Leave It Out

It's all in the edit, great radio can be more about what you leave out than what you put in.  If you are charged with editing an interview show you will often find that you just have too much material to fit the timing of the programme.

So what criteria do you use to make those edits? Ask yourself a question - what is the interview about and what do I want from it? Write the answer down on a piece of paper to remind yourself.  For example I was chatting to my good colleague Matt who has edited a Nick Ferrari interview with Sir Michael Caine for Classic FM.  The purpose of the interview was to find out about Michael Caine the person. One of the anecdotes involved Michael talking about his interest in unusual facts, which was kept in the interview. Caine then went on to give an example of a fact.  Matt, rightly edited that bit out. Why?  It didn't tell us anything about Michael it was just a story about how the word caddy go to be used in golf.

Michael also talked about the death of his father.  Again Matt felt uncomfortable about what Caine had said, but he realised that this was a unique and emotional insight from the 'real' Michael Caine and he left the piece in, again a good call as todays (Saturday 9th October) newspapers are covering the story click here for more.

So in summary it's what you leave out as much as you put in.  Always have a focus and always have a beginning a middle and an end and try and achieve light and shade; and above all listen to what the interviewer and interviewee are saying.