Timing is everything and the voice makes a difference. Those are the two things I got from listening to Dick Gordon’s “The Help: Nonfiction.”
Creating an audio documentary is a challenge. It takes time and skill to create the finished product listeners hear on their go-to radio station. Gordon’s show consisted of three stories: well, two full-length stories and a call-in that he had gotten a few months before but saved for this show.
In its laidback, conversational format, talk radio teaches you that everyone has a story, whether it’s exciting and unique or simple and ordinary. I’ll give brief summaries of the two major stories and discuss what I thought of Gordon’s talk show technique.
The first segment was about a novel entitled The Help about fictional African American maids, the people who employed them and the stories they have to tell. Alma Cousin was a maid for a white household in Jackson, Mississippi and Gordon brought both her and one of the children she took care of, Elizabeth Hays, to tell a few stories of their own. And, of course, to ask them what they thought of The Help.
What peaked my interest was really the second story, “Down the Hatch Without a Scratch” about a woman who is a sword swallower in her spare time. The “Lady Aye” (her stage name) is a sideshow performer by night and a copywriter by day. She’s even appeared (very, very briefly) on an episode of Gossip Girl.
All of the segments were well done. And put simply, as a talk show host, Gordon is a listener. He asks questions and occasionally takes part in the conversation to help steer it in the right direction and move it along. He gives background information to summarize long bits of talk that wouldn’t make the timed slot. And he lets the people speak. He lets them tell their story as they would like to tell it.
Editing is important, that’s true, but so is the voice. The voices of the people speaking tell you about who they are and what they're like. I never realized how powerful that aspect of radio is. Since you don't get a visual, you rely on the subtleties in speech to piece together the people you're listening to a little part of. Sound itself is interesting to take note of, too. The pauses, the rise and fall of pitch and sound combine to make a sort of vocal melody. It’s really like a song or a well-edited TV show.
Because timing is crucial and meant to keep the listener’s interest, I thought the songs between segments went on a little too long. And my other criticism would be that sometimes the conversations would wane a bit before picking up the pace again. All in all, though, the show was enjoyable.
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