Obviously there are exceptions, but for some reason, a lot of things I hear from jocks on music radio stations these days sound somewhat tenuous in their delivery.  So let’s focus on that for a moment.

Here’s the goal:

Be SURE of what you want to say when the mic opens.  Stumbling over words because you haven’t really digested them yet, or hemming and hawing around because you haven’t fully fleshed out the “story board” for this break, just makes you sound unprepared or weak.

CERTAINTY carries more weight than anything else.  People who sound hesitant, or like the information owns THEM, don’t pull the listener in closer.  They’re just audio wallpaper.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2016 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Many air talents these days can be virtually crippled before they even get to the point of a break.  New theories of what works best for PPM are bandied about every month – many of them “incomplete thoughts” (like the “you have to do a tease at the end of each break” virus that’s going around now) – and many of them are based on faulty (or no) research, or are simply opinion without experience to back it up.

Let’s work on that a bit…

The SIMPLEST formatics are the BEST formatics.  All you really want is an efficient package of very basic things, but they should VARY from break to break.  Here, in order, are the techniques to work on.

Say the name of the station first, every time.  (There’s a reason the Jif label is on the OUTSIDE of the jar, not mixed in with the peanut butter somewhere.) The longer you take to identify who you are, the harder it is for the listener to remember you.  And no, you can’t just rely on PPM devices to reflect that, because first of all, not every market is a PPM market, and secondly, PPM is simply the report card on listening AFTER the listener has decided to tune you in, which he wouldn’t have done if he didn’t know who you are and where to FIND you – which is easiest when they hear the name first.

To PD’s who complain that this sounds the same every time or it’s boring, I remind them that this is not a reason to hide your name.  Every single time a network TV show comes out of commercials, they flash the logo on the screen, first thing.  We have to do it vocally.  So this means that you have to coach the jocks to say the calls like they MEAN something; like we take some PRIDE in working here.  (I coach many subtle techniques for this – matching the tempo of the song, matching the emotional vibe of the song, and for advanced students, even starting on the same NOTE that the song is playing.)  Burying something because you do it poorly is not the answer.  Get BETTER at it, instead.

Music stations’ basics should include the Artist and/or Song Title – but not always both, and certainly not always in that order.  (And sorry, but album titles don’t matter.  Who buys albums anymore?  We just download the 4 cuts we like from iTunes.  Stop thinking like an early 1970s audiophile.)

In “drive” times, time checks should be given at least every time you stop down.  DIGITAL time ONLY. “8:16,” not “16 minutes after eight o’clock.”  It’s a digital world.  Live in it.  (I had a talent once who said “it’s twelve minutes after the hour of ten o’clock.”  I told him “I don’t have TIME to listen to your time checks.”)  And no “double” time checks (“3:15, that’s 15 after 3.”)  The listener isn’t an idiot; stop treating him/her like one.

Your name, somewhere… not always in the same place.  And not every break.  Once in a while, in a song intro.  Always, when you stop down.

So the template is:  Name of the station first, everything else varies.
I used to write little symbols for each element (calls, artist, title, temp, time, my name), and just switch them around each break, so I didn’t repeat the same things in the same order over and over again.  It worked like a charm.  And of course, except for the name of the station, not every element was in every break.

Now comes the real art.  With the opening “basics” out of the way, get into your Content in ONE line, two at the most.  Any longer than that sounds needlessly wordy.  Think “newspaper headline” (assuming that anyone remembers what a newspaper looks like).

If you do this right, you’ll be consistent, but you’ll have slight variations every break, which makes the brain receive what you say as NEW information every time.  (Brainwave mapping has proven this.  It’s not just an opinion.  It’s called the Fourier Transform, and was developed at Cal Tech.)

It won’t take long to master this stuff – if you start NOW.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2016 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

One of the major themes in science fiction is that as the technology gets better, the skills atrophy.  That’s why you see those old monster movies where alien beings had giant brains, but machines and computers did all the work for them, since their arms and legs had gradually degenerated to being useless twigs.

