The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1926-08-19

be prepared to explain what has happened and
why. The fault may belong to some other per-
son. but the announcer must shoulder the blame
himself and make the invisible audience like it.
There may develop, through unforeseen circum-
stances a period of silence beyond the usual
amount
He should be able to fill In the gap without
suffering swallowing his words, and without
speaking nonsense and repeating it. He must be
possessed of a wide knowledge, so that when
Jeritza is about to sing he may speak in terms
Of grand opera, and when Paul Whiteman is about
to lead his jazz band he is able to discuss synco-
patton in terms of George Gershwin and the
modern trend of popular music
When speakers come before the microphone, he
should be able to relate the subject of their dis
courses to current events of the day as reported
in the newspapers. Yet the announcer must not
encroach upon the time of the broadcaster nor
divuge too much Of the contents of his address.
well-known announcer told of an incident
which marked his early efforts before the mike"
He was to introduce a senator, who was to speak
on the settlement of international debts. The
nouncer, at that time very new to his profession,
was excited both over the fact of the senator
speaking and the topic of his address. Desiring to
impress the audience with the significance of the
occasion he said after naming the, speaker and
subject, that both were Important really, very
important, and in fact
ssThe stake of nations is at fate"
The director of the station nudged the an
nouneer, who realized he had been guilty of
slip Of the tongue and hastened to correct him
self
II meant, of course" said the fustered young
announcer ''that the fate of stations is at stake
This time he himself sensed his error, and he
foundered into new correction
"That is the state of nations is fake"
Finally the senator kindly took it upon himself
to extricate the announcer from his difficulties
and explained there was nothing more serious
pending than that the fate Of nations was at
stake
Although radio announcers and lecturers have
some problems in common with the platform
speaker, such as audience psychology, those who
take the air for their addresses must give special
attention to voice training, it found The ex-
perience of the air college conducted by New York
university was TINT the voice, rather than the
subject was potent In attracting the huge audi
ence
While platform speaker has his audience at
his mercy. even If his voice Is unpleasing, the
radio lecturers audience, it was quickly learned,
may leave him for more pleasing speaker, with
out having any charge of impoliteness brought
against it. The university report read, in part +:
sAlthough the radio speaker is unable to see the
effect of his words he learns that the tones,
speed and variation of his voice Of far greater
Importance to him than to platform speaker,
and professors who wished to attract large NUM-
bers to their classrooms soon learned that they
must abandon what has frequently been referred
to as the classroom manner OF speech"
Students in that course were taught the tech
nque Of good radio delivery, the construction and
rhetoric Of the radio speech and the specialized
vocabulary necessary for the radio speaker. a
feature of the laboratory equipment was voice
recording outfit which sends back to the student
his voice as it sounds to his radio audience.
with all due respect to the university profess