Dear friend and fellow Texas Radio Hall of Famer Randy Brown said something to me the other day that really struck home: In the early 70’s when our little rebel alliance was ushering in FM becoming dominant at Gordon McLendon’s KNUS in Dallas, we WERE Twitter. We were tightly edited, concise with our wording, and only made one point per break.

If you want to look at radio back then as social media today, AM Top 40 was Facebook. They had a huge following, with millions of listeners, and were the 800-pound gorilla—until we made those pukey, rambling deejays sound like they just couldn’t shut up.

Over and over, in market after market, PPM verifies what we knew then. If you’ll be concise (so you don’t waste people’s time) and offer something of real value to the listener every time you open the mic, you’ll be wildly successful.

And remember this: Just like Twitter is limited to 140 characters, the listener is sitting there, listening to you, with his foot tapping anxiously, waiting for you to get to the point. 140 really fast foot taps, then YOU’RE DONE—whether you’ve actually finished or not. The LISTENER decides.

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Tommy Kramer
Radio Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2014 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Okay, you’ve done something that got some phone reaction, and there’s a good call you want to play.

We’ve all heard a Talent circle around the block endlessly, eventually gurgling and drowning as he tries to re-introduce the Subject. Sometimes we hear innocuous details that take us nowhere. I’ve even heard people tell the whole story again! As a RESET!!! (This, of course, is Death.)

If it takes more than one sentence to “reset the stage” of what you’re talking about, you need to work on this. “Redundant” is not the vibe you want to give off.

So think of it like a newspaper article. You want to start with a headline, not with a paragraph. ONE line, then BANG!…go right into the “meat” of the call.

The same rule applies when you’re not going into a call; you’re simply resetting a Subject in order to add another point about it. Don’t waste the listener’s time. Editing is the name of the game. Editing yourself is a GREAT quality.

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Tommy Kramer
Radio Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2014 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Whenever a talent tells me that something “lit up the phone lines for two hours,” my response is always, “Well, I hope you didn’t run calls for that long.”

A lot of Air Talents won’t stop. For them, phone calls are like heroin. They’ll continue to take—and air—them as long as they keep coming in. This is almost always a mistake.

As you plan your show, think “two breaks”—one to set a subject up and one for a phone call response. Every call past that point has to EARN its way onto the air by contributing something new to the discussion.
Talk radio should streamline, too. By the time you do a good job of putting a topic on the table, you might take one “yes” call and one “no” call, but then you’re probably done.
And even the hottest topic should never go longer than an hour on the air, and never cross the top of the hour. Beating a subject to death isn’t the way to have Momentum.

Yes, there are exceptions…disasters. 9/11, Columbine, a flood or tornado in your area. But that’s about all I can think of. Your “weird food combinations” bit isn’t one.

Better to leave the listener wanting MORE than to be like a ham actor that keeps taking bows to diminishing applause.

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Tommy Kramer
Radio Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2013 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Using too many words will poison a break. People are busy. They have lives. So don’t ramble and waste their time. Being concise is a challenge for most jocks. Talk show hosts in particular get really longwinded. We all know that person who uses 200 words when 40 would do. That’s not the guy we want to have a conversation with.

Use short sentences. FEWER words make it clear, not more words.

Here’s an example:
“Some people taking Viagra will experience side effects, some of which can be severe. Consult your doctor or qualified health professional before taking Viagra, and make sure that you’re healthy enough for sexual activity. If you experience an erection lasting for more than four hours, call a doctor.”

Blah, blah, blah. All they needed was “Ask your doctor before you take Viagra. There could be dangerous side effects.”

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Tommy Kramer
Radio Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2013 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

My sister mentioned a morning show that she listens to every day, which has recently made a personnel change. In addition to the husband and wife team, the show has now replaced the male Newsperson with a female.

The station is female-targeted, so the added “estrogen factor” can be a strength. The two females in the mix should, theoretically, be able to focus on the Listener’s life and interests even more effectively, and have the added “battle of the sexes” playfulness of ganging up on the male co-host.

But, according to my sister, that’s not what’s happening. She says that they spend too much time “chasing rabbits”—careening away from the subject incrementally, but steadily, to where the original point is lost. THEY’RE having loads of fun, but my sister—a core P1 Listener—is growing restless.

Be clear that just because YOU’RE having fun does NOT necessarily mean that your Listener is having fun. If someone just tuned in to the show, they don’t have TIME to figure out what you’re talking about. So don’t go off “chasing rabbits.” You can take one step away from the subject, but then come back. Taking two steps away is one too many.

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Tommy Kramer
Radio Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2013 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.