By Paul Hopkins, Director Community Relations, Northern Berkshire Healthcare

As a broadcast journalist and host of a daily radio talk show for eight years, and the host of a weekly healthcare show for 15 years, Paul Hopkins has conducted thousands of on-air interviews.

It’s the rare person who likes to be the target of questions.  Most of the thousands of people I’ve interviewed (politicians excluded) aren’t thrilled at the prospect.  They’re on the spot, a microphone in their face, and afraid they’re going to blow it.  And sometimes that leads to errors.  My advice:

Not too long, not too short:  If the interview is your idea and your goal is to get a sound bite on radio or TV, practice your responses.  Boil your message down to about 10 seconds, and practice saying it – with authority.  Give them something to latch on to; the easier it is to carve that sound bite out of the interview, the more likely it will be used.  That said, not all of your answers should be 10 seconds.

Uhs and ums and how to avoid them. “Um” (and any word like it) is a mental filler.  It’s so common, but can be a real distraction to your listener. You sound unprepared.  What to do?  When you feel an “um” coming on … don’t say anything at all.  Just for that second, pause, and then continue your thought.  As much as you might not want to, listen to a recording of yourself.  You’ll identify what you want to change. (Other offenders are “you know,” “like,” and “basically.”)

Wing it.  Try not to use a written script, because it sounds stilted.  Practice your material with someone else.  Keep a list of bullet points handy but don’t read from them.

Avoid jargon, or at least explain what you mean.  Some reporters and listeners are savvy, but many these days are out of their depth when it comes to the intricacies of modern healthcare.

Make a mistake? Keep moving.  In a live interview, there’s nothing to be done once you mispronounce something or use an awkward sentence structure. It’s out there.  Just correct it and keep going.  Don’t get flustered; most people won’t notice.  (I’ve had callers swear on the air, and as long as we didn’t bring attention to it nobody seemed the wiser.)

Repeat your points.  Especially in radio, with no print or visuals (and certainly no PowerPoint) for your audience to refer to, you should keep coming back to your original point.  As my medieval history professor said: “Tell them what you’re going to tell them; tell them; and then tell them what you’ve told them.”

Use specific examples, or stories, to illustrate your point.  I think of it as the Reader’s Digest approach (RD always starts stories with a personal angle).  An issue becomes much more interesting when real people are attached to it.

And some really basic stuff:
• In a radio interview, get close to the microphone – your voice will sound stronger
• Don’t drum your fingers on the microphone stand – it comes across like, well, drums
• Have a glass of water nearby
• It doesn’t hurt to remember the interviewer’s name and use it once or twice (but not too much)

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