Radio Coach

[Jack Bennest]

RADIO

Coaching gives NPR voices of distinction
Wednesday, September 3, 2008 3:17 AM
By Paul Farhi
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON -- David Candow, the man who makes National Public Radio sound like National Public Radio, has some simple advice for anyone who wants to get in front of a microphone: Try to sound like yourself.

Don't try to imitate the worldly sophistication of NPR icon Robert Siegel or the next-door-neighbor chumminess of Susan Stamberg. And forget about trying to echo the likes of quirky hipster host Ira Glass.

Instead, he says, be the "best-prepared you."

Of course, as Candow well knows, "you" still needs some work.

Sounding natural and easygoing on the air can take years of practice -- which is where Candow comes in.

The Canadian-born consultant is one of the most sought-after vocal-training specialists in the English-speaking world, a kind of Henry Higgins to broadcasting's Eliza Doolittles.

During the past two decades, Candow has coached hundreds of broadcasters on how to write for, and speak on, the air.

Candow's most prominent client is NPR, with which he started working in 1995. Almost all of NPR's most prominent voices have been through Candow's training sessions -- and some several times.

His knack for bringing out the most emotive, evocative and distinctive qualities in NPR journalists has earned him guru status in the network's Washington headquarters and an affectionate nickname: "the Host Whisperer."

Candow usually begins his work not by lecturing but by listening, paying close attention not just to what his students say but also to pitch, pace, volume and rhythm.

All of it makes an impression: A little bend in a word, a pause midsentence, even standing or sitting can affect the way someone sounds, he says.

In writing, Candow counsels his clients to write for the ear, not the page. Too often, he says, his clients respect the written word at the expense of the way real humans talk.

He winces, for example, when he hears a host or forecaster tease a weather report by saying, "You're going to get 2 inches of the white stuff tonight."

" 'White stuff'?" the 68-year-old sputters. "It's snow!

"And 'You're going to get'? Where does the weatherman live? He's going to get it, too."

Thus, he advises using words common in conversation and keeping sentences short and declarative. His rule of thumb: Scripts should have no more than one thought per sentence and no more than one sentence per line. Compound sentences are "too hard on the ear."

During a recent two-day training session at NPR headquarters, Candow's lessons began to hit home for Ari Shapiro, a reporter and substitute host on Morning Edition and Talk of the Nation.

After heeding Candow's counsel, Shapiro struck the word blaze from a script he'd written, replacing it with fire. And a reference to "numerous residents" became "a lot of people in town."

Shapiro, 29, said he also took to heart Candow's advice about imagining that he's speaking to a trusted and respected friend on the air, rather than an audience of millions. He has practiced this technique by taping a smiley face to the back of a chair and talking to it.

The exercise encourages what Candow calls a "mouth edit." The idea, Shapiro said, is that "if you say the words differently than you've written them, you should consider changing the script."

Shapiro also made a subtle change in the way he records a story. Now, he said, instead of beginning a recording with a traditional countdown ("3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . ."), he puts himself into a more conversational frame by saying, "Now I'm going to tell you a story."

"I'm getting it," he said, "but I'm not there yet."

[glaherty]

Some very good advice, are you SURE he's really a consultant?

[Mike Cleaver]

But it's pretty basic stuff.
When you learn about radio through the mentoring process as I and most of the mid-last century announcers did, all of this stuff was pointed out and demonstrated for you.
I had great presentation skills and writing teachers at the stations where I worked.
Jack Bews at CKOV taught me news writing basics and that was further enhanced by Bill Skelton at CJOC.
Dale O'Hara at CKXL helped me polish my contemporary news delivery and writing enough to be picked up by CHUM a year later.
There, I learned from the best, including Dick Smyth, Jay Nelson and the dozens of other super-communicators that haunted that building during the '70's.
Writing and presentation skills still are what get you the plum jobs.

[glaherty]

The "now I'm going to tell you a story" thing, I don't know about,
whatever, sounds a little goofy, but Mike is right, most of it should
be picked up in smaller markets from mentors and colleagues and
common sense. Dream On as Aerosmith says, these days.