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.

A couple of tips ago, I quoted several comedians to illustrate how ‘camera angles’ and vocabulary go hand-in-hand to shape memorable thoughts.  One of them was Steven Wright.  Here are just a few more examples of his brilliance:

• “I remember when the Candle Shop burned down.  Everybody stood around singing ‘Happy Birthday.'”
• “If at first you don’t succeed… then skydiving definitely isn’t for you.”
• “Sponges grow in the ocean.  This bothers me.  How deep would it be if they didn’t?”
• “It doesn’t matter what temperature the room is.  It’s always room temperature.”
• “My friend has a baby.  I’m writing down all the noises the baby makes, so later I can ask him what he meant.”
• “I put instant coffee in a microwave oven and almost went back in time.”
• “What’s another word for thesaurus?”

While it seems like funny thoughts just flow out of him like water, here’s what he says about his process:  “For every four jokes I write, one is good enough to stay (in the act).”

So here are some questions for you:

• Do you write four punch lines for every one you use?  If not, why not?
• Are you funnier than Steven Wright?  (I know I’m not.  Chances are you’re not, either.)
• Is it because you’re lazy?  Or is it because you think “That’s good enough”?
• Because “good enough”… never is.

– – – – – – –
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.

Obviously, being able to edit yourself is a crucial ingredient in whether or not anyone wants to listen to you.

Rather than give you the standard radio clichés, or quoting statistics from some study, let’s go to an outside source, John Cleese, former Monty Python member and the writer of “A Fish Called Wanda”. (He also wrote and starred in maybe the best sitcom of all time, Fawlty Towers.)

In his book “So, Anyway…” Cleese is talking about a show he had co-written in college that he later took to Australia, New Zealand, and eventually, New York. As you can see, he’s very modest about it, but what he learned FROM it is important:

“Our show had definitely gotten better since its Cambridge incarnation. It was now only sixty minutes long (down from two hours), teaching us that if you have an average show, and you can dump half of it, it doesn’t get a bit better – it gets a lot better. In fact, there seems to be a basic, rather brutal rule of comedy: ‘The shorter, the funnier.’ I began to discover that whenever you could cut a speech, a sentence, a phrase, or even a couple of words, it makes a greater difference than you would ever expect.”

Every word counts. Most disc jockeys spend them like pennies. (And Talk show hosts seem to think that the more words you throw at something, the more effective it is. They’re wrong, of course.)
Spend words like twenty-dollar bills instead. The fewer words you can use to tell a story, explain something, or make a point, the better…and the bigger the impact.

NEVER WASTE THE LISTENER’S TIME.

– – – – – – –
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.

To do great radio, you have to Entertain.  In its simplest form, this just means that what you say has to stand out.

Here’s the “secret formula” – two ingredients: (1) camera angles, and (2) vocabulary.

Those two things are the hammer and the chisel.  They carve out of life specific shapes and descriptions that weren’t there before.

It starts with a camera angle that isn’t obvious; something that’s slightly askew or unique to you.  The vocabulary brings it to full bloom.  Here are ten great examples from some of the greatest comic minds in history:

George Carlin: “One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.”

Jonathan Winters: “If God had really intended man to fly, He’d have made it easier to get to the airport.”

Rodney Dangerfield: “I told my dentist ‘My teeth are going yellow.’ He told me to wear a brown tie.”

Robin Williams: “If it’s the Psychic Network, why do they need a phone number?”

Woody Allen: “Some guy hit my fender. I told him to ‘Be fruitful, and multiply’…but not in those words.”

Steve Martin: “Don’t have sex, man.  It leads to kissing, and pretty soon you have to start talking to them.”

Jerry Seinfeld: “That’s the true spirit of Christmas – people being helped by people other than me.”

Louis C. K.: “I don’t stop eating when I’m full.  The meal isn’t over when I’m full.  It’s over when I hate myself.”

Chris Rock: “Black people dominate sports in the United States.  20 percent of the population; 90 percent of the Final Four.”

Steven Wright: “I have a paper cut from writing my suicide note.  It’s a start.”

Some people think these skills can’t be taught.  That, of course, isn’t true.  There IS a way to cultivate these skills.  Call me, and we’ll start.

– – – – – – –
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.

A concept that gets bandied about a lot these days is being “transparent” on the air.  I understand what that’s intended to mean, but “transparent” is not a term I use.

Rather than telling air talent to be “transparent”, I tell them to simply be Open and Revealing.  Being TOTALLY transparent is not always a good idea, actually.  Some things shouldn’t be shown.  Some things about you might be too revealing.  Some might be negatives.  Some might be boring.

Even the so-called “reality” shows on TV are highly edited.  (Indeed, to me, “Survivor” is the best-edited show in television history.  An editor’s clinic, really.  Think about it: they shoot 24/7 to get one hour—and that’s with commercials.)

I’d sum it up this way: Anytime you’re on the air, the door is open, but remember, it’s a door to an entertainer’s life; not a door to an accountant’s life.  I’ll bet nobody’s ever asked to come over to your house and watch you fill out your tax returns.

– – – – – – –
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.

No doubt you’ve seen “Chinese handcuffs”, that little woven tube that TRAPS your fingers inside it.  And the more you struggle, the tighter it gets.  You have to relax to get free.

The same thing goes for what you do on the air.  Don’t overthink what you’re doing, and don’t try too hard.  Make it simple, and easy to consume.  If you try to do too much, or it gets too complicated, I’ll just turn the radio off and go get a burger.

Surely you’re better than a burger!  (Actually, most air talents are more like “ham” sandwiches.)
: >)

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2015 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.