Connecting with Audiences through Content and Music, Angie Greaves in conversation with Dave Harrington.
Angie Greaves has always had the ‘gift of the gab.’ Although it may have been a hinderance to her throughout her childhood, she has gone from sitting outside the principal’s office in school to being one of the most listened-to drive time presenters in London. While in conversation with Dave Harrington (Programme Director and Drive Presenter at East Coast FM) at Radio Days Ireland, February 2023, Angie guided us through her career and empahsised the importance of connecting with your listeners.
Angie began, at the start, when her family moved to the UK from the Carribean. She explained that they sought opportunity. Not only was the desire for opportunity inherited by Angie in her later life but her love for speaking came from her father. She spoke admirably about him and painted a picture for the audience, “My dad was extremely articulate. And extremely passionate as well. Anytime he used to speak in church, everybody just used to stop and look and listen and he was like that with singing as well.” She also described her mother as “Fire.” Being brought up in this passionate environment has given Angie a strong, confident, and powerful voice that was born to be put on the radio airwaves.
Dave asked about Angie's early career, and she conveyed the various roles that she worked through to get to where she is today. She worked as a secretary, in accounts and as an HR manager on multiple radio stations. This hard work paid off as Angie said the contacts she made and people she met helped her to meet her goal. Working in these roles has given Angie an appreciation for the team behind a good radio show. She said, “Radio is family. Whatever it is that makes up radio, whether it is a social media post that compliments what is on air, whether it is something from a marketing sponsorship. We all want that common ground that comes out of the microphone. We all want it to sound good.”
While working on Magic FM, it was Mark Story, now of Bauer Radio, that suggested to Angie that she should do the drivetime radio show. Angie expressed her gratitude for his encouragement as he, “Looked past the secretary. He did not look at this girl that you know that used to type and used to sit down with people and say, ‘so what’s your problem today?’ He said, ‘You’re a presenter and you need to come off nighttime.”
Dave dug deeper into Angie’s charm and asked about connecting with your listeners as a radio presenter. Angie explained that before she goes on air, she gets a picture in her head of the people she is talking to. When she was presenting the evening show at Magic Fm she said, “I used to have an image of people at night and what they were doing, whether it was students, whether it was people on a Friday night driving home, thank goodness it was the weekend.” She explained that this is an important practice when presenting radio to really engage with the person that has decided to tune in to your show.
Angie also proclaimed her gratitude and respect for each listener that may tune in to her show. She said, “If someone is going to stop their day to turn on to listen to me, I need to be respectful of that.” This mindset has allowed her to engage with her listeners throughout her career and it is a great outlook she encouraged her fellow presenters to use in their shows.
Dave asked Angie how she keeps her shows interesting as she now works on Smooth FM which would have a ‘strict format radio playlist.’ She admitted that sometimes it is boring, but she shared a great piece of advice “Find different things to say about the artist that you’re playing and share a bit of your life with your listener.” She emphasized the accessibility to artists lives now that they share everything online. This is a fantastic way to share with your listeners what the artist of the song you just played is up to at the minute. Angie concluded this point by saying, “They do not want to hear the usual ‘This is,’ ‘that was,’ or ‘The time is now.’ They want to hear what you want to say. It is a conversation.”
This panel at this year’s Radio Days Conference displayed the power that radio has in connecting with an audience and creating a community with your listeners. Angie Greaves has connected with many kinds of people throughout her career and her advice will help future radio presenters engage with their listeners like her.