Category Archives: Overview

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #144: A Series of Little Plays

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In a recent tip, I stressed being visual in what you do on the air.

Here’s something that will help you get your arms around that. Think of your show as “a series of little plays” every day. My whole career was based on this, because it kept the show relatable and human. This “warts and all” approach takes away the posturing and bravado many deejays cling to, and there’s a residual bonus, too. Little stories you tell, if done the right way, get great phone callers with their own “takes” on what you’ve talked about. So now your show is more interactive, and becomes what I’ve referred to often as “a visit-driven” show, instead of a “bit-driven” or “agenda-driven” show.

When you reach the stage where your listener tunes in to visit with you, now you’ve got something tangible, something that no “55 minute music hour” or “12 in a row” claim across the street can make a dent in. And because you’re not competing with another station to see who can be the funniest, necessarily, you occupy a different space in your listener’s mind. You’re a FRIEND who happens to be visited by turning on the radio. Believe me, it works.

NOTE: There are specific techniques to use in sharing the little episodes of your life, one of which is to NEVER start into something by talking about yourself FIRST. For more on this, just call me.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2016 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #143 – The Conscious, Unconscious, and Subconscious

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In becoming a great Talent (and certainly in coaching talent), it’s important to understand just how the mind works. If you don’t, you can spend years working on things that can’t actually be accomplished.

You rehearse consciously.
But you perform unconsciously.

The mistake people make by not rehearsing (at least mentally, if not actually physically) is that you can’t be consistently great if you’re just winging it all the time. Watch NBA players. A guy works on his free throws or jump shot consciously, so when it’s time to take that shot under pressure, with the game on the line, it happens Unconsciously. The last thing they want to do is think. In the millisecond it takes for a conscious thought to pass from the brain to a nerve or a muscle, the timing and rhythm are disrupted. And the odds of making the shot get worse.

So let’s bring it back to on-air performance. I’m sure someone reading this is thinking “So where’s the opening for spontaneity? Where does the spur-of-the-moment inspiration come from?”

Well, magic moments happen subconsciously, when you’re so in sync – so confident and SURE of what you’re doing that you don’t HAVE to think consciously – that’s when that great line or that perfect reaction flashes into your brain. The magic isn’t likely to EVER happen on a consistent basis if you haven’t put the work in first.

You have enough talent, I promise you. You CAN be great. You just have to understand how to put the pieces together.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2016 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Tip #136 – The Door is Open

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A concept that gets bandied about a lot these days is being “transparent” on the air. I understand what that’s intended to mean, but “transparent” is not a term I use.

Rather than telling air talent to be “transparent”, I tell them to simply be Open and Revealing. Being TOTALLY transparent is not always a good idea, actually. Some things shouldn’t be shown. Some things about you might be too revealing. Some might be negatives. Some might be boring.

Even the so-called “reality” shows on TV are highly edited. (Indeed, to me, “Survivor” is the best-edited show in television history. An editor’s clinic, really. Think about it: they shoot 24/7 to get one hour—and that’s with commercials.)

I’d sum it up this way: Anytime you’re on the air, the door is open, but remember, it’s a door to an entertainer’s life; not a door to an accountant’s life. I’ll bet nobody’s ever asked to come over to your house and watch you fill out your tax returns.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2016 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Tip #133 – The Obvious Place

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Actor Bob Odenkirk was on Sundance Channel’s “Close Up with the Hollywood Reporter” not long ago, and talked about reading scripts that are submitted to him.

He said the thing that he doesn’t like is when he starts to think “well, this is gonna go…here.” Then he second-guesses himself, thinking “I’ve just read too many scripts. It won’t go there. Give it a chance.”

But then, all too often, it DOES go to the Most Obvious Place—which is disappointing to him as an actor. (And as he knows, it’s disappointing to the audience, too.)

That’s our challenge every day. Let’s not do the most obvious thing, ending up in the most obvious place, because it’s a letdown.

Push yourself to think of some destination that’s not where other people would go. Surprise me!

Only when radio stops being typical will it be great again.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2015 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Tip #131 – Something Going ON Here

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I’ve never heard anyone actually say this in a focus group or listener panel, but I guarantee you this is the first thing ANYONE thinks when they hit the button and your station comes on:

Is there something going on here?…or is there nothing going on?

It’s that simple, and it only takes a few seconds for the listener to decide.

Now you may think that doing trivia, This Day in History, “Hollywood News”, or quacking about something you saw on Facebook automatically means that there IS something going on, but those things are not intrinsically good in themselves.
And some music-intensive stations think that just the music and promotional announcements are enough. They’re not.

“Interesting” is not the same thing as Compelling. And “Activity” is not the same thing as Accomplishment.

Now go back and look at what you’ve prepped for today’s show. Is it just “stuff”, or will it really connect with the listener? It has to ENGAGE me to really work.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2015 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Tip #128 – The Space between Knowing and Doing

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The space between KNOWING what to do and actually DOING it is the biggest space in the process. By isolating the purpose of each break—what this break is about, each time—you close the gap.

It’s never “Ready, Fire, Aim.” Unless you’re sure of how you’re starting, what the “plot points” are, and what the Destination of a break is, you’re playing Russian Roulette with that break, no matter how short or easy it may seem to be.

The time to do your thinking is BEFORE the mic opens. Then you just relax into the performance.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2015 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Tip #125 – Don’t lose your Punch

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George Carlin used to do a routine about how we’ve “softened” our language. How “shell shocked” morphed into “battle fatigue”, and then, over time, into “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” – or the even more nondescript PTSD, which makes that terrible condition sounds like it can be cured by taking a Midol.

