Words are all I have
Here’s an example of where we have to be very careful in radio. I love the fact that radio performs for the ear and we have to think about painting the pictures with our words so you can supply them for yourself, via your imagination.
So here was one of my challenges this morning.
John Stewart has died. This is not Jon Stewart, the host of The Daily Show and the Jon Stewart whose identity would likely first come to mind if we simply said, “John Stewart has died.”
So instead, I chose to say, singer-songwriter John Stewart has died. At least that would give a listener’s brain a fighting chance to think, hmm, does the Jon Stewart I know and love write songs?
The end of the first sentence also referred to Stewart’s folk hero status in the 1960s.
Hopefully that would also help separate the two men in the mind of a listener.
But you know that someone somewhere on radio is simply saying, “John Stewart has died” and striking fear in the hearts of fake news fans everywhere!
That’s why we like to think we are different than the other news outlets. Because we try to anticipate what it’s like to be you, while we do what we do for you.