Conduct Knockout Broadcast Interviews

A recent post on sheunlimited.com carried this information about Jessica Simpson keeping an interviewer waiting for 11 hours:

Jessica Simpson was allegedly 11 hours late for a promotional interview

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The actress was due to speak to Lara Spencer of America’s ‘The Insider’ show at 10am.
However, Jessica didn’t arrive until 9pm, leaving Laura - who had flown to Louisiana, where Jessica is currently filming new movie ‘Major Movie Star’, to conduct the interview - waiting for 11 hours.

Jessica’s spokesperson blamed the wait on miscommunication, saying: “Jessica did the interview as soon as she was free from shooting.”Now I think Lara Spencer deserves a special kind of reward for dealing with this and I am sure others would like to give Ms. Simpson a very different kind of reward, but this situation makes for an interesting discussion.  How do we deal with guests that are late for the interview?

Certainly prevention is the best medicine here.  Keeping in contact with the guest prior to the interview will head off many of these situations or give you more options to deal with the situation.

Speaking of options, here is one I really recommend and that is to have a back up show and/or back up guests ready at all times, so you do not lose the show in the event the guest is so late, deadlines are missed. Being in a siutation in which you absolutely must do that show with that guest is something to avoid at all costs if you can.

I recommend you set up a plan in advance of the show, that gives a time line for what do if the guest is late by how much time.  If the guest is 15 min late you will do this, if the guest is 1 hour late you will do that.

I invite you to share your techniques for dealing with late guests, so I hope to hear from you.  In the meantime, set your watches and get out there.

Every aspect of the interview process should be designed to appeal to the target audience of the show you are doing the interview for.  You need to spend a great deal of time studying what your target audience is interested in. What do they like, who do they like, what do they want to know, what do they care about, what is their passion? This is a very difficult process because chances are, you are not at all like you target audience in terms of your personal interests, so you cannot use your own tastes when making any decision regarding interview subjects, guests, etc.  Know the demographics and psychographics of your target audience.  By keeping a tightly targeted show, you will also make it easier for the Sales Department to sell time on your show, and the Program Director will be able to keep the show on target for its audience slot.  . Do you have any information as to what your target audience wants to learn? New information is generally always better than information that the audience already knows, but perhaps you can put a different spin on the old information.  And lets face it, sometimes the audience is happy just watching or listening to the guest, no matter what they say, particularly in the case of entertainment type shows.

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If you have shows that are similar or compete with your show, study the ratings of shows that had guests you are considering interviewing.  This can lead you to the guest, type of guest or topic your target audience is interested in.  And of course do this same research into your own shows. 

 

Perhaps you would like to share some of the ways you determine who your target audience is interested in?

I think Howard Stern is one of the best interviewers working today. Say what you want about his content and style, Howard delivers interviews time after time that his audience loves. 

Many people say they won’t listen to Mr. Stern because of his content or style and I understand that.  That said, I believe that if you are serious about learning how to conduct interviews better, you need to expose yourself to a variety of different styles, particularly those that are proven successes.  

Now what makes Howard Stern a successful interviewer in my opinion?  As I said before, his listeners are the final judges and the numbers say he has a loyal following, and I infer from that, that they like his interviews as well as the rest of the show.  If you listen to his interviews, he approaches his interviewee head on and asks about subjects that would never be brought up on any other show.  Now most of his guests do not want to talk about the subject he brings up, yet he uses every trick in the book to trip the guest up and get them to talk about the subject they are avoiding.  One of his favorite tricks is to put an answer in the guests mouth that is so terrible, that the guest gives the real answer to show that the guest is not as bad as Howard paints them to be.  And of course the listeners eat this up, it is great drama and suspense.   All of his interviews bring in suspense, drama, comedy, suffering, and of course usually sex.  You might think of it as a soap opera for 12-year-old boys, but people love it and listen and that is what it is all about.

You may not agree with me about Howard Stern being the best, so who do you think is the best interviewer on radio or TV? 

  

I am fascinated with interviews on radio and TV.  I do them myself or my radio and TV show and I teach the subject at a broadcasting school.  In doing research on the subject I discovered there are very few books available on the subject and few of them are current.  This is probably because it is a small niche and not worth pursuing from a money making standpoint.  So I have decided to write a book on the subject that is up to date and covers what people want to learn now. 

 

I have my own ideas about what should be in the book.  I think the book should cover some newer technology that is being used in interviews now.  For instance satellite transmission of the guest from a remote location or studio is shown and the host interviews the guest via the satellite transmission.  Usually the guest cannot see the host and may even have difficulty hearing the host and brings in all kinds of communication issues that need to be dealt with.  So I plan to cover how to deal with a satellite transmission interview. 

 

And what about technology that is out of the mainstream but coming into use?  Videobloggers do interviews, as do Podcasters, each with its own set of special circumstances for conducting interviews.  I want to address them.

 

Then there are things like how to dress, how to act, how to ask questions, what types of questions to ask, qualifications of a good interviewer (physical, mental, etc). The list is endless.

 

But even though I am working hard to make sure I cover everything, I am bound to miss something.  So what do you think a book on broadcast interviewing should cover.

I have found that people that conduct broadcast interviews each have their own style and their own little “bag of tricks” that helps them do the interviews well. 

 

For instance one thing I do that is rarely used by others, is to ask the Floor Director to alter the count down for me.  Instead of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, point.  I have the Floor Director use 5, 4, breathe, 2, 1, point.  See how I inserted breathe in there?  Now for me, that reminds me to inhale just before my shot is coming on. By breathing at that point, my nervousness declines, my voice has more power, and I start off in a much better position.  This trick works on radio or TV and is useful for any type of performance work in which you receive a countdown.  As a far as I know I invented it myself, and I teach it in my class at broadcasting school.  

 

The reason I bring this up is that we probably all have some “trick” that could help others with their interviews.  I’ll bet some people rub a rabbit’s foot just before going on the air, or have worked out special signals with the Floor Director, have a special way of interacting with the guest, etc. Whatever.  Here is your chance to share your special tip with the world.  Can you tell us what you do that helps you to do a better interview that may help others as well?