Why you might not want a 'radio voice'

Imagine for a moment you had a grand piano in your living room.

Looking upon it, you see your smiling face reflected in its deep black lacquer and finest French polish. The keys are porcelain white and its castors are rolled with gold. It sits there as the centrepiece of your room.

Approaching it, you lay your fingers upon it and listen as a handful of pleasant notes ring deep within its frame and escape outside, but as you fumble over the ivories to play a tune, you quickly discover that without the pianist’s skill, the noise you are making is more akin to the piano falling down a flight of stairs than being played on stage.

Clearly, a certain skill is missing.

That's what I'd like to share with you today; having a piano but being unable to play it is like having a golden voice without the ability to say the right thing. Pleasant noises can be made and your audience might appreciate how you sound in their ears for a moment, but without the right words backing it up, what you say is not liable to resonate within their minds for an evening or more.

And that's one reason why you might not want a stereotypical 'radio voice'.

A pleasant voice might be complimental, but without the right words behind it, it's rarely influential. It's not the depth of your voice that matters, but the depth of your message.

WHY PEOPLE WANT A ‘RADIO VOICE’

In the early days of the wireless radio, the announcers we heard needed to have what was affectionately once called a radio voice or nowadays a golden voice.

The?radio voice?began as an almost shrill, high-pitched tone which was necessary to cut through the hiss and crackle of early microphones. Later, the general public would begin to hear a strange-sounding voice affected by tuxedo and bow tie wearing BBC announcers who talked fondly of the British Empire. Those same voices (and clothes) would later be reformed to become more natural thanks to the wise efforts of Lord Reith who aimed to ensure the BBC vernacular would be inoffensive to all listeners. That same vocal style would later evolve in the America's to a a smooth, honeyed tone which oozed confidence, seniority and charisma; think the great, late Paul Harvey.

The 'radio voice' was a way of speaking which aimed to set you at ease after learning of some great tragedy or gave you a Bing Crosby-esque Christmas blessing as you kissed a loved one under the mistletoe. It was a voice, usually owned by some senior reporter, which had been heard across the waves for a generation. It was a voice which let you know that:?This Is 10 O’clock News.

There’s no denying it, a?radio voice?can be pleasant to listen to and that’s perhaps why many people contact me seeking to cultivate a voice with similar golden tones. Yet, many often mistakenly believe that having a great?voice?will suddenly make them a great?speaker. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth, because much like owning ten fingers won’t make you a great pianist, a golden voice won’t grant you a lucid command over your language.

Instead, those radio voices we love to hear are usually owned by speakers who have developed expert communication skills spent from years of reading, writing, reporting and speaking – often into a dictaphone with consummate microphone technique – meaning they’ve cultivated not only the ability to speak well on a wide variety of topics, but also have the storytelling skills and emotional delivery necessary for reporting on the topic of the day.

WHY YOU MIGHT NOT WANT A ‘RADIO VOICE’

As someone with a stereotypical radio voice, it’s both a blessing and a curse.

When out shopping or speaking with friends, I’m occasionally met with compliments from some (who say they'd been listening in to our private conversations). On rarer occasions, I’m recognised from one of the audiobooks I’ve recorded, the elevator commands I’ve announced or the documentaries I’ve narrated. It’s always amusing to see someone quizzically try to remember where they’ve heard my voice, especially as they (thankfully) won’t recognise my face.

During the heydays of stentorian voice acting, I was in demand, but now less so. Companies want a more natural sounding speaker who appeals to the image of the guy next door rather than the orator on the stage. Trends change and in this case, for the better - I'd rather hear a collection of accents and dialects rather than constant received pronunciation.

However, it's not all praise. A detriment to having a stereotypical radio voice is that people can be sceptical that I’m faking it. Others are less mean, but still passionately tell me to "get on the radio", despite having no connections to the industry (and despite my lack of interest in doing so). On rare occasions, some even become so mesmerised by the?sound?of what I’m saying that they tend not to listen to the?words?I’m conveying.

The compliments are always lovely, but the imitators who mimic an old-fashioned voice at my expense do become wearisome after a while. Much like others I know who have child-like voices, they too experience the same.

WHAT MAKES A GREAT SPEAKER?

Despite this, it's undeniable that having a pleasant voice is an asset.

Studies have repeatedly found how men who have deep, rich voices are often believed to be more confident, whereas women who are measuredly spoken are often believed to have better leadership capabilities. Of course, these are not definite truths, but they are believed by some and that gives power to the skill.

Overall, it's far better to have strong communication skills on a linguistic level rather than simply having a pleasant voice. Bob Dylan was once described to have "a sound as raw as sandpaper" yet his mastery over the English language earned him accolades from around the globe.

In those rare individuals with both voice and linguistic skill, it's not just their sound which help them, instead it's their ability to convey their ideas effectively, eloquently and all whilst still ensuring to connect with their audience through anecdotes, stories and data.

A great communicator ultimately knows when to speak, when to listen and when to ask questions - they wilfully silence their voice so others can be heard. They appreciate the thoughts of others. They know that continued practice is necessary to develop what they've earned thus far.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DEVELOP INSTEAD?

If you want to develop your overall speaking skills, you should aim to cultivate both a pleasant voice and strong linguistic skills.

Begin first by focusing on developing your?communication skills?on a linguistic level to allow you to eloquently express yourself in your own, unique style. You can achieve this by regularly tasking yourself to speak aloud in private practice; try explaining a business topic free of jargon; try painting a picture with your words; or try speaking as if you were explaining an idea to a child. You can learn more techniques in my book 'Speak Your Way to Wealth' which was written after surveying some of my most successful clients and identifying how they communicated so effortlessly. If you'd prefer to make rapid progress, I regularly train CEO’s and Executives how to improve their linguistic speaking styles in my three week?Communication Clarity?course.

Whilst you are improving your linguistic speaking style, focus also on developing your voice to sound as pleasant as it?naturally?can by developing a wide range of your tonality and breath support, rather than affecting the stereotypical deep, resonant tone made by old-time broadcast announcers. You can achieve this by following any of the many exercises found in my book ‘Speak and Be Heard‘ or by booking a private, one-to-one course on?vocal development. I'd be happy to help you in either regards.

A CLOSING THOUGHT

Let me end with a question: if you had an audience mesmerised by your words, would you rather they say “Wow, they had a great voice!” or “Wow, I should really do what they said”?

CONTACT

If you’d be interested in a bespoke course covering this or other areas of communication skills development,?you can contact me via my website.