Tommy Kramer Tip #155 – Don’t Try

May 18, 2016 Tommy Kramer Leave a comment

Here’s something your boss will probably never tell you: Don’t try.

How this translates to what we do is that sounding like you’re “trying” can be felt on the other end of the radio, and it pushes people away.

It’s got to seem easy, spontaneous, like you just thought of it. When you attempt to “sell” something, you’re missing the whole point. We want to SWAY the listener, draw her or him a step closer, convince that person break-by-break, day-by-day, that listening to you is the most valid choice.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t give it your best effort. You should be conscious of making even the simplest, most mundane break you do be bright, tight, pro, and polished. But “trying” comes across as “trying too hard” – maybe even begging for attention or validation. That never works.

So have fun today… but don’t “try”.

– – – – – – –
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.

Mason Morning Minute

How Are You Doing In RLRT?

May 16, 2016 Alan Mason Leave a comment

“If a brand is to really make a connection and to spark word of mouth, they must speak to the customer like a friend.”
~John Moore

You know, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and the others can be quite seductive. You post something, get some responses, a few forwards and it feels like you’ve really accomplished something. And you probably do accomplish… something. But we don’t yet understand what a “like” means or if “thumbs up” means more listening. At a recent radio conference Mark Ramsey reviewed a study that showed no correlation between Facebook likes and success.

In books like “The Passion Conversation” and “Face To Face,” and several independent research studies, it becomes clear that over 80% of word of mouth conversations happen in RLRT, or “Real Life, Real Time.” That should get your attention.

So instead of social media, it’s digital interaction, and the smart people will be planning for the bigger picture rather than just the smaller picture one. Effective must overcome easy.

I know online interaction is easier to do, and I know it reaches a lot of users, but it overlooks the human or people part of the equation. The more effective interactions come from people to people efforts.

When Brant Hanson of Air1 decided to have the staff and band greet the listeners as they arrived for a concert, walking down a red carpet to their seats, that was human social interaction. Those people didn’t just attend, they bonded. When country stations do backyard barbecues with artists, they’re not just getting together for food, they’re bonding in a human way.

If you haven’t read “The Passion Conversation” you need to. It’s written by an acquaintance of mine, and someone I’ve talked about in the past, John Moore, along with some really smart people from a group called Brains On Fire. It really is about building passion, and that happens most often in RLRT.

Frost Advisory

Frost Advisory #309 – Beware the 4-way Stop

May 15, 2016 John Frost Leave a comment

We see them but we hardly think about them. The 4-way stop.

What’s their purpose? To stop all traffic? Silly question, I know. That seems hardly the intent, but…

…that’s what happens.

Everything stops. No traffic flow. No one moves.

Hmmm.

4-way-insert

Every radio station has things on the air that PREVENT it from delivering the very thing that people come there for in the first place. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

Maybe it’s political – the boss has a radio show where he plays whatever music he wants.

Maybe it’s the teaching/preaching show that has always been on the air so no one brings it up.

Maybe it’s the kids’ show/the teen show/the rock show/the worship show/NASCAR/high school football that someone at some time decided to put on the air for reasons you’ll never know.

The problem with 4-way stops is that… inefficiency is designed IN. Traffic… all traffic… stops.

Tommy Kramer Tip

Tommy Kramer Tip #154 – A Coaching Tip About Coaching

May 11, 2016 Tommy Kramer Leave a comment

Okay, so you’d like your air staff to get better, but you don’t think you can afford someone like me or Randy Lane or Valerie Geller.

Let me help you with this thought: “It’s not ever about how good we are today. It’s about what we can do tomorrow to get even better.”

True coaching isn’t scolding or critiquing. It’s helping a talent always be refining things to get to another level. Strategy – the station’s strategy, the sound you want your jocks to have, the momentum you want to build into your formatics – dictates Tactics, NOT the other way around.

A CHR station, for instance, probably won’t do well with the typical “Rock Dog” approach we still hear on way too many Rock or Classic Rock stations. So you have to shape the on-air approach accordingly.

I would add two more guidelines: [1] One “big” thing, one “little” thing per session. For most air talents, this is all they can handle. Some advanced talents can handle more points, but I’d still shy away from a “laundry list” of things in any one session. [2] Be patient, but direct and specific in letting a talent know what you’re after. “I’ll know it when I hear it” only means that you’ll never hear it. Call a PLAY.

That’ll hold you until you can find the budget to hire a truly great talent coach. (The two people I mentioned are excellent. No doubt there are a few others.)

