Radio & TV Talk Show Host

Source 1) From Career Explorer, it defines a radio talk show host as, “A person who hosts a radio program
that features discussions on a variety of topics.” Radio show hosts talk about everything and anything
that covers topics like politics, sports, special events, crimes that happened around the world, and a
bunch of entertainment. They often have unique style and personality that makes them different than all
other broadcasters. They have certain skills that make their atmosphere engaging and entertaining for all
who tune in.

Source 2) From Learn.org, “A TV host presents performances, guests, news, sports, music, or
commercials in a television program.” It depends on the host’s area of specialty when it comes to what
type of topics they host such as providing commentary, interview guests, or even host game shows and
shopping programs. There is a general list of requirements you must have if you want to become a TV
host. It is recommended that you have a bachelor’s degree, you must have a field of study in
broadcasting, broadcast journalism, and communications. Your key skills must be good in researching
and writing, ability to ad lib, good sense of timing, ability to ask relevant questions. The job growth for a
TV host is 15% and the average salary is $57,300.

Source 3) I did an interview with a family member who once was an intern for a radio show. Here are the
following responses he gave for the list of questions I asked:

Q – What was your first impression upon seeing the setup and the people you worked with?

A – My First impressions were that the studio was dark as in dimly lit. It also looked complicated, but
once the DJ got me familiarized with how everything worked, it became easier as time went on. The
studio had four microphones, one for the DJ, and the other three for other hosts/guests just in case they
needed an available mic. The DJ would man the board, which is control of the sound, controls for the
commercials, switches that would connect outside sources for reports and weather, it controlled
basically everything.

Q – How did you feel going on the air live for the first time? How did you feel after it was over?

A – Going on air for the first time wasn’t that bad because you aren’t being watched by your listeners. In
the back of your mind, you know that there are thousands of listeners hearing you talk, but you don’t
see them which doesn’t render to you because it feels more like you are having a conversation with
either the DJ or the studio’s guest for that day. At the end of the day, it felt like having a conversation
with two random strangers, all of it felt natural as if it were like a normal day.

Q – Did your feelings change over the course of your time that you were on air?
A – Yes, at first I thought it was something that I wanted to do as a career and the more I studied it, the
more I saw the market outlooks for radio hosts, the more I saw it as a dying industry. Unless you can
become one of the thousand radio hosts who can draw in a crowd of listeners to keep yourself popular
as well as bring in the revenue, you’ll have a better time pursuing something else, but if you think you
can make it as a Radio Host, don’t stop your dream just from what I say, anything is still possible.

Q – In your own opinion, what set of skills must a person have to be a good radio show host?

A – One, being able to enunciate very well, two, being able to think quickly on your feet, and three,
being able to not stutter because if you are live on a radio and depending on what show you are hosting,
you need to know how to appeal to your audience. If you are a talk show host, you want to make sure
you apply all three set of skills, like enunciating. Your listeners can’t see you, so you must be clear and
informative for your audience to have them understand what you are talking about. You must make their
ears, their eyes so they can envision what you are talking about. Being quick on your feet to solve a
problem is a must have because if something glitches and say your audience can’t hear you, you have got
to solve the issue because you can’t have dead air, the show must go on. The same goes for stuttering,
you can’t stutter because your listeners did not tune into the radio to hear you struggle trying to get your
words out.

Q – What was the hourly wage you made? How much did that make you annually?

A – Since I was just an intern, I was paid $8 an hour, as for the DJ, he was making roughly about 150,000
annually.

Q – Did you do this occupation full time or part time? Did you make your own schedule?

A – I was part time, and I pretty much made my own schedule.

Q – What type of people did you work with, both while being live and not live?

A – I worked with the marketing people and the DJ themselves. I would have to deal with different
people with huge Egos that acted like they were Gods walking on men.

Q – What was the best part of being there and talking about the different subjects?

A – It was the learning experience that was the best part, just being able to learn the industry by itself
and how that ripples to different industries because you have the entire gambit there.
 Cited Sources

“What Does a Radio Talk Show Host Do?” CareerExplorer, CareerExplorer, 9 Mar. 2023,
https://www.careerexplorer.com/careers/radio-talk-show-host/.

“TV Host: Career and Salary Facts.” Learn.org,

https://learn.org/articles/TV_Host_Salary_and_Career_FAQs.html#:~:text=A%20TV
%20host%20presents%20performances,game%20shows%20and%20shopping
%20programs.