One of the ongoing tasks of doing a show is…actually putting the show together! I suppose that is quite obvious.
The first step is figuring out what is going to work well within the basis of the show format and what is interesting to your audience. Once that is laid out on the production sheet, which is the roadmap for each show that goes on the air, the trick is keeping the audience with you when you transition from one segment to the next.
This is called, “the hook”. 
You see the radio host(s) are like the fishermen who go out and catch fish. They check their equipment and bait and make sure they have the best of everything. A radio host is not that different. They check their equipment which can include everything from the engineer, topics, data, voice, mood, studio etc….they all need to be in working order. A fisherman can have a good day or a bad day depending upon how the fish are biting.
A radio audience is not that different. How is the audience “biting” that day. You have to consider what the news of the day is. What time your show goes on as to the relevancy of your topic and your audience. They too can run hot or cold.
The ”bait” is the actual topics being discussed on the show, THEN a big key is not to lose your audience during a commercial break. That is the “hook”. What the host says going into a commercial break is literally called the hook so they stay tuned after the break. This takes real talent when you have to say something about the next segment but not really say much…..The hook is the key to consistent live listener numbers and podcasts.
The “catch” is your audience. If they take the bait of a quality show then the hooks used throughout the show will become easier and easier to master. The audience will hang on every word waiting for each segment to come whether it is a guest interview, news or a comedy routine, they will be listening.
How can you tell if things are going well? Monitor your show numbers. How many live listeners do you have? How many downloads or podcasts each week or each month is your show getting? If the numbers are not where you want them to be, don’t be afraid to change the “bait”.
Until next time….
