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Star on radio and TV
Case Rijsdijk
Astronomer, educator and science communicator, South Africa
It helps a great deal if you have a chance to speak to the interviewer before you go 'live'! I find that the most difficult ones are when you are phoned up and asked, "Can you talk on why Pluto is not a planet any longer in a few minutes time?" Unless you are familiar with the topic, try and ask for a little extra time so that you can gather your thoughts and maybe look something up. There is nothing worse than going 'live', then waffling and not being able to answer questions.
Usually, though, you are contacted in advance. Make a point of discussing the form of the interview, who will be conducting it, what sort of questions will be asked and how long it will take.
If it's on radio, I usually have a few sheets of paper on my desk with large printing of numbers and highlights in front of me. US press releases invariably use miles and pounds etc. - convert them first to kms and kg and write them down - doing mental conversions whilst you are talking is tough! But prepare well before hand - you should know most of the stuff 'off pat'.
If it's TV, then the interview is usually shorter and you have more time to prepare - do it! Ignore the cameras. Usually in a live interview, you are simply speaking to the interviewer, and the cameramen will switch to the speaker. If it's one of those where the interviewer is somewhere else - look at the camera only. In both cases, relax, speak slowly and avoid using 'uhms', 'ahs', 'ers' or others like 'you know', 'basically', 'in fact' etc. !
Prepare your stuff, relax and enjoy!
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