On our own planet, in Music radio, we’re hearing more of this “the machines are taking over” factor all the time.  In a music sweep, for example, a song’s ending is a chord that hangs for 3 or 4 seconds, but one-tenth of a second into that hang time, the next song slams in (or the antsy jock starts talking), abruptly cutting off both the previous song and the mood.  Cue tones on music, Imaging, and commercials are often set to fire the next element too soon, so the last word obliterates the beginning of the next thing, or gets drowned out by it.  Or a song will end with a fade, but instead of hitting the next element at the end of a sentence, where it would seamlessly appear, we hear an extra couple of words (“And…if…”), then BLAM!… next song.  Woof.  Clumsy.

When it doesn’t even sound like you’re engaged with what you’re doing, why should I be, as a listener?  I constantly hear stations with live jocks that sound voice-tracked because of their lackluster board work.

As a Talent Coach, I want to help everything you do, not just what you say.  Try this exercise: run the board manually for a few days, only putting it in “auto” mode when you go into stopsets, and your board op skills will get razor sharp.  An element of FEEL will enter the picture, and then the cue tones can be changed to match it.  Slamming songs (or elements) together is careless and random sounding.  But waiting too long to hit the next thing makes the momentum stall out.  The right timing is somewhere in between.  The right place to hit the next element in a sweep isn’t “at the last place” in the song you’re playing.  It’s “at the last LOGICAL place.”  Let that little artistic touch into your brain, and you’ll sound alert and in control – and like you’re actually listening to the music with me.

Then, when you open the mike to say something, maybe I’ll pay more attention to it, because something as simple as your board work drew me in a little closer to you.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2016 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden has influenced people in all walks of life.  On the surface, I guess it’s easy to think that this may not include Radio, but there are things he preached that we can adopt to our benefit – and the listeners’ benefit.

Re-examining his “Pyramid of Success” today, I saw two items of significance:

Industriousness:  “Success travels in the company of very hard work. There is no trick; no easy way.”

Above that, on the next level of the pyramid, is Alertness:  “Constantly be aware and observing.  Always seek to improve yourself and the team.”

What this means to those of us in radio is that talent is not enough. We’ve all known jocks (or Program Directors or General Managers) that had amazing skills, but didn’t keep working at getting better.

Back in the Dark Ages when I first worked in Dallas for radio pioneer Gordon McLendon, we had a guy who did weekends and occasional all-nights named Nick Alexander.  Nick was the low man on the KNUS totem pole.  (That staff had more people inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame than any other.)

We did group aircheck sessions regularly, where all the jocks listened to a tape, and gave their observations – some pointing out good things, and some pretty blunt assessments of what didn’t work.

Nick got beaten up pretty badly in a couple of those sessions, but he took the whippings like a man.  He worked hard to become a better air talent, and eventually became a fine jock, then went on to become an extremely successful Voice Actor, heard on hundreds and hundreds of commercials, and making about ten times more money than I will ever make.

…and it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.  He deserved every break he got, because he understood what Industriousness and Alertness were all about.

I’m sure Coach Wooden would have liked him.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2016 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Albert Einstein said, “You can’t solve a problem by the same thinking that produced it.”

I wish everyone in radio – particularly Program Directors and General Managers – had that written on his or her desk.

You have to think through things with a “What if…?” mentality.  What if a competing station changes to our format tomorrow?  What if my morning show takes a job somewhere else?   What if our Imaging that we think is so great isn’t of any real Benefit to the listener?  What if the only thing I can grab for lunch is the seven-year old Zagnut in the candy machine?

Thinking “what if?” is a good start toward warding off future problems, or coming up with a fresh idea.

Like “What if I ignored the PPM weeklies for just a moment, and tried something new just to see if it flies?” or “What if I brought someone aboard to help my air talent get better, instead of just assuming that we don’t need it?”

I have a feeling that if Einstein were still alive today and listening to radio, he might say “It’s not just ‘think outside the box,’ it’s ‘throw the stupid box away.'”

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2016 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

In a recent tip, I stressed being visual in what you do on the air.

