I’m often asked about my pet peeves concerning radio broadcasting. And I have many! And I occasionally do one or two of them myself after which I promptly kick my own butt. But my absolute least favourite has to be the use of “uh” to buy time, fill space, or whatever.
I can’t stand it! And there’s a contest some radio folks play where they make a listener ad-lib about a topic and they only win if they don’t say “um” or “uh”. It shows the listeners how tough it is to prattle without a verbal crutch! Sure it’s difficult but so is brain surgery and the last time I asked, they wouldn’t let me into the OR without the proper education and skills! So if you’re using “uh” in your on air vernacular, to me, you’re just lazy.
Being on air is a privilege, now more than ever. There are fewer opportunities to make a living this way and those who are – in my view – truly ought to be working at 100%. And, uh, I just don’t think that, uh, that’s the case when, uh, they’re having to, uh, put so much filler, uh, on the air!