I got this somewhat surprising email from Michael, a podcast listener of DOG TALK®, in Sacramento. I share it with you here so if anybody else has had similar feelings about my interview style they can see how kindly and thoughtfully a constructive criticism can be worded. And you can see our whole interchange that followed.
Dear Tracie – First, the nice part; I enjoy your show and admire your passion and dedication. After discovering your podcast of Dog Talk®, I’ve told several friends about you and even gave your The Cat Bible as a gift. I kept The Dog Bible for myself.
With that said, I hope you will allow me to offer some constructive criticism that my friends and I have to offer. Your show offers very valuable and useful information to listeners.
After listening to you interview guests many times, we respectfully suggest that you let them speak more. You have a lot of time to share your ideas with your listeners and we love that. But, when you have a guest on, you tend to dominate the conversation.
There are times when we really want to hear what the guest has to say but often find that we hear you instead. You tend to tell the guests what they stand for, think, etc. It is clear you are very well informed and fortunately you want to share lots of it with us. However, you should let your guest do the same and try to listen more.
I hesitate to send this note as I don’t want you to feel unappreciated. Just the thoughts of some of your fans in Sacramento , CA
Dear Michael,
I am really touched and honored by your email and comments. I consider it an act of respect and caring that you did so. I think it took courage to put yourself “out there” with very honest reactions — and you phrased it thoughtfully and intelligently. I genuinely thank you for taking the time to be constructively critical and letting me know your thoughts. I am interested in the comment because it is not the first time I have heard it — and I do know exactly what you and your friends mean. But I’d like to take a moment to explain that everything I do has a purpose and I am fully aware of it.
One of the challenges of live radio is to keep it moving, energized, lively, etc. And as the host/producer I can never know how it will go (and I never, ever pre-interview a guest or all the gems of wisdom and nuggets of stories will get “wasted” with me on the phone beforehand) This means that when I begin an interview I don’t know the person’s style of speech or thought, how quick they are on their feet, and whether they are correctly judging the intelligence and pet-knowledge level of my very smart listeners. Other than a one sentence topic, I don’t even know what the content of the interview will be — I let it unfold for me as well as the audience.
The pace and liveliness of the show is driven completely by me — many guests have said later it was the best interview they ever gave. I want to keep that feeling alive for the entire hour — no long pauses, unfinished thoughts or sentences, or hesitation. It is very rare to discover a guest who can match my verbal and energy skills, yet I want to keep the bar high. Veterans of live radio have praised my ability to achieve this dynamism on the air, but there are some ways in which I may then come across as overbearing or too talkative. It’s a trade-off. Of course it is not always necessary, and I think that I may have fallen into a habit of applying the style even with guests who are themselves articulate, thoughtful and fluid. I am sure that I am at times over-using a habit I have developed to keep conversations fueled and dynamic, to do everything possible to avoid “dead air” long pauses, or people who are hesitant when they speak or add “um” or “ah” throughout — So what I am going to take away from your comments is to have a little more patience with guests and trust them to meet me halfway, give them a little more chance to prove themselves.
I would like to send you an autographed bookplate for your Dog Bible (inscribed to your dog(s) and also one for the Cat Bible you gifted, along with a few samples of products I believe in. If you’d send your mailing address I’d love to do that.
Also, I am hoping you will spread the word about my newest radio show DOG TALK® & CAT CHAT® on WOR 710 AM in NYC. That show is also broadcast simultaneously live online (10 PM EST Saturday nights – 7 PM for you, of course) And it is also podcast. So please go to www.DogTalkandCatChat.com and find out more about how to get to my page on the WOR710.com website.
Dear Tracie,
You’ve just confirmed my feelings about you. What a wonderful response to my note; it was generous, honest, thoughtful and comforting.
Rest assured, I will continue to tell others about you and the convenient ways to hear you. In fact, I am streaming you live right now in the comfort of my home with a cup of coffee nearby.
While I’m slightly embarrassed by your offer to send some thoughtful gifts, I will gratefully accept them. My dog’s name is Moose (I’ll attach a picture). My sister-in-law’s cat is Muscata.
I found you shortly after I took over guardianship of the 5 month old Moose. The only other dog I had was when I was a teenager and that was a different time and experience. Baron was a 110 lb. German Shepherd and I raised him according to the experts of the ’60s. Those out-dated and harmful dominant techniques simply were not adequate for raising a small Yorkie/Chihuahua/Maltese mix. (I got him from an acquaintance as her small children were not taking good care of him).
It was a stretch for me to take in such a little creature after decades of benign neglect toward dogs and other pets. Excitingly, I made the right decision and started on a journey that has improved my life in many ways. One of the most important changes, was opening my heart to animals and humans. My relationship to humans has deepened as I opened my heart to love this little dog. It seems, the heart doesn’t require boundaries to loving. Love can be available for all life and I have learned that more deeply because as I approach my senior years (60 in a few weeks) I allowed myself to love a dog.
You have been a major part of this journey. I’ve learned a great deal from your show, books, and guests. In response to you, I feed Moose Honest Kitchen, give him Nordic fish oil, will soon talk to my vet about Vectra, and give him the respect, treatment, and love he deserves as a fellow creature.
An outgrowth of my new experiences is my participation as a board member of a start-up Social Enterprise we’ve named Not Just Animals! We are taking a full year to setup our hybrid profit making business that will fund our not-for-profit activities. Our goal is to increase awareness and appreciation of the human-animal bond in under-served neighborhoods so people will be less likely to abuse and abandon their pets. For this and much more, I thank you for your contributions.