Here’s something that will help you get your arms around that. Think of your show as “a series of little plays” every day.  My whole career was based on this, because it kept the show relatable and human.  This “warts and all” approach takes away the posturing and bravado many deejays cling to, and there’s a residual bonus, too.  Little stories you tell, if done the right way, get great phone callers with their own “takes” on what you’ve talked about.  So now your show is more interactive, and becomes what I’ve referred to often as a “visit-driven” show, instead of a “bit-driven” or “agenda-driven” show.

When you reach the stage where your listener tunes in to visit with you, now you’ve got something tangible, something that no “55 minute music hour” or “12 in a row” claim across the street can make a dent in.  And because you’re not competing with another station to see who can be the funniest, necessarily, you occupy a different space in your listener’s mind.  You’re a FRIEND who happens to be visited by turning on the radio.  Believe me, it works.

NOTE: There are specific techniques to use in sharing the little episodes of your life, one of which is to NEVER start into something by talking about yourself FIRST.  For more on this, just call me.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2016 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

In becoming a great Talent (and certainly in coaching talent), it’s important to understand just how the mind works.  If you don’t, you can spend years working on things that can’t actually be accomplished.

You rehearse consciously.
But you perform unconsciously.

The mistake people make by not rehearsing (at least mentally, if not actually physically) is that you can’t be consistently great if you’re just winging it all the time.  Watch NBA players.  A guy works on his free throws or jump shot consciously, so when it’s time to take that shot under pressure, with the game on the line, it happens Unconsciously.  The last thing they want to do is think.  In the millisecond it takes for a conscious thought to pass from the brain to a nerve or a muscle, the timing and rhythm are disrupted.  And the odds of making the shot get worse.

So let’s bring it back to on-air performance.  I’m sure someone reading this is thinking “So where’s the opening for spontaneity?  Where does the spur-of-the-moment inspiration come from?”

Well, magic moments happen subconsciously, when you’re so in sync – so confident and SURE of what you’re doing that you don’t HAVE to think consciously – that’s when that great line or that perfect reaction flashes into your brain.  The magic isn’t likely to EVER happen on a consistent basis if you haven’t put the work in first.

You have enough talent, I promise you.  You CAN be great.  You just have to understand how to put the pieces together.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2016 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

One of my stations recently decided that since social media is now God, they want the air staff to solicit and answer texts while they’re on the air.  Even more than that, they want the jocks to start “conversations” with the texters and ask them questions that lead to answers they can use on the air for so-called Content.  (Because we all know that someone reading a text or tweet or Facebook posting is just SO entertaining… like watching toast burn.)

I’m all for social media, but this strikes me as somewhat insane.  Here’s why:

1.  In the first place, most people listen to the radio when they’re driving.  Are you encouraging people to text or tweet while they’re driving?  Better call your attorneys, because The Big L (Liability) is waiting for several hundred lawsuits to be filed against you when those drivers have wrecks, and blame them on you.

Sound ridiculous?  Take a look at how many restaurants were threatened with secondhand smoke lawsuits.  That’s why smokers are huddled up like lepers outside the building now, puffing away as people drive by.

2.  If you’re saying you want to hear from people who aren’t driving, then you’re automatically playing to the smaller portion of the audience – the people who aren’t doing anything in particular, have time to kill, and think YOUR time belongs to THEM.  So let’s follow this line of thinking… if I go to New York and see “Wicked” on Broadway, then I should be able to text Carol Kane during the lulls between her having to say lines, and expect a reply, right?  Of course not.  That’s ridiculous.

Again, I’m all FOR creative uses of social media, and as anyone I coach knows, we work hard to come up with relevant ways to use Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Vine, texting, even the old-fashioned steam engine of e-mail.  But not while the Talent is on the air.  The only thing the talent should be doing while he’s on that’s “interactive” is taking phone calls – when time allows.  Otherwise, I want them concentrating on the next break – what “camera angle” they’re going to use, making sure that they’re as concise as possible, delivering an ending to the break that’s not something they started with or said earlier in the break.  If I walk into a Control Room and see an air talent texting someone, I take his phone away, so he’ll concentrate on his SHOW.  After the jock gets off, he can answer emails, post stuff on Facebook or Instagram, and tweet to his heart’s delight.

