In the old days, we got listener reaction on the phone. But now, with social media, a lot of input comes from Facebook, etc.
The result is hearing “Jim says…” or “Samantha said…”
Faceless names. I know nine people named Jim. Which one is he?
Monthly Archives: December 2022
Frost Advisory #645 – Are You Telling Your Bigger Story?
Every Christmas for the last several years I’ve thrown a few coins into the Salvation Army bucket at the neighborhood Piggly Wiggly. But not this year. Nope. You see they’ve changed their bell ringer. The guy standing outside the store ringing the bell was different this season, so I decided not to give.
Ludicrous, isn’t it? Obviously, no one would stop donating to the Salvation Army because Bert replaced Ernie ringing the bell.
Then why do we hear these kinds of complaints?
Continue readingTommy Kramer Coaching Tip #498: When Repetition is Good, and When it’s Not
Radio is all about telling stories. But I keep hearing people repeat things all the time on the air. What a drag.
IF you repeat something because you’re pounding a point home, that’s okay. (It was a huge part of George Carlin’s act. Chris Rock does this to good effect, too.) And repeating things is a good tool to use if you’re talking to a 3-year old.
But repeating something just because you’ve forgotten that you already said it, is NOT okay.
As anyone who took a first-year Speech class in college knows, unconscious repetition is a bad habit. Saying things ONCE is the best and most efficient way of telling a story.
Tighten it up. You might – dare I suggest this – actually rehearse it beforehand, instead of just fiddling around hoping it all just magically works out somehow.
Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #498: When Repetition is Good, and When it’s Not
Radio is all about telling stories. But I keep hearing people repeat things all the time on the air. What a drag.
IF you repeat something because you’re pounding a point home, that’s okay. (It was a huge part of George Carlin’s act. Chris Rock does this to good effect, too.) And repeating things is a good tool to use if you’re talking to a 3-year old.
But repeating something just because you’ve forgotten that you already said it, is NOT okay.
As anyone who took a first-year Speech class in college knows, unconscious repetition is a bad habit. Saying things ONCE is the best and most efficient way of telling a story.
Tighten it up. You might – dare I suggest this – actually rehearse it beforehand, instead of just fiddling around hoping it all just magically works out somehow.
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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2022 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.
Frost Advisory #644 – Christmas Is Our Common Ground
A successful radio station is built on a foundation of consensus. Listeners that have a common sense of worldview, of the purpose of life, of how to treat others. If there is no consensus there is no tribe.
Interestingly, a format is less about a station’s tactics and more about how effectively it reflects the common ground of the tribe.
This is even more crucial in the CCM format. And Christmas is that opportunity!
Continue readingTommy Kramer Coaching Tip #497: Not Sounding Like a Moron, Part 1 – The Echo
Little things matter, because the listener is continuously forming an opinion of you as he or she listens.
One overlooked deejay thing is what I call “The Echo” – where you say the title of a song the last thing out of your mouth, then the song begins by singing that title. “Why would that matter?” you may ask.
Frost Advisory #643 – You Can’t Fake It: A Christmas Story
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And sound like it, too.
Hundreds of radio stations around the country are now playing all Christmas music. In the town where I live I counted a dozen or so, many different formats from Christian to rock to country to AC. Even Oldies! (I reckon’ they play Christmas songs that are OLD!)
While stations chase the success of significant audience growth during the holidays, many stations seem to have forgotten why people seek out Christmas music in the first place.
Continue readingTommy Kramer Coaching Tip #496: Turning Print Words into Spoken Words
As air talents, we get handed some pretty unwieldy things to put on the air sometimes. Even with the best of intentions, sometimes a contest or promotion is written up as awkward sentences that no human would ever say to a friend in a real-life conversation.
So let me help you with two thoughts – one from the great voice acting coach Marice Tobias, and the other from the amazing British character actor Charles Laughton. Here they are, in reverse order:
Frost Advisory #642 – What Will We Say 10 Years From Now?
Playing Christmas music on a CCM station. Is it good or bad? Right or wrong? Clearly, it is not why our existing listeners tune to us.
Viewed simply as a programming tactic, programming all Christmas music is about as crazy as it gets. Let’s see, your listeners come to you because you play the music they love – Chris Tomlin, Big Daddy Weave, Hercules and the Chicken Fat People. Now you’ve decided to stop playing all the music that they love. That’s like ESPN deciding to stop carrying sports. How is the name of Bill Gaither is THAT supposed to be a good idea?
However, viewed as a programming strategy, it’s a different thing altogether.
Continue reading