Maria Hanlon hosts The Voices Breakfast Show on Voices Radio and also works at BBC Introducing in London. She’s interviewed the likes of Jamz Supernova, Melle Brown and Martha and has put together a guide of tips and tricks she’s learnt along the way on how to structure a radio show…
NAIL THE INTRODUCTION
A good starting point is the introduction of your radio show. Here are the things I like to cover in my initial introduction on air.
- Introduce yourself/your show
- How long you’re on air for
- What you have coming up eg, music, interview, guest mix
- Social links to get in touch
INCLUDE FEATURES
You might want to have a special show feature, for example on BBC Introducing in London we have a Featured Artist interview (a three minute self contained interview with an artist) an Intro Mix (a 10 minute mix of a producer’s own productions) and usually some live music from a previous performance we curated.
Another example of a feature is my Show Spotlight on The Voices Breakfast Show. Before every show I ask someone else on the station to send me a voice note about their show, what people can expect, what music they play, when their show is on air and I ask them to pick a song they love listening to in the morning. I then edit the voicenote and song together to play out in my show. I also have an interview and a guest mix, so three features in total spread out every half an hour throughout my show.
Have a think about what features could fit well within your show. A few examples below:
- An interview
- A guest mix
- A voice note
- A stand out song eg. ‘Track of the week’
- Live callers
- Quizzes/games
PREP YOUR MUSIC
If you want to host a music-focused show you’ll need to prep some notes ahead of the show such as:
- Info about the artist – where they’re from, how many releases do they have, is this their debut release?
- What you love about the track, why did you pick it for the show?
- How did you discover them/come across their music?
- Info about the label
- When they’re DJing/performing next
PICK YOUR STATION
If you’ve got an amazing idea for a radio show but you’re not sure which station to pitch it to, think about the type of music you play, your presenting style and which stations you listen to as that should help you decide.
A few London based stations that often take on new shows and are an amazing place to start or develop a career in radio:
KNOW THE TYPES OF RADIO
Most of the stations I listed above are community radio stations, community radio differs from commercial radio. The simplest summary is that commercial radio is usually broadcast to a wider audience whereas community radio, as the name suggests, is more community-focused.
There are also music-specialist shows which focus more on the music rather than drive-time personality shows which often focus more on the presenter. Decide what sort of show you want to host as that will help you decide on what structure would work best.
My Voices show is music focused, so my guest is always a DJ/producer/artist and I chat about each track I play, however that might not be your focus or passion so have a think about what is.
LISTEN BACK
The best way to improve is to listen back to your shows and consider:
- What you liked about the show & what you didn’t
- What worked well & what you could change
- How your show segments sounded
- Ask for feedback from others
- Listen to other radio shows for inspiration
POST SHOW TIPS
You’ve done the prep, nailed the show structure and had a blast on air, now you need to make sure as many people can listen back to the show as possible.
Remember to:
- Get a picture of yourself/your guest
- Film some clips from the show
- Share the link to the show
- Post the tracklist and tag the artists you played
FINAL THOUGHTS
I hope this guide has been helpful and has given you some pointers on how to structure a radio show. Remember, there is not always one correct radio show structure, see what works best for you, have fun and be yourself on air!
Words: Maria Hanlon @mariahanlon Listen to The Voices Breakfast Show with Maria Hanlon on the 1st & 3rd Friday of the month 9-11am on voicesradio.co.uk.
