Many of my talk show host clients use Skype, but I worry about its overuse.  It just doesn’t give you the quality and audiences will be turned off if your production values drop on a regular basis.  Skype is perfect for deadline situations but the downside is a degradation in video and sound quality.

Here is an article from http://www.huffingtonpost.com that discusses Skype use at large TV stations.  I think you will find it interesting:

TV News, Talk Shows Using Skype

DAVID BAUDER | 09/ 2/10 10:21 AM |

NEW YORK — When he wanted to interview a source in Connecticut for a recent “World News” story on technology, ABC reporter Pierre Thomas didn’t even leave the office. ABC’s cameras showed him sitting in front of a computer screen, talking to Michael Coppolla through Skype.The video phone service has become an important tool for television news organizations over the past several months. Producers say it enables them to reach many more people for interviews. It also saves money, although its current users insist Skype won’t become a crutch.

Skype encourages news organizations to use the service, doesn’t charge for it and offers detailed advice on how to best take advantage of the technology. The company asks networks to display its logo or verbally identify Skype.

“It really has changed the way we do business,” said Tom Costello, a Washington-based NBC News reporter.

While reporting on a bad egg outbreak a week ago, Costello found an elderly woman in a remote section of Pennsylvania who has lingering stomach problems from a salmonella poisoning five years ago. There was no way to reach her in time with a camera crew for “Nightly News,” but Costello was surprised to find she regularly used Skype, and that’s how they did the interview.

One of Washington’s paralyzing snowstorms last winter left Costello without power and stranded at home, but his wife held up a laptop to take a picture of him thigh-deep in snow in their front yard so Costello could do a live report.

All three broadcast network newscasts use Skype to a certain extent. Fox News Channel interviews people under the banner “Skype gripe.” Barbara Walters talked about her heart surgery on “The View” by way of Skype. The “Today” show keeps connected with viewers through Skype.

“This opens the entire country up for us to get to instantaneously,” said Jon Banner, “World News” executive producer. “It is a terrific advance and we would be foolish not to take advantage of any technical advance that’s out there.”

Skype is perfect for deadline situations – such as the late-day interview ABC’s Thomas conducted, Banner said. It also gives ABC access to a wider selection of experts for stories, he said.

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A downside is a degradation in video quality. The Skype picture for Thomas’ interview was fuzzy, and it sometimes seemed interview subject Coppolla’s voice wasn’t in sync with his moving mouth. It wasn’t the high-definition video to which viewers are accustomed.

That’s why Skype, while a great tool, is best used in an emergency, said Rick Kaplan, executive producer of the “CBS Evening News.” The picture is less of a concern to NBC’s “Nightly News,” which recently shot anchor Brian Williams Skype-ing with a girl he met in an Afghanistan orphanage who is in Los Angeles for a visit.

“The audience has accepted that what you’re going to see is a wide range of video quality in a broadcast,” said Bob Epstein, executive producer of NBC’s “Nightly News.”

That’s one of the reasons Skype has a website devoted to giving television executives advice on equipment needed for the best picture, said Michele Don Durbin, the company’s U.S. marketing director. “Oprah,” for example, has a dedicated high-speed line that it uses just for Skype, she said. It doesn’t serve Skype’s interests if a TV network shows a poor picture with the company’s logo.

The company doesn’t seek exclusivity agreements with networks or charge for on-air use because each instance solidifies its reputation among consumers, she said.

Not everyone believes Skype’s spread is the best idea for news organizations. Steven Rosenbaum, a former TV producer who developed “MTV Unfiltered” and now runs a video sharing website, questioned whether Skype is just a way to cut corners.

At “MTV Unfiltered,” his staff would send out cameras to people with stories to tell, asking them to film themselves and their world. It wasn’t innovation. “We were just cheap,” he said.

There’s no substitute for reporters going out on location for stories, he said. Meeting people face-to-face invariably produces richer stories.

“This hastens the demise of the journalism part of TV journalism,” Rosenbaum said. “You’re making the reporting part of the journalism perfunctory.”

Producers note that print journalists make frequent use of telephone interviews and don’t always show up at the doorstep of story subjects. The difference, though, is that television is a visual medium and needs pictures.

