RUSH: Chris in Utica, New York. Hello, sir. Welcome to the EIB Network.
CALLER: Hi. Thanks for taking my call, Rush.
RUSH: You bet.
CALLER: I was hoping for a little bit of advice.
RUSH: For what?
CALLER: Well, tonight I’m going to be hosting a radio show on my college campus, and I was hoping that, since you excel in broadcasting, you could give me a few tips.
RUSH: Well, what are you going to talk about?
CALLER: Well, I’m doing straight news for the first half hour, and then we’re going to have a bit of a debate, me and a liberal. We’re going to debate unions.
RUSH: Going to debate unions. Is there anything exciting happening in state news? How long is your show?
CALLER: It’s only an hour.
RUSH: It’s an hour. So half of it is going to be devoted to state news? Is there anything exciting in state news, or do you have to do this because whoever your boss is requiring it be done?
CALLER: Yes. I work with another guy, and this is gonna be my first night. He has it set up so that we do straight news for a couple of —
RUSH: Oh, wait. Are you saying straight news? Oh! Oh, okay. I was saying, “If you’re going to do state news, nobody is going to listen.” I’m sorry. You’re going to do straight news?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Okay. Is it going to be news you care about?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Are you going to be able to comment on the news, or are you just going to be like an unopinionated presenter of news?
CALLER: For the first half hour I have to be unopinionated.
RUSH: You’re not allowed to be opinionated in the first half hour?
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: Well, that will be good training because that’s practically impossible. If you’re a thinking, indulged, engaged human being, it’s impossible not to have an opinion about what you’re talking about. You know, raise your eyebrow. I know it’s radio, but raise your eyebrow. Maybe pause now and then to convey your opinion in this. There’s any number of tricks. You can watch Charles Gibson and learn how to do it. Peter Jennings was great at it. Katie Couric doesn’t have to, she’s just blatant. But look, if this is your first show, you’re going to have some nerves. You’ve never done this before?
CALLER: No.
RUSH: All right, you’re going to have some nerves, and you’re going to be worried about a number of extraneous things. The thing that I would first advise you to do is be as informed on whatever the subject matter of the program is as possible, because that is where you get your confidence.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Be as informed on it as you can and then project your voice with confidence. Don’t just speak in a normal monotone, but really project it and sound authoritative like you are the world’s last and only authority.
RUSH: I figure that now that I’ve been on 800 radio stations right now —
RUSH: Yeah, 800 or so according to others. Yes.
CALLER: Yeah, it should be pretty easy going on just one tonight.
RUSH: Yeah, it’s true, because I’ve been a caller, and I know what it’s like. You’re sitting out there and you’re on hold and sometimes you’re on hold for minutes, or sometimes close to an hour, and the screener comes and tell you, ?You’re next!? and then you start getting nervous and so forth, and then the host goes to you, and you try not to clam up and forget what you were going to say and so forth. That’s why it’s crucial to be passionate and be informed about what you’re saying and those two things should carry you. I’m not going to get into actual broadcast techniques because those are things that you’ll learn as you go along.
CALLER: Okay. Well, thank you very much, Rush.
RUSH: All right: confidence, projection and passion.
CALLER: Awesome.
RUSH: And, of course, being informed. You can’t replace that.
CALLER: Definitely.
RUSH: I’m happy to help out there Chris.