Monthly Archives: December 2013

Tommy Kramer Tip #30 — Be Untypical

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If you’ve never seen the great movie “The Sting” with Paul Newman and Robert Redford, it’s worth watching for one scene alone. Charles Durning, who plays a cop from Chicago on the trail of Redford, unknowingly intrudes on an FBI investigation. Taken to a big warehouse, he’s introduced to the head guy, who asks him a simple question. Durning gives a flippant answer, to which the FBI man says “Sit down. And try not to live up to my expectations.”

There’s a lesson here for you: The worst thing that can happen to your career in radio (or anything else, for that matter) is to be typical, to be only what the average person expects from a radio jock.

Being untypical is what makes great painters and photographers, great musicians, great character actors, and most of all, an INTERESTING person.
So the next time the mic opens, try to say something that’s not typical. Or try to do whatever the break calls for in some way that’s not the same old/same old. Being untypical is how you get noticed, instead of just going by unheard in the background.

There’s an art to being untypical. Everyone can do it, but it takes breaking down barriers (both real and self-imposed) and finding out what you have that’s unique.

That’s where a coach comes in. What you think you’re good at, you may not be good at. What you think is just nothing may be the very thing that we can take, nurture, and grow into the key ingredient that makes your mark. (Or just keeps your job when someone is going to be let go.)
I believe the phone number of a Talent Coach is below…

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Tommy Kramer
Radio Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2013 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #29 – The Emotional fuels the Technical

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The great actor Dustin Hoffman talked on Inside the Actors Studio about a key moment in the movie Midnight Cowboy. In the scene, his character “Ratzo” Rizzo is talking with Jon Voigt’s character on a New York street when a traffic light changes. As they step off the curb, a taxi almost hits Ratzo.

This was a “stolen” scene, shot on a real street in New York with real people all around, using a hidden camera. Hoffman says they had to try it several different times to get the timing right, and obviously the cab almost hitting him was NOT in the screenplay. So in reacting to almost being pulverized, he pounded on the taxi’s hood, and what he WANTED to say was “Hey, we’re working here! We’re shooting here!” But being totally devoted to staying in character, he said “Hey! I’m walkin’ here! I’m walkin’ here!”—a defining moment for Ratzo’s aggressive attitude toward the world around him, and one of the most memorable scenes of Hoffman’s career.

The Emotion of the scene fueled the technical side of what he did—banging on the hood and shouting that line to the idiot driver.

If you really want to become something special on the air, instead of just a disc jockey or analytical Talk host, embrace the thought that while technical and organizational skills are a great foundation, sometimes what you FEEL should guide what you say.

If you have trouble with this, maybe you need a coach. I know one you could call.

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Tommy Kramer
Radio Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2013 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #28: Interview tip – Fit it into the show

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It’s such a sell-out when someone on a music station has an interview with an artist, and all of a sudden, the radio station and the host just turn into shills for the recording industry. Nothing is more boring than those “So, when does the new CD come out?” and “Where’s the next stop on your tour?” questions, and their lame, predictable answers.

Don’t settle for that pap. Make sure that your interviews have the same entertainment and personality elements as the rest of your show. Have FUN with the interview.

Here’s an example: One time when I was doing a Morning Drive team show on a Country station, my partner and I learned that a singer we were interviewing had a dog that would “sing” along with him, baying and howling while he sang. When we had him on the show a couple of days before he played in a station-sponsored concert, we made sure to have him go get his dog while we had him on the phone, and got the two of them to “sing” together on the air! It was a hoot, and gave the Listener a reason to really like him, since it was so human; so real. It was revealing, and more importantly, it was anti-music business “hype.”

Another thought: If you have something going on that hour, try to get the guest to fit into what the show’s already doing. Bring the guest in as a sort of “co-host” when you can. I used to write things for the guest to do within the framework of the show. They always loved it. (Think about it. They don’t usually get to do that sort of thing.)

Give your listener something to remember when you have a guest on. (A by-product of this is that the artist has fun, forms a little positive opinion of you that he or she files away for the future, and then looks forward to being on with you again the next time.)

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Tommy Kramer
Radio Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2013 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.