I could hear the sound of someone leaving a message on the answering machine in the next room. I couldn’t even understand the words she was saying but I could hear her tone. It was the tone of someone who was detached from the meaning of the very words she was saying. “Good afternoon. I’m calling on behalf of…”

There is a tone in someone’s voice when they don’t care about what they are saying. It’s the tone I hear from the flight attendants when they are instructing perfectly capable grown ups as to how to fasten their seat belts or that wearing face masks is mandatory. Even between bites and sips. Look around. No one is paying attention.

To fasten your seat belt, insert the metal fittings one into the other, and tighten by pulling on the loose end of the strap.

It’s the tone you hear in a high school play from a kid who has recited the lines so many times the words no longer have meaning.

At this time, make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position.

It’s the tone I hear too on Christian radio. Yep, and it’s mostly when the air talent try to say something spiritual or reading a promo card for the 10,000th time.

It’s the sound of a parent talking to a small child or a teacher talking to a student or a flight attendant…

Tampering with, disabling, or destroying the smoke detectors located in the lavatories is prohibited by law.

“While actors are at their best when they are lost in the role and are not themselves, people are at their best when they confront the illusion of the role and are themselves.”

Dr. Rod Wilson

Here’s a simple drill. In your next coaching session, pick up the telephone and have your air talent call their very best friend and play a piece of audio from their show. If you really want to have some fun, choose a segment when they were being spiritual. Then ask the friend on the other end of the phone if it sounds authentic.

“We are not outsiders of the human race. People get offended when we act like their mother or, worse, like an expert who is trying to ‘fix’ them. Maybe a bit more identification with the human race is in order.”

Steve Brown

Unless your station’s air talent are perceived as authentic, the words they say just won’t matter.