– – – – – – –
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.

Frost Advisory

Frost Advisory #308 – Programming Lessons From Mom

May 8, 2016 John Frost Leave a comment

Flowers, candy, and cards. Family time and reminiscing. As we celebrate Mother’s Day, perhaps there are programming lessons we can learn from mom as well.

Be a good listener

There is no shortage of subjective opinions about your station’s programming; from the boss, a listener or donor, the receptionist, the sales manager. The opinions that are most valuable are the ones uncovered through objective research to understand the listeners’ needs and perspective. Ask. But you have to ask it the right way.

Live every moment

The most important programming element is the one that is on RIGHT NOW, not tomorrow, not next week. “Be good now” is the best programming advice there is. After all, the “nows” add up.

Be a good friend

Friends make others feel welcome. Friends don’t talk down to others. Friends encourage.

Don’t be selfish

The moment we think the station is all about us, we lose perspective. Whether commercial or non-comm, your station ultimately exists to serve and bless others.

Flush

Be vigilant about getting the bad stuff off your radio station and replacing it with good stuff.

Remember who you are

My mom used to say, “Remember who you are and what you represent.” Your station’s brand – what your station stands for – is the primary reason people tune in. The degree by which you elicit passion through your brand values will determine your success.

Thanks, Mom!

motherhood-is-quote1

Tommy Kramer Tip

Tommy Kramer Tip #153 – What John Oliver Gets about Social Media that Most People Don’t

May 4, 2016 Tommy Kramer Leave a comment

If I hear “Join the conversation” one more time, I’m going to scream. This is trite and uninspired. First of all, to me (the listener), it’s NOT a “conversation” UNTIL I join it. It’s just a bunch of people I don’t know jabbering away on Twitter. It ranks right up there with someone’s picture of kale zucchini on Instagram. (And any “conversation” about that should include the words “makes me want to hurl.”)

John Oliver, the wonderful host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” really gets how social media should be used. Instead of the nebulous, pandering, “What do you think?” or the even more beaten-to-death “join the conversation,” Oliver gives people something to DO.

Example: In April of 2016, Oliver did a piece on the expensive seats in Yankee Stadium in a prime location, known as the “Legends Club” – the first five rows of seats. Priority seating access, people (servants, actually) bringing your food to you so you don’t have to stand in line with the plebeians who have to wait for their lukewarm 15-dollar beer – you get the picture. Oliver quoted the Yankees’ COO actually saying — out loud — in a radio interview that “If you buy a ticket in a very premium location, we don’t want you to sell it for a buck and a half” to a fan who “may be someone who has never sat in a premium location… so that’s a frustration to our existing fan base.”

Indignant about this “rich people don’t like sitting next to people who aren’t rich” perspective, Oliver BOUGHT two “Legends” seats to each of the Yankees’ first three games – right behind home plate. And he offered to sell them to you for 25 CENTS, with the provision that you COULDN’T dress nicely!

To get them, you tweeted a photo of what you and a guest would wear to the game, with the hash-tag #IHAVENEVERSATINAPREMIUMLOCATION.

Totally intrigued by this, I saw the two winning fans at the first game, sitting with all the high rollers and multi-gazillionaires, dressed in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costumes! Well done, John Oliver, you strange but brilliant British fellow. If you get to Hawaii, come to my place, and we’ll sit in shorts, tee-shirts, and flip-flops (my attire EVERY day) and I’ll throw a steak on the grill for you.

The lesson: Let’s DO something, and get in on the ACTION, not just “join the conversation.”

– – – – – – –
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.

Frost Advisory

Frost Advisory #307 – Programming Lessons From The Mall

May 1, 2016 John Frost Leave a comment

Dozens of decisions come your way every day. Some are small and some are big, impacting the health and growth of your station.

Maybe there is wisdom to be found at the mall. (There’s a sentence I thought I’d never say!)

The mall directory has some sections large enough to read the name of the stores: Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bloomingdales. These are the anchor stores.

Other areas are much smaller with names readable only if you’re standing on your head. (And I wasn’t!)

The anchor stores serve as the primary reason people go to the mall. The smaller stores tend to be boutique in nature and add options to the mall experience. If Mom is shopping for a new outfit at Nordstrom, Dad can catch up on some computer work as he’s gulping down a Venti Iced Skinny Hazelnut Macchiato, Sugar-Free Syrup, Extra Shot, Light Ice, No Whip at Starbucks.

Your station is like that.

