Author Archives: tommykramer

About tommykramer

Tommy Kramer has spent over 35 years in radio as an on-air talent, Programmer, and Talent Coach, and has worked with over 300 stations in all formats, specializing in coaching morning team shows, but also working with entire staffs. In addition, he works with many premium voice actors that you hear every day on Imaging, Radio and TV commercials, and Hollywood Movie Trailers. Tommy was elected to the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2003. Call Tommy @ 214-632-3090 (iPhone), or email coachtommykramer@gmail.com

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #531: Reach and Frequency

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In the olden days, there were two factors that were utmost for a radio station to succeed: Reach, and Frequency.

Reach was about the signal. Without a good signal, it was hard to build a bigger audience.
Frequency wasn’t about where on the dial a station was. It was about what are now called listening “occasions” – how often or how long someone chose to listen to you.

Today’s radio world is more varied in terms of reach. People can listen to online streaming, through your station’s app, or through several different “umbrella” radio apps. The transistor radio of the “Happy Days” generation is now simply your smartphone.

But frequency is still a huge challenge. Because of the way ratings are calculated, several instances of listening add up. It’s not only about someone turning it on and keeping it on. It’s also about someone coming BACK to you after turning it off or surfing for another station.

And the music game has changed, because through Amazon music, Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, etc. it’s now possible for me to hear every song you play WITHOUT you.

The lesson here is a simple one: if you want to be listened to nowadays, just providing the “right” songs isn’t enough anymore. You have to be engaging, entertaining, interesting, and RELEVANT.

Personality is the companion to – and with good formatics, part OF – the “listen”. Without personality, you’re just a playlist.

This doesn’t mean you have to be funny. Laughs are fine, but not required. Being a part of the listener’s day is about what I call “the touchstone” – you and me, connected BY the music and the Content. If you’re just looking for things you can add a punchline to, that’s just an exercise. What MATTERS to the Listener today is what you take, filter it through your own observations, experiences, and opinions, and put on the air.

Surprisingly, a lot of people have no real idea who their target listener is. If you don’t, talk to the PD asap.
Just remember: Everything you do that doesn’t matter (to the Listener)….doesn’t matter.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2023 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #530: Why Choose Radio in the First Place?

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A lot of young people who do want a career in media aren’t even messing with radio. They only want to work in TV. Or do a podcast. (Everyone and his dog does a podcast. And the dog usually has the more entertaining one. “Today on Barks and Recreation, we’re ruffing out what new flavor we’d like to see in dog biscuits.”)

Seriously, this is bad for radio, because finding a great air talent these days is already hard enough. We need new people to come in, get trained, and shine.

So, to anyone in college right now or someone in a dead-end job thinking about a change, here are three reasons why I think you should consider radio:

1. It’s more intimate than television. Why just read something off a teleprompter? Being on the radio is where we hear YOU, not just the words. Or for that matter, why just run the teleprompter? Radio Production is lots more fun than that.

2. You can do radio until you keel over at the microphone. There’s no age limit. As long as you sound good, you’ll have a job. TV is much more cosmetic-driven, and you can “age out” quickly.

3. You get to do things that are pretty special. Not a lot of jobs offer that. You get to help people, give away prizes, and not have a job that feels like you’re just breaking big rocks into smaller rocks every day. (I once gave away $25,000 to an eight year-old girl on the day before Christmas! What a privilege.)

In my opinion, although there are exceptions, TV tends to be the shallow end of the talent pool. Pretty much anyone with a basic skill set can read and point. Maybe you should aim higher than that.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2023 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #529: You Have Ten Seconds

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You have ten seconds to “get” me…to make me want to listen to whatever else you have to say.

If you don’t get me in that ten seconds, then nothing else you do matters. It’s simply human nature to decide quickly whether or not something is a waste of time.

So think about what that opening ten seconds of whatever it is you’re going to talk about is going to be BEFORE you open the mic. No matter how good you are, this is something you can improve.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2023 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #528: Go, Stop, Go – A Voice Tracking Tip

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There are so many voice trackers these days, and if you’re in that world you know that it’s hard to keep improving if you’re not on the air in real time and don’t get any feedback that you can trust. Here’s a simple system I recommend that’ll improve your work and keep you sharp. It’s “go, stop, go.”

Go. Record an hour of breaks.

Stop. Listen back to them, all in a row. The whole hour’s worth of breaks. You’ll pick up on whether you sound repetitive, or if you fall into bad habits like always going down in pitch at the end of a sentence, or sounding like you’re talking – but not necessarily like you’re actually talking TO someone. Recut whatever needs to be better.

Go. Now go forward and cut the next hour.

Rinse and repeat. Do an hour, listen; do an hour, listen. Don’t just cut all of it in one lump and plop it into the system thinking that you “got it”.

