Performance Growth

There have been many improvements in my progrees in Broadcast Speech.  I feel the biggest improvement is the boost in my confidence on camera.  Other improvements are my awareness and listening to my pronunciation and inflection.  Areas that still need improvement are knowing when and where to emphasize words and have pauses. I still have room to improve my confidence on camera.  

Inflection

Inflection is the raising or lowering of your voice to add emphasis to certain words.  Depending on where the emphasis is effects the meaning of the sentence and what you want to project.  Radio and tv are similar in the way the announcers use inflection with the exception that radio has to add more color to draw a mental picture with their audience.  Listening to radio and watching television I find that most announcers have their own style with some being more dramatic than others and the station the represent has the ultimate say in how far they can go.  For instance, Eric Thomas on WBTV shows more inflection and excitement when he has new or different weather related phenomena.  (ex. new technological equipment, storms, etc.)

Commercial Scripts

Today October 26, in Broadcast Speech, we selected voice-over commercials suited to our voices.  I selected travel and one children-related topic.  I love children and relate to them and thought my voice would reflect my passion and emotions I have for them.  Everyone love's Chuck E. Cheese and I felt this would be a good choice for my voice.

Since I love to travel, I selected commericals relating to travel.  Again, I felt that something I was passionate and knowledgeable of would reflect in my voice.  Also, these commericals for the most part have female voices because we all know, if mom wants to do something, it is usually done.  The old saying, "when mom is happy, we are all  happy" plays into this scenario.  The ad agencies know this and if they can connect with the decision-making female, they have better chances of selling their product. 

Different Radio Genre

I enjoyed our latest Broadcast Speech project.  Everyone picked a different radio station genre to evaluate.  It was very interesting to compare the different announcer's styles.  I selected classical music.  In 2007, Arbitron stated there were only 300 classical radio stations nationwide.  Classical radio station announcers have three requirements which include: have knowledgeable background of the music, know music theory, and know several languages.  The stations play portions of opera and symphony music.  With the low numbers of stations and the length of songs played, I found it difficult to find a sampling of a classical radio announcer.

The project required us to record ourselves as the announcer for the genre we selected.  Everyone did such a great job representing their specific format.  Classical, News, and Gospel station announcers have similar styles.  They have a more authoritative, formal voice with a stereo sound.  Classical announcers have to know more trivia about the composers and how to properly pronounce their names.  The Rock, Oldies, and Country station announcers seem to have a closer connection with their audience by having contests and song requests.  They also can be more creative and have more freedom to ad lib and add color to their announcing.   Everyone represented their genre of music very good and captured the character of the announcer for each.

I prefer the Oldies radio station and dj's over the classical, gospel, and news.  They appear more personable and relaxed.  With my age I can relate to the music.  With new technology, digital is changing the way radio is being broadcast.  The internet has more music, less talk.  Satellite radio opens more stations and offers a broader choice for the listener and more competition for the radio dj.

Interview Listening

Interview listenting is a process that requires work for most people.   In conversations, we get anxious about our thoughts or experiences on the particular topic or even a topic we want to share and want to input. I find that it is an area that I need to stay focused on and continuously improve on.  When in conversation, I am always waiting for a pause and ready to interject my thoughts.  I have found that I am very anxious and when the person I am in conversation with talks slow or has a lot of pauses, I take that opportunity to input my thoughts.  I have three sisters and when we get together we get excited and want to share our stories,  it takes great patience to listen and wait your turn, especially for me.  I tend to be the "talker" too much and have realized this over the last several years.  Now that I am aware of it, I concentrate and actively focus on listening and keeping my mind on the subject of conversation.

The class exercise to sit quietly for one minute and listen to the other classmate talk was difficult for me.  Upon doing this, I realize that I have a need to at least interject a "yes" or "no" feedback or simple comment, just to let the other person know I am tuned in to the conversation.  I wanted to ask questions about the topic of conversation.

Being a detailed person, I am always asking questions and curious about the details of the topic of conversation or other subjects. Listenting is an art and requires me to be actively aware of my conversations and is a constant work in progress.  I have found it makes a more pleasant environment when I listen more and talk less.

Television Commercials vs. Radio Commercials

Television commercials always have background music that intensifies throughout the commercial.  Also television commercials can draw their audience in by offering a lot of emotion and visuals whereas radio must draw a picture in words.  Visuals from television commercials include a lot of graphic overlays that keep your attention.  Depending on the product, the commercial on television can make more of an impact by playing on the emotions of the viewer.  For instance, a chanel perfume commercial was very sensual with romantic music to create an environment that we desire and thus temp you to buy the product.  Another commercial for McDonald's chicken nuggets focused on a group of young people feasting on the nuggets and as one of them was talking the others ate all of the nuggets, and it was a situation most young people could relate to - a fun loving time with humor.  Radio doesn't have the luxury of enticing us with all the visuals.  The commercial on radio was more exaggerated audio with background sound effects and music.

Interviews

Even though I have done many interviews in several of my Broadcasting classes, I still have picked up on many different techniques that will make for a better interview.  After going to a conference last week I realized how much the speaker or the person doing the interview plays a large role in the interest of the audience.  There are many details to consider when either doing an interview or speech.  The way you project your voice and your facial expressions, hand gestures, and especially your tone and dynamics in your voice.  Smiling and responding to your guests' responses makes for a much better interview. 

I experienced different speakers last week at a conference.  The morning started out with dynamic speakers that really kept your attention.  They had a lot of emotion and expressions.  However, that afternoon speakers began like a slow moving train.  The first speaker after lunch had a very soft spoken voice and didn't have the emotions as the morning speakers.  The next speaker was very low key, kind of monotone, and it was very difficult to stay focused, especially after you had just returned from lunch, which is when your body tries to tell you it wants a nap.  That would be a much better time to have a dynamic speaker. 

In public speaking when we were trying to choose our topics for our speeches, we were told not to worry about getting material the audience will be interested in, that there no boring topics, just boring speakers.
This puts it in perspective.  You as the host or speaker have the responsibility to connect with your audience.
I know there are many more opportunites to learn different techniques and I look forward to moving forward and applying these.