Give your listeners a voice
Putting callers to air for a talk radio segment can add a lot of interest to your station’s output, but how to do it?
While there are numerous ways to do this, bear with, as there are some legal implications you need to be aware of.
An unruly caller can shout out obscenities that may offend listeners, or make claims about people and products that are not true – that could put the station and presenter at risk of legal action. And believe me, once letters from lawyers start arriving it’s not only stressful, it can be but costly.
Ideally, presenters handling calls from members of the public are journalists or understand media law so they can keep callers in check and ensure balance and good standards are maintained.
Among my golden rules are that callers can only talk about issues and can’t criticise people who can’t immediately respond.
Ideally you will record all phone-ins, catalogue them for easy retrieval, and hang on to them for three years minimum – just in case someone complains down the track.
Pro stations will have a delay on their output, perhaps 10 seconds. That means that what listeners hear happened 10 seconds ago. This delay gives presenters a chance to ‘dump’ a caller before their offensive comment goes to air.
Ideally callers can be vetted before they are put to air.
Ok, that said; how does one put a caller to air? Here are a few budget options…
- Call in Studio is one of a number of cloud-based web-based options for stacking callers. Free trial, not pretty, but works.
- Modern digital mixers such as those from Rode and Mackie (owned by Rode) feature Bluetooth connectivity for your mobile phone (one call at a time though…).
- Google Voice. Get a dedicated phone number for use on a smartphone or desktop.
- FeenPhone A fully duplex (free and dated) option.
- You can use a standard phone line, but typically the audio quality won’t match the digital options above. You’ll need a gadget to connect the phone to your mixer. One of the better solutions is AudioTX which converts a standard landline into a higher quality ISDN line, or search for a JK Audio Inline Patch on eBay.
OK – a bundle of deas to help you put callers to air. Any other ideas are welcome, so do let me know.