Frost Advisory #273 – We’ve Never Done It That Way – A CMB Special

September 6, 2015 John Frost Leave a comment

“A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel.” Proverb 1:5

Curious that Solomon fellow, the wisest man that ever lived they say, talked more about wise counsel than he did anything else. Reckon if anyone didn’t need counsel it would be the wisest-man-that-ever-lived. What’s up with that?

Wisdom is inexorably linked to learning. And in my travels I’ve observed that learning is inexorably linked to the love of learning.

“We’ve never done it that way before”, is the cry of someone who doesn’t love to learn.

“That doesn’t sound like my radio station”, is the anthem of someone who views things only through the rear view mirror. (A rather dangerous way to drive, I might add).

The Christian music industry will be lugging their flip flops and sun tan lotion to Walt Disney World in Orlando this week for Momentum, a think and love fest thrown by Michelle Younkman, Brittany Whatley, and their talented group of staff and volunteers.

Great thinkers like Mark Ramsey, Christy Amador, Jon Gordon, Erica Farber, David Nasser, and toast-loving Brant Hansen will be sacrificially offering their wisdom to those who, dare I say, LOVE to learn.

Unfortunately for those who don’t and won’t, they’ll leave Orlando unchanged, with perhaps only a slightly better tan, and unconsciously uttering “We’ve never done it that way.”

“When do you think most people stop learning? Is it when we already know how to do something?

Is it when we have some success under our belts? Is it when we imagine there’s nothing left to learn, no one knows something we don’t, or when we come to believe we know it all?

Whenever it is, it’s too soon, and it’s too bad, because we’ve always got a lot to learn… no matter how much we already know.” Mark Beeson

Tommy Kramer Tip

Tommy Kramer Tip #118 – What you can learn from Bill Murray…and Larry Ryan

September 4, 2015 Tommy Kramer Leave a comment

It would be hard to imagine anyone who’s more welcome to join a party than comedian/actor Bill Murray. His “business model” is unique. He has no agent, no “handlers” buzzing around him, no business cards to pass out. But what he DOES have is that he seems imminently approachable.

You see him at the Pebble Beach golf tournament, accepting home-baked cookies from a woman, then sharing them with other people around the tee box. Then you click to another channel, and he’s at Eric Clapton’s giant “Crossroads” event, not only being an emcee, but sitting with people in the crowd, watching the artists play, just like a normal person. Then he’s in Austin for SXSW, walking down the street, eating barbecue and shaking hands with everyone.

But radio people at a remote or station event? Mostly, they’re huddled up in a corner, talking to each other. Their physical posture and manner suggest that going up to one of them just to chat would either get a perfunctory “thanks for coming” response or be downright unwelcome.

Sure, Facebook and Twitter are good ways to connect, but believe me, shaking someone’s hand makes far more impact. My friend and mentor Larry Ryan in my hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana, is a great example. I can’t count how many times we’ve been eating lunch or just walking down the street, and someone has come up to him and said something like “Hi, Larry! We met a couple of years ago at the Mardi Gras parade.”
Larry will ALWAYS greet them warmly, and if he can’t quite place them, say “I’m sorry, but I’ve forgotten your name.” Then he makes that person feel like an old friend, has a short conversation, wishes them well, and we go on.

The result? After 50 years on the air there, Larry Ryan is a legend in Shreveport, still pulling excellent ratings on an Oldies station. And I guarantee you that when he does retire, a lot of people will still be writing his name down in their Arbitron diaries. Months later, they’ll think he’s just been on vacation for a couple of weeks. (If you think that’s an exaggeration, you’re wrong. When I was Corporate Talent Coaching for Paxson Radio, we saw diary entries for one jock who had been DEAD for two years!)

– – – – – – –
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.

Frost Advisory

Frost Advisory #272 – Hurricanes, Lightning, Uber, and Your Radio Station

August 30, 2015 John Frost Leave a comment

California is in a record breaking four year drought, don’tcha know.

Folks say that lightning storms in Orlando cause an average of 6 deaths and 39 injuries a year. (Anyone for golf during Momentum at Disney?) As I write this there is a potential hurricane heading toward my back yard petunias.

This cheery attention-getting open is designed to tap into your brain’s cortex (I looked it up!), where long term memory is located. The frequency of emotional events, common life experiences, and the smell of your grandmother’s oatmeal cookies all camp out there.

Things you experience over and over again are stored in your cortex and pop out when activated. (That’s why you can instantly sing along with a song you haven’t heard in twenty years).

Connecting your radio station to what’s rattling around in your listeners’ cortex enhances your ability to communicate to them. That’s a fancy way of saying RELEVANCE MATTERS. (Conversely, irrelevance makes you irrelevant).

