Presenting ... producers! And producing presenters

Talk radio presenters are usually supported by producers. Producers execute off-air tasks such as lining up interviews, programme planning, managing text messages, tweets, email or phone-in audience input, cueing, prompting, time management, feedback and debriefing, scripting and other duties. However, despite the critical role that producers play in putting a show to air, producers have generally been neglected in analysis of the radio production process (notable exceptions being McDonald 2014 and O’Neill 1993). This chapter documents the functional and relational roles that producers fulfil, the way that they co-create on-air content, and, in the process, co-create the presenter’s on-air identity. I analyse the relationship between producers and presenters of radio through a series of interviews with high profile Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) personnel.