Deborah Potter, executive director of the TV news think tank Newslab, said that networks can’t always get to areas for certain stories, such as earthquakes and other disasters. Local stations use Skype to talk to people from their communities who might be visiting those areas, which allows networks to “broaden their scope and add context to stories,” she said.

Skype’s improving quality means that the days of expensive trucks being sent on the road for live pictures may be numbered, Potter said.

“No matter what story we’re doing, if we have the option to get there and be there in person, that’s our responsibility and that’s what we do,” ABC’s Banner said. “There are times when we don’t have that luxury.”

___

NBC is owned by General Electric Co.; ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co.; CBS is a division of CBS Corp.

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As a talk show host coach, you know I am always on ways to monitor how you and/or your competition is doing or to gain market intelligence.  I just found a new tool from youtube that will allow you to find out who is watching certain videos and learn a lot about them.  This can be very useful if you or your competitors are posting on youtube, or if you are interested in who is into a certain subject.  Here is the info from youtube:
YouTube today announced updates to the statistics it offers on the videos
you publish at the site, giving you the option to make your statistics
public:

Uploaders can find even more information about their videos via our free
analytics tool, YouTube Insight, including stats about their popularity,
geographic audience, and viewer demographics. But most of this information
is hidden from the view of the millions and millions of people who’ve never
posted a video to the site, and who therefore don’t have access to much of
the data we make available to uploaders.

That’s why today we’re giving you the ability to make some information
collected in Insight available publicly to anyone watching your videos on
YouTube. Now when you watch a video, you can learn even more about it and
its audience: on the watch page, under the “Statistics & Data” section, you
will be able to see metrics about a video’s views over time, its popularity
in different parts of the world, the top drivers of traffic, and the video’s
top three audience demographics.

If you’ve uploaded a video, you will be able to choose whether or not you
want to make this information public. (You can turn this feature on or off
for any or all of the videos you upload, by adjusting the privacy settings
for your videos under “My Account.”) But we think that providing your
audience with more information about what they’re watching can help you
drive views and sustain a more engaged audience. And of course, for those of
you who are partners, allowing statistics to be displayed with your videos
is actually a great way to attract advertisers.

We hope this feature, like others we’ve launched this year, will help us
further open up analytics on the site, making it easy for users to play with
YouTube information across different platforms.

Isn’t that cool information.  Look you know when it comes to talk show host coaching, I can’t be beat.  You can’t beat my price either.  You can have a FREE 45 minute phone coaching session with me, with not obligation or come on.  Just email me at email@conductknockoutbroadcastinterviews.com.

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As a talk show host coach I stay abreast of what is going on in all phases of programing and I have found a new phenomena.

TV stations all over the US have just discovered a undeserved time slot and are rushing to take advantage of it.  The media rating agencies have revealed that the 4 AM to 5 AM, yes 4 AM to 5 AM time slot is gaining viewers.  News stations are now putting “early morning” shows on starting at4 AM. 4:30 AM,  or 5 AM to serve this time slot.  It is not clear what is driving the growth in viewing at this time but it appears Americans are up earlier than they used to be.  So you as a talk show host may want to consider how you can move into this time slot, as you will have less completion for now and can establish a base there.  If you have flexibility in the time your show runs, you ought to look into tailoring content to viewers in the early morning hours.  They are probably commuters so you will need short segments they can watch “on the fly”.  Really, you could get in on the ground floor here.

Here is another way to move your talk show host career ahead.  Go to http://conductknockoutbroadcastinterviews.com/ and sign up for

FREE TO TALK SHOW HOSTS

Special Report: 10 Proven Ways To Increase Your Audience Size In 30 Days … At Zero Cost!

And receive periodic “Insider Tips For Talk Show Hosts” … loaded with techniques you can use to improve your show and make more money. 

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As a talk show host coach I know good advice when I see it and I just ran across this article on http://www.walkleys.com. It contains a number of tips on conducting interviews and is worth reading.

The Art of the Interview

26 August 2010

Written by Walkley Intern Lucienne Bell

What are the secrets to a great interview? At this month’s Walkley Media Conference we asked our panel to share their tips for getting interview gold be it for video, audio or print. Below is a summary of their discussion and advice.

By Steve Brodner

Panellists: Mark Dapin (Good Weekend), Richard Glover (Drive ABC Local Radio), Anna Broinowski (multi award-winning filmmaker) and chaired by Ben Naparstek (Editor The Monthly).