A few days ago I received this e-mail:

“As the first storm of the season approaches South Florida, we want to make sure our riders are ready. We’re teaming up with our friends at Capital One to provide a free Storm Readiness Pack on-demand…”

Each pack includes:

2 Gallons of Water
First Aid Kit
Flash Light
Batteries
Glow Sticks
Duct tape
Moist Towelettes
Trash Bags
Deck of Cards

Oh, did I mention I received this e-mail from (drum roll, please)….

Uber

Yes, Uber. The company that helps me get around is helping me even when I can’t.

Hopefully there are values in your station brand that are more important than the fact that you play Hercules and the Chicken Fat People’s latest song.

Good stuff happens when you seize the moment and connect the dots from your station’s brand values to your listeners’ needs. Why? Because it’s already on their minds.

ZLand back to school

Tommy Kramer Tip

Tommy Kramer Tip #117 – It’s a SHOW, not a Shift

August 30, 2015 Tommy Kramer Leave a comment

Radio guru Lee Abrams used to tell us, “It’s a SHOW, not a ‘shift’.”

This was a foundational thought, a reminder to make sure that we didn’t ever think of our air work as being like an assembly line shift worker in a factory, putting in rivets, over and over, to the point of boredom.

But there’s more to it than that, from a creative standpoint.
Since radio is an audio medium (no camera), that means we can’t divert the eye, like on TV. Everything shows on the air anyway, so the goal every day is to make sure and SHOW SOMETHING.

Show your creativity. Show your sense of humor. Show your concern. Show your empathy. Show your skepticism. Show your intelligence. Show your goofiness. Show your skill set (editing yourself well, for instance, or finding just the right music for something instead of using a generic Production music bed). Show that you’re a citizen of your neighborhood, your city, your state. Show what kind of neighbor you are.

Often, in coaching sessions, I start with “What did I learn about you today on the air?” Originality isn’t just some nebulous goal; it’s the process of revealing.

– – – – – – –
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.

Tommy Kramer Tip

Tommy Kramer Tip #116 – What To Do in Washington, DC

August 23, 2015 Tommy Kramer Leave a comment

A friend of mine is travelling from here in Hawaii to Washington, D. C. next month. Great city, Washington. Many things to see and do.

One thing he’s doing is taking his girlfriend to the JFK Center for the Performing Arts to see an a cappella group sing Beatles songs.

Why the Beatles? Why not some other group or artist? You could do folk songs, or show tunes, or the obvious for a group without musical instruments, barbershop quartet.

Well, probably because Washington D.C. is a tourist town, not just our nation’s capitol. And more people on Planet Earth know songs by the Beatles than anyone else.

But I think it’s also because the Beatles have the most varied library of songs. Rock, ballad, baroque, kids’ sing-along, anthem, Country – you name it, the Beatles did it. (And of course, in those songs are some of the greatest lyrics ever written.)

That’s the way your show should be – consistent in terms of people being able to tell that it’s you, but incredibly varied in its Content from hour to hour, day to day, week to week.

I KNOW that you can do it. But you may need help. We all “get by with a little help from our friends.”

Frost Advisory

Frost Advisory #271 – Yankee Stadium, Change, and Your Radio Station (Part Dos)

August 23, 2015 John Frost Leave a comment

On last week’s show I shared that there are two kinds of people in radio stations; those that fear change, and those that thrive on it.

But change is happening all the time whether we notice or not. 10,000,001 chromosomes fall off an average 49 year old man’s head every time he brushes his teeth.*

The old Yankee Stadium was opened in 1923 and was immediately nicknamed “The House That Ruth Built” because of the Babe’s popularity. Yankee Stadium hosted 33 World Series and became an icon of sports arenas all over the world.

In 2009, the wrecking ball destroyed this beloved ballpark. But a funny thing. There were no protests, petitions or picket signs. Few rants on social media about the passing of a legacy.

How could this be?

“The most ineffective way to begin a conversation about change is to talk about what needs to change.”

Few were upset because the Yankees immediately directed everyone’s attention to what was to be via a high tech 3-D website where fans could actually experience the beautiful new ballpark before it was even built.

Fans could go online and see the upper deck frieze replicated from the old stadium, the monuments in center field, and the view of the subway trains beyond the right field bleachers.

In other words, fans could experience the good things from the old ballparks, but with comfier seats, roomier concourses, concession stands with more (and more expensive) goodies, and, eeh gad!, toilets that actually flushed! They could also rent one of 33 new luxury suites at more than $100,000 per season, thank you mighty much!

“You should never begin a conversation about change by addressing where you are now. You should ways begin with where you want to be. When you begin a conversation about change by discussing what needs to change you generally begin with something that someone is emotionally invest in. That’s a recipe for failure.” Andy Stanley

“There is an inexorable link between an organization’s vision and it’s appetite for improvement.” Andy Stanley

What vision of the future are you casting to your team?

