Category Archives: Overview

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #691: The Musical Liability of Cookie-Cutter Formats

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A station’s Program Director once proudly told me, “We only play 280 songs. With today’s Time Spent Listening stats, that’s all we need. A hit every song.”

Wrong. While “variety” has lost its meaning in the Imaging palette, it’s very real in the mind of the music-radio listener. That’s why Sirius/XM, Apple music, etc. thrive. There’s something new available all the time.

I’m not saying “don’t play the hits.” That would be silly. But don’t get stale, either. Radio is becoming so numbers-driven, PD’s and air talent are afraid to stretch the corporate boundaries. “We lost two PPM listeners in the seven o’clock hour Tuesday. What did you do wrong?” is way too prevalent.

Predictable music creates predictable Content, too. As an air talent, regularly shaking up the music a little sparks new ideas – like a new parody song for the morning show. (It’s easier than ever now with AI.) Or maybe a fake commercial springs up from some lyrics. Use your imagination.

If that’s allowed.

My personal message to every corporate playlist overseer is simple: just butt out. Let music people handle the music.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2026 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #689: Smaller Market Coaching Thoughts

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In 30 years of Talent Coaching all sized markets, I’ve found that the smaller market radio stations often have something that the medium and large markets don’t have – Authenticity.

While their formatics may sometimes be weak by major market standards, they often MEAN more to listeners. The reason is simple: they can be local. So, they can reflect more easily what the majority of their listeners really care about and identify with – and that’s the whole Content ballgame.

If you’re in a small market, you should touch on the most important “big” stories. But even then, make an effort to be as local as possible – or you can easily LOCALIZE that big story. Ask yourself: what does it have to do with you, and your neighbors?

Relevance is King. “Items to talk about” are blah-blah. To connect with your listeners, put yourself in their shoes, see what they see, and reflect their emotions. In the process, share yours – serious or not-so-serious.

These thoughts apply to the most successful personalities in ANY size market, and in any format.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2026 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #688: Modern so-called “Positioning” – and What That Means to Coaching

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One of the things that makes it hard to coach people is when their whole on-air position is just a catch phrase. A TV station in my hometown uses “On Your Side” as its ‘positioning’ statement. It’s in all their stupid promos. But it’s meaningless.

“On my side” for what? A lawsuit? A basketball game at the gym? A street fight? My political affiliation? My battle with every restaurant to not put onions or garlic in my food?

Their “position” is actually prone (as in “lying face downward” or “lying flat,” according to the dictionary).

Radio stations are plagued with “Positioning” about things that people don’t really care about anymore. Take music, for example. Those old, outdated claims — “The Best Music, or “The Greatest Hits of the 80s, [song clip] 90s [song clip], and Today [song clip]” (also still used on a station here). So silly. Music is everywhere, people. Sirius/XM, iTunes, Amazon Prime, Spotify, etc. etc.

What’s unique about you, and why does that matter to me? The relevance ship seems to have sailed.

Hint: What do people think about you that’s positive? THAT’s what you should Position.* THEN, it’s valuable to have some coaching on how to live up to that on the air.

*(You might want to do some research, instead of just making something up.)

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2026 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #687: Presence

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When I listen to the radio, the first thing is – I want to feel a human being there. Not just some quacky-voiced announcer who’s sitting there playing Wordle on their iPhone during the songs. And certainly not someone in the Talk arena who sounds like their every remark is prepared. (BE prepared, but don’t sound too prepared.)

It’s bad enough these days with robotic-sounding voice-trackers and AI voiceovers all over the place. I miss presence.

Relate. Be unique. As I always say, “Crack your chest open and show us what’s in there.”

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2026 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #684: Give the People What They Want — Really?

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There’s an old saying, “Give the people what they want.” That was the gospel.

But Volkswagon didn’t agree. People were driving huge cars when the original Beetle came out – but then millions and millions of VW Beetles were sold.

George Lucas didn’t. The sci-fi genre was pretty sparse when “Star Wars” came out. Hollywood moguls said people didn’t want that. They were, uh…wrong.

Apple didn’t. They knew a more intuitive computer was better. And a laptop (or later, an iPad) was a much better choice for millions of people than a giant, heavy desktop computer. Plus, Steve Jobs knew that a sleek, futuristic design for a mobile phone was going to make huge, complicated phones horribly outdated. They CREATED desire.

Give people what they want, sure, but also give them new approaches.

Example: My brilliant partner John Frost consulted a station in Austin, Texas. One of the first things he did was to have them play “The Eyes of Texas” at noon every day. People didn’t know they wanted this, but it set the station’s tone as being a TEXAS station. It was what they wanted, but they may not have known that.

