People say it will be a hard act to follow John Perlman and Nikiwe Bikitsha, the departing hosts of AM Live — probably South Africa’s most influential radio programme.
I’ll especially miss Nikiwe’s easy calm and John’s earnest passion (though not the latter’s ”fahn and mald” pronunciation when reading the weather!).
But, over the past year, I had also found the programme losing some of its compelling edge. So, maybe the exit by the duo now opens a possibility for new talent to be enjoyed.
In the beginning, the incoming team can capitalise on its novelty, even if it won’t be easy in regard to listeners who feel Perlman and Bikitsha were squeezed out against their will. That’s just the first challenge, however; the new presenters’ bigger task will be to keep a demanding audience interested over the longer term.
High-level serious issues, as distinct from the clutter of talk radio, are what AM Live is all about. It can’t go the tabloid route in order to be popular; instead it has to deliver depth and intellectual stimulation.
To the newcomers, here are 10 tips for keeping we who hear you happy.
1. Foremost, it’s your audience, not your editors or your sources, who have to be put above all else. Dilute your accounting to us and you’re dead.
2. What then about your bosses, whose happiness may be secondary but is still indispensable? Answer: you have to manage them. That’s by sticking to the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) editorial policies and defending your positions when you have to by using these principles as a sword and shield.
3. Sources need you more than vice versa. They do not have to be thanked profusely as if they’re doing you and us a huge favour by coming on the programme. On the other hand, ambush them or be unfair, and don’t be surprised if they never come back — and if audiences sympathise with them.
4. Respecting sources without sucking up to them doesn’t mean a role of merely ”directing the traffic” or refereeing debates. You have to add your own value. That means being a player who creates and leads an interactive dialogue. It’s no public service to give interviewees a soap box on which to sound off without any challenge.
5. Adding this value requires listening to answers to your questions. Too many presenters fire off pre-prepared questions, scarcely pausing for actual answers — let alone entering into a discussion. For AM Live to be an intelligent conversation means following up on responses.
6. It may take steep doses of dawn caffeine, but you need to be quick on your toes. That will help you deploy tact at all times and draw from your toolkit of techniques for politely interrupting.
7. Prepare, prepare, prepare. No one can be an all-round expert, but that’s why the SABC is endowed with substantial news research resources. If you’re not well briefed, there is no way you can seriously engage. Having history about a specific story empowers you to pose informed questions.
8. To be a challenging presenter is not the same as being in perpetual fox-terrier mode. Nor is it seeking to catch interviewees out, as if you were in a competition with them. There are times to go for the jugular (although not in a personal or partisan way), just as there are instances when you simply elicit elaboration. It takes judgement to field these different styles.
9. In among all this, you also need to avoid your personality getting in the way. Much as you’re likely to be ego-driven, the truth is: you ain’t the star of a show. It’s an informational programme, not a celebrity stage. We’ll soon get bored if each day is mainly about a presenter performance.
10. Keep a list handy with 20 magic questions. You need some that clarify or dispute; others to help interrogate assumptions and views. And some more that will probe causes and implications. (Poynter.org has a treasure trove to draw upon).
Most of all, remember the beacon of your work: the purpose of AM Live is to be a current affairs programme. It exists to tell listeners not what is happening in the world, but why.
It could be the premier public-service programme in South Africa. That requires not only political impartiality and proper independence, but also real pros as presenters.
Pull off all this, and your success is assured. We’ll be listening.