In the last tip, I dealt with the latest radio “incomplete thought” – constantly teasing something at the end of each break.

If you go back and read my tip on “The First Exit” (it’s #3 on my website), you’ll see that the most effective momentum device EVER is to get out at the first place a break “resolves”.  You always leave ’em wanting more, and you have great – and unpredictable – forward momentum.

Over the years (and I first wrote about this over 20 years ago), I’ve heard this misinterpreted in a lot of different ways, like…

“Get out at the first punch line.” (Not everything is funny.  Sometimes there ISN’T a punch line.)

“Get out at the First Exit – but then say our names, or the name of the station, into the break.” (Really?  You WANT your name or the station’s name right next to commercials?  What do you think the listener associates you with then?  The “First In, Last Out” thing never worked, and it doesn’t work now, either.)

And then there’s our newest incarnation:  “Take the First ‘out’, but then do a tease of what’s coming up.”  (NO! This completely DESTROYS the First Exit.  Taylor Swift doesn’t end a song by playing a few notes of the next song she’s going to do.)

A show without SURPRISES is a show that’s not worth listening to.  I don’t WANT to know everything you’re going to do ahead of time.  In the last tip, I listed the four or five categories of things that are worth “promoting ahead” (not “teasing” – I can’t stand that word. When someone calls you a “tease”, that’s NOT a compliment).

I have to go away now.  The large vein in my neck is really starting to throb.

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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.