Category Archives: Prep Tip

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #603: Don’t Confuse “the Buzz” with What MATTERS

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It’s easy to settle for the low-hanging fruit, in terms of Content. What “the Buzz” is may be the 34th most important thing today to your audience.

Don’t ever confuse “the Buzz” with what actually matters. Resist the easy path. Don’t ever let the headlines, or some Buzzfeed article keep you from seeing what’s top of mind – TODAY – to your listeners.

I assure you, people have other things that they’re far more interested in than what some prep sheet or news website might lead you to believe. (And don’t even start with me about the Political channels or websites. That little world that seems so big doesn’t matter AT ALL if your kid or your best friend needs help.)

When you weigh in on what your listener actually cares about each day, you’re way ahead of 99% of your competitors.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #600: Planning the Show Each Day

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Show prep is SO important. I’ve seen hundreds of people I’ve worked with who had no real plan, or a partial “subject list” type of prep, thinking that this is enough.

It’s not. If you want to win, and become a well-oiled machine, don’t just plan what you’d like to do. LAY OUT where each thing will go.

Pay attention to the normal amount of station “business” and promotions, contests if you have one, and interview time if you have a guest. I’d slot those in FIRST, then look at where your Content goes.
In the Talk arena, this is ultra-important. The late Pat Williams, former manager, then V.P. of the NBA Orlando Magic, used to do a show once a week on a Sports station I programmed in Orlando. He would come in with a list of every single question he wanted to ask a guest, in order, and if some interesting “side road” developed, he’d go with that, then immediately return to the questions list. He was smooth as silk on the air and did consistently amazing interviews, and he personified show prep – and he wasn’t even a full-time radio guy!

Let’s close with this: There are reasons that jet pilots don’t just fly by the seat of their pants. It’s because (1) they want to consistently be at their best, and (2) they like to avoid things like flying into a mountain.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #599: It All Starts with the Writing

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In the last tip, I talked about the rhythm inherent in the best comedy, comparing it to how a great TV sitcom pauses, then reinvents itself over and over again. That’s really how everything works. I’m just rewatching the amazing series “The Newsroom”, written by the great Aaron Sorkin. He understands this rhythm as well as anyone I can think of who does drama. (I would say Neil Simon when it comes to comedy.)

Whenever you start a sentence without knowing how it’s going to end, you’re on the diving board about to jump into the pool without knowing if there’s water in it. Improv is not something most people can consistently depend on. Without at least some structure laid out, you’re taking a chance (especially in a team show). Thinking something “magic” will “just happen” describes every “almost, but not quite” show I’ve heard.

Composition – writing – matters. That’s why I aways planned the ending first. Sometimes I (or we, in my team shows) wouldn’t get to that ending, because a “First Exit” appeared that would have made anything else anticlimactic. Try this. Know where you’re going, and see if it doesn’t make things smoother and give you more clarity, mentally. The confidence you’ll gain can be felt on the air.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #591: The Easiest Way to Prep Content – End with the Beginning

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An interesting point came up in a recent session came from an air talent I’ve worked with for years. She was talking about how a break can go wrong if you’re not sure of how you’re going to start. This was my feedback…

Here’s the process that I’ve found works best:

1. Decide on a subject’s “worth” and what camera angle to use on it that will connect with the listener the easiest.

2. Plan an “out”. You may not use it; a “First Exit” may pop up, and you take it instead. But do plan an ending, so you have one ‘in the bank’.

3. THEN plan how you’re going to start. Write down a few words if you need to. Rehearse it out loud if you need to. (And most people do need to; they just think it’s not necessary. They’re usually wrong. Tom Hanks rehearses, but you don’t? Okay…)

The reason I put the Beginning last in the prep phase is because I want that last thought to be the first thing in my mind when, still fresh, I start the break. This simple way of laying out a break should help you.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #540: Why “Happy Accidents” Happen

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The great movie director Arthur Penn (Bonnie & Clyde, Little Big Man, The Missouri Breaks, etc.) often spoke of what he called ‘happy accidents’ occurring during the filming. Little movements or reactions or lines that weren’t in the script, but were magical.

I see the same thing in radio – breaks that just “appear” out of nowhere and crack people up.

An example comes from my friend Wally, of The Wally Show on WAY-FM. He sent me this break with a note saying, “It works because everyone played their role perfectly and organically. I set it up with a polarizing statement for our audience. Betty (his female partner) provides the correct balance for the listener, and then (Producer) Gavin knew when to subtly add something that led me to an ‘out’ that was pretty funny. None of it planned, just a show firing on all the right cylinders.”
Here it is:

Then, with a different style, a break from Morgan Smith, afternoon personality on KSBJ in Houston. (*Salute to PD Randy Fox, who really gets this stuff):

Each of these just sort of “popped up”, but I think there’s a reason WHY:

When you get fully used to preparing breaks well, some breaks will just prepare themselves.

