This might sound a bit strange to some, particularly if you’ve never dabbled in martial arts, but working in radio or broadcasting is more like Brazilian jiu-jitsu than you might imagine.
I”ll preface this by saying I’ve a couple of years of BJJ under my belt, training at Team Ryano Kilkenny (now Myalo), though work and life changes mean it’s also been a few years since I’ve been back on the mats. As it happens, the last time I was on the mats was close enough to the last time I hosted the afternoon shift, something I’ve been back covering for the past two weeks. I’d like to think that the skills you pick up on the gym floor are much like the skills you pick up in a studio environment – they stick with you, but ultimately they need nurturing if you’re going to develop.
Sure, muscle strains, chipped elbows and rapid rises in your heart rate every five to ten minutes aren’t typically associated with a live radio show but stick with me for a minute. Here are five reasons I think Brazilian jiu-jitsu and radio are more alike than you think.
1. Discipline and practice
Success in the worlds of radio and Brazilian jiu-jitsu relies heavily on discipline and consistent practice. On the BJJ side, you get out what you put in, something that’s made very evident early in your BJJ journey. Let’s say you do one 60-90 minute class a week. That class is usually divided into time spent learning a technique, time spent implementing that technique with a partner, and time in a live ‘rolling’ session, putting everything you’ve learned into play. That’s a very short amount of time you’ve got to hone your craft.
Similarly, in radio, you’ve got schedules to adhere to and hours to clock up to perfect your craft. As a beginner (let’s call you a white belt broadcaster), one 45-50 minute show a week or month is only going to get you so far. To advance, you’ve got to clock up the hours, put the work in, perfect your techniques and test them in the live environment. Saying practice makes perfect isn’t just for the craic.
2. Continuous learning
Both radio, especially commercial radio and Brazilian jiu-jitsu require a commitment to continuous learning. From an on-air perspective, you’re staying up to date with the latest trends, technologies, content creation techniques, libel and defamation, changes to the law, software, hardware and more. With BJJ, you’re constantly learning new techniques, strategies, gameplans, and different ways to chain moves to help you advance positions and improve your skills.
Some of the learning for BJJ takes place on the mats while other instruction is more from the live environment that gives you experiences to draw on. Maybe you watch YouTube tutorials (just don’t piss off your coach with the latest YouTube trend on the mats) but if you’re watching content on YouTube, similarly for radio you should always be listening. Not just to your colleagues or your own station’s content, but broaden your horizons and listen to more podcasts, make notes, and listen to other radio shows and presenters at home and away. Note their approaches to links, content, and interviews.
If you really want to further your learning in the radio game, why not make use of the regular Learning Waves courses open to those working in the industry in Ireland. Particularly with libel, defamation, social media and more, there’s always something to be brushing up on.
3. Handling adversity – getting comfortable being uncomfortable
BJJ has long been referred to as ‘the gentle art’ when it comes to martial arts. The running joke is that you extend the phrase to ‘the gentle art of folding clothes with someone still in them’. I’ve been there on both sides, doing the folding and getting properly folded. One thing that was drilled into me from day one in the gym was that you will – and need to – learn to get comfortable being uncomfortable. You’ll find yourself under pressure, running tight on time in rounds with the clock ticking down, in the pressure cooker of a competition environment, you’re trying to avoid effectively getting strangled or contorted all while trying to get your own job done.
The same applies to radio and for anyone considering getting into live radio in particular, be it at community or commercial level, local or national, get comfortable in being uncomfortable. Whether that’s handling a particular topic or a difficult guest (we’ve all had guests who only communicate in yes or no answers), changes to programming, your playout system not working, a lull in a live game when you’re supposed to be in full commentary flow – whatever the situation is, if you can be comfortable in those uncomfortable situations, you’ll be all the better a presenter for it.
4. Problem solving
As a broadcaster, you’ve got to be able to think on your feet and solve problems quickly. Pre-show, that means being able to work through creative ideas and content, how you’re tackling particular issues to make sure the right, balanced message, comes across. Hand-in-hand with point three above, it also means you’ve got to be able to adapt in the moment should you run into any ‘live’ problems.
For BJJ, I think the whole sport is problem-solving, especially if you’re opponent is the problem. Have they taken your back? Are the hooks in? Is their arm under your chin? This could be a problem. In a sport that’s all about action-reaction, you learn very quickly to troubleshoot and problem-solve your way out of trouble and on to the win. Unless you get yourself out of one submission attempt only to fall into another, we’ve all been there, but that’s also part of the continuous learning…
5. Teamwork and collaboration
As a presenter, you might be the face of your show but radio isn’t really an industry with room for solo runs. Listen to some of the talk shows around the country (I’m sure it’s the same elsewhere as it is in Ireland) and you’ll hear a credit list of researchers, producers, executive producers, reporters, engineers and more who have contributed to the successful running of a programme on air.
And sure, you may be on your own on air, and you may not have a producer, but I’m sure you’ll have colleagues you can bounce off, sales teams you’ve worked with for competitions, reception teams answering phones and calls and more. There’s an awful lot of teamwork and collaboration that goes into making radio happen, and it’s exactly the same on the gym floor for BJJ players. True, it could be seen as an individual sport as it always comes back to one-on-one encounters, but you don’t ever get into a one-on-one encounter without having trained and sparred with your coaches, training partners, and clubmates. It takes a village and all that.
So as much as you think the worlds of radio and Brazilian jiu-jitsu might be worlds apart, they both take a fierce amount of dedication, resilience and a willingness to learn and adapt that makes them more alike than you might think.
By way of a plug for my own parish, if you’re looking to explore the world of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and fancy getting comfortable being uncomfortable, or indeed folding clothes with people still in them, give the lads at Myalo a shout in Kilkenny. They’ll either open their doors to you or point you in the right direction for a club or academy near you.
