It's time we abandon our fatigued approach to talk radio in the Caribbean, with its open-phones: ever-swirling vortices of ignorance, prejudice and cynicism, with banality at the core. Move away from lazy open-phone shows, avoid "today we'll talk about..." or "our topic for today is..." BANNED. Don't even mention the word 'topic' or 'subject' on air.... From now on the issue/event/personality is actually a question and is posed in the form of a question. It's what any reporter starts with; you could do worse.
Listen also to the talk radio shows I've highlighted.
Web sites: Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2 and LBC 97.3 FM/London.
The concept: POSE QUESTIONS as headlines for a segment as opposed to "next, we talk about diabetes." RATHER: "What would you do if you doctor says you have diabetes?" OR "Are you controlling your diabetes?" OR "Why is Diabetes killing so many Antiguans?" QUESTIONS based around the facts or seeking the truth from guests are provocative and pull listeners in; topic sentences turn listeners off.
Clicking on this PowerPoint presentation
Visit my all-time favourite current affairs shows on radio: and CBC Canada's As it Happens and BBC Radio 4's Today
When Samuel Morse perfected the electric telegraph in 1844, he sent a message using his brand new code of dots and dashes: "What God Hath Wrought". So began the whirlwind of modern telecommunications that has swept continent and island so remorselessly ever since. Too often in these heady days of technological change and complexity I am left staggering with the same plaintive cry, "what God hath wrought". I am not in awe but in woe. I cannot know precisely what Morse's motives were in sending those words. He did not attach a footnote. We can surmise somewhat safely that it was the humble oblation of a God-fearing man to his original inventor, the Man Upstairs. I do wonder, though, if Morse, finger ready at the single key, became at once struck by the likely implications and impact of his machines and the wires that connected them. Just maybe, he peered into the crystal ball and saw an abyss - more messages to stir up a phony war than those to catch a murde...