12

Listener participation

Radio is not a good medium by itself for establishing a genuine two-way contact. Listeners may feel that the broadcaster comes into their home and they may even get the impression that they know an individual presenter. However, this is at best a substitute companionship rather than a genuine personal interaction. The broadcaster/listener relationship – or perhaps that of the station/listener – can be made more real through the broadcaster's ability to allow and encourage listeners to take part in the programme-making activity. This can go much further than the phone-in of the last chapter, for there are many ways of stimulating such involvement, extending its obligations as a public servant. But this should not be undertaken lightly, for it can be expensive in time, money and effort. It therefore requires the backing of a management policy which understands and values additional forms of listener contact.

Letters and e-mails

Programme correspondence incoming to the station may be classified under three general headings: letters intended for use on-air, those requiring a response by e-mail or letter, and that which can be forgotten. It is a matter of station policy whether or not an individual presenter is encouraged to become involved in replying to listeners. It is a time-consuming business and a hard-pressed station may not have the resources to do this. On the other hand, if a programme offers help, particularly for individual personal needs, then as with a phone-in, it must clearly honour its promise by meeting such requests.

On-air use includes music requests and dedications, competition replies or letters and e-mails written directly to a programme ‘letter spot’, i.e. to be read on-air. In general, they either offer advice to the audience at large or ask for help with a personal problem. Material like this can be a useful resource for programme makers – frequently raising questions of interest and making comments of substance, they can easily provide the sole content for a specialist programme. They may be dealt with in a variety of ways:

1   Read by the presenter, who then responds.

2   Read by male/female readers, the programme presenter then responding.

3   Read by the presenter, who then interviews an expert or introduces a discussion on the subject.

4   Letters on similar or related topics grouped together for subsequent response.

5   A letter/e-mail dramatized as a sketch to illustrate the point being made, followed by a response by the presenter, an interviewee or by a discussion.

6   Letter read by the presenter, who without replying opens the discussion to the audience, inviting listeners to respond.

7   E-mails invited as the programme proceeds and used in that context.

The producer of a letter spot may consider the following in arriving at the most appropriate format:

   To maximize listener involvement, several pieces of correspondence can be dealt with in a single spot.

   A long letter may not be read in its entirety but extracts used to reflect accurately what the writer is saying.

   A letter with many questions does not monopolize a spot but is broken up and used in parts, perhaps over several spots.

   To give variety of pace and vocal interest, a spot may use more than one of the response forms listed above.

   Avoid reading out full addresses on the air or giving any information likely to endanger the writer (see pp. 166–8).

People write to radio stations either to get an issue aired publicly or to get an authoritative reply. A letter is not simply programme fodder, but deserves the same level of consideration that its sender gave it. This becomes increasingly important for short-wave or long-distance broadcasters.

Programme follow-up

Mail items not intended for broadcast include requests for listener verification or QSL cards, scripts, programme information and offers, merchandise purchasing, and programme follow-up ranging from specific advice to pastoral and personal counselling. Much of this can be dealt with by means of standard replies – perhaps with some details to be filled in – or by fact-sheets, information booklets and so on. It is the time-consuming one-off reply which poses the genuine problem.

Complaints in particular need special attention. It is tempting for a busy station to disregard them, and it has to be said that many are likely to seem unreasonable, resulting from an extreme or limited point of view. Nevertheless, if broadcasters are not to appear careless over alleged error and offhand with the listener, complaints deserve a prompt but considered response at the appropriate level – programme presenter or producer, programme management or senior management – and if found to be of substance, a correction made. If the matter is serious and the station is genuinely in the wrong, an apology should be broadcast in the same slot as the offending transmission. The listening public deserves the highest standard of communication and, done well, a correction by letter or on-air can enhance a programme's reputation not only for the truth, but in its respect for the audience (see also p. 296).

A larger category, we hope, comprises those items which query or seek clarification over something that has been said – or which wish to debate the issue further. This poses another question – is the broadcaster responsible for questions that a programme may have raised in a listener's mind? A small station may have to ignore such correspondence – it represents a drain on resources without providing any airtime. Besides, presenters may claim that the view of the listener even after a provocatively contentious programme is none of their business and that once the programme is over, the matter is finished. Furthermore, a philosophical, political or theological question raised may be outside their competence to answer.

On the other hand, a station may actively seek to develop the relationship with its listeners through follow-up. This is often best done not by the programme presenters or producer individually, but by a separate group – either a specialist department of the station staff or volunteers closely associated with the programme. Such broadcasting support services are extremely useful for educational and religious programmes in particular, where individual listeners may need direct personal help – perhaps struggling with learning a language, coming to terms with bereavement or coping with unemployment. Members of the replying group will need to be sensitive to any cultural differences that may exist between themselves and their correspondents. They will be selected as people experienced in a specialist field, but they will also rapidly develop their own expertise in this special form of one-to-one ‘distance learning’. A computerized database enables the station to keep track of the correspondence and perhaps to anticipate further enquiries. A final method is to put the listener directly in touch with a suitable college tutor, library, church, self-help group or other agency in his or her own vicinity. Follow-up can then be pursued on a personal basis.

