Bob Waugh recently chatted with The Sands Report about his blog “Artist Interviews 101“.

Original article: The Sands Report, September 12, 2024

Can you believe HFStival is back? It’ll be at Nationals Park in DC with Death Cab for Cutie, Postal Service, Bush, Liz Phair, and many others in ten days on September 22. Bob Waugh, who you probably remember from his nearly 15 years at WHFS (plus stints at WLIR, WXRK, and WRNR) is one of the advisors. Nowadays, Bob is at Paragon Consulting, so I wanted to talk with him about this concert revival and I also wanted to know more about an article Bob wrote that caught my eye. It was on how to do a good on-air interview…

Bob, we’ll get to the interview part of this Q and A in a moment, but first, HFStival is back?

Yes! The Washington Nationals have provided a suite for a reunion of all the people who created HFStival. You should come! Violent Femmes are playing, and they actually headlined during my first year at WHFS. They say “you can’t go home.” We’ll see. The HFStival as a brand is incredibly strong. It’s retro for 2024, but could eventually mean to D.C. what Lollapalooza means to Chicago, now.

You are one of Alternative’s true pioneers having been at WLIR in the early days and at WHFS as MD/APD. Have you kept up with the Alterna- tive format? Any thoughts you can share?

What a long, strange trip it’s been. I follow Alternative, and you, of course, but my favorite format is AAA because of its diversity.

Triple-A? Isn’t that what you do with Paragon?

We work with commercial and non-comm radio stations in nearly all formats across the United States. My focus is primarily Triple-A. Mike Henry and I are currently helping to launch Iowa Public Radio’s Studio One as a full-time music station in Des Moines.

Okay. Turning to the subject at hand, I enjoyed your article on interviewing artists. Who are some of the biggies you’ve interviewed over your career?

Brandi Carlile, U2, Hozier, Jack White, Beck, Travis, PJ Harvey, David Byrne, Maya Hawke, Elvis Costel- lo, Nathaniel Rateliff, Tori Amos, Maggie Rogers, Coldplay…It’s a pretty long list. Did I mention Mojo Nixon?

Impressive! I can still remember my first interview on the radio. It did not go well! Who was your first?

That would have been in college (WNYT, Old Westbury, Long Island) in 1979 with a new band on Polydor called Blackjack. Their singer was some guy named Michael Bolton.

For my readers who aren’t that experienced with interviewing artists (or if this goes viral and others might see it), what is the most important thing to keep in mind when doing interviews?

Be prepared and do your homework, but avoid “over-researching” your subject, which can be crippling.

Back when I started, there was no internet, so being prepared was much harder than it is now. Once you’ve done your homework online, what’s a good way to start the interview so you can put the artist or band you are talking to at ease? Is there a good way to start an on-air interview?

All the time. I know he’s got a staff of writers, but Colbert is consistently great. Howard Stern has certainly evolved since I worked with him at K-Rock. John Stew- art, of course. I thought his recent chat with Salman Rushdie was one of the most compelling interviews I’ve ever heard, so take cues from the guys with the big guns and think outside the music box.

Any no-no’s we should be aware of?

When management asks you NOT to ask a certain question or address a taboo topic, often I think, well this is a calculated risk because on one hand you want to be respectful but on the other, the very question you are being asked to avoid is the question your listener most wants you to ask! Marco Collins, when he was at KPNW did just that, asking Noel Gallagher about an Oasis re- union—and yet another dis from brother Liam— and it paid off by going viral. Marco, of course was smart about it and saved that question for last!

Do you have any other tips you’d be kind enough to share? I’d imagine some PDs will want their staffs to read this issue!

Most common mistake? Not re-setting often enough with call letters, and identifying your artist.

Thanks so much, Bob. Any final thoughts?

I’m on safari in Africa this month exactly where I’d like to be in this world as the big presidential debate was taking place in the US. Just hoping that I return to a country that is unified more than it is right now.

Read original article here.