Monthly Archives: December 2020

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #395: When to Plan the Next Break

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Shows that “fly by the seat of their pants” inevitably sound loose and have ‘dead’ time that needn’t be there.

Now, some 355 stations into this talent coaching stuff, one thing has become abundantly clear to me: people need to plan, not just “wing it”.

Here’s the easiest way to get a simple system in place…

Right after you finish a break, lay out the NEXT break. If you’re in a team show, it’s doubly important. A quick run-through (“Okay, next we’ll do the rodeo thing; I’ll start. Remember your line that we’re going to get out on…”). Now, with that done, you now have several minutes to relax, chat, etc.

The old saying is “if you fail to plan, your plan is to fail,” and by and large, it’s true.

Note: This does NOT kill spontaneity; it just kills uncertainty. And sounding SURE is what creates the “command presence” that all great air talents have.

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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 #394: Confidence vs. Ego

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There’s a huge difference between Confidence and having a big Ego. A great Talent needs confidence. Without it, you’d never try anything different, never find the things that are unique to you.

And confidence shows. Think Sean Connery as James Bond. Tiger Woods. Paul McCartney.

But ego shows more – and usually it’s not a flattering image. At all.

The great Gary Larson dealt with how suddenly Ego can come tumbling down:

In radio, it’s not ego that kills. It’s DISPLAYS of ego that kill radio stations. Be careful how you define yourself, what claims you make in your Imaging, and how the air talents handle things.

*Note to Gary Larson: you’re the best cartoonist who ever lived. I’m only borrowing your one-panel here to make a point. Please don’t sue me. 😇

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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 #393 – Tasks vs. Creativity

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If you’re so busy doing so many things – so many contests, so many (management) “initiatives”, so many other jobs (podcasts, voice tracking another station, writing website articles, social media postings) – you will inevitably lose Creativity.

You only have so many breaks during a show to talk about ANYTHING. There are always things to plug, but you can’t plug everything equally.
The winning template is to only have one “big” thing and one “little” thing. Say a major contest as your Big thing, and something else as your little thing. That way, you still have time to do something creative on a regular basis as a main ingredient of your show.

Look, it’s a challenge for an air talent to talk about something for the millionth time and still breathe some creativity into it, but they’ll do much better at that than they will trying to fit an impossible number of things into the show to the point that there’s no time left to do ANYTHING creative.

Be careful as a PD or GM not to put too many things on the plate, because past a certain number, you’ll not only lose creativity, but you’ll also lose spontaneity – leaving nothing to listen FOR.

Remember, I can look at your website and see all the crap you want to promote. Your primary job should be to ENTERTAIN me at LEAST as much as you inform me. When you lose that balance, Pandora, Spotify, iTunes, and Amazon Prime music take your place in line for my time spent listening.

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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 #392: The Gordon McLendon News Test

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It’s said that radio pioneer Gordon McLendon used to put prospective news people through a simple, but incredibly revealing test.

He’d hand you a story off the AP wire and say “Read this…to yourself.” After the talent read it (silently), Gordon would turn the page face down on the desk and say, “Now tell me what it said.”

He wanted Storytellers. Writers who could take “facts” and turn them into stories, with an “arc” to them.

All the McLendon stations had incredible News talents who, even in Top 40 (the format that he and Todd Storz invented), compelled listeners to stay with the station instead of going somewhere else to keep up with what was happening.

Obviously, this isn’t just a technique to use for News. It plays into everything we do. Any idiot can read to me, but not everyone can ENGAGE me.

This is THE point of even being on the air in the first place.

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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 #391: The Significance of Bubblegum

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Connecting with the listener – as soon as possible in any given break – is Job One. I’ve spent hundreds of hours doing sessions about this one thing with air talent in every English-speaking format, and the best example is the simplest one:

I like bubblegum. You like bubblegum, too. Let’s be friends.

That’s the way we form relationships as kids. We start with what we have in common. The problem with so much of radio today, where some faceless voice selects an article or a subject from the internet or social media, then adds a lame punch line to it, is that it lacks that fundamental “bubblegum” ingredient.

This is why “News of the Weird”, “Trivia”, “Stupid Criminal Stories”, “This Day in History”, and contests that are too complicated and don’t sound like I can win the prize anyway are massive “Fails” today.

Reject all those. START with what you and the listener have in common. If you don’t really know who the station is targeting, ask your PD today. If you need help learning how to do this, well, there’s always coaching…

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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.