Let’s make this easy, and get to the real core of how to be a terrific air talent.
Your job is to share what you see about, and what you feel about the things you have in common with the listener.
Everything else is just nuts and bolts. If you don’t have the ability to zero in on what matters most to the listener, then you need to run, not walk, to your PD and find out who your target listener is.
Radio has changed quite a bit over the last 20 years. Social media, instant access to information through your cell phone, nine thousand channels and video streaming sources have changed subject matter and how it’s delivered.
But radio is still capable of being the most personal medium there is. However, if I had to choose one thing to tell you, it would be “Jokes aren’t funny anymore.” Continue reading
To a degree, acting is part of what we do. I talk a lot about this in coaching sessions, and give an example of a bad actor versus a good actor:
The bad actor “shades” toward the desk as he talks, knowing that the phone is going to ring.
The good actor just says what he has to say, and the stupid phone interrupts him.
When you’re on the radio, the “visual” is created by the listener. But what you say and the way you sound paints the picture, too. Be more than just “a voice saying words” or reading something off a computer screen. Give me something genuine.
There are things everywhere that apply to what we do. For me, one of those was a line from an old “Peanuts” comic strip when the cantankerous Lucy turned to Charlie Brown after something had happened and said, “It’s getting hard to tell the phonies from the realies.”
That’s a quirky line, but honestly, in radio, it’s not that hard. So, with apologies in advance for using the old-fashioned “he” pronoun, here’s a checklist: Continue reading
The best air talents I’ve ever heard, regardless of age, format, etc. all have one thing in common. And I think it’s the “biggest” skill a person can develop.
They’re concise. They always seem to get a point across in fewer words than someone else would use.
Yes, this does apply to Talk radio, too. This isn’t about the length of a break (or a segment).
It’s simply been my observation that the person that ‘cuts to the chase’ is the one that gets quoted. And remembered.
This may be an uncomfortable thought, but everything you say reveals something about you – whether you want it to or not.
If you’re in touch with the reason TO say it, you have a good chance of its being received as genuine, and digested by the listener as something worth hearing. If you’re not, and you’re just “trying to get done with it,” that will be felt by the listener, too.
Here’s a little story for you…
When I was Corporate Talent Coach for Paxson Radio, part of my job was to listen to airchecks that were sent in. We had 47 stations, and wanted real Talent in every position.
One guy followed up his aircheck with a phone call, and asked my opinion. I told him that most of what I had heard had been stock ‘bits’ – Trivia contests, ‘News of the Weird’ type of stuff, some forced-sounding laughter. Sensing that he was a little shaken, I added, “Look, here’s the thing. After hearing this, I don’t know who you are. You’re hiding behind ‘bits’ so much that I don’t have a sense of what your outlook on life is, what your values are, what your opinions are – things that we might connect on if I did.”
So…ask yourself if you’re still trying to invent new things, or just settling for the same ol’ same ol’. Is your show consistent (which is fine), or has it crossed the line into being predictable (which is death)? Do you offer insights, give opinions? Did I learn anything about you today? Or did you just “perform” some more?
In the end, the ‘bits’ are rarely what’s remembered. It’s WHO YOU ARE that sinks in. As I’ve said a million times, at some point you’re going to have to crack your chest open and show us what’s in there.
– – – – – – –
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.
Get this: it’s not about what you say. It’s about what it makes me feel. I, the listener, will make up my mind pretty quickly about this. Information is fine, but unless I feel something about it, it’s just not relevant.
You have a choice when you open the mic. You can scatter words all over the place, but unless it fires up a pilot light inside the listener, it’s just ‘blah – blah – blah.’ Continue reading
This is a voice tip for radio, and artistically, the way you’re going to perform the best.
We’ve all heard way too many “foghorn” deejays trying to “impress” us with their big, impressive delivery. And it’s not just in radio – the “HI THERE!” bad disc jockeys are doing Sports on TV now, shouting at us about everything.
But that’s just so 1975.
Having coached over 300 team shows, and doing 5 different team shows in my career, I can tell you that true team show communication is often elusive, or sometimes erratic. Let me help you with that.
The minute you close the mic at the end of a break, talk about what you’re going to do next. Lay it out, who’ll do what, etc. then go about your business. It’s free time now, to do whatever you want – talk to each other more (always a good idea), just have a little silent time, check your email… whatever.