Talent: Is Anyone Listening?

What happens when two people engage in conversation? We should start here when coaching both beginners and our highly advanced air talent. Why? Because that is the context within which all people communicate. Unlike what talent grew to think about being on the radio, it was never supposed to take the form of a P.A. announcement. Yet we hear it every day.
 
In real life, people talk back and forth; they gesture, they move their hands, they listen, and they interrupt. When two people talk, volume and pitch fall into a sort of rhythm. But in a radio studio (Talk formats not withstanding) there is little conversation. Someone is talking to an unseen audience but without sensory feedback of any kind. Possibly that's why so many air talents have relied on radio-speak; affected enunciation and a jargon that promises "on the way..." "comin' up next hour" and "here with ya till three." And, on the air we too often think "I can make you happy," "I can make you smile," my "radio emotion" runs inside-out.
 
But great talent knows emotion really flows outside-in. Some people are really good at expressing feelings and emotions, which means they're far more emotionally contagious than others. Psychologists refer to people like that as "senders." They have a special personality. Some came by it naturally, and in radio, some have learned to "find it." A Cal professor developed what he calls "The Effective Communication Test," a self administered survey to measure the ability to "send emotion." The highest possible score is 117, with an average participant scoring around 71.  Howard Friedman put a group in a room, paring high scorers with low scorers for only two minutes. They could look at each other but not talk. On completion of the exercise, participants filled out a questionnaire. Friedman found out that in just two minutes without a word being spoken, the low scorers picked up the mood of the high scorers, but it didn't work the other way. Only the charismatic person could infect the other person in the room with his or her emotions!
 
What does this say about the talent we recruit and rely on to build and hold an audience? Digging deeper, factors such as voice, range, inflection and more all factor into the making of a high-octane air talent. But here are the $10 million questions:  How are we finding these people? What if anything is the company doing to coach them-forward? And, can anyone "hear" the difference between the tired clichéd "jock" and a performer with great "sending" potential?
 
There is no ambiguity in the makeup of a superior talent, be they gifted or simply highly creative. What matters most are the company's culture and its commitment to separate from 50 other on-air people in the market. This is radio's biggest opportunity ... it's also our largest failure.
 
Who on your staff claims these skills, or is capable of coaching them?