Newspaper journos are used to people walking in to their offices with a story. Sit down with a stranger and get the facts. It’s a big part of a newspaper journo’s life.
But for many years, that wasn’t the way we radio journalists worked. We’d follow up stories from the newspapers, often broadcasting what had been printed hours before. We’d cover stories from press releases. Worse still, we’d re-write press releases! Calls to the emergency services were crucial, especially on a dreary week-end.
When I think back, how lazy and stupid we were! We missed the biggest and best news source of all – the listeners. A good radio news editor used to mock his minions with: ‘There are 2 million people in this city. That means there are 2 million stories. And this morning we missed every one of them’. Unpleasant but true.
These days, with news budgets being driven down and the quest to connect with audiences vital again, how to gather news and views that are local, relevant, interesting, real and honest – without spending a bean? First and only stop, the listeners. In my experience, it would be fair to say that for 95% of all stories which pass your newsdesk, one or more of your listeners will have an informed opinion, or better, a personal experience. So, use the people who like listening to you.
Of course, radio journalists these days are a brighter lot than my generation. Many of them have woken up to, and are using, this fantastic resource. No names but a recent example! A national story came up featuring one of the great and the good reporting that many maternity wards in the UK had Third World hygiene standards. (Patronising, we all agree but let’s move on). The morning jock on a local station (no names until you pay me!) puts out a ‘live’ message which ran like this: ‘Now, listen up if you’re a mum with a new baby. You may’ve heard on our last news bulletin that many of our maternity wards have Third World hygiene standards. Got any experiences of dirt and decay from the maternity ward that you were in? Anything you saw that made you shudder? Call Peter in the news-room because he’d like to talk to you or email him on…….The is (station branding)”.
Now, how simple is that? It’s win-win. The station engaged locally and it’s got a news story; on the next news bulletin there she was - a listener with a beef about hospital cleaners on her maternity ward.
One last point. Radio jocks are a bit wary of this sort thing. They think it spoils their music flow! Tell them to get real; they’re in local radio. But, equally, if you hit the bull’s eye with a great clip from a listener, make your jock part of the success.