* Darn spell checker. Please substitute ‘follicles’ and ‘hair’.

Mason Morning Minute

The Secret To Bigger Is Better

August 17, 2015 Alan Mason Leave a comment

“Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.” Rick Cook, The Wizardry Compiled

Yes, it’s a different “programming,” but the message is the same.

Everyone wants bigger. It’s part of radio and part of our culture. We seem obsessed with having the biggest city, the tallest building, the busiest airport or the largest house. Of course that’s why the universe is winning.

But the term “bigger is better” isn’t true very often. First we have to look at the words themselves. “Bigger” is a quantitative word, while “better” is an ambiguous qualitative word. But most of the time people don’t realize they’re playing that bigger vs. better game.

So what do you want, quantitative or qualitative?

P.S. You CAN have both, but you need to start with the qualitative.

Frost Advisory

Frost Advisory #270 – Yankee Stadium, Change, and Your Radio Station (Part One)

August 16, 2015 John Frost Leave a comment

This Frost Advisory is the first of two parts. Just trying to change things up.

There are two kinds of people in radio stations. Those that fear change, and those that thrive on it.

In my 40+ years in radio, no one has ever invited me in and said, “…but don’t change anything.” No air talent has ever been hired and told, “but don’t change anything the previous jock did.” Not changing is never the goal. But it’s often the outcome.

Those that fear change don’t realize a truth – that things are changing all the time, regardless of our efforts to not change.

My cousin Dan once told me, “If you want a white post to remain white, you have to paint it white again and again.” My cousin Dan says nifty stuff like that all the time, don’tcha know.

To keep your hair the same length you have to cut it.

To keep your kitchen the same, you have to wash the dishes and put them away.

To keep a calendar current, you have to tear off pages.

Every day the sun rises. Every evening the sun sets. And where I live on the globe that’s about four minutes different from the day before.

Lack of change is an illusion. Once you understand that even to stay the same you have to change, change changes from a threat to an opportunity.

On next week’s show I’ll delve into why change can seem so daunting and what we can do about it. And if you’ve already guessed that it has something to do with “National Cat Hair Day”, you may be right.

Tommy Kramer Tip

Tommy Kramer Tip #115 – The Dangers of Repetition and Repetition

August 12, 2015 Tommy Kramer Leave a comment

Repeating a bit or a game later in the show is something that some consultants and talent coaches believe in, but I don’t. Think about “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” as a good example of why.

After it was hatched in the United Kingdom, the U.S. version of the show was launched in “prime time” by ABC in August of 1999, and was originally hosted by Regis Philbin. The original network version was the highest-rated of all television shows in the 1999–2000 season, reaching an average audience of approximately 29 million viewers.

That’s pretty incredible, and it made a LOT of money. But then, of course, ABC overexposed it, running it multiple times a week, and sure enough, the audience got tired of the show. It was cancelled in June of 2002. Yes, it has limped along as a daytime game show with several different hosts – I think the most recent is Chris Harrison, but they could use George Harrison – who’s dead – and probably get the same results.

It’s very tempting to think “If it worked once, then do it again a couple of hours later.” But know that at some point that’s going to come back and bite you. I’ve heard a lot of “paint by numbers” morning shows, and so has your listener.

Burn material like jet fuel. Constantly be trying to come up with new stuff. Artistically, creativity is a muscle, and it has to be exercised or it atrophies.

But what about “benchmarks?” If you actually have one or more (and no, “Battle of the Sexes” isn’t one), run with it – but only ONCE a show. (Maybe just once a week.)

Mason Morning Minute

Creativity vs. Innovation

August 10, 2015 Alan Mason Leave a comment

“Where do you put the fear when you choose to innovate? The fear is there, but you have to find a place to put it.” – Seth Godin

I remember sitting on the floor in the house in Portland with a bunch of friends watching TV, absolutely mesmerized. Disney’s Fantasia was playing, and no one was talking. Usually we were talking with each other, making fun of what was in, or telling dumb grade school kid jokes. You didn’t have money for a lot of movies in a military family, so TV, even a black and white one, was where you went.

Fantasia made a huge impact on me, and later I realized why. It was beyond the usual creativity you’d find in Cinderella, it was innovative!

People tend to put innovation and creativity in the same box, but they shouldn’t. Innovation is when you come up with something new – like Fantasia. Creativity is when you put a new spin on something existing. So, while all true innovations are creative, all creativity isn’t innovative.

I hear a lot of radio people talking about how innovative their station is when it’s either creative, or in that third, unmentionable category, unremarkable.

We’re afraid to take a chance any more. Radio doesn’t seem to be looking for the crazy people, those outliers who are different from everyone else. In fact those people frighten some of the “modern” breed of broadcasters looking for the normal people who are compliant and submissive… in other words, unremarkable.

Content will win in the end, but only if it’s innovative, creative, or at least remarkable.