My Top Five Showbiz Moments

I’m warming up for Thursday July 2 when on Twitter at @krizanovich and @newsleader, myself and movie critic, Karen Krizanovich will be posting free tips for compelling Entertainment Journalism.

We’ll each post different tips, so please make sure you’re following us both and please feel free to contribute your own golden rules too.

Ok, well, there’s a bit of name dropping here but there are a few lessons learnt too and, what do you expect me to do, wait for my memoirs!! Enjoy…

5. Chatted to Fatboy Slim in the lift before an interview and he told me he’d almost written his car off the road that weather in bad weather. I reported the story on radio and pumped out to the press. The near death accident made the front of the London Evening Standard, with full radio station credit. Building rapport can pay off!

4. Coaching Tom Hanks to be a DJ! At Capital, we were looking for a way to get more out of junkets and we came up with the idea of recording links with stars – showbiz voice tracking I suppose. Renee Zellweger got v excited. George Clooney did it twice.

3. I co-presented a show backstage from the Brit Awards, either in 1999 or 2000. U2 were the outstanding contribution winners and a group of a dozen or so of us watched them rehearse, just feet from the stage. It made me realise what a privilege this sort of reporting it can be. Remember this, the next time, you’re waiting on a red carpet.

2. I made Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman members of Blockbuster Video in a town in deepest Hertfordshire. Rumour was they were moving in, so I presented them with membership cards for their local video store on the red carpet. V nice audio and pics on-line. Seriously upset film company.

1. Oscars 1997 – Gwyneth Paltrow’s tears were the big story. I bagged some great quotes on the red carpet after she mistook me for Capital’s legendary breakfast presenter Chris Tarrant. She was a regular listener and, in fact, once called the phone in number to correct an entertainment news story. You see, don’t assume stars won’t hear what you say!!!!

Jackson FM

It's been a challenging 12 hours for radio programming and news staff.

For many stations, stories simply don’t get much bigger than the death of arguably the world’s biggest pop star.

While, the formal ‘Obit Procedure’, as it’s called in UK radio, is reserved for key members of the Royal Family, the death of the King of Pop called for a similar response: a rapid change to music, extra news bulletins and a chance for listeners and presenters to pay tribute.

As I said, it’s challenging. On Facebook, the News Editor at Birmingham’s BRMB @BRMBNews praised two of his team for all night coverage. Radio 1 Newsbeat’s Jonathan Blake has just corrected me via Twitter @blakeyblogs. He’s worked 27 straight hours, not the 24 I’d predicted. But, the strongest teams and radio stations rise to these sad occasions.

When you’re sure one topic will dominate your listener’s conversations with friends and family, you have to be in tune with this and, in a news context, be the provider of the latest information.

Stories breaking during the day on the west coast of America, i.e. in the night in the UK, also mean that radio has the responsibility of breaking the story to millions of people as they wake up. (On Twitter, I’ve seen some criticism of BBC1 Breakfast which apparently led with the story of BBC Execs’ expenses rather than Jackson.)

So, earlier when I was asked whether I would break into automation on a radio station or network because of the Jackson story, the answer is YES!

A world story like this, particularly one that can be reflected by playing so many excellent songs, doesn’t need to be covered locally in the same way a snowfall does but it needs to be covered appropriately.

Local programmers and editors do need to put some thought in on the night to advise breakfast show teams and get an idea of how the entire day will play out.

The questions to consider include:

* What tone should we adopt?
* What regular features will stay, go or be adapted?
* Will news bulletins be extended?
* What are the local angles, even if it’s just super fans?
* How will listeners get involved?
* And what about the music? (Even a talk station would want to use a fair amount on this story I’d suggest.)

Without doubt, I’m sure Global Radio’s Director of Programming Richard Park contributed to these conversations. In fact, he was in the studios last night helping oversee a rapid change to music.

Some times it’s more difficult to decide when the time is right to return to normality. The amount of interest from listeners is one indicator. Some may well tell you to get back to usual business. Look on-line and talk to your peers to help guide your judgments.

If you’re one of those programmers, presenters, producers or journalists who have worked round the clock, well done and on behalf of the listener, thank you!

Please let me know which stations you think have covered the story brilliantly and not so brilliantly in your comments. or twitter me @newsleader

Putting the Journalism back into Entertainment Journalism

I’m very excited to be teaming up with a former Capital colleague for another day of free tips available only to followers on Twitter.

This time, the advice will cover Entertainment News.

I first met agony aunt, broadcaster and movie critic, Karen Krizanovich back in, ooooooh, 1995.

She’d been signed up to be the critic for Capital FM’s then nightly news magazine, ‘The Way It Is’.

A year later, we found ourselves in Los Angeles covering the Oscars. I will never forget that Karen was my guide to L.A. on what turned out to be the first of many trips (she knew all the hip places to hang out!)

Well, almost 15 years later, we’re back together! Next Thursday July 2, if you follow @krizanovich and @newsleader, you’ll receive tips from us both.

As usual, interaction is very welcome, so showbiz journalists, please send Karen or I your # 1 nugget of advice and we’ll share with the world.

I became Capital’s showbiz correspondent for about 3 years and I loved every minute (except the year the heavens opened on the BAFTAs and the red carpet turned into a bubble bath – remember that? We poor hacks were in an uncovered pen but at least we got a good if not damp story.)

I suppose what I enjoyed most was the challenge of getting an original story or some kind of unique content despite the tight control that Entertainment PRs keep.

It’s so easy for a showbiz journalist to simply rehash film notes and EPKs or just kiss up to a star and not dare to do something different. As one very senior radio editor said to me recently, “we need to put the journalism back into entertainment journalism”.

Karen and I will hope to do our bit next Thursday!

Re-inventing the Radio Newsteam

I'm delighted to be part of the Scandinavian radio festival, Radiodays this Autumn.

I'll be speaking in Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen with a session entitled, Re-inventing the Radio Newsteam.

Resources are tight and competition is tough. Every member of the radio station needs to excel, so what is your newsteam contributing? Top of the hour coverage is important, of course, but in my experience many journalists are under used. After all, these are the members of the radio station plugged into all manner of information and topicality. They probably have the best contacts and they're smart!

So, at Radiodays, I'll explore how demanding more from the newsteam can benefit the station and the journalists themselves. It can lead to broader, more creative multi-platform content and reinvigorate and motivate news staff.

With the squeeze on cash, I'll propose that there is no better time to re-think, re-value and re-invent the radio newsteam.

Let me know if you'll be attending...and I'll see you there!