Is there such a thing as on-air chemistry between news talk radio show hosts? We might as well ask if all radio show cast members speak the same language. If there’s no chemistry between hosts, conveying information and consistently achieving listener satisfaction is impossible. Being smooth and professional comes with experience but chemistry is kismet, rare and special. You can’t fake it.
TV talkers fake it all the time to the point where even adlibs and chuckles often seem artificial. We can see it on camera, and that’s what makes radio so magically warm and personal. With radio, voices create the visuals in the mind of the listener. They don’t have to see the people talking to imagine how you look, your gestures and facial expressions, and to know when partners have a good working and personal relationship. Listeners hear and sense it.
“Right, and people used to say that all the time about us, ‘you guys seem like you really like each other.’”
That’s Amy Chodroff, my morning show partner at KLIF in Dallas for twelve years. She and my wife both referred to her as my “work wife”.
Amy and I talked about our on-air chemistry recently.
AMY: “Even though there were times when we actually argued on the air over a particular point it was never, not for a moment, personal. It was an on-air thing, you know.”
DAVE: “Then we’d go to break, turn off the mics, and smile at each other because we knew that was a solid exchange professionally handled. It had been a sincere disagreement but was only a passing moment in a strong friendship.”
AMY: “Yeah. The audience knows we’re honest and we trust each other.”
So, good chemistry means you should feel free to argue on the air? Well, yes, but only very rarely and it has to be genuine. You can’t plan it like a choreographed WWE wrestling match. And as in life you really need to choose your battles. Too much is too much. Brevity is the soul of passion as well as wit.
Talking about on-air disagreements is a digression from the main topic but an important one. As Amy said, the audience has to know you trust each other and can move on quickly with lasting and mutual respect. It gives listeners confidence that they’re not about to hear a stressful total meltdown.
The bigger point to be made about good and great on-air chemistry is that all parties involved have to be generous and allow teammates to score points. The basketball analogy would be each player able to pass and shoot successfully and react quickly and smoothly. And as with basketball radio teams have to have faith in each other’s skills.
I’ve just described one of the best radio teams on the air today: Gary Hoffmann and Shannon Farren, 9 AM-1 PM at KFI, Los Angeles.
GARY: “Chemistry is vitally important. I heard an interview with Penn Gillette of Penn and Teller. He said he realized early in their time working together that he was a much better magician and showman when he was with Teller than when he was alone. Shannon and I have achieved that realization, knowing that sometimes the strongest or most engaging voice is the one on the other side of the table.”
Amy has often said the same thing about our partnership in somewhat different terms.
“Not only were we friends and had a good rapport, we all have bad days in radio, days where we’re just not into it for some reason or maybe we don’t feel well. I feel like you always propped me up on those days, and I always propped you up on those days.”
Yup. As the person who needed propping up occasionally, I can also testify that on those days her ability to carry us both made me bear down and concentrate, to do my share. It worked well for both of us.
And what about the division of labor? Which partner does what in show prep? Depends on the team. We all have individual strengths and the planning aspects that appeal to us most. Hoffmann told me that he and Shannon both spend time at home in the evening finding stories they think will be of interest the next day. The following morning, they swap emails to make a game plan for when and how to execute each segment.
“After almost nine years of doing the show together, we have a pretty good feel for the kinds of stories that get each other interested/fired up/invested, which makes for better listening.”
Amy and I did it similarly working closely with our producer Scott Sidway in lining up guests and slotting them throughout the morning. I don’t have the soul of a reporter, but they do so while I spent time digging out often overlooked nuggets of information and highly relatable stories we called “good talkers”, they did the main topics and scheduling. We stayed in touch during the show prep process, texting and talking to create our game plan.
Great team chemistry is the difference between good teams and exceptionally good teams. Like all relationships, they need time to grow. When you arrive, you’ll know it, you’ll start to anticipate each other and read each other’s minds. That’s when the magic happens, and you will love it.
Your audience senses it all.