In many ways, radio’s guilty of this, too. A tragedy happens, and all we hear is “Our hearts and prayers go out to them” instead of showing real concern. In today’s PC News, “alleged perpetrators” doesn’t sound the same as “the guy they think robbed the store,” and you’re doing someone a favor when you say he’s been accused of “spousal abuse” instead of beating up his wife.

Let’s lighten this up a bit:
Personally, I saw this coming a long time ago, when the first hard drug I ever had—sugar—became unacceptable to cereal manufacturers, and Sugar Crisp became the soft, lovingly castrated “Golden Crisp.”
GOLDEN CRISP? What the heck is that? Sounds like how French fries should come out…golden crisp. And the Sugar Bear, that lovable dispenser of this children’s version of heroin, became the Honey Bear or Golden Bear or something. No, wait…Jack Nicklaus was the Golden Bear. Oh well, that’s not the point.

But this is: Don’t get so generic or politically correct in your language (or your format or your subject matter) that you lose your PUNCH. Smooth peanut butter may sell more, but it feels better to eat a glob of CHUNKY.

Have some GUTS. (Not “intestinal fortitude.”)
Show some SPUNK. (Not some “spirit.”)
And by the way, Mother Goose, Jack did NOT fall down and break his “crown.” He CLONKED his head on a big ROCK, and now he’s bleeding like a stuck pig.

Your language should convey EMOTION. Generic language makes you seem like you don’t have any.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2015 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Tip #124 – You’re a Role Model…whether you want to be or not

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Just the other day, I heard from a young man who said he does a Talk show, and wanted some coaching. He described his show as “focusing on politics, current events, and whatever else comes out of my head, with my main influences being Imus, Limbaugh, Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett, Wolfman Jack, etc.”

I felt like I was on the old TV show “Lost in Space”, with the robot saying “Danger, Will Robinson!” First of all, that’s a pretty diverse list of influences. Wolfman Jack? I loved the Wolfman, but for a talk show host? That’s like wanting your hair to look like Moe of the 3 Stooges.

Anyway, as with every inquiry, I asked him to send an aircheck, so I could see where he was in his skillset and then determine if I could help him. (I don’t take on clients just because they want to pay me. I live for making radio great.)

Turns out, he was a college kid, working on a college station—which, of course, was horrible. (No repercussions, meaning ratings = no learning.) And his show was just disjointed rants, screaming at the listener to make his points, and pretending to talk to (read that “lecture”) political candidates like Hillary Clinton in this case (who, of course, is not listening to you).

However, I really couldn’t blame him. He was just parroting back his version of his role models, without really understanding that (1) just because it works for someone else doesn’t mean it will work for you, and (2) those influences may not even be valid in today’s hummingbird-attention-span era.

I did try to help him, giving him a free coaching session, but the operative part of this is realizing that you are a role model, whether you want to be or not. Someone is listening to you, then trying to imitate you, as a first step toward finding himself.

So today, ask yourself “Am I a good role model?” I’ll tell you right now the biggest single factor in becoming one: don’t sit on your can thinking you’ve got it down and you don’t really have anything left to learn or to prove. Because the last thing you should ever want is to be cited as a role model for someone who doesn’t sound good.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2015 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Tip #119 – Everyone has their own story to tell, but…

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A great promo for the last season of ‘Mad Men’ said “Everyone has their own story to tell…but it only goes in one direction: forward.”

Yes, the grammar of that is incorrect, but the point is something that’s increasingly overlooked.

Unless you’re retiring today, your story isn’t what you’ve done in the past. It’s what you WILL do the next time the mic opens.

Everything you ever do on the air is like a DNA chain, a long, winding, snakelike thing that’s constantly being added to.

The worst phrase you can ever hear is “We’ve always done it that way.” It’s even worse when YOU’RE the one saying it.
Great actors, great musicians, and great writers are always trying to come up with a new wrinkle; something that they haven’t done before.

For example, each Michael Crichton book was always fascinating and mind-expanding with “What if?” scenarios, but The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park are nothing alike.

Hopefully, you’re the same way. I coach people to become Personalities, not just disc jockeys, so in our sessions, I’m constantly pushing the envelope to come up with something new. At the least, it’s invigorating, and it can be downright euphoric. When’s the last time you felt like that?

Each day, you have an opportunity to add to the DNA chain, to live out the next forward step in your story. Go for it! Never settle for just doing the same things every day.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2015 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Tip #117 – It’s a SHOW, not a Shift

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Radio guru Lee Abrams used to tell us, “It’s a SHOW, not a ‘shift’.”

This was a foundational thought, a reminder to make sure that we didn’t ever think of our air work as being like an assembly line shift worker in a factory, putting in rivets, over and over, to the point of boredom.

But there’s more to it than that, from a creative standpoint.
Since radio is an audio medium (no camera), that means we can’t divert the eye, like on TV. Everything shows on the air anyway, so the goal every day is to make sure and SHOW SOMETHING.

Show your creativity. Show your sense of humor. Show your concern. Show your empathy. Show your skepticism. Show your intelligence. Show your goofiness. Show your skill set (editing yourself well, for instance, or finding just the right music for something instead of using a generic Production music bed). Show that you’re a citizen of your neighborhood, your city, your state. Show what kind of neighbor you are.

Often, in coaching sessions, I start with “What did I learn about you today on the air?” Originality isn’t just some nebulous goal; it’s the process of revealing.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2015 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.