It is distracting and off-putting and sounds intrusive. Instead, you want the words of your interviewee to be as clean as possible. His frequent audible reactions "hmmm" to the revelations of his interviewees often mimic our own as listeners. Audio interviewers need to use silent affirmation — lots of nodding and eye contact — instead as a means to provide mid-interview feedback.
Ideally, you want to get out of the way and only be heard when you are asking a question. The best interviewers ask the questions you want answered and you would have asked. Or they ask a question which you would have never thought of, but wish you had.
Much of this comes from preparation, but it also stems from the ability to pivot away from a pre-prepared script, based on the responses provided by an interviewee.
With human interest stories, the best questions tend to be open-ended. Encourage the interviewee to do most of the talking and to provide the colour and detail. Questions which ask: "So, how did…" or "Tell us about" or "Can you explain Terry Gross at NPR is a master of this. If you read the transcripts from her show, Fresh Air , then you can see that skill in action.
Pick the choicest bits. You can always summarise some of the other parts of the discussion in your intro or conclusion. Alongside this, I often get asked about editing out silence and 'errs and ums'.
My general recommendation would be not to do this. First, it is very time-consuming. Secondly, if an interviewee has paused within reason before answering your question, the listener needs to hear that. The silence tells us something.
Cutting it to speed things up means you are essentially manipulating the interview and misrepresenting how your interviewee behaved and responded.
It is fine to edit. Of course. Just do so in a manner which is honest and true to the tone of the interview and your interviewee. After all, authenticity, in all journalism and especially in audio, is the bedrock of our profession. Read the full chapter here. If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily Mon-Fri email newsletter mobile friendly.
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Go to the jobs board. Free daily newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter for latest news, tips, jobs and more. PressGo: our press release distribution service View more than 15, releases. It is of the utmost importance that you do proper research on your guest. Your research should be extensive and you should be extremely knowledgeable about your guest going into the interview.
Research your guest online and on social media, read any news, books, blogs, or articles about them or that they wrote, and watch any shows, movies, or videos about them, that they created, or that they are featured in.
Also, read, listen to, and watch any other interviews they have been in and be sure to note questions they've been asked before. This way, you can ask new questions and find different angles on the topics at hand. Your guest does not want to answer the same questions in every single interview and listeners dislike hearing people answer the same questions over and over again, so try to be creative with your questions to encourage new answers.
And, above all else, ensure that you know the correct pronunciation of their name and that you have the right information about them to be included in their intro and in your questions. The absolute last thing that you want is to be caught incorrectly pronouncing their name or saying incorrect information about them. A pre-interview survey will help you get to know your guest that much better in addition to your own research, and it will help ensure that you and your guest are on the same page.
You might consider sending your guest an email or giving them a quick call with a synopsis of how your broadcast will work and how the interview will go as well as a few questions. These questions can be anything you want to ask them, within reason, that could be useful for creating questions. The pre-interview survey also gives you a chance to clarify anything that you are unsure about from your research, such as the pronunciation of their name.
The questions not only give you the opportunity to learn things that are likely not public information, but they also give your guest an opportunity to see the kind of questions you ask. You should communicate the schedule and format of your broadcast, including the recording date and time, whether it is live or being recorded for a later date, the expected length, segments, etc. You and your guest should be on the same page about everything, so ensure that you clearly communicate all the details beforehand.
Once you communicate the information, ensure that you stick to that schedule and format. While it is an interview, it should have the feeling of a conversation. Be sure to let your guest speak and let their answers guide the direction of the conversation. Then, you can come up with questions along those lines.
You should always be prepared with research and questions, but don't get caught up in a script or force a rigid conversation. Leave room for the discussion to develop. Actively listen and then come up with questions as the interview is happening. And, let your guest shine, but always keep the conversation on track. You don't want to dominate the conversation or interrupt your guest, but if the conversation is veering too far off topic, you should bring it back to the topic s at hand.
As with any broadcast, you should test your setup beforehand. When a guest is involved in your recording process though, it is even more important to test your setup, perhaps even a few times, to ensure everything is absolutely perfect. You don't want to waste your guest's time with equipment or audio issues. You should test your setup before they arrive and then again right before you start recording to check your guest's levels.
Also, don't forget to monitor your recording throughout, so you are aware if anything goes wrong. Aside from testing your equipment, also prepare the space for recording with your guest and ensure that there are no potential distractions. Give your guest a chance to get comfortable with talking on your broadcast and ask them a question about themselves or their work first. While you may have sent your guest a list of questions for them to prepare a bit, they could still be nervous about the interview.
So, it's best to start easy to ensure your guest is at ease. Even if you've given your guest the rundown on your broadcast format and the interview already, remind them of what to expect.
If you are recording an interview to air at a later date, this is also a good time to reassure your guest that you are able to re-record things or edit them if need be. On the other hand, if the broadcast is live, remind them of this while also reassuring them. Chatting with them a bit helps both of you get comfortable with talking to each other, so it sounds natural once you get on the mics.
This will help put them at ease and again, will ensure that you are both on the same page. Although you may be focused on the preparation for the interview and the interview itself, don't forget that it is extremely important to contact your guest after the interview. It's important to show your appreciation and it also helps to build relationships, which is something that you should always be striving for. You might even consider sending them some sort of gift.
You want your audience to get something out of this interview, so ensure that you ask questions for clarification in order to truly understand your guest and therefore help your audience understand your guest as well.
Don't forget to push for an engaging conversation that is educational and entertaining.
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