“I want someone insane, obsessed or with something to hide. They’re the ones who make the best interview subjects for the visual medium,” said Walkley Award-winning filmmaker Anna Broinowski. When asked by Naparstek whether she felt it was dangerous to like a subject, Broinowski replied that she always “falls in love” with her subjects, even infamous con-woman Norma Khouri, “I don’t trust her but I do like her,” Broinowski said.

Mark Dapin agreed that the best subjects are insane or obsessed and he admitted to being equally guilty of a level of Stockholm syndrome, “I start by searching for their most likeable quality,” he said, “something to love.” Dapin admitted to throwing himself into his work, sometimes by getting drunk (with or without) his subject. The general panel consensus was that connecting with your subject, right off the bat, is the most important part of getting a good interview.

Whether you like or dislike a subject, ethically you are responsible for your presentation of that person. In considering ethics, Richard Glover commented that he felt paying for an interview was “wrong and perverts the story”. In Glover’s opinion, a good interviewer needs to use “a measure of empathy” however, if it’s too empathetic “it isn’t fair to the subject or your audience.” He advised stepping back and remembering to see the questions that are at the forefront of people’s minds.

Ben Naparstek read this famous quote from journalist Janet Malcolm, “Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on people’s vanity, ignorance, or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse.” Naparstek then asked the panel for their thoughts.

“If I thought all I did was go around betraying people, I couldn’t do it,” said Anna Broinowski. She did say however, that she continues to be amazed at the way people will behave for the camera. “The camera coaxes out the most extraordinary things. It’s like they’re saying ‘thankyou lens, thankyou for letting me confess.’”

Richard Glover thinks of his interviewees as “allies” in the presentation of something engaging for listeners. However, he does acknowledge that there is a certain element of charm required to convince some potential interviewees. To do this, Glover and his producers say ‘just’. “We’d just like to have a quick chat. I just wanted to ask one quick question. Could you spare just two minutes?” Glover also tries to put interviewees at ease before going on-air by kneeling down beside them in the waiting room or sitting on the floor for a quick debrief before they come into the studio.

Mark Dapin often finds himself in the position of interviewing someone with something to sell, “they want to talk about their new CD, I want to know if they were beaten by their father,” he said. One interesting thing Dapin has found is that compliments can go a long way in writing, “one compliment about their physical appearance in 3000 words of criticism about their politics, and the compliment is what they take away!”

Naparstek concluded by asking the panel whether over researching was trap for them.

Mark Dapin candidly admitted to never preparing for an interview or researching his subjects, in contrast to Anna Broinowski who believes you should “know as much as you can about your subject.” However, Broinowski does think that “over-interviewing before you roll the cameras is dangerous.” She believes the aim of the pre-interview is to find the “trigger points” which will get a camera-worthy response. “You are a director and you want to coach a great performance,” she said, “not exhaust the emotion beforehand.” Asked when the best time to stop an interview is, Broinowski replied “when they walk out!”

“I start from the position that everyone is an ego-maniac,’” explained Richard Glover. Glover said he often plays something which might trigger a personal memory in his audience, as a way of linking their experiences to the interview and involving his listeners. Glover said that humour can work well to catch well-rehearsed interviewees off guard, He recommended Jonathan Ross as an example of a great interviewer who never suffers from “the dreaded clipboard-itis”, a condition in which an interviewer buries his/her head in pre-written questions and does not pick up on their interviewee’s answers.

So, find someone insane or obsessed, roll the camera, dump the clipboard, turn on the charm and just ask a couple of quick questions.

And don’t forget you can have a FREE phone coaching session with me just by emailing me at email@conductknockoutbroadcastinterviews.com.  Anything you want to talk about regarding talk show hosting is OK, and interviewing skills is my favorite subject.

Consider this.  When you buy a new device such as an Ipad,  some people are going to be hired and some people are going to be fired.  Apple will be hiring, and the device you replace will be firing.  Why is this?  Well the Ipad people are more up to date and the others are not.  If you are  not up to date, you will be fired.  You need to look at what the people getting hired have that the people being fired did not and gain these skills.  This applies to talk show hosts as well.  If you are not up to date on technology, current events, media and so on, you are putting yourself on the “fire” list.

