People still listen to the radio, and as such you shouldn’t underestimate it as a medium for getting your ideas out to a waiting world.  Nor should you overestimate its importance.

Mostly, people listen while commuting, and as background at work and home.  Your best opportunity for spreading your words is thus during drivetime.  But keep in mind the limitations of the genre.  You’re only holding people’s attention with your voice — and watch out for that semi!

So think of the game as putting all your energy into your voice, all the energy that you would normally expend waving your arms and walking to and fro to catch the attention of the audience.

And you get no Power Point slides.  None. 

Instead of thinking visually, listen to the voice of a DJ that captures your attention.  He or she will use a combination of arresting content and a rich voice.  Here’s how it works:

1.  Sit up straight and breathe.  You can’t produce a good tone slouched in a chair with a little bit of lung power going to work.  Sit up very straight, with your back against the back of the chair, and breath in big lungfulls of air through your gut.  Better yet stand, if that’s possible technically. 

2.  Say something pithy and provocative.  Sound bites are just as important on radio as they are on TV — more so, really.  Figure out what are the few points you want to get across during interview — well beforehand.  Then practice them.  Then, during the interview, get your points in no matter what the question asked.  Do this by ‘bridging’ from an answer to the question to your prepared material.  It’s an art form, doing this well.  If you do it clumsily, you sound like a politician evading the question. 

3.  Allow the host to shine.  If it’s a humorous show, let the host land all the best lines.  If it’s not a humor show, allow the host to land all the best lines.  I once was interviewed on a morning show in Texas, and I managed to get off a couple of jokes on the host.  I enjoyed myself, but the host did not.  It was not a good idea, and I was never invited back. 

Radio can be fun and useful, but you gotta play by the rules of the game.