Radio at the Student Journalism Conference: it’s not dying but evolving

Radio Monash attending the “Art of Storytelling” radio panel at the Student Journalism Conference

The Student Journalism Conference at the University of Sydney saw journalists and students from across the country converge for the love of media. In its second modern edition, the Honi Soit team held a 4 day celebration of journalism, inviting student run magazines, radio stations and newspapers. Through panels and individual talks, Radio Monash sent a team of 7 to gain insight and perspective into plights student journalism and running a media organisation.

A highlight conversation for us was the radio panel, titled “ The Art of Audio Story Telling.” The guest speakers included Joel Werner, a current ABC executive producer, who’s worked on Science Vs, The Sum Of All Parts and Freakonomics. He has an extensive history in science journalism, and has produced content both domestically and internationally.

The second panellist Kwame Slusher is currently a producer of the show All The Best at FBI radio. In addition, he’s also undertaking studies at the Australian Film Television and Radio School.

The first thing that stood out about these panellists, is their backgrounds in community radio. Both Kwame and Joel have tertiary training as media creators, but both acknowledged their skills sets came to life after working at community radio stations. For Kwame, he started producing at FBi Radio, which is a community station based in Sydney, similar to SYN in Melbourne. As for Joel, after he finished his science degree in psychology, he began volunteering at 2SER, an education based community station.

Joel mentions that “community radio is the most important thing. It’s great to study at universities, but the best way to become a great audio maker, is to be a part of a community station.”

During his time as a research assistant, he was a part time reporter for the wire. He went in during the mornings to produce a story that would be aired live at 5PM the same day.

Kwame describes community radio as “a safe space to make and create.”

Use your natural voice

A modern sentiment from both Joel and Kwame, was highlighting the importance of sounding natural through one’s own voice. There has been increasing criticism towards young show hosts speaking on air with their natural voices. Tripple J has faced most of the backlash, with internet critics complaining of hosts using the word “like” too much. In journalism courses, students are taught a particular manner and cadence to emulate during their reporting, which leads to a homogenous audio experience. It typically emulates the a journalistic version of the Queen’s English.

Unlike the opinions online, Joel and Kwame both emphasise the importance of modern show hosts sounding natural on air. Hosts shouldn’t change how they speak or the language they use. If a script is produced, it should be in the style of the hosts natural speaking voice.

Joel adds that “whatever words you say in real life, you should say on air.” Kwame mentions “there’s a growing sentiment to get people to use your natural voice. [It] goes back to building those parasocial relationships. “

Since commencing at the ABC, Joel is on a mission to produce work where the “material [is given] in [the host’s] own voice.”

“I’m passionate about hearing people’s own voices on the microphone as that is what is genuine.”

Declining Listenership

The question of radio’s viability was brought forth towards the latter half of the panel.

Joel answers the question with what a common sentiment in radio, “everyone is thinking about this at the moment, what the right balance is.” He remarks that podcasts are just an evolution radio.

In addressing this audience question, Kwame hammers home the importance of knowing your audience. Who are they? When do they listen? How do they listen? What’s keeping them listening? By knowing your audience, you can cater your content to keen them engaged. He suggests to “sit down and create an avatar of your audience,” and fully conceptualise your listeners through statistics to guide your creation.

Both creators acknowledge the issues of radio in a digital and DAB+ world, but are hopeful for the medium evolving instead of dying.

At Radio Monash, we echo this train of thought. Radio will never be what it once was, but it has already evolved. Kwame’s own experiences in connecting with the audience rings true, even at student stations. The listenership comes from building a relationship with the audience. That’s how radio, whether it’s live or pre-recorded stays alive.

Radio Monash and SURG at the RadMurg event, bringing two student radio stations together.

AI is here, and it’s scary

Throughout the panel, there has been discussions of creativity, and knowing your audience. Whilst this panel has been very positive and optimistic of radio’s future, at the mention of AI, things start to take turn.

“AI terrifies me.” Kwame starts off with his initial feelings, but draws upon his experience during his studies. “People want to hear things that sound distinctly human. Which is one thing to think about. With the rise of AI, what is your value proposition as an audio maker.”

Joel takes more of a scientific approach to the rise of AI. At the ABC, producers aren’t allowed to use the software. “I worry about the accuracy of the information as soon as you have large language model. I can’t shake that something is wrong with the information generated from AI.”

Joel brings back the discussion to the idea that it’s the parasocial relationship between host and listener keeping radio alive.

“Part of what makes the medium so special is the parasocial relationship. “

Workshops can help improve your speaking skills

Both storytellers acknowledge they come from writing backgrounds. At the question of how does an “article writing journalist” become a radio journalist, Kwame reveals he has attended speaking workshops. He attributes these learning experiences to making him a better presenter and understanding the value of a good pause.

Joel on the other hand provides that it isn’t too different from written journalism. At the end of the day, you still write scripts in radio.

A reflection from a student station

Amongst panels of written journalism, it was refreshing to have a morning dedicated to the medium of audio. It was clear to see how passionate and inspired these producers are when it came to their work. The knowledge and their opinions on radio and podcasting reflect their years of experience within the industry. As a student radio station, the important take home message for us was that radio isn’t dying, it’s just evolving. Audio will have it’s place in Australia’s modern media landscape. With FM radio being phased out for DAB, moving towards podcasts isn’t scary, it’s an exciting new medium. One challenge that was raised from this, was the difficult direction of music journalism. As Joel points, “licensing is a huge issue with music podcasting. The first barrier is a legal barrier.”

For Radmon as a music-based station, this provides a hurdle that the industry will hopefully overcome at a later stage. However, until that day comes, radio will continue to be our bread and butter. The experience of both panellists all points back in the direction of community radio. Which for a room full of student radio nerds, gave us the push to keep our stations broadcasting.