Opinions are easy. Emotions are…more difficult. These two things are related, but they’re not the same.
The revealing of an Opinion is fine, but the revealing of an Emotion tops that.
An Opinion is subjective. An Emotion is clear and undeniable.
So sure, let’s hear what you think. But let’s also hear what you FEEL.
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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2025 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.
My associate John Frost quoted this recently:
“The essence of branding and being worth consuming is that experience, not the ingredients which make it up.” – Mark Ramsey
If you’ve read any of these coaching tips, you know that I always think about what it’s like on the listener’s end of the radio first. So, here’s the coaching perspective…
Realize first that Experiences are emotional. “Right brain”. Non-analytical.
Mere information is pretty much just “left brain”, analytical. Not much emotion there. (Storytelling uses information – the Ingredients – of course, but only to reach the emotion at the core of the story that creates an Experience.)
You definitely should want your show/your station to be an experience.
So, ask yourself this: What will I do today on the air that people will remember as an experience?
Some examples:
• A contest, so someone wins something. (I once gave away $25,000 to an 8-year old girl in Honolulu. She and her family never forgot that experience.)
• A station promotion that would be fun for my whole family. (Dallas’s legendary KLTY’s Freedom Fest, for example.)
• Even just a thoughtful comment made about an artist or a song can be an experience, if you do it the right way.
John Frost had his Country station in Austin play “The Eyes of Texas” every day at noon. What could be more Texan?
In Shreveport once, I edited together a version of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” for our minor league baseball club’s Opening Day game – with each line sung by a different little kid. (Those kids – and their parents – and the listeners – had an experience.)
My pal Johnjay Van Es (of the “Johnjay & Rich” show) with his “Love Pup” thing, which led to getting lots and lots of dogs adopted. Brilliant. And an experience to listen to.
What will you do? THINK OF SOMETHING.
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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2025 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.
In a recent coaching session, a very good air talent I work with had chosen to do a stunningly uninteresting story about sleeping better with something called “cognitive shuffling”. I’d tell you more, but the story itself was a better cure for insomnia.
This happens a lot nowadays. A posting that you think is “interesting,” or that you can think up a funny line for, makes it through your filters and gets on the air.
I think it’s because of what I call “outside-in” show prep: looking at the outside world first, then trying to make it sound personal. Ho hum.
Here’s what I wrote in her session recap:
To me, this sounded like just another click-bait posting. (Anytime I hear “It’s gone viral,” that’s a dead giveaway.) You did your best to make it work, but you’re going to get far better traction with what you see around you than what gets posted to social media. First of all, I doubt that many people listening to that break (at 11:14am on Friday) was really thinking much about sleep tips.
But more importantly, this “outside-in” show prep method is what makes shows more generic.
The greatest show prep starts at home, because what goes on in your family, your neighborhood, your city, is always going to be stronger than just some random article or social media posting.
Posting something is just an exercise, but LIVING something is different. And by prepping inside-out (your own home first, then work out from there), it automatically results in more natural language, and being more emotive.
It’s the difference between reading something to your husband at breakfast versus actually telling him about something that you did or that you feel.
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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2025 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.
There are really only two categories of Content in terms of when you use it. There’s what’s immediate. Needs to be on NOW. Or at least TODAY.
And then there’s “anytime” Content. I’ve heard it called “Rainy day” Content or “Evergreen” Content. My translation: crap that should be thrown into the trash.
Your show should be as NOW as possible. A friend at a station in the Northwest told me that last year, they had a huge, dangerous ice storm hit – but since the Afternoon show was voice-tracked, there was no one to tell the listeners about it.
Think about that. It’s absolutely stunning. They made themselves not even do what radio was CREATED to do. (But I’ll bet it never happens again. He’s a good guy and a smart person, and this was embarrassing.)
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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2025 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.
The biggest challenge for anyone who’s on the air is the search for Content each day. Often in coaching sessions, I get asked about social media, and what its place is in show prep.
Social media is what it is. There’s an entire generation of people who’ve apparently grown up caring about what complete strangers have to say about them.
I won’t get too deep into the negatives involved in people who see their lives in terms of “likes”, but I ask you to consider a different overview, from a radio standpoint, not a social media standpoint:
Rather than falling into the habit of using social media as a main starting place for Content, see it as a place where your Content goes for feedback and discussion. You’ll get a whole different mindset, and improve your Content selection process when, instead of leaning on social to jumpstart your show, you do your show to jumpstart social.
This creates a feedback loop of its own, but with the important distinction that it starts with the radio.
Reminder: you should always want to avoid having your show sound generic. And to that purpose, show prep should always start in your own living room; then you work outward from there.
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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2025 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.
Words are what we do. Crafting what we want to say into a shape that’s relatable and connective is always the challenge. But remember, the words grow from the camera angle.
Example: If my wife and I got into an argument standing in line at the bank, how I see it is one angle, and how she sees it is the most obvious choice for a second camera angle.
But if there’s no “fruit” there, I automatically go one more step — in this scenario, what does it look like to the bank teller overhearing this? (Or to the other people in line?)
That’s the next step – the third camera angle. If #1 or #2 won’t “click” in your mind, arbitrarily put yourself in a different person’s shoes, and the subject will open up like a flower.
You’ll find, in time, that you’ll develop that inner “tuning fork” that knows when the words are right.
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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2025 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.
In the last tip, I (again) addressed why your Content should tap into an Emotion. This is basic “What’s my motivation?” acting stuff.
But here’s the deal: Over the years, I’ve had a surprising number of air talents tell me that they don’t really HAVE an Emotion about a given subject.
So here’s another tip: If you don’t automatically tap into an Emotion, FIND ONE.
You have to dig into how you feel, then transmit that through your wording, your inflection, even just the general tone of your voice. Trust me, when you do, people can’t help but respond. And you’ll reach a whole different level in how you connect with the Listener.
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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2025 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.
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.
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.
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.