In the last tip, I addressed what seems like a lack of Production skills in radio today.  If you really want to make an immediate impact, let’s start with show Promos (particularly Morning Shows, but any show you want to promote).

The Kramer Rules:

Let go of promoting what will happen on tomorrow’s show unless there’s a special guest or big “event” happening.  What works best is a quick intro (“Charlie and The Beamer…”) followed by a good audio clip FROM the show then a tag that tells me their name again and when they’re on, ending with the name of the station.

Stay away from trying to define the show for me.  (“She’s the smart one.  He’s goofy, but lovable.”  Ick.  And please no “the perfect way to start your morning” crap.)

We should dive a little deeper into this “plugging tomorrow’s show” thing, too.  I don’t WANT to feel like the whole show for tomorrow is planned already.  I want some sense of a show being live, working without a net.  Why… something might actually SURPRISE us!

The clip you use in the promo should be well-edited, but not SOUND like it’s edited.  And it should have some appropriate “staging music” under it, not just be “dry voice.”  It’s a promo, but it’s not being compared to what else is heard on radio.  In the listener’s mind, it’s being compared to Hollywood movie trailers.  So step it up.