Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #347 – It’s Always About the Story

It’s ALWAYS about the Story.

I remember a couple of seasons ago, a contestant on “Survivor” told about his getting back home after the show was taped just in time to see his mom before she passed away. Time just STOPPED as I imagined that scenario in my own life. (This is just one reason why Survivor has lasted so long.)

YOUR responsibility as an air talent is to make the story as concise and as easy and logical sounding as you possibly can. Survivor is the best-edited show in the history of television; a perfect model for film editors and writers…and storytellers.

You’ll know a great break, a great story, when it takes virtually NO editing to make a promo out of it.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2020 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #346 – Never Fear Bombing

Years ago, when I was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame, I found myself sitting with an entire roomful of radio legends. All sorts of “war stories” were flying around that room, and although there was an incredibly wide range of differing personalities, it seemed like we all had one thing in common:

Never Fear Bombing.

Every mistake you make will lead to getting better, because no one wants to make the same mistake a second time.

As a talent coach, I WANT you to jump, THEN see if there’s water in the pool. “Playing it safe” is for people who don’t have very much talent.

Now obviously, you shouldn’t do something that will get you in trouble with a client or the FCC. But those are the only cautions. DO something! TODAY.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2020 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #345 — The Opt-In World

My friend and partner John Frost posted this advisory recently:

Frost Advisory #491 – We live in an OPT-IN world

There is a phone in our home that we never answer. Seriously. A constant barrage of robo-calls and “Anonymous” caller ID’s has left that phone to be no more than a nuisance. In fact, we no longer even listen to the voice mails because of so much time wasted checking them.

We live in an OPT-IN world, defined by Merriam-Webster online dictionary as “to choose to do or be involved in something.” If I didn’t give you permission to communicate with me then your efforts, automated as they be, will be met with an unanswered ring.

While you may not have directly asked your listeners to OPT IN, ultimately they have. They have expectations. They have experiences with your station perhaps they desire to have again.

Maybe they heard something, felt something, or realized something that they wouldn’t have without your radio station in their life.

So….have your listeners OPTED IN for songs they don’t know by artists they’ve never heard of, deejays that talk too much, traffic reports for traffic they’re not in, or newscasts about politics and bad things happening to people?

The more you do what your listeners have OPTED IN for, the more impact you’ll have.

John Frost, Partner
Goodratings Strategic Services
561-625-4211 office
561-676-5559 cell

– – – – – – –

John and I have worked together for almost 25 years, and he never fails to inspire. Let me add another camera angle to his tip – what it means to YOU as an air talent.

The question to ask yourself is “Do I opt in?” Think about it. Have you opted in to carrying out the Strategy of your station? Have you opted in for the work ethic it requires to really give it your best effort every day?

Show Prep, Performance, Awareness of what the unspoken bargain is with your listeners – if you don’t choose to opt in for the best performance you can give, why would you expect to be rewarded for it, in terms of the all-important Time Spent Listening?

We’re at the start of a New Year. It could be the best year you’ve ever had in connecting with the listener. Or it could be just another year of not really doing what you’re capable of to EARN the listener’s time. Do you opt in to being great, or are you in danger of being just another “Voice Saying Words”?

Here’s the good news: it’s actually easier – FAR easier – to do great radio than it is to do “average” radio. Read the Frost Advisories, my tips, and the Mason Morning Minute each week at www.goodratings.com, and you’ll see how easy it is to make the listener opt in to your show every day.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2020 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #344 – Why “Crunch and Roll” is Essential

It’s a Top 40 “basic” mechanic: “Crunch & Roll,” which means that in a song-to-song music sweep, you want to hit the NEXT song, THEN talk, not “start early” over the end of the first song, and then continue blabbing over the intro of the next song.

It matters because when that next song begins, then you start, it “turns the page” – meaning that the listener can FEEL the Forward Movement. (Momentum.)

When you start early, we don’t feel that page turn. No momentum. And a station without good forward flow will get beat by a station that HAS it almost every time. There are some exceptions, but very few.

This concentration on Momentum (not pace; that’s a different thing) is most evident in the movie world, where George Lucas and Steven Spielberg ushered in a totally new era in the seventies with movies that ALWAYS churned relentlessly forward. (Think Star Wars, or Raiders of the Lost Ark.)

Never get so “comfortable” that you forget about Momentum. The world moves ahead faster all the time. (Remember your first cell phone; your first computer? Ick.)

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2020 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #343 – A Lesson from Author Sandra Brown

If you’ve never read any of the red-hot thriller novels of Sandra Brown, you’ve missed out on a truly gifted storyteller. My wife and I have read dozens of her books, and since radio is essentially storytelling in microcosm, you might learn something from this comment recently in her book ‘Standoff’, which is a short book she wrote for a Book Club. She said it was daunting because most of the action takes place in a confined space, adding “With each book, I challenge myself to try something I’ve never tried before. Can I pull this off? This self-imposed fear factor is a positive thing. It stimulates creativity and urges me to step outside comfortable boundaries. It makes each book different. Most important, it keeps readers from getting tired of the same ol’ same ol’.”

YES. EXACTLY. You should ALWAYS be willing to try something new; something you haven’t done before. This is something I push every air talent I work with to do, and I usually have to prod them once or twice a year to KEEP doing.

Honestly, when it comes to Talent Coaching, this is essential. As you’ve heard from me many times in these tips, Consistency is fine, but Predictability is Death. You’ve got to turn things upside down once in a while and shake them until change falls out of their pockets. When you stop trying new things, you stop making progress.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2020 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.