When radio programmers put together team shows there are a lot of things we look at. Do their voices complement each other well without sounding too similar? Are they at different stages in life or come from different backgrounds so they bring unique perspectives to the show and appeal to different parts of our audience? Do they get along well enough to spend four hours in a studio together every day and a few more planning the show? While all of those are good questions to ask, none of them get at the heart of what makes a show work. That’s why the main question we should ask is this. Do they riff well together? Here’s why that matters and how we can answer that question prior to launching a show.
Planning an entertaining daily radio show is not a simple task, it requires us to create TONS of content out of thin air. Especially now that we need to be creating digital content to spread across platforms on top of our daily on-air content. That’s why I encourage shows to prioritize show prep and develop a process to help them prep efficiently and further in advance so they can identify great topics that they can add to by personalizing, localizing and energizing it. But, one hack that helps any show get more mileage out of their content is when they riff well together, because they can add to any content in real-time. That ability to improv doesn’t mean they shouldn’t showprep, it just means they can get away with showprepping a little less than other shows. It also doesn’t mean they shouldn’t go into every live break knowing how they’re getting into and out of content. It just allows them to bail on any preplanned outs if anything better comes up organically.
When I used to put together new shows I would always have them do some fake shows ahead of time, recording single topic breaks and a couple example benchmarks. It amazes me that most new shows don’t do that because radio has a tendency to hate rehearsing. But, two or more people talking together on mic for the first time live on the air is a terrible idea in my opinion. Plus, these practice shows and breaks were a great way to see if the talent could riff well together. Now though there’s another way to determine whether shows can riff, and it pairs well with something every show should be doing anyway, podcasting. Having shows start with a podcast before their radio show starts gives them the breathing room to develop content and chemistry in an environment free of service elements, commercial stopsets, sponsored content and contests. Plus, it gets them in the habit of using their podcasts to feed content into the show and, once they radio show has started, to take anything on-air that’s going too long and push it to the podcasts instead. Thereby improving the quality of both.
What do you think? How important is it for talent to riff well together and how have you determined a shows riffability? Comment below or email me at Andy@RadioStationConsultant.com.
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