7th Difference: Broadcasting Style
The way an announcer presents his show, is called broadcasting style. This ON AIR style is primarily influenced by lots of factors, for example:
- personality,
- characteristics,
- segmentation
- and many others.
Personality plays an important role in creating this style. A serious person is good in delivering news, hard news, documentary, etc. While a comedic person is more suitable in presenting life style, light or human -interest program, entertainment program even talk show which has more entertaining elements rather than hard news elements (politics, economics, finance, international affairs, etc).
Characteristics, on the other hand, relate more to a distinct quality that a person has as a public speaker. He or she might have a huge sense of humor that can tell jokes instantly, or he has the wit in asking the right questions people want to hear, or characteristics refer to ability of an announcer to tell stories in a fantastic way and it could also refer to the ability of a person to empathize in an interview. All of these will influence how a person broadcasts his message on radio or podcast channel.
Moreover, broadcasting style is also influenced by the segmentation of a radio station. The target audience chosen by management will influence how an announcer speaks in front of microphone. A radio station for youth will have announcers with young, dynamic style and funny, while a radio station for professionals will of course have announcers who are mature, more serious and smart rather than funny. So, the positioning and segmentation of a station will direct the broadcasting style of its announcers.
On the contrary to radio broadcasting style, a podcaster style is affected by the talent, skills, knowledge and passion of the podcaster himself. Other people (or management) cannot direct the podcaster’s style. Just like a musician has his own music genre, so has a podcaster. He or she delivers contents that are interesting for them, for example, a podcaster specializes on music, fashion, films, culture, automotive, gaming, parenting, gender, yoga, dance, food, cooking, et cetera. Because of podcaster’s talent, skill, knowledge & passion, he or she can create rich content on the subject and as a result he attracts lots of listeners. A podcast can even be downloaded for later use or reference.
Again, the style of podcaster is very much influenced by his:
- talent,
- skill,
- knowledge and
- passion.
It is different from radio broadcaster’s style which is quite influenced by the positioning and segmentation of the radio station.
Aurellya Belinda interviewed Felicia
Felicia from music department of UPH has a dream of having a music school where she can influence next generation on the love of music. When you listen to her performance on the minute 30th of this recording, she sang an Indonesian song with a very “storyteller” style. I am writing about broadcasting style in this 7th volume and I guess you might find that each artist or musician also possesses her own style or characteristics. Be it a broadcaster, podcaster, singer or song writer, we all have a message to be delivered; we have content to be conveyed. The way we deliver or the channel we use may vary, it even evolves from time to time.
https://anchor.fm/aurellya-belinda/episodes/Pada-akhirnya-kita-akan-sampai-ke-tujuan-kita-keepcalm-emj7ck To listen to Felicia’s performance, tune into minute 30th .
8th Difference: Broadcast Show
Another aspect that differentiates podcast from radio is called broadcast show. A broadcast show consisted of the audio file type and the channel or medium.
We must understand that a podcast show must be recorded prior before one can upload it. While radio broadcast can be transmitted as live show or as a recorded show. Both show types are available for radio but not for podcast. A podcast must be recorded priorly.
Frequently, after one recording it, the file goes to editing phase before uploading it.
In a radio station, one can do a live show as well as recorded one.
Secondly, another difference is the channel or the medium itself. A podcast transmits its content through a computer or mobile application. Therefore, the podcaster transmits message through audio files format (mp3, wav, etc). There is even a special feature for listener to download a podcast content.
This is different from a radio broadcast. The radio show transmits the message through FM channel. We are all familiar with FM channel device that are available in cars or in our homes. This type of broadcast show is actually categorized as traditional media. Radio as we know it now, has evolved to survive in the new media era. Besides the FM channel, we can tune in to a radio via website, social media (YouTube, Facebook) and mobile apps. With YouTube and Facebook now, we can even have visuals of a radio (we can watch the radio shows). So, the new media technology, enables radio shows to refashion its channel/ medium in order to reach wider audience. It is totally different with podcast where you cannot retrieve it from FM channel.
*Carly Scheffer is a guest-author on Harry’s Head. You can expect more from her the next few weeks.
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