We programmers tend to be pretty nifty at analysis. It’s too long. It’s too short. There’s too much of “A” and not enough of “B.”
Successful radio stations are analyzed regularly. But analysis, if it goes no further than analysis, can have blind spots.
Continue readingJohn Lennon once said, “When I was five years old, my mother told me happiness was the key to life. When I went to school they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment. And I told them they didn’t understand life.”
So, with that in mind, do you sound happy on the air? You know, like you actually enjoy your job? Or are you just going through the motions, plodding along doing “fluff” Content or reading stuff off a computer screen?
If you’re not happy doing radio, please get out of it. Life’s too short to listen to someone who’s just “filling breaks”, and there are many people who’d love to have your job. This may sound corny, but we’re here to RELIEVE people of sad feelings or boredom, not add to them. Radio isn’t dying, but some people make it sound like it is.
If this is too “pie in the sky” to you, I quote John Lennon again: “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”
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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.
You read that right.
In case you’ve missed it, there is quite a controversy over a recent campaign from Bud Light.
It seems that the marketing department at Bud Light decided to make Dylan Mulvaney, a “trans woman,” one of its paid spokespersons. For the purposes of this blog I’ll not focus on the obvious moral and societal aspects of that decision but instead focus on the branding implications. After all, Christian radio stations regularly face scrutiny about who they are FOR or AGAINST.
So, what’s going on here?
Continue readingEach break you do is an “egg”. But ALL the breaks during an hour (or your show as a whole) are an omelet.
The point is, this break should stand as a break, but it should also be part of some sense of what today is like. A mood, if nothing else.
If you’re just doing isolated breaks, there’s no “story” that day. To be great, your show should be an ongoing saga of your experiences with things that are also part of the listener’s life. Who wouldn’t rather have an omelet than just one tired little egg?
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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.
There’s a financial talk show on a small AM radio station where I live. Yep, I listen from time to time but please don’t tell anybody. It’s terrible radio, but the guys are really smart, they cough a lot, have lots of room noise and give insightful advice.
Besides, they’ve helped me make a gazillion imaginary dollars in the stock market!
The trouble is they don’t understand radio. Much of the show includes inside references (the office necktie policy), dropped phone calls (“is the caller there? Hello? Please turn down your radio!”), reading articles out loud from the Wall Street Journal (BORING! I can do that myself!), or making references to things they said thirty minutes ago (“Do I have to repeat this again? Weren’t you listening thirty minutes ago?”)
Continue readingIf you concentrate so much on the “big” things, but you don’t get really good at the little things, it’s not gonna work as well.
You need to be well-rounded. It’s nice if you have “big” moments, but don’t have any “empty” moments. Be right here, right now, even just doing the weather or promoting something.
It’s like baseball – it’s great to hit home runs, but strikeouts kill. They’re wasted times at bat. No fielders have to move; no runners advance. You might as well have just gone up to the plate without a bat.
The “little things” MATTER.
Don’t worry! I’m not going to ask how many times you play “Easter Parade” by Judy Garland and Fred Astaire.
Easter, from a programming perspective, is not like Christmas in that there are 27 different versions of “Mary, did you Know?” that we can play.
But the principle is the same.
Continue readingImagine going to a fancy restaurant where the server is just perfect. He’s taking your order, but he’s also helping you with a little opinion, making sure you get the dressing you like on your salad… whatever.
And then all of a sudden, the floor show comes on, and he goes down and he’s the performer! He makes you laugh and do stuff, and he’s interesting. It’s the same guy.
That’s your job. (In a team show, it’s easy. One’s the server; the other’s the performer. And those roles can switch.)
That’s what you are. Whether as a solo or part of a team, we need to serve the needs of the listener AND entertain him/her.
It’s really boring to hear shows where only one of those roles is present.
Maybe you have one, too.
It’s called a land line, often connected to voicemail. And the voicemail is nothing but spam. So much so that I no longer even pay attention to the voicemail messages I receive.
(Side note: I’m glad we don’t spam our listeners so that they just choose to ignore us. Gulp! We don’t, do we?)
But recently one caught my ear.
Continue readingA pet peeve of mine is when someone starts with “I – me – my” verbiage instead of starting with the Subject or the Listener, THEN talk about you.
One of the advantages of a team show is that it gives you the opportunity to get into Content without starting by talking about yourself. Your partner can talk about you.
“Well, Rick was only ten minutes late this morning” leads to a story. Instead of you talking to me about you, you’re talking to me about him.
This ‘indirect’ way of beginning a Content break is not only really effective, but it creates an “insider” vibe – always a good thing.
But remember, this is only an advantage if you use it.
