"Broadcasters have reached the conclusion that brevity is the soul of radio, and that the lesser lights must be kept strictly within time limits."

BEST METHOD FOR RADIO

While the requirement for an advance copy of the speech assures preparation of the message, at the same time it encourages poor delivery. The tendency is to follow the line of least resistance and read the speech. This invariably kills the effectiveness of the delivery. Not one in ten thousand can read a speech with the variety and force and life that he would put into it if he were talking directly to an audience. Listen to the average speaker over the radio, and note how he drones along-without inflection, without emphasis, without that vital something which makes a talk alive. You can tell that he is reading it. It doesn't sound real, and it fails to carry conviction. Now the very best method is the "Ideal Method" as already discussed; but with this modification; since the speaker must not deviate to any extent from the wording of his copy as submitted, it is best that he should have his copy before him as reference while speaking, but he must not be tied to it. When delivering the most important parts, which have been memorized, he should not look at his manuscript at all. He should fix his attention on the microphone and speak directly into it. He should be so familiar with the other parts of his talk that an occasional glance at the page will keep him on the right track. In other words, use your manuscript as little as possible, prepare yourself so well that you are free from it. This will help to break up the monotonous effect of reading.

ARTICULATION AND ENUNCIATION OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE

In radio speaking the voice is everything. The appeal must be made entirely to the ear of the unseen audience and not to the eye. The speaker must depend upon his voice alone to convey the message without any aid from facial expression or gesture of the hand. All the technic which appeals to the eye, all the physical expression so helpful in supplementing the voice before the usual audience, is of little use before the radio, except as it reacts upon the speaker. Therefore, he must concentrate on his vocal expression; strive to get the utmost value out of the spoken word. Clearness of tone-projection-melody and modulation, and above all else, distinct articulation and enunciation, are all needed to convey your speech effectively "on the air."

This is no place to commit "the unpardonable sin." (See chapter fifteen.) Nowhere else does a welltrained voice count so mightily as over the radio. Frequently, the direction is given to speak very slowly over the radio, and rapid-fire speakers often lose much of their effectiveness by trying to slow down to an unaccustomed pace. This is unnecessary, for if your articulation and enunciation are as good as they ought to be you can speak just as rapidly as you would to a regular audience, and still be distinctly heard. If your articulation and enunciation are faulty, however, you should speak more slowly than is your habit.

Many speakers who do not "carry over " well have poor mouth and lip action. Here you must open your mouth wide and move your lips; speak out; enun

ciate clearly and mould every word correctly. If the multitudes "listening in" cannot hear you with ease, your speech will be lost on the empty air. The speaking voice that combines clearness of articulation, melody and power, is the ideal voice for the radio.

IMAGINE YOUR AUDIENCE

The one thing above all else that will make your talk over the radio sound like a real speech, is Imagination. You must visualize your audience-see in your mind the countless numbers who are "listening-in" and concentrate just as definitely on communicating with them as though they were immediately before you. Imagine your audience contact, even though you are alone in the room. Express yourself just as freely and naturally as you would before a regular audience, use physical action and gesture just as freely. But, "no one sees the gesture says the student. Very true, but the reflex action on the speaker helps him to put reality and variety into his delivery and averts the danger of being mechanical. Be assured, the influence of the glowing eye and the expressive hand is felt across the miles. Imagine your audience directly in front of you, and consciously project your words into the microphone, especially the emphatic parts of your address. Do not imagine your audience so far away that in your effort to reach them you pitch your voice too high and force your tones in a strained effort which keeps your voice on an unnaturally high key all the time. Many radio speakers make this mistake. Use the same inflections, the same changes of tone demanded by true expression before any audience.

Pauses and transitions, however, require somewhat different treatment. Before the eyes of an audience, the speaker can hold attention by his action, but here there is nothing to fill in the interval made by the cessation of the tone, so if the pause is too long, it is interpreted by the radio listeners as a break, or the end of the talk, and they are likely to "tune out."

In your first attempt at radio speaking the strange muffled sound of your voice, due to the padded walls, may confuse you, and the lack of audience response to which you are accustomed may tend to break down your morale. One speaker admitted that he felt as if he were speaking "in King Tut's tomb."

Do not hesitate to use a humorous story, whenever fitting, and do not be disconcerted by the dead silence which greets it instead of the usual burst of applause. Just imagine that the radio fans are chuckling over the humor just as heartily as any other audience would do. Frequently a note of disappointment can be detected in the speaker's voice when he resumes after his story, which betrays his feeling that the story "fell flat."

Imagination! that's the keynote of successful radio speaking! Imagination backed up by a well-trained voice. The speaker who has this winning combination and a worth-while message to deliver is destined to reach the unseen listening millions.

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Give an Impromptu talk on "The Development of the Radio," then make an outline, enlarge the talk, and deliver it extemporaneously.

2. Revise the talk; work it up and deliver it by "The Ideal Method."

3. Amplify the same talk until it is about ten minutes in length, write it out in full, memorize and deliver it as a "Prepared Speech."