, silly head.
17 Unnecessarily interjecting a caller or interviewee or co-host , etc.
18 Rushing a caller to make their point(s) when they have even spoken for more than 45 seconds.
19 Moving on to another caller before the previous one could finish what they wanted to say.
20 Keeping a listener on the line for long when they have told them more than once to switch off their radio or lower its volume or move away from it.
21 Being biased when facilitating a debate.
22 Being sarcastic to a listener/caller when as you can tell that the listener/caller might not get the sarcasm.
23 Having loud background music or background music with lyrics. – Urgh. They call it background music for a reason. It should not compete with your voice for my attention.
24 Playing too many promos when a song is on. – Promos during a song should be few and far in between. We want to listen to most of the song without promo interference
By Qabaqongo France (The Radio Genius)
