In a coaching session this week, it occurred to me that most talents today might not have been as fortunate as I was in terms of who influenced them.  The names might not mean much to you, but I started off working for a wonderful P. D. named Larry Ryan in Shreveport, my home town, whose mantra was “Do something!  Any idiot can intro songs.”  That gave me permission to try – and equally important – permission to fail.

Then I worked for radio pioneer Gordon McLendon (who, with Todd Storz, INVENTED Top 40).  Gordon was all about Creativity, too, and P. D. Michael Spears taught me tight, concise formatics to harness that creativity.

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There’s a famous story that David Letterman tells about Johnny Carson.  One night on The Tonight Show, fairly early in his career, the young Letterman was a guest.  And he and Carson got on one of those rolls where everything each of them said was funnier than the last thing.  The audience was in stitches laughing at each line, and finally Carson broke into the “patter” he had used as a magician when he was young – the absurdity of which resulted in uproarious laughter that led perfectly into a commercial break.

During the break, with the set darkened, Carson, who was a mentor to Dave, leaned over and said, “You’ll use everything you’ve ever known.”

Truly great air talents know this, and it’s a really interesting parameter to work on as a coach.  But the key is IF you can figure out exactly what the “fuse” is to light that “nugget” up.

Often, I see air talents with a good concept, but no idea of how it might work.  Using something just because you have that bullet in the chamber doesn’t mean that you can just fire it indiscriminately.

Think “What would facilitate this?”  Because it has to make sense in the flow of the conversation, or it’ll sound awkward.

Over decades of radio, including working with literally hundreds of stations in all different formats, I’ve found that there’s one thing every truly great station has, and the ones that aren’t great don’t have:  Everybody cares.

In a station where everybody cares, no sloppy Production is done (or left for someone else to do), attention to detail is a “given,” and bad or uncooperative attitudes are simply not tolerated.  You find high-profile, high-level talent, but no prima donnas.  Everyone is clear on what the Strategy of the station is, and that strategy is carried out on every level, from the person answering the phones to the General Manager.

That may sound pretty obvious, but if it’s so “obvious,” why don’t more stations have it?

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If you have a dog, you know this to be true: most dogs lie around waiting for something to happen, then – and usually ONLY then – they get up off their duffs and JOIN you.

Dogs are eager to participate, but they’re not usually self-starters.  My best friend’s two dogs lie around on the bed until one of us goes into the kitchen, or outside, then they LEAP off the bed, ready to join in on the sandwich I’m making, or if I go outside, run out the door with me to do whatever they think I want to do (which apparently is bark at squirrels).

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I’m really saying this a lot in sessions these days: “Do something today that you haven’t done before.”

My friend Don Godman is one of the people I hit with that thought recently.  And the first attempt he sent me was really quite good, except for one fatal flaw:

Coming out of the weather guy doing the forecast, Don said, “It’s really hot – 99 – and it’s supposed to be even hotter…” then we heard the sound of a refrigerator door opening and the unmistakable ‘hum’ of it, as he added “In fact, I’m just gonna do the rest of the show from this freezer.  Awww… that feels so good…”

Really cute.  It caught the ear, surprised us, and his inflection was perfect.  So GO!  Right there!

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