Here’s a question for you: Do you come across as PART OF the music, or like you’re just waiting for the song to end, so you can talk?  You’re either going to a part of it, or not.

I’ve talked about this before, but you should want to match the mood, the “vibe” of the song, or match the pace of the song – or both – so you’re a PART of the listening experience.

Too many stations are running Imaging way too much of the time, and the air talent doesn’t get to talk often enough.  We need to hear these people so we can bond with them.  Just your tone of voice, or a little remark over the song, can say a lot.

I’m not bonding with your Imaging guy.

It depends on what it is, but only rarely have I heard a Positioning phrase or slogan that actually matters, especially if it’s just touting things like “12 in a row” or “50-minute music hours,” or the nebulous “More music.”  (More music than what?  My refrigerator?)

Anybody who wants to do so can make those claims, and somebody will, I guess, but why settle for that?

Here’s what you really are:  What the listeners think you are when they listen to you.

So consider taking off a lot (or all) of the “sloganeering” and SHOW me why I should listen.  It starts with THIS time you open the mic.

Note: there are stations whose Imaging actually means something.  But I wouldn’t say they’re in the majority.

All great air talents know this.  But the road from good to great is a little muddy sometimes.  So here’s an easy “sifting” tip – the only two real Content guidelines:

1. Hopefully, what you’re talking about is something that the listener cares about.
2. But it should at LEAST be something that the listener has an interest in.  Has.  Already.

Here are some questions to ask yourself: Continue reading →

One of the most incomplete thoughts ever said to air talent is “If we’re having fun, the listener’s having fun.”

Ridiculous.  If the LISTENER’S having fun, the listener’s having fun.  You can be having a party in the control room, but if it doesn’t resonate with the listener, it doesn’t matter.

I ask this all the time: “Who’s our target listener?”

What I usually get is a white-page report being regurgitated to me, usually a demo bracket, some assumptions treated as fact, and not one example of how to pull that person in.  It’s hardly ever about one clearly targeted listener. Continue reading →

The other night, casually watching a New York Yankees broadcast with the most excellent Michael Kay and former great pitcher David Cone, something really struck me that Cone said.

He was talking about a Yankees pitcher who had not had a good beginning last season, and made the decision to dramatically dive into the metrics that are available now – arm angle, spin rate, pitchers’ and batters’ “planes” that they pitch or swing on, etc.  He totally revitalized his career when he learned about what more spin means, rather than just speed.

Think about that.  These guys make millions of dollars, he’s done it one way his whole life, and all of a sudden, this guy makes a dramatic change.

Continue reading →

There are two immediate goals in radio:

1. You have a listener.  Keep him (or her) around for a while.

2. Compel that person to come back again tomorrow.

Without meeting these first two goals, NOTHING else can be accomplished.  No matter what your Strategic plans are, no matter what the Board of Directors’ monetary aims are, no matter what your “Imaging” tries to accomplish, unless you learn how to grab a listener and make that person want to listen again, you’re dead in the water.

Some questions for you:

Do you spend more time on these fundamental goals than other things in a given day?

Do you give conscious thought to who that person is that’s listening, and HOW to appeal to them?

If not, why not?  Do you just want to fail?  My brilliant friend and associate John Frost used to have a miniature billboard on his desk that read “It’s the Cume, Stupid.”

Cume builds one person at a time.

In baseball, the pitcher and catcher better know what the other is likely to do.  If you’re a pitcher and throw the wrong pitch, what you don’t want is for the catcher to have to wait for it to stop rolling before he picks it up.

That’s why they use signals.

Continue reading →

Trying too hard – whether it’s to be funny, to really “sell” something, or to ingratiate yourself to the listener – just doesn’t work out well in the long run.

Yes, we all do it when we first start out, but a developed talent realizes sooner or later that “trying” can be FELT on the other end of the radio – and it pushes the Listener away.

Continue reading →

One of the advantages of being a talent coach is that people tell me things they won’t even tell their boss.  My process is very personal – for a reason.  I want to help everyone I work with to be the very best they can be, so they like doing their job, and go in every day with a good attitude.

Often, I hear things like “I’d really rather be doing a team show,” “I want to move up to afternoons,” or “I want to become a Program Director.”

My answer is always, “I’ll help you get that.”  But it’s always followed by “the thing you need to do is make yourself the best candidate for that job.”

I could name hundreds of people I’ve coached who’ve realized their dreams because of that thought.  Opportunity DOESN’T just knock once.  It’ll beat the door down if you’re the one who deserves it.

The shootings in Uvalde, Texas last week at Robb Elementary School were undoubtedly a tragedy, but they were also was a moment of truth for your radio station and your show.

Basically, you had two choices:

1. Pick a specific topic inside the story (gun control, mental illness treatment, etc.) and then seek listener feedback, or
2. Avoid a “topic” sound, and simply go with something like “We all saw the News, we know what happened, let’s talk about what we’re feeling today.”

The first is the most standard, has some options, and will (did) get solid reaction.  The second is more intimate, and can help avoid having it all turning political.

Each will work, or a mix of the two (in different hours) will work, but I would lean toward the second strategy.  By dropping from “radio” to a more direct approach to the Emotions we all were feeling is the deeper end of the pool.