I’ve found that the more you prep well, the more “happy accidents” seem to happen. Shows that “wing it” more are usually sort of “hit and miss”.

It always pays to be good at constructing breaks. The improv moments “land” better as a result.

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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 #505: Show Prep Starts at Home

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By far, the thing I get asked about the most in coaching sessions is Show Prep.

First of all, if you use a “prep sheet” service, throw it away. Generic subject matter, getting generic (if any) response is fool’s gold. And unfortunately, it’s rampant. People sitting at the computer trying to choose a subject and somehow “make it matter” is lame and boring.

Here’s what I advise: Show Prep starts at home. Begin with what’s right around you, in your living room, that you share with the Listener. Then spread out from there.

It’s almost comically simple, yet I see people straining for suitable Content every day. Stop “reaching” for things. If you talk about something that I, as a listener, actually CARE about, you’ll do fine. If it’s generic, YOU’RE generic.

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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 #395: When to Plan the Next Break

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Shows that “fly by the seat of their pants” inevitably sound loose and have ‘dead’ time that needn’t be there.

Now, some 355 stations into this talent coaching stuff, one thing has become abundantly clear to me: people need to plan, not just “wing it”.

Here’s the easiest way to get a simple system in place…

Right after you finish a break, lay out the NEXT break. If you’re in a team show, it’s doubly important. A quick run-through (“Okay, next we’ll do the rodeo thing; I’ll start. Remember your line that we’re going to get out on…”). Now, with that done, you now have several minutes to relax, chat, etc.

The old saying is “if you fail to plan, your plan is to fail,” and by and large, it’s true.

Note: This does NOT kill spontaneity; it just kills uncertainty. And sounding SURE is what creates the “command presence” that all great air talents have.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2020 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #275 — You’ll Use Everything You’ve Ever Known – IF…

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There’s a famous story that David Letterman tells about Johnny Carson. One night on The Tonight Show, fairly early in his career, the young Letterman was a guest. And he and Carson got on one of those rolls where everything each of them said was funnier than the last thing. The audience was in stitches laughing at each line, and finally Carson broke into the “patter” he had used as a magician when he was young – the absurdity of which resulted in uproarious laughter that led perfectly into a commercial break.

During the break, with the set darkened, Carson, who was a mentor to Dave, leaned over and said, “You’ll use everything you’ve ever known.”

Truly great air talents know this, and it’s a really interesting parameter to work on as a coach. But the key is IF you can figure out exactly what the “fuse” is to light that “nugget” up. Often, I see air talents with a good concept, but no idea of how it might work. Using something just because you have that bullet in the chamber doesn’t mean that you can just fire it indiscriminately.

Think “What would facilitate this?” Because it has to make sense in the flow of the conversation, or it’ll sound awkward.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2018 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #269 – The Assembly Line Mentality: A Voice-Tracking Tip

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No doubt about it, voice-tracking isn’t going away anytime soon. But it sure makes people lazy. However, there’s no reason why a voice-tracked MusicRadio show can’t sound like it’s live.

But what happens often is that a jock sits down and thinks “I’ve got to fill 28 breaks” (or whatever the number is), and plows through them as fast as possible.

So here’s a tried-and-true method for voice-tracking that makes it pretty easy to still do a viable show:

Step one is to lay out what you HAVE to do (promoting things, etc.) and slot those in. Separate them by half an hour or so, to avoid doing two “informational” breaks in a row.
Then, take a look at whatever Content you’ve brought to the table, and slot those breaks in. What you have to do first; what you WANT to do second.

Step two is vital – track ONE hour, then STOP and listen to that hour’s breaks, all in a row. If you spot a mistake that needs correcting, or a break where you weren’t at your best or just sort of “mailed it in”, recut them as needed. ONLY THEN should you move to the next hour of tracking.

This few minutes of Quality Control will perform a dual function. Not only will you make subpar breaks sparkle, and in some cases more concise (and therefore more digestible), but that little “rest stop” gives the right side of the brain a chance to “recharge” itself, so instead of going into the next hour running out of gas, you have a fresh burst of creative energy. It’s a “pit stop” to make you ready to WIN again.

Every single time you open the mic, you have a chance to connect with the listener, whether it’s just giving some information, or conveying the “presence” of your being right here beside me, listening to the song, too – or Entertaining me with some little quip or remark. If I (as a listener) think you’re just hammering out breaks with little or no caring behind them, that’s not going to draw me any closer to you…and that means you wasted opportunities to bond with me. That, my friend, would be a real shame.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2018 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.