JOUR1111 Lecture 4 Reflection - Sound

This week’s lecture (number 4) was set out differently to our usual ones we were listened to a sound recording. The audio was of a radio interview on ABC Local Radio, Queensland, speaking with Richard Fiddler about his experiences of in radio.  

Richard Fiddler is the host of two radio shows, Conversations and Afternoons, which have different time slots, purposes and target audiences. Despite the differences in the shows, Richard Fiddler draws some common points in both, relating them to all radio shows in general.

“Radio is completely different medium…a much more intimate medium than television…” - Richard Fiddler (from interview)

Conversations goes against the norms of the short interviews and instead speaks with guests for around an hour. Richard Fiddler discusses elements that need to be considered when taking on this kind of format.

The main questions: Can a story continue to be sustained for an hour?

Stories that aren’t compelling won’t hold an audience’s interest. Because of this, pre-production is needed and used. Interviewees are prepared for the show so that they feel it is a trustworthy place where they can express their opinions freely. This means the interactions between interviewer and interviewee flow.

Some points Richard Fiddler makes about making sure the format of Conversations works:

• Interest in the story is required

• Making sure interviewees experienced in media can share their story in an interesting way. Playfully interacting with an interviewee can help take a different approach, make them seem like a “normal human being”.

• Silence can be good in storytelling

• Asking yourself if you are “keeping the listener in the program”

 Richard Fiddler’s second show, Afternoons, is also discussed in the radio interview. It is a radio show that is slotted in after the morning news stories and it encourages participation from the audience to provide entertainment as well as learning what news stories look like from other people’s differing perspectives. 

Because Afternoons is a talk-back format show, Richard Fiddler says that the challenge is drawing out the listener and getting them to call in. To do this, the host needs to be friendly and be a facilitator for conversation. The host needs to be able to welcome them, make them feel comfortable on air, introduce them to the public audience listening and draw conversation out of them.

One of the final comments Richard Fiddler made to encourage journalism students that I really liked was his advice to not just spend time getting news stories from the internet. Instead he said to “expose yourself to different currents of thought”, I’m going to try this, listen to the radio more often than I do, which is only an hour or two each week. I think this will broaden my knowledge on journalism as well as taking in the views of others.

-Laura

17/08/2012