Have you seen Ken Burns PBS documentary about country music? It confirms what I have believed for a very long time. If you want to improve your storytelling, listen to country music and feel it. He says it’s the intervals between the notes that tell the story. The same is true for you. The intervals between the copy or the sound bites will give your pieces “soul”.
What we as reporters do on television or radio, internet or over the top is very powerful. If we stay in our “head” and report the facts, we are cheating ourselves and the viewers. If we move our stories to our hearts, we will become powerful influences in the lives of the people who we serve.
Country songs are passionate, personal, emotional and real. We always joke that in country songs we lose the house, the car, the girlfriend, the boyfriend or the job. We lose the will, the loved one or the desire. It’s real life.
When you are assigned a story or you have an idea for a possible story, think about how you would write a country music song about that story. Silly? I don’t think so. That story will move someone or change someone or help someone or convince someone and that is why we celebrate great storytellers. I am not talking about ignoring the facts. I am talking about finding the passion or emotion in each story we do.
So, listen to country music. Listen to the words and the passion. Listen to the hurt or the excitement. Listen to the pain. When you pitch a story at the next morning meeting, tell it like a country song. You will do more than convince the minds of those in charge, you will convince their hearts.
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