Evening star., 1928-10-28

! have a letter from Emory c. Gu
bert of Winnetka, ILL.,, in which. among
other things, Mr.. Gilbert asks about
the qualifications for the profession OF
radio broadcaSting.
II am I9 years old and have a good
singing voice." the young man writes
"and when was in high school took
part In debates and w2s considered a
good speaker While expect to study
law, 1 thought / might get a chance
to do some broadcasting I will be
Obliged to you if you can let me know
something about what preparation or
ability would be needed for this work. -
have had quite few letters of this
kind. While have written Mr.. Gill
bert a few suggestions, his inquiry
raises some points Of interest which ]
think are worth discussion here. AS tc
the broadcasting profession. there arc
perhaps some 1000 to l,500 men en-
gagged in this work throughout the
United States. Hence it is sttll some
what like the profession of making
smoked glasses for eclipses. and there
are great many more good voices
than working microphoneS, At the
same time. more and more people are
getting on the air, in one way or an
other, and a finished technique of
radio speaking is being developed.
This technique should be of interest
not only to those who plan to make
a profession of broadcasting, but to
tnnumerable public men and women,
and to leaders in the arts, sports, buSi-
ness and professions whose achieve
mentS bring them to the micronhone
have seen persons with perfectly good
voices make a terrible hash of broad
casting, through the lack of little
simple instruction.
The old-tiIne actor and the old-time
political orator are fine examples of
how not to do it. Persons with this
manner of voice delivery commit the
two worst sins of radio speaking. They
alternately blast" and whisper. I re-
member an actor who enchanted me
when I was a boy. 1t was in the
eCount of Monte Cristo" He had d
magnificent below, which shook the
walls OF the theater, suddenly dropping
his voice until it was almost inaudible.
This was the old elocutional tradition
6rd was followed closely by campaign
speakers, who also had a sustained,
rosring, rolling output.
Wn1le such extremes of believing
and whispering have passed, both on
the stage and in public speaking. there
Is, however. natural tendency by the
posSeSSor OF good voice to give it a
pig range. This Is fatal to broadcast
ing. While the radio gives plenty of
play tol the varying pitch of the voice
its best effects are ruined bv shoutinp
or speaking in that low dramat.c
undertonc popular with speakers seek
ing an intense emotional effect. The
best radio speaking keeps pretty close
70 the conversational range, with even
ness and simplicity of delivery. al
though, of course, the tempo of the
speech can be varied
Ralph Edmunds, program manager
OF WRC at Washington, reminds me
that President Coolidge is one of the
pest broadcasters in America. His
snarp, clipped and incisive speech car
rles beautifully, and his sentences are
evenly paced and evenly pitched. He
speaks squarely into the microphone,
which is also of great Importance. we
nave had much trouble in getting
otnerWlse competent speakers to talk
directly INTO the mike. If, incidentally.
person has mellow, resonant voice
none OF It's quality need be sacrificed If
ne uses 1t intelligently in radio broad. 1.
casting.
Good singing technique is good radio
tecnnique. Any good singing teacher
win bring about an easy. natural nlane-
ment OF the voice, and good placement
Is one OF the first things to consider
IN broadcasting. 1t is imperative that
one gets the voice forward Manv
persons with otherwise pleasant voices
are inclined to mufae the sounds down
Ia their throat. In singing. public
speaking and radio broadcasting. the
voice Should be well forward. so that