One of the things I’m always getting asked about is phone calls – how to get listeners to call, how to get better calls, and how to build a dependable core of really good callers. Over the years, I’ve coached hundreds of people on this, so if you want the phones to ring, here you go…

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This is primarily a team show tip, based on an aircheck a friend sent me of him and his new female partner.

He’s very conversational. She’s LOUD. And this is something I hear a lot. People (regardless of gender) on the radio seem to get LOUD when they’re talking to each other.

I don’t understand that. You’re supposed to be friends. Why are you shouting at each other? And why are both of you shouting at me?

You want to talk loud enough to be heard at the dinner table, not to be heard at the end of the continent.

In honor of Jimmy Buffett’s passing, I’m using his song “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” (sung with Alan Jackson) as the starting point for this tip.

Some questions for you:

When you get off work, is what you want to here “somewhere” radio? You know… generic playlist, generic Content. Or would you rather hear songs that you love, and songs we think you’ll grow to love, and Content that relates to your life, today?

On a great radio station, it’s 5 o’clock HERE. NOW.

God bless you, Jimmy Buffett. And everyone else, wear sunscreen.

If you’re not familiar with NFL Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson, watch the pregame and halftime shows on Fox. To be brief, Johnson won a National championship in college, then, in just 5 years from starting 1-15, he won back-to-back Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys.

He’s also a powerful motivational speaker, and one thing he told a group of athletes several years ago really struck me: “Fatigue…makes cowards of us all.”

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“They had to choose between him and I.”

No…just no. It was between him and me. “Between he and I” isn’t right either. “He and I applied for the same job. And it came down to that. They had to choose between him and me.” This is called the object of the preposition.

“And I was like, ‘I don’t want to go,’ and he was like, ‘But you have to.'”

The word “like” flies into every conversation like sand at the beach – useless, but people can’t seem to stop it. Try, “I said, ‘I don’t want to go.’ Then he shouted, ‘But you have to!'”

“So…I went to college on a scholarship.” Continue reading →

We’ve all heard the station that thinks talking LOUD works, and that people like that.
And we’ve all heard a massive number of air talents that just read stuff off a computer screen with no emotional investment at all. They rattle it off, then move on the next thing.

Shout, Rattle, and Roll.

These things, of course, do nothing for the listener. (Or a client or a sponsor.)

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In the olden days, there were two factors that were utmost for a radio station to succeed: Reach, and Frequency.

Reach was about the signal.  Without a good signal, it was hard to build a bigger audience.
Frequency wasn’t about where on the dial a station was. It was about what are now called listening “occasions” – how often or how long someone chose to listen to you.

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A lot of young people who do want to a career in media aren’t even messing with radio. They only want to work in TV. Or do a podcast.

(Everyone and his dog does a podcast. And the dog usually has the more entertaining one. “Today on Barks and Recreation, we’re ruffing out what new flavor we’d like to see in dog biscuits.”)

Seriously, this is bad for radio, because finding a great air talent these days is already hard enough.  We need new people to come in, get trained, and shine. Continue reading →

You have ten seconds to “get” me… to make me want to listen to whatever else you have to say.

If you don’t get me in that ten seconds, then nothing else you do matters.  It’s simply human nature to decide quickly whether or not something is a waste of time.

So think about what that opening ten seconds of whatever it is you’re going to talk about is going to be BEFORE you open the mic.  No matter how good you are, this is something you can improve.

There are so many voice trackers these days, and if you’re in that world you know that it’s hard to keep improving if you’re not on the air in real time and don’t get any feedback that you can trust.  Here’s a simple system I recommend that’ll improve your work and keep you sharp.  It’s “go, stop, go.”

Go. Record an hour of breaks. Continue reading →