3 Things Great On-Air Talent Know

#1. Your level of authenticity determines whether you are engaging or not. If you want to form an emotional bond with your audience they need to feel some affinity toward you. In order for someone to like you they first have to get to know you. That means you have to be willing to put your true self forward. The audience can't get to know you if you're trying to be something you’re not. Stop the performance. Stop the acting. Be brave enough to showcase you. Be vulnerable. No one finds a DJ engaging; someone who talks in a moronic way or someone who shares pretend over the top thoughts. People gravitate toward people who are themselves and share their thoughts, hopes and fears openly. People who are naturally genuine and interesting.

#2. Your content selection directly correlates to how relevant you are. You need to be talking about the topics that are of interest to your audience's life. You need to be focused on content that registers with the audience as something they care about (or at least may care about after hearing what you have to say). The better you are at this, the more relevant you are. Relevance is a key component in your success. If the audience can't find any shared interests with you then they aren't going to listen. They'll hit the button quicker than... oh wait they have already gone. Shows and personalities that focus on creating content that is of direct interest to their audience and reflective of the audience's lives will always win.

#3. Being smart and interesting is as important as being funny. No doubt that audiences want to have a good time. Your role, especially in personality shows, is to create a fun atmosphere that people want to spent time with. And yes, “making me laugh” remains a highly important attribute for personality shows to deliver but, audiences also want to find you interesting. In fact, they must. Audiences want you to say something that is smart or thought provoking. They want to hear you articulate a well thought out stance on a subject of interest. The point is, being funny can be easy (and trying to be funny is cheap) but audiences want to be surrounded by people who are clever, because being captivated by intelligent thought is compelling. If you can be smart, interesting and funny you’ll be a dominant force.

No matter who you work for, on what format you work or in what daypart, these 3 things will help you connect with audiences in a more deep and profound way.