Content is definitely what I get asked about most in sessions and in radio seminars. And since it takes a long time to get people who haven’t seen how easy it is to catch on, many times I give them an overview – a lesson I learned from watching the great comic and actor Steve Martin over the years.

I met Steve once, in about 1971, when a radio trade paper called The Bob Hamilton Radio Report was a hot sheet. Bob and I were friends, and he wanted to put together a convention with about 300 guests from radio all over the country – PDs, air talent, etc. Speakers were selected (among them were then a youthful Buzz Bennett, Bill Young from KILT in Houston, and as best as I can recall, Mike McCormick, known for programming WLS in Chicago).

They had a roundtable discussion, followed by a Q & A period, then did air check sessions afterword, where even if you were a bumpkin from Louisiana (like me), you could get some feedback from these smart and accomplished Program Directors.

For entertainment beforehand, I had a friendly relationship with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and asked them if they could open the seminar. They did, and brought a (then unknown to me) comic named Steve Martin as their opening act. (Steve’s manager was the brother of a member of the band, by the way.)

To say the least, Steve knocked it out of the park. 300 radio guys, laughing our heads off.

As I watched Martin’s career develop, I noticed something that I’ve always wholly believed in. You’ve probably seen it, too.

Every single time Steve Martin has been a guest on a late-night show, or hosted something like an Award show, there’s always been SOMETHING GOING ON.

Whether it was reciting his own notes on his appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (“August 3rd. Jokes killed. Audience was great. Ed was friendly. Johnny was…’sluggish’…”), or trying to throw a pencil through the imaginary glass windows behind David Letterman’s desk – missing each time, cutting to commercial, then coming back to 100 pencils stuck EVERYWHERE (even on a camera lens!), Steve always had something surprising to do.

And you came to know that about him. Something was coming. Guaranteed. You didn’t know what it would be, or when it would happen, but you just knew it WOULD come. (And it still does.)

So here’s the lesson: There always needs to be something going on. That’s how you COMPEL people to listen to you. Just “a voice reading words” won’t do. Yes, inform me. That’s part of the job. But always ENTERTAIN me, too.

This is a lot of what I coach. Ask yourself if this is that the kind of help you’re getting. If not, you need a different coach. (However, I don’t think Steve Martin is available.)