Growing pains

Nov 1, 2005 12:00 PM, by Chriss Scherer, editor

When I visited the Bob & Tom Show studios, I had a chance to talk to Tom Griswold about the new facility. As you can imagine, he was pleased with the new arrangement.

I asked him if there were any unexpected problems that arose from moving into the new space. He told me that the first week of being in the studio had the usual obstacles of learning the new systems, but most everything went well, except that he and co-host Bob Kevoian noticed that after the first week there was still something odd happening on the creative side that no one could identify. While the attention to show preparation was as high as ever, some portions weren’t as smooth as they had been in the past.

After reviewing some shows someone realized that the one thing that they wanted in the new studio � space to move � was working against them to some degree. In the old studio, everyone was close together. In the new studio, there was space between them. The show members were compensating for the larger space by doing what is natural when you talk to someone across the room: they were raising their voices. Even though they were using mics and wearing headphones, the natural response took over.

Once this was realized, the show eased back into its regular routine and the members allowed their voices to relax, which restored the flow and interaction that they enjoyed when they were literally side-by-side.