Your station’s “anchors” are its overarching brand values, the unique mix of music, compelling air personalities, and key listener benefits. (see Frost Advisories #122 and 146). Your smaller “stores” are everything else.

Here’s the problem! Under-performing stations tend to focus not on the anchors, but on the everything else. And that focus changes perspective.

“Where focus goes, energy flows. And where energy flows, whatever you’re focusing on grows.”
~Tony Robbins

If your radio station is struggling you may want to check your own “mall directory”. What’s most important? Why do people come there in the first place? Perhaps the small stuff has become the big stuff because that’s where your focus has been.

Now, off to the mall for a Venti Iced Skinny Hazelnut Macchiato, Sugar-Free Syrup, Extra Shot, Light Ice, No Whip at Starbucks!

Tommy Kramer Tip

Tommy Kramer Tip #152 – Fake Disagreements

April 27, 2016 Tommy Kramer Leave a comment

Here’s something that needs to be clubbed to death, never to appear again:

I’m hearing a lot of “fake disagreements” these days on team shows. Person #1 says something, then Person #2 disagrees with it. Which does happen in real life. But you can’t just take a position because some Consultant or some PD told you that “conflict is interesting, and you’ll get more phone calls.”

First of all, the object of being on the air isn’t to get phone calls. It’s to be a good neighbor, and to be informative and entertaining. Sometimes that’ll be funny; sometimes you’ll disagree. But it has to born of a genuine emotion, not just put on like a coat, because it ALWAYS SHOWS.

Manufactured disagreements are like fake IDs – they don’t really show who you are.

Here’s a tip in developing a more real, true to life sound. You can AGREE, but for different REASONS. (Actual people do this all the time. Let’s be like them.)

Frost Advisory

Frost Advisory #306 – Maybe We’re Asking the Wrong Question

April 24, 2016 John Frost Leave a comment

“How many different items are on the menu?” It’s a question no one at a restaurant has ever asked.

And yet… “how many songs are on your playlist?” is routinely asked as though the answer might actually be significant.

The familiar and the unfamiliar; the all-time-favorites and the never-heard-of; each viewed simply as a quota, no one more important than another. But, alas…

Everyone’s favorite music station is the one that plays their favorite music.

And that, my friends, is the fundamental challenge in growing Christian music stations to be market leaders.

A well-known researcher recently told me that he had never seen a format where so much of the music was unfamiliar – even to its fans.

So, what’s the better idea?

In a world of unfamiliar, successful program directors design familiarity into the brand.

whats-hot

That’s how six unknowns can get the loudest ovation of the night at the ballpark – the common ground of love of country connects six thousand fans in the stands to the six returning airmen on the field. It’s how strangers become friends because they are both parents of kids on the same team. It’s how neighbor meets neighbor as everyone pulls together to clean up after a storm.

“To move an audience, especially a diverse audience, from where they are to where you want them to be requires common ground… Where you consistently begin and what you consistently assume determine who consistently shows up. Why? Because your assumptions create the common ground for the journey.”
~Andy Stanley, “Deep and Wide”

Familiarity is the fruit of common ground. Common ground is the fruit of knowing your listener.

Knowing your listener is the fruit of putting your listeners’ perspective ahead of your own agenda.

The question isn’t “How many different items are on the menu?”

…the question is, “What do people love here?”

Tommy Kramer Tip

Tommy Kramer Tip #151 – All Morning People

April 20, 2016 Tommy Kramer Leave a comment

Here’s how you build a great air staff, and keep them great over a long period of time, even with the natural ebb and flow of turnover:

Only hire people who could potentially do mornings. For EVERY daypart.

So many stations today are the morning show, then… everything else.

A lot of jocks doing nights or overnights (which, of course, might be a voice tracker nowadays) simply aren’t very dynamic or entertaining. Blah.

But PERSONALITIES should be in EVERY daypart.

Naturally, many of them won’t be fully hatched yet. But if you look for that spark, that “everybody at the party’s listening to this guy tell stories” ingredient, or someone who writes great copy, for instance, that’s a great starting place.

Because here’s the deal: people who DON’T have that Entertainment factor have a low ceiling on how good they can become.

Three centuries ago, I started in radio in my hometown doing all-nights. I wasn’t very good. But with a lot of mentoring, and the permission to try stuff AND permission to fail, three and a half years later, I moved from Shreveport to Dallas to begin the greatest adventure of my life. I wasn’t the best jock on that staff either, but that staff was all young bucks who would end up doing morning drive at some point in their careers. And we’re all in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.

That can be YOUR staff, if you don’t just settle for a seat filler.