According to a top radio coach, below is a list of traits that are inherent in all of the best radio personalities.

Confidence NOT Arrogance The best believe in themselves. Some wear it on their sleeve; others hide it with an outward humility. But all believe they are talented and ought to be on the air. They think they’re funnier, smarter, more entertaining and  more insightful. If they didn’t, they couldn’t open the mic every day.

Mission The best have a sense of purpose beyond themselves, fame and fortune. It can be as simple as making people laugh every day, or as profound as helping parents raise strong children.  It’s difficult to spend time every day with someone who is concerned only with his or her self. This sense of mission helps make the air personality real and durable over the long term.

Work Intensity The best are hard workers. Their work dominates their life, and they think about it a lot. Their show is the default setting in their brain; if nothing compelling is happening, their mind drifts back to work. They naturally connect all of their experiences to their show and ask themselves, “Might this be content I can use on the air?” Most are also diligent about preparing for their show, according it the hours needed for a superior performance.

Positivity The best have a fundamentally positive outlook on life. They laugh and smile more, grouse and whine less, and are more flexible about dealing with change. They are likeable and truly care that others like them, which is essential to creating a durable relationship with listeners.

Sense of Humor The best have the ability to find what is amusing or funny about almost everything, including themselves. They find humor even in the most serious subjects or issues. They don’t take themselves too seriously and often enjoy self-effacing or self-deprecating humor. Most have a mischievous streak in them, enjoying good-natured teasing, harmless pranks and playful tricks.

Awareness The best are keenly aware of their surroundings and highly receptive to sensory input — everything they see, hear, taste, touch or smell. They notice what’s going on around them and pick up on other peoples’ attitudes and behaviors. They are good listeners, hearing not only the words, but also the thoughts and feelings behind them, making them especially effective with guests and listeners.

Curiosity The best are curious. They ask questions about almost everything, acquiring more knowledge and information than do most others. They think fast on their feet and can change direction quickly. Curious people are almost always very intelligent people (especially if their questions are good!), but note that the reverse is not necessarily so—that intelligent people are curious.

Imagination The best naturally recognize how thoughts, feelings, experiences and ideas connect or can be combined to form new and greater images and ideas. Simply put, they connect the dots in ways that few others do—and then they go off on tangents to invent new and interesting radio content. Without imagination, content tends to be very ordinary; competitive battles today require more.

Experience The best have “been there, done that.” They may have lived in many different places, traveled extensively or held a variety of types of jobs. Often, they have faced adversity, dealt with pain and experienced success and happiness. They know a lot, whether through formal education, reading or the school of hard knocks. All this experience helps them deal with a broad range of subjects and connect with a diverse audience.

Quirkiness The best are wired a little differently. What might produce conventional thoughts in others prompts distinctive, interesting and even peculiar lines of thinking in these people. Their strong opinions are more likely to grab attention, remain in the listeners’ memory, and cause listeners to talk about the air personality to their friends.

Communication The best say more, using fewer words. They have extraordinary clarity of expression. They paint powerful word-pictures. They have a special ability to take complicated subjects and turn them into simple, concise concepts easily understandable to a radio audience. They have a natural flair for dramatic presentation, and frequently produce theater-of-the-mind. 

Passion The best are emotional, demonstrative and passionate.  They are this way on the air, around the office and during a job interview. They can’t turn it off. They have strong feelings about almost everything in life, and they express their emotions readily.  This trait might make them challenging to manage, but on the air it gives them a range of expression that’s essential to a durable relationship with listeners—they can be serious or flippant, sensitive

or carefree, laughing or crying.

Courage The best don’t live with a wide range of fears and they don’t naturally second-guess themselves before acting. They have the courage to express their real thoughts and feelings, try new things, venture into uncharted territory and take chances. They believe it’s easier to beg forgiveness than to seek permission. This also can make them more difficult to manage at times, but coaching an air personality without courage is an even more difficult management assignment. It’s easier to tame a wild stallion than to kick some life into a dead horse.

