Hosting a talk radio show isn’t always as hard as it may seem, especially after you get your feet wet and have the tools you need to create a smooth broadcast.
Here are 5 simple questions to ask every guest you have on your show. I personally like to email these five and usually 5 or more specific questions to my guests about a week or so before the broadcast date or pre-record.
Not only does it get them thinking about the interview if they are not experience guests or public speakers, but it helps you frame additional questions to have in reserve for the broadcast.
As each host and guest are different you might want to fine tune these for every occasion just a bit, but for the most part these are your TOP FIVE for every interview.
(1) Tell our audience a little bit about your background and how you came to do what you do now?
A variation on this is “Tell us what led you to what you’re doing now”. Often the journey to where the guest is now is more interesting than what they would like to promote or talk about today. Trust me, they’ll want to tell you their story!
(2) What makes your different than the competition?
Regardless of whether your guest is a self help guru, a politician, a software genius or the inventor of the latest gadget, somewhere now or in the past they have competition. Each of your guests most likely has a solution to share, even if that solution is simply their experience and the resulting discernment they are sharing. They’ll be happy to talk about why they’re the best!
(3) Do you have any success stories?
Unless you caught them on launch day of the latest App they’ll have a track record of success stories. “Before using our App XYZ business was losing thousands of dollars at events by not being able to charge cards on the fly or collect data from visitors on the conference floor”. Even if it is launch day, they’ll have “Beta test” success to share.
(4) What is coming up on the horizon? Where are you headed next?
Next version of the app? Something new on their website? A talk radio show of their own on VoiceAmerica? The next book? A Conference at which they are speaking? All of your guests have something coming up that they’d like to talk about.
(5) How can our listeners get in touch with you? What’s the next step for them to get started with you?
Tee them up for the pitch, call to action and giving out their contact coordinates. Of course you will have given out their web address and toll free if they have one several times throughout the broadcast, but it’s a great way to end up the show with them promoting themselves.
Of course there are more questions to ask, and subscribe for updates and you’ll get them all! Have some suggestions, join the conversation and comment below.