Jack Nicholson doesn’t go to the box office and sell tickets.  There’s a lot to be said for being visible, but still maintaining a certain air of mystery.  You don’t leave your front door open for people to just wander into your house anytime they want to.

We have wonderful ancillary roads these days to reach out to listeners, but never forget that the PRODUCT of a radio station is WHAT COMES OUT OF THE SPEAKERS.  Facebook, Twitter, etc. are not rated by Arbitron.  Keep your eye on the ball, and don’t add meaningless crap to the artistic process of doing the show – unless, of course, you’re happy with the 0.1 share you’re going to get when the whole staff sounds distracted and unprepared.

I have to stop now.  The big vein in my neck is starting to throb really bad.  Peace and love.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2016 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

You construct a building brick-by-brick.  If you don’t, it collapses.

You construct your show each day break-by-break.  Or maybe that should read “You SHOULD construct it break-by-break,” because one of the weakest areas today is in putting a show together.  General headings (“we’ll do something about the Super Bowl here”), things you just feel like talking about (whether the listener gives a cr*p or not), defaulting to quacking about a promotion or station event as some sort of fail-safe device – these are, at best, incomplete thoughts.  (And at worst, just lazy.)

It’s so easy to lay out a show:

1.  First, list all the things you HAVE to do.  (Contest, live spot, feature, guest, whatever.)

2.  Then, list the things you WANT to do.  (Remember that it has to matter to the listener already, or bring the listener up to date on something he/she needs to know, but may not have heard yet.)

3.  Finally, when you start laying out what goes where, pay close attention to Balance.  You don’t want two promotional breaks back-to-back, for instance.  You don’t want to start something that might get some phone feedback, but not have anywhere to air the call(s).

When you build your show on a solid prep foundation, break-by-break, you automatically jump past everyone who doesn’t.  Do it every day, and they’ll be calling Bekins soon to see if they have any boxes.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2016 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

The GM of one of my client stations was looking for a morning show partner.  After auditioning one possible candidate on the air, he had doubts about their being a viable team, since both of them were more “reactors” than “initiators” (fill in your own terms here).  My reservations had nothing to do with filling those roles.  I was concerned with who was going to bring Content to the table, since what they were saying, while it was “pleasant”, wasn’t really engaging.

The most successful air talents (in any day part) are the people who make you SEE in your mind’s eye what they’re talking about.  Being visual is the starting place from which everything else emanates.

Here’s an example.  Years ago when I was doing a morning show in Dallas with a brilliant partner, Rick “Beamer” Robertson, it was the opening day of the Texas State Fair.  If you’ve never been there, it’s held in the Fair Park neighborhood where the Cotton Bowl stadium is – not the nicest part of town.

I reminded the listeners that on the opening day of the Fair, you get in free if you bring a canned good to donate to charity.  Rick replied with “I have to explain to my Dad that beer is not one of the major food groups. He brings a 6-pack of Pearl, and thinks that’ll get the whole family in.”

We got out there. (The First Exit.)

So the next break, I wanted to finish up by talking about some of the things to see there that weekend – the Auto Show (very cool), the Texas vs. Oklahoma game was right next door that Saturday, and that would make a great day – go to the game, then go to the Fair.  And lastly, I mentioned one of the main attractions, the “Texas Star”, a 212-foot high Ferris wheel (the tallest in the USA) that you can see for miles.

Rick then commented that he loved being on it, but he had a fear of heights, and it always seemed that at some point, when they were letting people off the Star, he’d get stuck at the very top – over 20 stories up!  He audibly shuddered on the air, and I tried to calm him by saying, “Yeah, but the one good thing about being up there is that you can just see your car being put up on blocks.”

VISUAL.

Here’s the point:  If I (as a listener) can’t see it, what you’re saying is just a noise my radio is making.

But more importantly, if YOU can’t see it, you can’t talk about it.

If you’re a GM or a PD, think about this the next time you’re looking for an air talent.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2016 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.