Word to Mouth

WORD TO MOUTH

by Rod Young

The dotted yellow lines pop out against the darkness of the concrete as the car glides ahead through the ebony dawning of morning. To the east, a barely visible luminescence outlines the horizon—a subtle intimation that the day is stirring. Cocooned within the car, the silence becomes noticeable against the repetitive clomp of the tires. Reaching for the tuner knob introduces sound, a plethora of voices all vying to stymie the rhythmic quiescence of the morning commute. The voices, frequently punctuated by commercial and song, come in a sundry of flavors: some bubbly; some droll; some chirpy; and some just plain prosaic.

Traffic
Amidst this embarrassment of voices resides Mandy Prusha’s. A host on the popular morning drive-time show The Morning Blast, she can be heard five days a week on Grand Rapid’s WJQK Radio. A graduate of Cedarville University with a degree in Broadcast Communications, Prusha has worked in radio for the past eight years as both a broadcaster and promotions director. Because she works in what many consider a spoken format, few realize how much writing is involved in her day-to-day routine.

In order to contend within the competitive field of morning radio, preparation is essential. “For every five minutes of radio time we probably put in about 30 minutes of prep time for that individual segment. A lot of it is just research and googling but some of it involves writing out actual talking points and conversation cues,” says Prusha. Often the hosts are involved in on-air interviews that also call for a pre-written script.

The Work
However, according to Prusha, the broadcasting side of her duties requires the least amount of written material. “The bulk of my writing is spent in developing ads for our on air clients. This is where I can really appreciate my writing classes in college because this is the kind of material that requires strong writing skills. You don’t want clients listening and having second thoughts about whether or not this particular ad is composed well.” Depending on the client, this is also the part of the job that offers the host the most creative latitude. “A lot of times clients just give you a spec and let you do the rest of the work. This is where you have the opportunity to show your creative talents. But then some clients give you a message that they want to stick pretty closely to and just want you to tighten up the language.”

In addition to her copy writing duties, promotional responsibilities require a fair amount of writing from the morning DJ. “My role in promotions also calls for a lot of written material. This can go from inter office stuff to public relations materials such as mass emails, posters and press releases.”

A Message
Following the interview Prusha commented that she never realized how much writing she actually does on the job until we had spoken about it. She believes, despite what others say, that writing is still a flourishing skill that can benefit anyone regardless of their career choice.