Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #648: Two Talk Tips

Posted on November 5, 2025 by tommykramer

Some people say that 99% of the tips I write are for MusicRadio stations. That’s true, but I’ve worked with a LOT of Talk stations, too, and I can’t even count how many individual Talk Radio air talents. Two of my main “rules” are actually the same as in MusicRadio. Talk is just a different format, in terms of how much time you have to talk.

But…

1. You still have to edit yourself, so your points are concise and targeted.*

2. You should put things in STATEMENT form instead of asking Questions – especially avoiding those “Right?” types of rhetorical questions that sound needy and unsure of yourself. Statements get phone calls, pro or con. But Questions, because they’re insipid or typical, tend to get insipid or typical responses.

*By trying to say things in as few words as possible, you’ll end up saying more things that MATTER.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2025 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #647: What Do You Want Them to Say?

Posted on October 29, 2025 by tommykramer

My smart friend and associate John Frost posted a tip recently titled “What do we want them to say?” using baseball as an example.

Specifically, the opening of Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. The question was “What do we want fans to say when they are leaving the ballpark?

The answer was – regardless of whether the Padres won or lost – “I want to come back and bring a friend.”

Now apply that to radio. What we should want people to say is “I want to come back and listen again tomorrow.”

NOTE: You should always want the listener to either stay with you some more today, or come back tomorrow to listen again. If you don’t have that, you have nothing.

NOTHING.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2025 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #646: The Giant Stop Sign to Pay Attention To

Posted on October 23, 2025 by tommykramer

This is a recurring theme that I’ve dealt with before, but it seems to be metastasizing…again. It’s this thing; this all too typical “tease”….

“Listen up – this is something you’ll want to hear.”

No. I already don’t want to hear it.

Unfortunately, I see and hear this a lot now. Ugh. Remember my rule: Stop telling people what they’re supposed to like or what they’re supposed to think.

In the example above “Listen up – this is important…” would work FAR better. It’s about the ‘thing’, not about trying to “guide” my feelings.

Words are what we do. Use them stupidly or unknowingly, and you lose people. Shape what you say so it doesn’t treat people like cattle, and you’ll be much more successful. (And the air talents who DON’T think about this technique will become the ones that people don’t want to listen to.)

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2025 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #645: More “Reveals”

Posted on October 15, 2025 by tommykramer

After you get to a certain stage in your career where you’re confident in what you’re doing, you have a certain “flavor” that you bring to the show – and it’s working; you’re successful – how you get even better is when you show more dimensions.

For example, maybe your show “plays dumb” a little bit, but actually gets very smart at times.
Or maybe it’s the opposite: Maybe you’re kind of cerebral, your humor is a little harder to reach, but when it does click, you make people laugh – but then at times you can be ‘down to earth’ stupid, too.

Whatever. The point is, showing more of who you are (and why) always works.

Example: David Letterman loved dogs, because they were more loving and caring and fun than many of his guests. That explained a LOT. And we knew it; we felt it.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2025 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #644: They Own the Cameras

Posted on October 8, 2025 by tommykramer

Years ago, the great comedian Norm MacDonald was fired from doing the “Weekend Update” on Saturday Night Live. It was because one of the higher-ups at NBC was friends with O. J. Simpson, and he demanded that Norm stop doing jokes about the ex-football player and accused murderer.

After that, Norm was on Late Night with David Letterman, wondering and griping a bit about getting fired. But Norm also quoted something that Letterman had told him about the bosses of network TV – “They own the cameras.”

I believe it would be a good idea to keep this in mind – NOT about your boss, but instead, about the Listeners.

Because THEY “own the cameras.” They decide whether to listen to you or not. So try not to drift too far into your own personal agendas if you know you’ll be going against their directives. You can still do plenty of Content that “works around the fringes” of whatever you think is relevant – but without forcing a decision that will affect your career in a negative way.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2025 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #643: Every Good Player Knows…

Posted on October 1, 2025 by tommykramer

Major league baseball runs a commercial during a change of innings that says, “Every good player knows the value of a coach.” And that’s true, but I think the opposite is true, too – every good coach knows the value of a great player.

