Should You Do Artist Interviews?

Interviews Can Be Clutter Or Ratings Boosters

One of the questions we keep getting asked is should Urban and Urban AC stations do interviews? Many programmers and consultants say they're a tune-out. Others say they should only be done in the morning show and must be pre-recorded. There are few things that can be either risky or more rewarding than on-air artist interviews.

When properly executed, artist interviews can be entertaining and informative, providing those proverbial "between the songs" elements are set up properly. On the other hand, a poor interview is a surefire way to lose audience. The "music freaks" are the first to flee. Music freaks are the folks who only want to hear their favorite songs over and over. But you can keep these "music freaks" from straying with proper execution. If you tease at :50 and then pay it off at :20, you've got an excellent chance of scoring. E.G. over the intro: "Hot 92 Jamz with an exclusive interview with Mariah Carey, who's finally going to answer the question about the lover in her life ... sometime in the next 30 minutes..."

Unfortunately, there are still plenty of air personalities who were never taught or don't remember the lessons of how to do artist interviews. The result is clutter that can cause your station to go from a P-1 to a P-2 instantly. But there are ways to do artist interviews that can really capture some cume -- and even prevent the "music freaks" from leaving.

Show Prep Is The Key

The most important thing to remember in successful interviews is preparation. You have to prepare ... and you have to prepare the audience. If you know you are going to have an artist on your show tomorrow or sometime that week, you should promo it and get the audience ready for it. Make it an event.

Next is the interview itself: What is the first thing you should do? The first thing is a random stream of consciousness. You should jot down every conceivable subject you'd like to cover. Whatever pops into your head, you jot down an operative or "trigger" word that you can refer back to. After you've come up with every subject you can think of, you get down to specifics. Do your homework like you're studying for a test. Accumulate as much information about the artist as possible. There's a wealth of information from a myriad of sources, especially the Internet.

Make sure to use different types of reference material and double-check your facts. We've found many incorrect facts in reference books as well as other sources. That's because they often plagiarize from each other. You'll find the same mistakes repeated in several places. But you should read up on the artists so that you know more about them than they do about themselves. That allows you to ask some really good questions ... and the artist is always impressed with air personalities who have obviously naïve done their homework.

Unfortunately, there are times when proper preparation simply isn't possible. Such as when the PD, GM or sales manager pops in the middle of your show and announces that so-and-so will be dropping by in an hour. What should you do then? Well, the professional thing to do is respectfully decline. If you feel in your gut that an interview isn't going to be an exciting tune-in for the performer, don't do it. Don't let yourself get sucked into a mess. It doesn't do the performer, the label or the audience any good to hear an unprepared, obviously naïve interviewer stumble through an interview. Besides being an obvious tune-out, it confirms performers' opinions that all jocks are ignorant assholes. If you are given an order and find you have no choice but to do the interview, the only thing you can do then is to keep it as short as possible.

Other Common Interview Errors

Aside from insufficient preparation, the other most common interviewer faux pas probably is talking too long and not allowing the artist enough room to maneuver. It doesn't matter if the interviewer knows the entire catalog, the lyrics and who brought sandwiches to the concert or recording session. The audience wants to hear the artist tell the story. The interviewer's job is to set them up and let them go. By backing off and spotlighting the artist, you actually allow your own style and personality to come through.

The toughest thing for a lot of jocks is subjugating themselves. That's because it's a completely different role than they normally play. Usually when you're on the air, you're the big cheese. But when an artist comes in, the biggest mistake -- and we hear it all the time -- is to continue to do all the talking. Your audience can hear you every day. There's no reason to have an artist there if you do all the talking.

Another part of subjugating yourself is not being afraid to ask a question you already know the answer to. That's often a challenge because after you have done all this research and preparation, you want the artist to respect your knowledge of their career. If you're conducting the interview, you don't want them to think you're just another ignorant dee-jay. So you tend to ask questions and answer them and not leave the artist anything to say.

Another common mistake is asking a question that contains an assumption that hasn't been established as fact. Assuming something that isn't true can set people off. You need to break those into two separate questions. First, verify your assumption is correct and then continue. One of the frustrating things that can happen during an interview is when an artist tells his or her best stories off the air. There's a simple solution to that problem: Avoid talking with artists off the air about subjects that you want to talk about on the air. Talk about sports, weather - anything but what might be pertinent to the program. Because when you try to re-create a conversation you just had off the air, it's never as good.

The Phone Interview

While the interview process is always challenging, speaking with someone when you're not face to face is especially tough. The biggest problem is that you don't know when the artist has finished speaking. When you're with someone in the studio you can read their body language. When artists are outside the studio, you don't always know whether they've finished a thought or are about to continue. Often you collide. That's especially true when there's a satellite delay. You end up with two people talking at once. In that case you should try to let things breathe a little more and make sure they're finished talking. It might not be as tight as you would like it, but at least you won't be tripping over the interviewee.

Occasionally, you get an artist who is a true professional and has been interviewed so many times that they know not to stop and then suddenly tell some story from 10 years ago about some guy or gal they met in a club. It's end of sentence, end of paragraph and on to the next question. You should always try to do interviews in person and be very aware of body language. If the artist is leaning back with his or her arms crossed, that not a good sign. You're not going to get the truth. Always try to maintain eye contact. Let them see you're a fan and are truly interested.

When Things Go Wrong

Finally, no matter how well you prepared and what precautions you've taken, an interview can go sour because an artist is either uncommunicative or downright hostile. Then it's up to you to carry more of the show, force a little more of your personality on the air and fill in the blanks for that artist. On those rare occasions where you have to deal with an artist who is a jerk, your first feeling is to let the artist expose themselves for who they are. The listeners know or can often sense when someone's being a jerk and when they're being genuine. Sometimes you can back up and let the artist declare themselves to be the jerks they are. That can be fun, too - just to let them dangle for a while.

A truly great interview is one where the artist and the audience can both get off on hearing the artist express their feelings about something they wouldn't ever have known without the interview. By asking tough questions you throw artists high in the air and they have to let you in and trust that you've going to catch them and let them down easy.

You have to realize that even the most seasoned artists are extremely insecure. Take away their swagger or microphone and it's as if you've severed an arm. They're supremely confident onstage. They know what their audience expects and they can deliver. But take that away and ask them to talk about their private personal side and they're usually nervous and unsure. It's your job to make them feel special and to build an instant feeling of trust that the path you're leading them on is one you've traveled many times and you know exactly how to get to the destination. When they relax you will get a better interview. When you can score a really strong interview, it's like hearing your favorite song in an elevator and then discovering the artist who made that song is on there with you, too.

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