**Call Again With Your Radio Playing In The Background One More Time I Dare You! I Double Dare You**
By Qabaqongo France
A listener is the main asset to a radio station as a radio station without listeners is as good as not existing, since the aim of establishing it is to have listeners in order to offer certain services to them. Presenters, producers, advertisers, etc., are also important assets, however, listeners are more important as there would not be the above mentioned on radio without them.
I would liken a shop owner and a customer to a listener and a radio presenter or content producer. Those selling a product or service have to treat those buying or receiving a service or product, right. However, I would not want to employ the adage that, ” A customer is always right. ” in this piece. I agree that there are compromises that sometimes have to be made in order to satisfy, please, and appease a client or customer, even when they inconvenience the service provider or product seller – however, I think sometimes a line has to be drawn, at least slightly, when it comes to radio and listeners.
For as long as I can remember, listeners have been, and still are asked to switch off a radio set when they call in or at least when live on air, or lower their volume or move away from a radio set. The feedback hurts a presenter’s ears and leads to poor quality of communication. However, this still happens despite the preaching against it by presenters. Listeners who do not listen. Sigh.
Here is my list of the main annoying things that radio listeners do.
1 Not sticking to the topic.
A presenter would say what the topic is then there would sometimes be listeners who do not comment on the given topic, but on something not relevant to it, or conflate the topic with something else in a way that is not compelling.
2 Hogging the line.
A listener would call in and be on the line for longer than required or necessary, and when a presenter tells them that they have already made their point, or to quickly make their point as they have to move on to other callers or comment via social media or email or take an ad break or go to a news bulletin – they continue talking. This disregards time, programming, a presenter, a content producer, other listeners and the station.
3 Calling in with nothing of substance to contribute.
There are listeners who really love to be on air to the extent that they frequently call in just to be popular and be known to be best or loyal listeners of a station. They would call in even when they do not understand the topic given or have something important to say. They would sometimes talk in riddles.
4 Initiating unnecessary small talk.
Time is of essence, especially on talk radio when a very critical topic is raised and having many listeners wanting to weigh in on the topic, yet you find listeners who engage in small talk when a presenter is pressed for time.
5 Unnecessary greeting.
When pressed for time, a presenter would let listeners know that they are fine beforehand, and ask them to not greet them and ask them how they are doing, yet listeners still do that despite being told in advance.
6 Insisting on continuing with the call when the line is bad.
When your line is bad, a presenter would suggest moving you to another line or abandon your call or ask you to move around or call again. There is no point in keeping a listener on the bad line as there won’t be clear communication.
7 Asking if they are still on air or if they can still be heard.
When a listener calls in and speaks, they would want to know if a presenter is still listening or hearing them. I sometimes get why they do this, however, I sometimes think it’s irritating when they do this. Firstly, a presenter would obviously have to keep quiet so that they allow them to speak. Secondly, there are more chances that the background music is playing, there are a little to no chances that they are not hearing you – unless they let you know or there are technical glitches. And perhaps for some to really know if they are still on air and can be heard, they expect a presenter to keep on saying, ” Oomh” or “Yeah”, ” Indeed”, etc. – which can sometimes be annoying.
8 Sulking, emotionally blackmailing and bullying a presenter.
There are listeners who hang up their call when things do not go their way. And there are also those who say that a presenter is nothing without them as they pay their salary and what-not. While this is true, it does not necessarily mean that they should harass a presenter and make them apologize even when they are not wrong – but just doing their job.
9 Getting angry when their call gets cut off when a presenter got the gist of what they wanted to say before the line got bad or when running out of time.
10 Several listeners calling in to wish the same person or people a happy birthday.
11 Calling in to send a shutout when lines are not open for that, especially when an important topic is supposed to be tackled and time is limited.
11 Calling in to say that they have just tuned in and don’t know what the topic is, live on the line – then having to think of their own opinion regarding the topic. Such a waste of time.
12 Sending the same message via Facebook, Twitter and other online platforms and also call in to convey the same message.
13 Unnecessary pressing their phone buttons during a call. That beep sound is quite annoying.
14 Calling in when near a busy road and when outside during severe windy condition. These affect the quality of a call.
15 Shaming a presenter live on air. A listener would find a presenter’s laugh or voice or presenting skills and/or other things, bad, and tell a presenter how they feel about these live on air.
16 Not wanting to hear a presenter’s argument against their views, and unnecessarily dismissing them.
17 And many more.
But a station, a presenter and a content producer should tread carefully when it comes to tackling these as it is very easy to lose a listener than to regain it or have it listen to a show in the first place.
* Telling your name and where you are from when a producer has already forwarded that to a presenter. A presenter would move on to that and say who they are and where they are from, yet some listeners still go on and do that.
By Qabaqongo France (The Radio Genius)
