Content by Anthony Dockrill

It should be a given that radio is all about talent.

I’ve written before that your goal in audio is to connect with your listener, and while that is the key, it’s also a bit like saying the goal of running a good restaurant is making food that people enjoy. So let’s dig a bit deeper.

What is talent, and how do you make lightning strike twice?

Radio is a conversation, but it’s strictly speaking only happening in one direction. That doesn’t mean the listener isn’t contributing – their contribution is largely invisible to everyone but the host, if they’re doing their job well. A good radio host leaves space for their listener to contribute and rides the conversation that makes connection possible. And a good radio host and a good duo make for different connections.

To get a better understanding of what I’m talking about, let’s think about the kinds of conversations we have in real life. We have deep and meaningful conversations with our best friend or a family member, but we have our best fun when we’re with our friends – and when I say friends, I mean plural. So it’s no accident that duos are where the magic happens in radio.

Imagine you’re driving your car and in the passenger seats are two people you wish were friends, but you know what – they kind of are.

Radio has long known about the power of duos, and of course some of the legends of the industry can be found in duos. Hamish and Andy, Wil Anderson and Adam Spencer, Kyle and Jackie O, and Jonesy and Amanda are some of the names that people think of, and it’s not just FM where they dominate. Robbie Buck and Wendy Harmer were a force on AM for many years.

So if duos are the holy grail of radio, why don’t we see more of them on our airwaves?

I think for two reasons. Duos are a bit like striking gold – it’s rare and you have to dig. But unlike gold, duos are made, and it’s hard work and often it doesn’t work out. I would also argue the way the radio industry sources talent is also a drag on great duos coming through because duos take time to develop and find their voice. Kyle and Jackie O didn’t happen overnight, and Hamish and Andy developed in the community sector. Duos nowadays don’t have the same luxury of time, and it shows.

If you look at the names I mentioned above, there is one quality they all have, and that is a certain chemistry, and this chemistry flows from a tension in the relationship. These two people are not two peas in a pod – there are distinct differences that are in opposition on some level. The black art of duos is also why when two personalities are put together on air, it can so often be a dud or just not compelling.

All duos are, on some level, a version of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. And I’m not just talking about the straight guy and the comedian, but a pairing that makes total sense unless you look at it closely. This quality is also why duos can implode or break up as they themselves are dealing with this tension every day when they go to work.

This undefinable quality is why it’s hard to develop great duos and why the industry has in some places given up and gone for the cage model, where you just throw people together and hope it sticks. But if you had to pick a car journey and your options were two brilliant people or four people trying to get a word in, which would you pick?

Anthony Dockrill is a Digital Producer at Pod Jam and the former Program Director of 2SER FM Sydney.