Successful on air presenter Stacey Norman and I have come up with a
quick guide methodology to aid a broadcaster in adopting the correct attitude
towards building, buying into and bringing content to life.

It’s called the A.I.R. methodology.  We had been discussing the changing landscape
of radio in the country and where content was heading with the presenter at the
helm of its success or failure.

I am going to break it down into 3 chronological steps:

A:  Approach;

I:  Ingest;

R:  Relay.

Let’s have closer look.

A:  Approach

The first important step is changing your mind set on how you
approach the concept of content that ultimately holds your shows together.  Gone are the days when you pick up the first
thing you see as a headline on the front page of a newspaper or your Facebook
news feed, and regurgitate it directly to your listeners on air.

It should make your skin crawl to hear a broadcaster
literally read line by line an article of some sort in a link and consider that to be
successfully packaged content for someone listening on the other side of that
speaker.  Believe it or not, this still
happens.  And it happens often.

So your approach needs to change. 

“Approach” your content as a listener would.  Ask yourself the correct questions:

Craft your approach differently to different content, and you
will never run out of ideas.

I: Ingest

The process of “ingesting” brings about the way in which we
consume content to the fore.  Consuming
content has become a fast paced, fickle process that any broadcaster needs to
apply constant focus on.

With the information age in full swing, you have to ask yourself

“Is what I’m doing on air enough to keep (1) my listener’s
attention and (2) compelling enough to keep it?”

An easy rule of thumb is checking your “buy in” to the
content.  In other words, are you even
interested in the content you are putting out on air?  Not only interested, but perhaps, do you

R:  Relay

The final step in the “A.I.R” © presenter’s guide is
“relaying” content.  This is a quick one,
but not so easy to always nail on the head, every time.  Even after accomplishing the first two steps
immaculately, content can always still fail at this crucial final stage.

Why? 

Simple.  You have
forgotten the golden rule of radio.  Talk
TO someone, not AT someone.

This doesn’t only mean watching your conversational tone as
opposed to some robotic hard sell, but remember, being on air is almost exactly
the same as standing in a room full of people or across someone at table having
lunch – conveying information as part of your dialogue.

Accomplishing “buy in” of your content (whether it be as
newsreader, jock, journo etc.)

All of these are essential to relay content in the best
possible way.

Relaying content is executed as simply as possible.  “Keep It Simple Stupid” seems a bit harsh,
but true in all the 3 steps of the “A.I.R” © approach.  Simplicity is the key to effective
communication, and your foundation to creating compelling shows that will have
listeners tuning in over and over again.