Category Archives: Radio coaching tip

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #536: The End of the Table

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This is primarily a team show tip, based on an aircheck a friend sent me of him and his new female partner.

He’s very conversational. She’s LOUD. And this is something I hear a lot. People (regardless of gender) on the radio seem to get LOUD when they’re talking to each other.

I don’t understand that. You’re supposed to be friends. Why are you shouting at each other? And why are both of you shouting at me?

You want to talk loud enough to be heard at the end of the dinner table, not to be heard at the end of the continent.

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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 #534: A Lesson from Coach Jimmy Johnson

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If you’re not familiar with NFL Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson, watch the pregame and halftime shows on Fox. To be brief, Johnson won a National championship in college, then, in just 5 years from starting 1-15, he won back-to-back Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys.

He’s also a powerful motivational speaker, and one thing he told a group of athletes several years ago really struck me: “Fatigue…makes cowards of us all.”

If you’re out of gas in the 4th quarter, you’re liable to lose.

Radio is the same way, but not physically. Since a lot of what we do is repetitive, it’s easy to slip into mental fatigue. Reading that thing on the screen for the 90th time can lead to sounding “dead” or perfunctory. You may paste a smile on it, but since people FEEL far more than they hear, you can’t really hide from everyone.

Keep this in mind: there are people in jobs so much worse than yours, they’d trade places with you in a second. We’re lucky – blessed, actually – to make a living by talking.
Let that thought be your extra mental ‘fuel tank’ when you feel out of gas. Be right here, right now, talking to me when that mic opens. Every time. You can rest during the commercial breaks.

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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 #532: Talking vs. Talking TO Someone

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We’ve all heard the station that thinks talking LOUD works, and that people like that.
And we’ve all heard a massive number of air talents that just read stuff off a computer screen with no emotional investment at all. They rattle it off, then move on the next thing.

Shout, Rattle, and Roll.

These things, of course, do nothing for the listener. (Or a client or a sponsor.)

So here’s this week’s tip – ask yourself this question:

Are you just talking, or are you talking to someone?

Some people don’t sound like they’re talking to anyone, or certainly to no one in particular.
Others do okay, but then go on ‘automatic pilot’ when they read something.

This is the starting place. First you “see” (or at least imagine) the listener. Then you simply talk to that person. Not “announce” or “present” to them. Just talk.

Easy, right?

Yeah, so easy that the finest actors in the world spend years learning how to do it better. (Most of them have a coach.)

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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.