Vanderslice Media Coaching

The Bad Interviewer

The bad interviewer does not know he or she lacks the skills to facilitate an entertaining and interesting interview. Of course, life would be easier if the bad interviewer wore a neon sign that could be seen as soon as you walked into the studio, or emitted an irritating tone that could be heard as soon as you picked up the phone. But alas, this isn’t so. Therefore, I present a few tips on how to identify and deal with this unfortunately common species.

The bad interviewer is lazy. He rarely, if ever, does preparation for his show. His program is a never-ending yawn-fest of ill-prepared interviews and no original thought. He relies solely on the press releases and list of questions that you or your publicist sends to him. He may only give these materials a short glance minutes before your interview, or not at all. You must compensate for his lack of preparation.

 How do you do this?  By making a list of the most important, entertaining, and compelling ideas you want to get across and ensuring you get those comments on the air. If the host doesn’t ask you the right questions, you must take control of the interview and volunteer the information yourself.

 For example, if the host doesn’t ask you about your natural cold remedies, finish the answer to his question and then say something like, “Joe, you know the cold season is upon us and a lot of people have told me they’ve been going broke buying zinc lozenges that don’t seem to help. Here’s how I fight colds without using over-the counter remedies….”

The bad interviewer will ask many “yes” or “no” questions. It is up to you to make the most of your time on the air and fill in the blanks even if you’re not asked to do so!  A good interviewer will ask something like, “tell me a little bit about the evolution of your political background. I understand your were elected to city council at 15. How did you get from there to the presidency?” This gives you material to work from.

But a bad interviewer will start his line of questioning with “So, I guess you’re the president, huh?” (Believe me, I’ve heard worse.) You must be prepared to give an answer beyond this single affirmative.  For example, “Yes, I am the president, but it was a long and fascinating road from city council to the White House, I remember the first time I walked into the chambers...

The bad interviewer may ambush you or trash your product or book on the air, even if he or his producer seemed friendly and interested during the initial contact. A good interviewer will sometimes (but not always) let you know in advance that that he doesn’t like your book or product, but he’ll still let you say your piece on the air. He knows that the interview will be more entertaining and interesting if the guest is prepared to defend himself. There’s no need to consistently be on the defensive, but you must always be prepared to deal with negative comments and attacks during an interview.

 Do this in a polite but firm manner but do not participate in a vicious argument with the host. It is his show and his listeners and you will never win the fight. Even when dealing with a blowhard, know-it-all host, it is much better to say your piece, then end the discussion with a “we’ll agree to disagree”, than to allow yourself to be dragged through the mud and drawn and quartered by the host.

The bad interviewer will interrupt you and is more interested in his own comments than yours.  Many hosts are egotists and are in love with the sound of their own voice. If the host continually interrupts you, do not allow yourself to be intimidated. Let him know in a friendly but firm manner that you would like to be allowed to finish what you have to say because you know his listeners would like to hear it. If he continues to interrupt you, just do your best to get a few words in edgewise. Make sure you use those few words to let listeners know that they can get the full story from your book, website, or 800 number. In this case, some airtime is better than none at all. 

The bad interviewer is bored with you and his show. You are only there to fill time until he can go home. Therefore it is up to you to make your interview interesting to the listeners, who are the people you really want to reach anyway. Continually watch and/or listen for cues that the host is bored. Pay attention to any or all of the following.

If he makes no personal comments about your answers, if he asks questions that appear to be read verbatim, if his questions have no “flow”, (in other words they’re not based on anything you said previously), if there’s too many long pauses between your answer and his next comment or question, or if he asks you questions that are too open-ended such as “what do you want to say about X?” chances are he’s half-asleep.

In this case, turn the tables and try asking him questions. For example, if the topic is “Incompetent Doctors” you can ask him, “Have you ever had a doctor that you didn’t feel comfortable with?” or “When you go to the doctor do you ask him a lot of questions?” Taking this tact won’t magically change a bad interviewer into a good one, but at the very least it will keep him awake.

If you remember just one thing about how to be a great guest, remember to relax. As someone once wisely told me, “It’s only radio.”

Roberta Gale Vanderslice spent 27 years as a talk host in the New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Miami, Baltimore, Atlanta, Washington DC, and Cleveland markets. She was nationally syndicated by Westwood One and has hosted shows for the ABC Radio Network. Roberta has interviewed thousands of people from Cher to Jesse Jackson, and is co-owner of Vanderslice Media, which offers an individualized program to develop or improve the on-air skills of authors and experts, and provides supporting promotional material. www.vanderslicemedia.com

Contact Vanderslice Media Coaching

Follow Vanderslice Media Coaching on Twitter