Monthly Archives: January 2017

Tommy Kramer Tip

Tommy Kramer #187 – A Lesson from Bill Walsh

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Great stations, like great football teams, have this buzz about them – a vibe that everyone is pumped about working there.  Not-so-great stations feel like a widget factory, populated by people waiting for their shifts to end so they can go home.

NFL wizard Bill Walsh, who coached the San Francisco 49ers to multiple championships in the eighties, said “If you can get everyone to laugh together, you can get everyone to get serious together.”

I do think that’s true, and years ago, we used to do a lot of things as a unit, whether it was going to a concert, or just hanging out together.

That’s not always possible in the 21st century, but I believe you can turn Walsh’s lesson around, too: If you can get everyone to be serious together, then you can get everyone to laugh together.

No matter how bad the day has been – say there’s no coffee in the coffee maker, the computers are glitchy, or the candy machine ate your dollar bill and spat out a Zagnut with an expiration date of November 3rd, 1998 – take a moment to relax.  Gather your thoughts, clear your mind, and get ready for your show.  By being serious about your job, you play your part in being a team leader.  And if enough people do this, something magical happens.  The mood lightens when everyone is purposeful.

I know this sounds simplistic, but frankly, that’s what losing stations always think – and then pay the price for thinking that way.  Do your part to make your station the one where everyone wants to work.  You’ll find that there’s a lot of laughter that grows out of being really good together.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2017 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Frost Advisory

Frost Advisory #342 – New Year’s Resolution: A Station That Matters

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Have you seen that Facebook thing?  That thing where they take a year’s worth of your posts and create a montage of what you’ve posted the most.

Well now…

From what I’ve seen that would be mainly pictures of food, Chewbacca Mom, and anti-Hillary anti-Trump rants.  (At least the ridiculing of Mariah Carey’s lip syncing will have to wait until the 2017 montage).

Seems to me that if there is ANY format that ought to do something that matters it is the CCM format.

“So much more important than being heard is having something worth saying.”
~Erwin McManus

Now, don’t get me wrong I am not suggesting that stations should have less playtime and laughter.  They can be key ways that friendships are formed, don’tcha know.

But if that’s all you do then that’s all you are.  And you’re no different than the stations up and down the dial.

Successful stations understand and embrace what makes them meaningful and preferable.  They then demonstrate those values in ways that resonate emotionally with their listeners.

Researcher Jon Coleman observes, “I think that PPM may have caused radio programmers to become slaves to the ‘in the moment’ and lose track of what really builds ratings… (It’s) is not (about) eliminating every possible tune out, but rather offering emotion-evoking reasons people can love the station.  When people like or love a station they tune into it every day or even several times a day… People don’t come back to a station tomorrow because of a reduced tune out today.”

To paraphrase Francis Chan, this New Year our greatest fear should not be just of failure in the ratings but of succeeding at having a radio station that doesn’t really matter.

Thanks to my talented friend Carol Ellingson at Z88.3 in Orlando who created the mosaic using the Instagram website https://2016bestnine.com/.  Carol is a “wow”maker.