Don’t kid yourself into thinking that a corporate, format-wide 300-song playlist is what people want. I’d like to drive a couple hundred miles WITHOUT hearing the same, beaten-to-death songs on every station in a given format.

I’d like to hear Promos and Production in general that can compete with Hollywood movie trailers.
I’d like to hear disc jockeys that sound like they came from the same region they broadcast to.

I’d like to hear something that SURPRISES me, rather than just “what people want.” And I’ll bet you would, too.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2026 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #682: A Takeaway from the great Lee Abrams

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Among his many accomplishments, my friend Lee Abrams is the guy who started XM radio (now SiriusXM). The idea that most radio people thought would never work is now a giant entity that changed the face of radio for countless people.

Having worked with Lee in Chicago and Cleveland, and watching him do his magic over the decades, let me share something about him that you might want to consider:

Lee always searched for an attitude in his stations. In Chicago, for instance (his hometown), he knew that the traditional AM Top 40 stations in the early seventies had become stale. Same thing in Cleveland. No new ideas. The jingles all sounded typical, the Production elements were predictable, etc.

Lee wanted the slew of stations that he consulted to have several ingredients that stood out: Hipness. Up to date. Young. Idealistic. Not afraid to take chances.

So…do a little “gut check” and listen objectively to your station. Is it those things? Is it ANY of those things?

The great pioneers of modern radio (Gordon McLendon, Todd Storz, Bill Drake, Jack McCoy, and so many more) heard what was already there, and decided to change it.

“Oh, but change is so hard.”

No, it isn’t. Start by taking something that’s been there forever and throwing it away. Then you HAVE to think of something new to replace it with.

Rinse and repeat. Forever.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2026 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #681: A Line From a Song

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A song I wrote a few years ago contains the line, “To refuse to see is the same as being blind.”

This definitely applies to radio, and raises questions:

Do you listen to your own show regularly?
Can you hear the things that you don’t do that well?
If you can, do you work on correcting and upgrading those things?
Do you have a P. D., friend, or talent coach to help you recognize where you can improve, and define what your greatest strengths are?

The point is, you want to eliminate the subpar things, discover what you do really well, then only do those things.

I believe that anyone who wants to become an elite Talent needs that focus.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2026 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching tip #680: What Will YOU Say?

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Here’s how careers are made…

When something happens – something that seemingly everyone is buzzing about – and you make a comment, what will you say that no one else would say?

If you can get past that, and own that, and get to where that’s the way your brain works, you will be a major star.

Read. Watch great movies. Listen to great songs. They all have that in common.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2026 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #674: The Aircheck Swap Meet

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Here’s something you can do to both improve your on-air performance and bond the station together a bit.

Years ago, my friend and fellow Texas Radio Hall of Fame member Bruce Gilbert each Programmed a station in the same cluster – mine was a Talk station, Bruce’s was a Sports-talk station.

We went to a hotel in downtown Dallas – away from the constant interruptions of the office environment, and listened to each other’s station. In separate rooms. For several hours. Taking notes about what we heard that we liked, and what might need a little help.

Then we went to lunch, and just chatted about normal stuff.
Following that, we went back to the hotel and shared our notes with each other. SO healthy. Truly eye-opening at times.

When you see your work through someone else’s eyes (or ears, in our case), you get a fresh perspective. Try it with a friend on the staff. It doesn’t have to be “formal”. Just “you listen to me, and I’ll listen to you,” then share with each other honestly, with no offense taken.

Ideas always seem to erupt spontaneously on something to DO. (Which is the first mandate: Do something.)

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2026 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #663: Sounding Smart

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If you make grammatical errors, like mangling the object of a preposition (“Between her and I,” instead of “between her and me,” for instance), that shows a level of education that isn’t high enough.

We’re supposed to set the standard. We’re supposed to be the one person in the group who’s the best conversationalist, that uses the fewest words to make a point, that uses the right words to express your emotions, and can generate enough friendship and excitement just to hear what you have to say – the person who’s welcome in any conversation. THAT’S the goal.

To be a good conversationalist is to be an intelligent conversationalist. Not a “brainiac” or an “I’m smarter than you are” stiff; just a person whose thoughts are welcome, maybe even occasionally quoted by other people.

I believe that if you don’t sound smart, no one’s going to come to you for your thoughts when something dramatic happens.

Think about this: We OWE IT to the listener to sound smart. If you speak like an undereducated clod, why would I want to listen to you?

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2026 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.