Every time someone says, “I watched a podcast video” I inwardly smile at the juxtaposition, but then I watched two radio shows last week. I’ve been wondering since whether there is merit in radio stations incorporating regular live show recordings into their frameworks and advertising structures.
I can hear you all saying, “Hang on, I’ve been doing live shows at Harvey Norman since before you were born.”
I know, but I want to distinguish between what I saw last week and a purely sales focused outside broadcast (OB).
On commercial radio’s 100th birthday I watched ABC Radio Sydney do their morning show from the NSW State Library and in the evening WSFM’s Jonesy and Amanda at what was called the Rooty Hill RSL when I was growing up but has now evolved into the Sydney Coliseum Theatre at West HQ. One was going to air live as it happened (ABC) with Jonesy and Amanda doing a show featuring the bits they do every morning, but on stage in front of an enthusiastic and vocal audience.
As soon as I started working in commercial production and traffic I could never just listen to ads without always noticing the details like voice clashes, exceptional production values or a random breath sound where everything else was de-breathed.
The same was true watching ABC Radio Sydney. I was aware of very minor hiccups that listeners would have missed. They were promptly dealt with via excellent staff and organisation, a Plan B and/or great humour. We were all in awe of traffic reporter Alf Paranihi. Robbie Buck had only ever met him twice despite seemingly to their audiences working together every day. He had his mouth hanging open as Alfie used his iPad and phone concurrently to accurately and immediately describe locational incidents without the slightest stumble and also while having to keep vacating his seat for others like the Prime Minister, no less.
Robbie Buck stares in awe at traffic reporter Alf Paranihi. Angela Catterns on the left.
I also admired Sarah Macdonald’s signals to ensure they hit the news on the hour, which she did even with a live band at one stage. She never seemed to be focused on anything other than the guest or panel of guests, and the audience who were also participants at times too. Finally, kudos to the production and sound team who must have been exhausted afterwards but made everything seamless and always felt in control.
A story from Jenny Brockie particularly resonated. Macdonald asked her and Sally Loane about their most terrifying moments on air. Loane talked about her encounter with Puppetry of the Penis, which was very funny and about 1 hour 15 mins in if you want to hear.
Brockie recalled having a guest who froze upon being asked the first question. She was there with no back up plan B and a hanging silence.
I have recurring nightmares of such things.
One day my scheduled guest hung up on me because the 6:45am time was apparently now too early for him. That night I dreamed that the same thing had happened, and I all could do was play Lionel Richie’s Say You, Say Me, on repeat, for the entirely of the rest of my shift.
The very magic of live radio is that we are willing to overlook the stumbles and laugh along with the oopsies because that’s what happens in life, isn’t it?
I loved the ABC show because everything felt remarkably spontaneous. Richard Glover was just as vibrant in real life as I had imagined him through the speakers. The morning was filled with professionals who’ve done this long enough to be able to adapt to any situation.
I went to see Jonesy and Amanda with the similar expectations.
There were all these fun voiceovers in the foyer from the duo telling us to be seated in the theatre by 7pm. 4:30 am flashed and then stayed up on the screen behind the stage, reminding us of their alarm times. Then the show started 15 minutes late!
The audience was getting restless and cat calling by this stage because they know that you can’t be late on air. I’d expected that they would start promptly to keep the illusion that this was a live radio show, albeit being recorded at night.
They started with a funny video and then a sketch that they had scripted that didn’t feel natural at all.
But then they started their breakfast show proper and things felt more and more relaxed as the show went along. It was total chaos bringing an audience member on and off stage every time someone got one of J&A’s seven questions wrong rather than just hanging up on them, but the audience’s contributions were very, very funny.
Jonesy and Amanda’s show was sponsored by an advertiser and only a small portion, the best bits, were replayed the next morning during breakfast.
The evening marked the 18th anniversary of Jonesy and Amanda on WSFM and a big year for the duo who also won Best On Air Team at the ACRAs.
The event is a template for other shows as to whether if you take what you do for an audio audience every weekday and make it a visual and ticketed event, will people come?
I think the answer is mostly no.
It is too expensive to do something like what the ABC did, live, on a regular basis. But I did like the spontaneity, that I wasn’t listening to a shop manager extol the virtues of a certain mattress and that I could take a bathroom break during the news, or get a coffee.
Jonesy and Amanda’s event was more expensive. Doing evening shows, as a breakfast team, would hurt the next day. It didn’t have the magic and flow of the audio Jonesy and Amanda every day and honestly, I would have flicked stations if I’d had the option to, during some weaker segments.
I can imagine Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski doing a program like Conversations for a regular live audience, but I can’t think of a commercial radio show, with its ads, traffic, news and set segments, doing the same.
Unless it’s an OB with the sole purpose of revenue.
