Vocal Punctuation

Imagine reading this article without punctuation. A solid wall of words strung together with no periods, question marks, or paragraphs would quickly make it difficult to comprehend what you’re reading.

Radio and podcast talent who rattle off information, stories, and teases do not connect with the audience. Listeners won’t grasp or retain what you’re saying. Talking at listeners diminishes one of radio’s greatest gifts, companionship.

When talent races through content segments, nothing stands out. The trivial gets equal emphasis as vital information and emotional dialogue. Reading copy or text further reduces communication and engagement.

Viewed from the talent perspective, this wall of sound often happens with the intention of sounding energetic or enthusiastic. Clock watch programmers mandating 60 or 90-second talk segments can cause talent to feel rushed.

Pro tip: Regardless of the time you have to talk, be efficient, naturally communicate and never sound rushed. To quote UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, “Be quick, but don’t hurry.”

When reading to kids, we tend to make a conscious effort to tell the story with vocal punctuation. When it’s communicated authentically, the same intention works with delivering news stories, entertainment stories, and personal stories.

VOCAL PUNCTUATION TECHNIQUES

Effective vocal punctuation is a must for beginners to master the fundamentals or for pros who could benefit from a refresher.

Varying your volume, tone, and pitch adds depth and expression to your story or message. Listeners can better understand the intention behind your words. In storytelling, vocal punctuation creates suspense or evokes a different mood.

• Vary your vocal tone to match the content. Be enthusiastic on positive topics, and empathetic on sensitive subjects.
  
• You, plus 10%: Radio is an audio medium. To connect with and engage listeners, your body language, facial expressions, and emotions must be communicated through your voice. Because radio and podcasting are auditory, to have a foreground presence, be yourself plus 10%.

• Silence is a powerful communication device. Pausing before and after a key point highlights its significance. Strategic pausing for emphasis allows the audience to process what was said. In humor, successfully delivering punchlines depends on impeccable timing and pausing.
   
• Natural fast talkers benefit most from pausing because it’s difficult to slow down a fast talker. Appropriate pausing makes what they say stand out.
   
• Raising your voice expresses excitement or urgency. Inflecting upward signals the beginning of a new topic or story.
   
• Lowering your voice conveys seriousness or intimacy. Downward inflection at the end of a statement, topic, or story signals an ending or a transition.  

Photo by TienDat Nguyen on Unsplash