A lot of good coaching is just staying out of the way, or just gently carving at the edges of things – because…they’re good. They don’t need a lot of, “This is how we do this.” In radio/TV/Voice acting, it’s more about “This plays to your strengths more,” or “It’s better if you stop here instead of adding one more thing.”

Coaching is a two-way street. Hard to do on your own.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2025 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #642: When Imaging Goes Wrong

Posted on September 24, 2025 by tommykramer

It’s important to take stock sometimes, and wonder “How did this happen?”

Case in point, promos for a show playing DURING that show. Yes, I know, TV does it all the time — to the unheard voices of people screaming, “I’m watching the show NOW!” at their TV screens.

Listening to a morning show the other day, I heard multiple little produced promo links between songs for that show. Why? Are you so desperate for people to hear cutesy little comments about the show – usually interrupted by your promo voice – that you don’t trust that since we are, after all, listening TO the show, that we see the advantages of it over the ones we’re NOT listening to?

It has an oily, self-promotional residue to it. You may think it works, but a lot of people get tired of your crowing about yourself. Is that part of your Strategy? Because if it is, that’s probably not going to work very well.

Note: It was SO hard to keep the word “idiots” out of this tip. But, you know, if the shoe with the gum stuck to it fits…

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2025 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip $641: Be Like Mic

Posted on September 17, 2025 by tommykramer

A generation – maybe more – of young people wanted to “Be Like Mike” (Michael Jordan, of course) when I was younger.

In the radio arena, I wanted to be like Larry Ryan. Larry’s a legendary morning man in my hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. And besides a terrific, inviting voice and a laugh that makes YOU laugh, Larry embodied what I wanted in my life – to be successful, well-liked, and have a long career.

So, as everyone does, I did my best “impression” of Larry.
Obviously, that didn’t work, since I’m just me. But that’s kind of the point. We all start out imitating someone (or everyone) that we like. Fortunately, at some point, we have to reluctantly settle for being ourselves.

But I think it’s a good thing to have someone you admire be a goal. That instills a work ethic. And by trying, even if you fail, you learn your limitations – and your strengths.

Now obviously I believe it’s a LOT easier with a Talent Coach that you can trust. If you’re working with a good one, you’re going to reach your goals a lot faster (and a lot easier) than I did.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #640: The Mirror

Posted on September 10, 2025 by tommykramer

Once, years ago, I decided to audition for a Talk station in Dallas. A friend of mine said that they had an opening, and at that time, I had never done Talk.

So I fashioned a “sample plate” of subjects I thought would work, and sent it to the Program Director.

Boy, was I wrong. I had taken a detached view of “things that are interesting” and put ‘em all down on paper. In retrospect, they were horrible. Nobody would have cared, and it would have been embarrassing.

Fortunately for the station’s P. D., I “looked in the mirror” at what I had prepped, and realized how it wasn’t me at all. So I chickened out of doing an audition set for that weekend. My inner compass pointed “due nowhere” and I apologized for wasting his time.

Over the years, I did end up doing both Sports radio and some straight Talk, but only after I had rethought that incident and learned a lot from others in the format, including my dazzlingly smart friend Valerie Geller, Consultant to many, many great Talk stations.

The takeaway: “look at the mirror” with your Content. If it doesn’t “look like you”, drop it and move on.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #639: A Tip from Robert Heinlein

Posted on September 3, 2025 by tommykramer

“The Dean of Science Fiction writers” is the title given to Robert Heinlein, author of “Stranger in a Strange Land”, “Starship Troopers”, and the wonderful book “Time Enough for Love” – among many others, was both an author and aeronautical engineer. That led to amazingly predicting many things that we now take for granted in the real world.

His main character, running through several of his books, was Lazarus Long, the world’s oldest man. Lazarus had a saying that I believe is the secret to true success in radio: “Be yourself, and be it in style.”

To young talents, stop hiding behind some façade. Stop trying to be or look like or sound like someone else. I always tell people “Crack your chest open and show us what’s in there.”

To veteran air talents who want to stay valid, I would say sweep through what you do, and take out anything that’s not genuine. What makes you “sound old” is clinging to outdated habits that don’t match up with the short-attention-span listener of today. If you sound old, you ARE old. If you sound engaged and interested in what’s new, you won’t sound old.

But above else, be yourself. And be it in style.