Monthly Archives: May 2024

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #573: The Road to Brevity

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Brevity is the most useful skill you can develop.

Sadly, instead of brevity, we often get bloviating. So let me help you with what I recently wrote in a coaching session recap…

Thinking “How few words can I use to say this?” is the road to brevity. As you police yourself to get rid of repetition and edit yourself better, your longer breaks will actually stand out more, as a result. (Funny how that works.)

Making a point – ONE point – succinctly is hard for some air talents, but one salient point is all the listener is going to remember, so why not make it the only point?
Your show will then unfold in segments, “episodes” that you’re sharing with the Listener today. Each “scene” a part of the whole. A new movie each day, made up of what you, in your life, share with the listener’s life.

All the other Content is comprised of what you have to do – promoting things the station is doing, contests, etc.

If you want to make it easy for yourself, this is how. And it’s easy!

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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.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #572: The Barbecue Test

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Here’s a quick way to measure or grade your on-air performance: Is what you’re saying something you’d say at a backyard barbecue to a person you just met?

If it’s not, then why are you saying it?

“Too inside” is a disease. You potentially have a new person tuning in for the first time right now. What are you going to say to welcome that person in? And more importantly, what will you say that compels that person to stick around today, or come back tomorrow?

The simplest, shortest break you do may the one that catches that listener’s attention; that makes him or her think, “This person is like me.”

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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.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #571: In the Mood

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Moods matter. Some shows I’ve heard recently have one – but ONLY one.

We’re humans. We have moods – all sorts of different ones, each day. So, the challenge for you is to not just plaster on a veneer every day, but to have a definable mood to each show.

Tip: Reflect the mood around you – what you feel at home, or when you stop at a store for coffee, or at the place where you work. Feed off that. Let it guide you to be in step with the Listener.

When I sense that you feel what I’m feeling, we bond. And as I always say, we’re not paid by the word; we’re paid by the connection.

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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.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #570: All That Matters is What Matters

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Here’s a quick check of your Content: I believe that all that matters is what matters.

If you’re just doing “fluff” bits, even if something creates a chuckle, it’s not necessarily gonna make someone come back tomorrow. But that person probably will if you’re the best at talking about what matters to him or her.

Don’t misunderstand me – this doesn’t mean that you have to be “news-ish” or boringly serious all the time. That would go against everything I believe in. If you can make people laugh, that’s a great skill. I’m just saying that if you’re funny about what matters to the listener – the situation that he or she can identify with – not just a Subject that just fell out of the sky, you’ll be much better.

This was a hard lesson for me to learn in my own on-air career. But the great Lee Abrams, my Program Director in both Chicago and Cleveland, said to me one day, “Tommy, you can’t try to be funny every break.” That was a key building block in what I became, and in what I coach today.

EVERY mood is welcome – as long as it matters. And being truly Entertaining certainly isn’t just about punch lines.

Focus. What is your listener waiting to hear your ‘take’ on today?

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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.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #569: Conquering the “One Speed” Thing

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“Ear fatigue” can be caused by many different things. I want to refocus on one that I’m hearing way too much – the “one set speed” delivery. It doesn’t seem to matter if the song is “having a stroke” fast or “worm crawling” slow, the air talent is at one speed all the time. No variation. It’s boring. That person is a time filler, rather than a true personality.

(To be fair, this is often the result of a P. D. talking about “momentum”, which is a different thing, and isn’t dependent on speed.)

Anyway, in music formats, the cure to the “one speed” disease is really easy: Your delivery should match the Pace, or the Mood, of the song you’re talking over or coming out of. (Ideally, you’d do both.)

And for my Talk radio friends and clients – you should also watch falling into one set speed. Different subjects require different deliveries. They have a best pace or vibe, too.

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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.