An added advantage is that taking that little break after cutting each hour’s worth of audio will refresh you. That’ll help you sound better, too.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2023 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #527: Surprise Me

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Like most people, I listen to the radio at some point every day. I hear promos. I hear commercials. I hear songs. I hear people trying to sound cheerful. I hear people trying to be funny.

What I all-too-rarely hear is something that actually surprises me.
Gee, I wish that wasn’t true. Surprises are great.

I want Surprises. I loathe The Obvious. And I’m not alone. People want companionship. They want entertainment. They want pertinent information. (We’ve all heard the voice-tracked Talent that’s really cheerful while a tornado is headed our way.)

Don’t fall for the “This is good enough” trap. “Good enough”…never is.
SURPRISE ME.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2023 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #526: Trying to Orchestrate the Reaction

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Lately, with Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc. I heard several stations trying to orchestrate the reaction to a giveaway for those days, saying things like “You’re gonna like it!”

How do you know? (You don’t. After all, one person’s “great” prize is another person’s “yard sale” junk.)

Besides coming across as just trying a little too hard to generate excitement, you’re also telling me (the Listener) what to think; what to feel. This will always fail with a large portion of listeners, because a LOT of people – wait for it – like to make up their own minds.

The easy cure is to tell me that you think I’m going to like it. “I think you’ll really like it” is what you’d tell a friend – if you wanted to stay that person’s friend. Telling a person what you think their reaction should be can erode a friendship pretty quickly.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2023 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #525: Hubie Brown and Your Dollar

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The great NBA coach Hubie Brown, also a master “color man” for NBA games for years, has this great saying, “He gives you his dollar.” (Think Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Steph Curry, etc.)

That means the player gives you everything he has every game, a “dollar” rather than, say, 40 cents.

I’ve helped many stations in the search for air talent over the years, and that ingredient is always what we look for. I feel that a good talent who doesn’t give it a full-out effort every day is cheating the station – and himself/herself.

All the “flash” in the world can’t make up for a lazy work ethic. Give it your “dollar” every break, every hour, every day you’re on the air. You never know when someone who could change the course of your career might be listening.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2023 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #524: A. I. versus Your Demo

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Well, it’s here. A station in Portland has an A. I. (artificial intelligence) “air talent”. A sign of things to come? Well, as the renowned football coach Bill Parcels used to say, “Let’s not get out the anointing oil just yet.”

When a station needs a new talent, your demo will possibly land you the job. But obviously, it’s now possible that a faceless nonperson might get it instead. So think about how you come across on your demo.

Two thoughts for you: Editing. And Personality.

If you can’t edit your demo well, it won’t carry much impact. And if you have Personality out front, you’ve got a great shot to not lose out to a robot voice.

And (note: editorial) any station thinking about using an A. I. “jock” is basically just taking the cheap way out and doesn’t deserve listeners. Period. Shame on them.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2023 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #523: Did You Get Noticed Today?

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Times have changed. Local stations often don’t sound local. Syndicated shows tend to talk about generic subjects because they can’t be specific to a certain city or state. Huge radio companies are so weak in coaching the talent that many air talents have never had a coaching session.

So let’s start your process with a basic question: Did you get noticed today?
And while we’re going there, if you missed work today, did any listeners notice?

Every day, you have a chance to carve out the same kind of career as a Paul Harvey or Howard Stern or Bobby Bones or anyone else you want to name. So…who are you? What’s your brand of humor? What emotions do you show on the air? And most importantly, what do you have in common with me (the listener)?

I tell people all the time to “crack your chest open and show us what’s in there.” THAT is how you get noticed.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2023 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #522: Radio versus Social Media

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It’s come to my attention that a lot of people actually take Twitter, Facebook, or other social media comments seriously. Imagine that – someone you don’t know makes a comment, and you actually care. I knew this day would come when they took the cocaine out of Coca-Cola. (According to Facebook.)

I shudder to think – well, I don’t actually shudder; to do that, I’d have to stand up, and I can’t type very well standing up. Anyway, I’ll ask Siri to remind me to imagine shuddering at the notion of a generation of people who have a real need for some sort of validation from strangers.

Okay, done mock-shuddering now. All that came to me was, “Bless their pointed little heads.”

Seriously, if you actually find yourself paying a little too much attention to “social”, remember this: most people don’t have 20,000 Twitter followers, but if you’re on the air in a large market, you probably do have 20,000 listeners at any given moment. VOICES are almost always going to be far more powerful than mere ‘postings’.

Celebrate that! Do the best you can, every day. Ignore any negative comment from someone who’s not your boss or your coach. And to quote the Dean of Science Fiction writers, Robert Heinlein, “Be who you are. And be it in style.”

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2023 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.