So if you want to stay up to date go to: http://conductknockoutbroadcastinterviews.com/ and sign up for:

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If you can interview, you can create information products with the same techniques.  And make some nice money in the process.

My friend Fred Gleeck, wrote this  at http://www.fredgleeck.com/blog/ about how to do it:

Information Marketing Audio Interview Products

There are a LOT of people selling information products who produce audio interviews and sell them. LOTS of them. Even those that come from some of the bigger names in the field are often less than high quality.

Why?

Quite simply because creating GOOD audio products isn’t easy to do. Here are some things I suggest you make sure and have in place to produce TOP NOTCH audio interview products.

1. Make sure that you have a GREAT interviewer. Unless the HOST of your audio program is good, you won’t be able to pull it off. Can anyone LEARN to do this? Yes, but some better than others. Take a look at my program ExpertInterviewer.com to get an idea about how to perfect your skills as an interviewer.

2. Makes sure that you have a GREAT guest. This may sound fairly obvious, BUT, just because you’re interviewing someone who is an expert in their field, they may not be a very good guest. Spend some time talking with people on the phone before you invite them to be a guest and create an audio product.

3. Your guest must truly know their content. A lot of people you’ll find that you want to interview may have DONE something well, but they don’t know HOW or WHY the succeeded. This will be NO help to people listening if all they hear about is how much money your subject has made, but he or she provides no real content about the process.

4. Your guest must know how to teach. There are people who know their content and then lack the skills to be able to show others how to implement what they have done. I’d also exclude these folks from your audio interview list.

5. As the interviewer, YOU must construct, with your guest’s help, a great outline. Without a great outline BEFORE the interview, your chances for creating a great audio program as an information marketer are virtually nil.

6. As part of your outline you need to create a COMPLETE blueprint of the process you’re describing. So many of the audio programs I review leave things out. The net result is frustration for the listener. They’ve in fact been given ALMOST all of the pieces of the “story” but not quite. Often this is done to try and coerce them into buying the NEXT audio product you sell. BAD IDEA.

7. Additional resources should be provided for further study. When someone is done listening to YOUR audio program, they should know who to go for next. Someone who has an interest in your topic, probably won’t ONLY use YOU as their resource. They will look for other “experts” in the field. Why not introduce them to those folks who you believe are the RIGHT people?

8. Content trumps production quality. Every time! I am amused by how some people, particularly speakers, spend a great deal of time worrying about the editing of an audio program. My line at every seminar or speech I give is always: “people will ALWAYS forgive poor production quality, they will NEVER forgive poor content.” This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care about production quality, but don’t obsess about it!

9. Audio interviews should be as long as they need to be. No longer, no shorter. I’ve had people ask me how long an audio interview should be. The answer is IT DEPENDS! It depends on how long it takes you to fully cover the subject matter so that your listener will know exactly what to do next. You’re done when you’ve completed that task. However long it takes.

10. Don’t leave out the basics. Don’t feel that you’re insulting people to start at the very beginning of any topic. Those who already know the elementary parts will listen and pat themselves on the back while they glide through those parts. Make your audio program something that ANYONE can learn from.

If you want to really master your interview technique go to http://conductknockoutbroadcastinterviews.com/ it is just what you are looking for.

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So Dr. Laura used the “N” word on air, it went out without being deleted and now we have her ending her career because of it.  Of course the “N” word is wrong, but the lesson for us as talk show hosts is that we need someone watching over us when we are on air.  Do you have someone watching the delay button?  Well even if you don’t have a staff to watch you on air, you must have a way to pull content before it goes out.  Do not ever record live without this.  Make copies of your shows and edit them before they go live.  Dr. Laura is not the first person to have this happen to and she won’t be the last, but let’s not have that person be you.  Find a way to monitor your shows before they go out.  Your career depends on it.

While we are thinking of your talk show host career, why don’t you go to http://conductknockoutbroadcastinterviews.com/ and sign up for

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As a talk show host coach here is something I can’t stress enough. After you have booked your upcoming guest for your talk show, there are a few basics you should cover with the guest.

.Make sure the guest knows where the interview will be, the date and time, and also how long the interview will be.

.Make sure the guest knows the name of the show, your name, the type of show it is, the topic being covered and what you are looking for from the guest.

