You can’t make me! Because I’m a Republican/a Democrat/a Texan, a hard working self-made man/someone that can’t be pushed around/a free thinker!
I find the “controversy” over wearing a face mask to be peculiar. Why? Because from my perspective, MY world view, it makes perfect sense to wear one. It’s only a minor inconvenience, if that, it’s a great conversation starter at the grocery store and the gym (about the only places I can go), and it covers up my big nose.
Continue readingThere’s what you want it to sound like; then there’s what it actually is.
“We just have a conversation with the listener.” Well… not exactly.
It’s NOT really a Conversation. Music radio is at its best is when it’s concise and at least momentarily memorable – or at the VERY least, when it doesn’t waste our time.
This thought helps; it’s NOT a conversation. It’s just an Observation with an Emotion tucked in.
Thinking this way won’t leave you frustrated if you don’t get phone or social media response. Your job is to offer things up that are incisive or entertaining. Getting a reply isn’t the real goal.
244 years ago our country was born with a Declaration of Independence, and a subsequent Bill of Rights for all citizens to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But as Believers, we know that with those rights comes responsibility.
Your radio station has the right to do anything you want. Even the right to be mediocre if you so choose. Many Christian stations are just that as a result of a mishmash programming lineup comprised largely by unfamiliar songs by unknown artists.
But with every right comes a responsibility.
Continue readingFootball player and coach Herm Edwards said, “A goal without a plan is nothing but a dream.”
You want to get better. We all do. But how?
If you don’t have a plan, you may luck into something, but probably not. And even then, you’ll be tested. Something will come up, like a hurricane, or the Coronavirus, or the Black Lives Matter movement, and you’d better have some process in place that’ll work for you. As we’ve seen, people often blurt something out that backfires on them.
If you’ve been following along over the last several weeks you may have noticed that my Frost Advisories have focused on the challenges our stations are facing during this season of the coronavirus and racial tensions across the country.
I’ve commented on training talent, on connecting with the local African-American community, on finding the right camera angle for our format that is designed to encourage, and about sharing stories that give insight and create empathy.
Continue readingWhen you open that mic, the most important thing to do is what seems like the easiest one: MEAN IT.
But this is actually very difficult to do without some training. If you sound even the slightest bit insincere, or like you’re just serving up information with no real emotional investment in it… well, that’s why everyone’s impression of an air talent is that kind of pukey, surface-level-but-no-deeper “announcer guy” (or vapid nitwit).
ESPECIALLY if you’ve been blessed with an exceptional voice, remember that Emotions top “a great voice” every time.
If you sound like you actually MEAN what you’re saying, your listener will feel it. If you don’t, in baseball terminology you “just fouled one off your own foot.”
A lack of credibility is never anyone’s first choice.
“You can do anything,” boomed my dad’s voice to his mischievous adolescent son. But he added one more word. “Once.” “You can do anything… once.”
Those words served as a life lesson of accountability. But, you know what? Those words were also true. I COULD do anything… once.
So can your station.
Continue readingNot long ago, I saw a TV ad for a European car, and the voiceover began with “The thrill you’ll feel when you sit down behind the wheel…”
No. I’ve driven one of those cars, and because it sits about 4 inches off the ground, I didn’t feel the “thrill,” I felt like I was getting a colorectal exam at sixty miles an hour.
This ‘telling people what they think or feel’ (or what their reaction should be) is really annoying. Al Ries and Jack Trout call it “Marketing your aspirations.”
It’s rampant in radio, too. Just this week, I heard a morning show promo that said “Great stories, and lots of laughs” (or some other bragging drivel). Not true. I heard them, and their stories were “pat” and predictable, and the farthest thing from “laughs” I could imagine. They just recycled stories from the internet, and plugged their Facebook page.
Instead of constantly telling your listeners what you WANT them to think or feel about your show or your station, just promote the Benefits of listening to you. The best show promo just plays me a clip of the show, then tags it with who you are and when you’re on.
Let the listeners decide for themselves. Let go of the hype. No one believes it.
Interesting times, eh?
So… what are you learning through this season of COVID-19 and the protests of racial injustice?
What are you learning about your radio station that wasn’t as clear before?
One of the things I’m learning is that when we get outside “our lane” we are noticeably irrelevant. In other words, when we start doing a bunch of stuff that no one comes to us for we lose our impact.* It’s bad enough to be talking about National Pie Day (that’s 3.14, don’tcha know?) in ordinary times, but in these times we sound pert near foolish.
Continue readingThis is a “Next Level” tip.
A lot of what I coach comes from the acting world, not specifically from radio. Last week’s tip was a thought from Marlon Brando, and then I was reminded of this great piece of advice from an appearance the great Paul Newman made on an episode of “Inside the Actors’ Studio”:
“You can’t have a dramatic pause if you always pause. You can’t get someone’s attention by being loud if you’re always loud.”
When you “stretch” yourself and get different “reads” you start pre-selecting in real time. You have CHOICES, and avoid just “doing what you always do.”
Remember: Consistency is great, but Predictability is death.
