I’ve been cleaning my house in preparation for my move back to the US. Sifting through a ton of stuff is no easy feat both physically and emotionally but my goal is to squeeze my life into suitcases and boxes.
Being a packrat has its pros and cons. For the former, I have so many things of sentimental value; for the latter, I have so many things of sentimental value. The challenge is figuring out what I really need versus what I want to keep. My mantra is “be brutal about purging oneself of what is not necessary”. So while I’ve been separating my life into piles labelled “Keep”, “Donate”, “Discard”, I found more lessons learned from my time in radio.
These were put together by our Programming Director in NU107 in 1995, Claire Miranda. As soon as my life is more in order and the dust has settled, I’ll scan old pics and post either on my flickr or here. Until then, you’ll just have to Google these former bosses of mine that I keep mentioning.
I’ll have you know that the paper these notes were printed on was recycled newsprint and it’s even more yellow from age. I’m being very gentle for fear of disintegration! Will have to wrap these in plastic for posterity. Hope you learn something from these as much as I did! Thanks, Claire. You rock.
Components of an Adlib:
1. Healthy and relaxed vocal mechanism;
2. Absence of distracting impediments, regionalisms, etc.;
3. Natural, genuine sounding delivery.
Style:
Sophisticated; authoritative; knowledgeable; aggressive; sincere; fun/friendly. (I shifted between styles depending on what I was talking about. I always enjoyed being a chameleon. And it’s a good way to showcase ones versatility.)
1. Imitate communicators who have style elements you admire. Do this during practice sessions before trying it on air.
2. Analyze whose styles are successful.
3. Do regular airchecks. Play up your strengths/evaluate your weaknesses as you appear to the audience.
4. Experiment. If it works in practice, add it to your boardwork. If not, don’t.
Adlib Procedures:
Step 1: Be conversant and informed in a variety of topics.
Step 2: Quick encapsulation and rehearsal.
Adlibbing is doing naturally what is not natural – speaking in coherent, well-thought out phrases:
1. Think of what you want to say. Sum it up.
2. Break into coherent, short, and simple thoughts and phrases. Mentally edit what you want to say. This avoids rambling.
3. Keep it short.
Less is always better when it means the diference between a coherent adlib and rambling. (This is a common mistake for every newbie. I used to talk circles when I started out in 1989. But because of people who took me under their wing and believed in me and taught me how to be better, I did improve. Co-hosting a morning show though allowed for me to break the rules and apply them in a different way, which I’ll talk about in another post.)
Appropriateness of an Adlib:
There are two reasons for wanting to adlib – to say something; and to hear yourself talk.
Why say something? To entertain; to touch on common experiences that mean something to listeners.
Adlib flowing:
Practice eliminating pauses and interjections like uhms and aahhhs. They make you sound like you’re collecting your thoughts. And possibly just a nervous habit. (A verbal crutch is similar. These are words or phrases that you mentally return to and say, “Time on the clock says…”; etc. Remove and go straight to the point.)
Again, less is more.
I’ll post more of my announcing notes from our NU107 Staff Meetings as soon as possible.
Lesson: Find someone to mentor you. Learn how to listen with a critical ear to find out if the talent you are listening to is putting effort into their adlibs or merely rambling. Aircheck, aircheck, aircheck and then critique yourself. Ask for someone you respect to give you their opinion.