Judgment The best temper their courage with judgment. They sense the limits, whether in show prep or on the air. They monitor their performance even while they’re performing. They’re in the middle of it, literally and figuratively, but at the same time they’re listening to it and making it acceptable and appealing.  Of course, this doesn’t mean they exercise perfect judgment 100% of the time.

Radio talk shows cost next to nothing to produce and are fairly easy to do once you know how. Given these facts, it’s pretty reasonable to conclude that just about anyone can have their own talk radio show. So what is it that makes a particular show stand out from the crowd? I don’t know if there is one right answer, but I do believe that good content delivered from a unique perspective with a genuine one-of-a-kind personality will get you noticed by listeners, affiliates, sponsors, and advertisers. The best example I can use to illustrate my point is to think of the number of churches out there. The heads of these churches, whether pastors, ministers, reverends or priests all deliver a message based on the same content. So why do some churches have thousands of members in their congregations while others do not? My guess is it has to do with the personality of the person giving the sermon and how they deliver the content. It’s the same with radio.

Just rmemeber that no one else sees the world in exactly the same way you do, so be yourself and have your own opinion. If you do that, you will have something of value to offer, and that and that alone will make you stand out from the crowd.

Why Should You Start a Radio Show?

Author: Lee Kantor

Having a radio show can be one of the best ways to publicize your business and position yourself as an expert. If you are looking to standout in a niche market, this is a solid marketing investment that will pay off for years to come. Here are six reasons why you should have a radio show:

1. For the Publicity – you get exposure and can turn your shows into podcasts that will live on the internet indefinitely. People will get to hear your point of view and you can put Podcasts of particular shows in your blog, on your website or on CDs for future use for acquiring speaking jobs or training gigs.

2. For Search Engine Optimization – The more content with reciprocal links (which are arranged when two web sites agree to link to each other) that you provide on your website and/or blog, the more opportunities you have for search engine spiders to up your site’s ranking. When you interview people on a show, you have the easy and worthwhile opportunity to ask to use reciprocal links on each other’s sites.

3. To Be Viewed as an Expert - unlike a paid advertisement, a radio show positions you as an expert who doesn’t have to pay for exposure. You are an expert because you have a show and because every time your show airs, you are learning directly from other experts in your field and the listening audience is learning through your researched probing of the interviewees. When you get your own show and promote it, you will find that people will come to you to interview them, test their products and tell them the latest trends in your industry.

4. To Meet Interesting People – when you’re interviewing a guest on a show, you’re learning from them, probing into their expertise and forming a relationship with them. Therefore, you are naturally networking with them during the show. A host-interviewee relationship is one that is mutually beneficial, so there is an amount of camaraderie built up before, during and after the interview that cements the relationship and makes it viable for future networking. This is very useful since the interviewees may have a higher standing in your industry, be able to offer you insights into advancing your own career and tell others in your industry about you and your show.

5. Win-Win – you provide a guest with a great opportunity for exposure so they win and you get to meet interesting guests and develop a relationship that you could not have developed by just calling them unexpectedly, so you win.

6. Return on Your Investment – while airing a show, you will use your time to be on the show, research guests and develop intriguing interview questions. With this investment of time, you must gain something in return. What you will gain is business deals, referrals, the ability to raise fees, increased experience and expertise, and connections. That’s a fair return on investment.

If Dale Carnegie, the famous author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, was still alive, he would have included having a radio show in his book because it certainly allows you to do those things and so much more.

About the Author:

Elizabeth Gordon, owner of Flourishing Business, and author of The Chic Entrepreneur: Put Your Business in Higher Heels, is a visionary leader who has a passion for helping others achieve their entrepreneurial dreams and enjoy more of the best in life. With a vast and diverse background in many business arenas, Elizabeth regularly has the opportunity to share her business acumen with clients, large and small. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Atlanta. She is a founder and acting president of the Georgia State Marketing Alumni Society and a co-host of The Publicity Show on Radio X.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-ideas-articles/why-should-you-start-a-radio-show-430148.html