This is primarily a Talk Radio format tip, but also a tip that I’ve given many times to TV talent.
I keep hearing things like this… Continue reading
Category Archives: Tommy Kramer Tip
Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #600: Planning the Show Each Day
Show prep is SO important. I’ve seen hundreds of people I’ve worked with who had no real plan, or a partial “subject list” type of prep, thinking that this is enough.
It’s not. If you want to win, and become a well-oiled machine, don’t just plan what you’d like to do. LAY OUT where each thing will go. Continue reading
Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #599: It All Starts with the Writing
In the last tip, I talked about the rhythm inherent in the best comedy, comparing it to how a great TV sitcom pauses, then reinvents itself over and over again. That’s really how everything works. I’m just rewatching the amazing series “The Newsroom,” written by the great Aaron Sorkin. He understands this rhythm as well as anyone I can think of who does drama. (I would say Neil Simon when it comes to comedy.)
Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #598: Real to Silly is Better than Silly to Real
The best Content is about real life situations, shared in little bursts. If you start with an unreal situation, there’s no emotional buy-in (unless you couch it as fantasy or exaggeration).
But going from Real to Silly is better than going from Silly to Real. (Knowing when to stop is the key to this – and I’ll share some thoughts about how to attain, or at least, sharpen this skill in a future tip.)
Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #597: The Setup Disease
“I want to tell you…” “I want to share with you…” “I want to let you know” = announcing that you will tell me something. Instead, Just TELL me. (An added benefit of this is that you take out the *I – me – my factor.)
Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #596: Conquering “Liners”
We’ve all had to do it – read a station “liner” that just reads like old “newspaper ad” copy. Ugh.
But, since my job is to make you sound better in every way possible, here’s a tip on how to make those things come alive.
Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #595: The Guy with the Nice Voice
Recently, I started coaching a new member of a Talk show about cars (getting a great deal on one, not how to repair one).
This guy has one of those “cannon” voices – the God-given kind of deep, resonant voice that used to be what every Top 40 Program Director looked for.
But that was then.
Continue readingTommy Kramer Coaching Tip #594: The Best Conversations Are Made of SHORT Sentences
The best conversations – whether that’s between you and a listener, you and a guest, or you and a partner in a team show – are made of SHORT sentences.
The longer the sentences, the more the boredom factor is going to set in.
We live in a hummingbird-attention span generation right now. Everybody texts. (And we don’t even text full WORDS. We don’t have time to put “OK.” We can only type “K.” That extra letter just saps our energy.)
Think about this, because chances are, if I listen to your show today, I’m gonna hear you talking in sentences that are much too long and bore people to death.
Or maybe not. You could be really great. But you probably still need this tip as a reminder.
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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.
Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #593: The Biggest Mistake McDonald’s Ever Made, and What You Can Learn From It
If you’re old enough, you remember the ad campaign McDonald’s used with a slogan, backed up by a beautiful jingle: “You deserve a break today…at McDonald’s.”
That simple statement of BEING OF SERVICE to you – giving you a “time out” from having to go home and slog through cooking a meal – was, to me, the simplest and most effective Strategy they ever had. And suddenly, after years of imprinting that thought in the customer’s brain, they went on to some mindless fodder like “I’m Lovin’ It.” (Gee, thanks for the mid-bite review.)
You see, the thing is, people want to be acknowledged, to have worth, to be seen as more than just another customer in the drive-through line buying a fish sandwich.
So, ask yourself if your station is Being Of Service to your listeners. And then ask yourself if what you’re saying on the air or in your Imaging makes that clear.
You should want to make the listener (or the customer, if you were McDonald’s) feel like your first thought is to make their life better.
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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.
Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #592: A Lesson You Can Learn from Steve Martin
Content is definitely what I get asked about most in sessions and in radio seminars. And since it takes a long time to get people who haven’t seen how easy it is to catch on, many times I give them an overview – a lesson I learned from watching the great comic and actor Steve Martin over the years.
Continue reading