Texting

Stations that encourage text messages by mobile phone in general set out to attract the younger audience. When giving out a special number and code to ring, there may be a programme assistant ready and available to take the messages, and if need be to respond to callers. However, incoming texts can come straight through to the presenter on-screen, like e-mails, for reference on-air – an ideal means of handling brief competition answers.

Helpline

This is a useful item especially in a lengthy sequence – putting people with a specific need in touch with possible sources of help. For a small community station, such links might vary from someone's search for a particular book or ‘lost and found’ information, to a noticeboard of job vacancies. Such requests are normally broadcast without charge but the station generally takes no responsibility for the outcome, a listener responding to an enquiry being put in touch with the originator off-air. In attempting to ensure the safety of this kind of transaction, it is essential that the caller gives their explicit willingness to be put in touch with a third party.

Other forms of help can be along the lines of a ‘bought and sold’ market or exchange, although, again, the station must be sure to take no responsibility for the goods or services on offer. The station is merely supplying information and is in no sense a broker to the transaction.

Action lines or helplines can also be opened after particular programmes – for example, dealing with illness or disability – to provide further information or answer queries from listeners affected by the programme. This has often proved to be a crucial public service adjunct to the programme itself.

Visitors

Casual visitors to the radio station may be persuaded to become broadcasters and take part in a special spot, either live or by recording their comments via a dedicated and available facility, with subsequent editing. Very often they have a special story to tell – a childhood experience, war exploit, marriage encounter or holiday mishap. Like an on-station vox pop, the question to put is: ‘What's the most exciting/amusing/unusual/awful thing that's ever happened to you?

Special involvement

Often, listener participation is sought for a particular purpose. Unlike unsolicited letters and visitors, it is especially asked for and therefore becomes a particular station responsibility with a named producer in charge.

   Run on-air courses with a correspondence element

   Establish a Birthday Club for children

   Set up a network of ‘focus groups’ to discuss and report back on programmes

   Invite programme contributions

   Raise money by asking for donations to a specific cause

   Ask for listeners’ jokes or personal stories

   Run an unfinished drama/story for the listener to complete

   Offer a free telephone number to call for help with specific topics – finance, AIDS, unemployment, marriage/parenting problems

   Competitions, quizzes and games, with prizes or forfeits, etc.

Travelling roadshow

A popular programme takes to the road, broadcasting each time from a different venue, generally ‘live’ in front of an audience. This could be one of the daily sequences such as the drive-time show, a music programme with its regular DJ, or a programme of the ‘Any Questions’ type. Events like this involve non-listeners as well as listeners and therefore with suitable questionnaires can be valuable in finding out why people don't listen to the station.

Even a normally studio-based show may have the occasional OB, using a radio car or other mobile facility visiting its listeners by dropping in on a home discussion group or factory meeting.

Major events

The one-off major public event gives plenty of scope for a station to interact with its audience. These provide opportunities to find out about the likes, dislikes and needs of people, or simply to promote the station, extending its audience in size, reach or quality. This may take the form of a music festival or rock concert – sponsored by the station, perhaps with non-radio co-sponsors. This may be a commercial enterprise at an established venue, charging for admission and broadcasting the performance.

A national or local scriptwriting competition – for story, radio drama, poetry – could be held. Using eminent judges, it attracts public entry and may be sponsored with considerable spin-off publicity and press coverage.

Sponsorship of a music or drama group has a double spin-off, as it generates its own publicity while also creating output for broadcasting.

Another possibility is a radio conference with station management, producers and presenters hosting a question-and-answer session with the public, distributing and collecting questionnaires on listening habits, asking for and discussing ideas for future output, and selling merchandise. These events are probably not broadcast, although the questions and answers may be recorded for transmission to demonstrate public service involvement.

A radio exhibition may be held with the station illustrating its own history, to mark a special event, involving other appropriate organizations, sponsors, equipment manufacturers, perhaps also providing an insight into the future. Held at its own premises, at a public venue or in a prestigious retail store, staff and presenters are on hand to give out publicity, answer questions, sell merchandise and, with a studio facility, produce inserts into station output.

Events such as these, and one must think of many more, involve a station well beyond its normal sphere of influence and resources. They require a great deal of planning and frequently entail considerable upfront capital costs. This is why they need senior management intervention. Nevertheless, for a station that wants to make its mark, to celebrate its anniversary or to contribute to public life in a memorable way, it must look beyond the day-to-day schedule to the long term, discovering how best to raise its profile among the potential, as well as the actual, listenership.