.Instill in the guest the need to be on time and prepared for the interview.  Make sure they know what material they have to bring, etc.

.Make sure the guest knows the audience and is able to “talk the language of the audience”.

.Make sure you both have complete contact information and have back up contacts for both you and the guest.

.Remind the guest of any dos and don’t s  regarding their performance on the show, such as excessive plugs, etc.

If you enjoyed these tips, you are serious about your talk show career, so go to http://conductknockoutbroadcastinterviews.com/ and sign up for

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As A talk show host coach I know recruiting guests is always an issue and we never know what the prospective guest is thinking.  Here is an article courtesy of http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com in which talks about how William Shatner got one of the DC snipers to be an interviewee.  Two things worked, first he asked, secondly his name carried some weight.  I think you will find it interesting:

How Did William Shatner Interview a D.C. Sniper? He Asked.

LOS ANGELES — In an interview to  be televised Thursday night, one of the D.C. snipers, Lee Boyd Malvo, said he and the other convicted gunman, John Muhammad, had co-conspirators.

“There were supposed to be three to four snipers with silenced weapons,” he told William Shatner in a phone interview from prison.

Wait. William Shatner?

Yes, it was Mr. Shatner, the “Star Trek” actor and Priceline negotiator, who interviewed Mr. Malvo and found out that the snipers claim to have committed dozens of other shootings, some with co-conspirators.

“It was the most electrifying 20 minutes I’ve ever spent on the phone,” Mr. Shatner said in an interview Thursday.

The interview was conducted for “Aftermath,” Mr. Shatner’s new series on the Biography Channel. The series, which Mr. Shatner said he conceived and sold to the channel, is about the human leftovers of the 24/7 news cycle.

“We leap from one event to the next, expecting that instant gratification,” he said. “I’m revisiting the events two, three, five, seven years later and seeing what happened to the people involved. What was the effect of that event on their life?”

Seven episodes of “Aftermath” are planned. Other interviewees include Bernard Goetz, Jessica Lynch and Mary Kay Letourneau.

Given the news value of the Malvo interview, A&E, which owns Bio, decided to turn it into a one-hour special that will be shown on A&E Thursday night. It shared the transcript of the telecast with reporters in advance.

“Aftermath” will start on Bio on Monday.

“Whatever the reason is, and I really don’t know why, these people have opened up to me in a way that they haven’t opened up to anybody,” Mr. Shatner said of the interviews. One of the guests likened the
interview to a psychiatric session, he added.

One obvious reason is Mr. Shatner’s celebrity. He said that he didn’t know for sure, but that the show’s bookers — who contacted people like Mr. Malvo and told them of Mr. Shatner’s interest in interviewing them — had indicated that the name recognition helped. Mr. Shatner also hosts a talk show, “Raw Nerve,” on Bio.

Given that the Malvo interview is news, does Mr. Shatner consider the interviews a form of journalism? “If it’s a form of journalism I’d be very proud to carry that banner,” he said.

If you want to bring you interviewing skills  to the next level, go to http://conductknockoutbroadcastinterviews.com/, where you can also sign up for

FREE TO TALK SHOW HOSTS

Special Report: 10 Proven Ways To Increase Your Audience Size In 30 Days … At Zero Cost!

And receive periodic “Insider Tips For Talk Show Hosts” … loaded with techniques you can use to improve your show and make more money. 

Photo courtesy of exposay.com

Here are some links to sites that have job listings in radio, courtesy of about.com.

All Access
AirTalents.com
Variety.com/Radio
BBC World of Jobs
CCNMA Radio Jobs
FMBQ.com
Inside Radio
Journalism Job Bank
Milkman Unlimited - (Canadian)
National Public Radio
New RadioStar
Premiere Radio Network
Radio Online
Radio and Production’s Job Page
SIRIUS Satellite Radio
SportscastingJobs.com
SBE Member Jobs Online
Talkers Magazine
The Radio Magazine - (British)
TVandRadioJobs.com
XM Radio

And don’t forget, you can have a FREE 45 phone coaching session with me, one of the top talk show hosts in the country, with no pressure and no obligation.   Just email me at email@conductknockoutbroadcastinterviews.com.  We can cover anything you want.

photo courtesy of mediajobmarket.com