Like most people, I listen to the radio at some point every day. I hear promos. I hear commercials. I hear songs. I hear people trying to sound cheerful. I hear people trying to be funny.

What I all-too-rarely hear is something that actually surprises me. Gee, I wish that wasn’t true. Surprises are great.

I want Surprises. I loathe The Obvious. And I’m not alone. People want companionship. They want entertainment. They want pertinent information. (We’ve all heard the voice-tracked Talent that’s really cheerful while a tornado is headed our way.)

Don’t fall for the “This is good enough” trap. “Good enough” … never is.

SURPRISE ME.

Lately, with Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc. I heard several stations trying to orchestrate the reaction to a giveaway for those days, saying things like “You’re gonna like it!”

How do you know?  (You don’t. After all, one person’s “great” prize is another person’s “yard sale” junk.)

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The great NBA coach Hubie Brown, also a master “color man” for NBA games for years, has this great saying, “He gives you his dollar.” (Think Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Steph Curry, etc.)

That means the player gives you everything he has every game, a “dollar” rather than, say, 40 cents.

I’ve helped many stations in the search for air talent over the years, and that ingredient is always what we look for.  I feel that a good talent who doesn’t give it a full-out effort every day is cheating the station – and himself/herself.

All the “flash” in the world can’t make up for a lazy work ethic.  Give it your “dollar” every break, every hour, every day you’re on the air.  You never know when someone who could change the course of your career might be listening.

Well, it’s here.  A station in Portland has an A.I. (artificial intelligence) “air talent.”  A sign of things to come?  Well, as the renowned football coach Bill Parcels used to say, “Let’s not get out the anointing oil just yet.”

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Times have changed.  Local stations often don’t sound local.  Syndicated shows tend to talk about generic subjects because they can’t be specific to a certain city or state.  Huge radio companies are so weak in coaching the talent that many air talents have never had a coaching session.

So let’s start your process with a basic question:  Did you get noticed today? Continue reading →

It’s come to my attention that a lot of people actually take Twitter, Facebook, or other social media comments seriously.  Imagine that – someone you don’t know makes a comment, and you actually care.  I knew this day would come when they took the cocaine out of Coca-Cola.  (According to Facebook.)

I shudder to think – well, I don’t actually shudder; to do that, I’d have to stand up, and I can’t type very well standing up.  Anyway, I’ll ask Siri to remind me to imagine shuddering at the notion of a generation of people who have a real need for some sort of validation from strangers.

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What separates a “shaggy dog” story from one that entices a person to listen is whether or not it goes in a straight line.

Too many “side references” stall the story out and put it in neutral as far as the plot goes.  In real life conversations, people may listen.  But on the air, a minute is a long time.  (Want to argue the point?  Hold your breath for one minute, starting right… now.)

There’s also the danger of sounding like you’re interrupting your own thought.  This is a weird habit because at that point you’re just trying to sort out in your own mind how to tell the story.

I don’t have time to listen to that.

You need to be prepared and make the story march at a decent pace, but also be mindful of when a pause is needed.  We do want to sound as natural as possible, but we owe the listener being expedient, too.

Years ago, I heard a very good morning personality say that his show, which was a team show, was just the cast members having a conversation, and people (the audience) just listening in.

Not a bad thought, but an incomplete one.

The truth is that you’re talking to your team AND ME – the listener. I’m right here. I’m just not saying anything at the moment.

Picturing the listener “at the table” with you is, to me, an essential overview. So I have to wonder why so many shows seem like they’re just “in the room” and I’m not.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2023 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

It’s incredible to me that we still hear ‘bits’ on the air that were stale 25 years ago.  Here are some examples of the type of stuff I’m talking about:

This Day in History.
No one cares.  Especially the younger demographic.  Millennials don’t remember past last Thursday. Continue reading →

Over my more than two decades of “officially” being a talent coach, I’ve had a hand in putting dozens of team shows together.  (I’ve coached over 300 of them.)

Here’s the most important thing in putting a team show together: Does each of them make the other person sound better? Continue reading →