Radio is not about what you say you do, or what you say you are.
It’s about how you show it, and how you live up to it.

Your “Mission Statement” should really be a simple one:
Welcome in the person who’s never heard you before, and then either inform or entertain them (or both) every day.

I would add “have an attitude.” (The late, great Gordon McLendon insisted on that. It worked pretty well for him. He was a pioneer in both AM and the emergence of FM.)

I hear air talent in every format pushing their agenda on the Listener; the “We want to say this” crowd. But that has an oily residue, because it ignores the Listener’s “but I want to hear this” reply. It’s a shame, because you could be so much more.

The reality is this: The Listener comes First. Your agenda doesn’t actually matter, except in terms of what’s top of mind to your listener each day. If you can’t find a way to give an “accessible” vibe, then sooner or later you’ll fail. The world keeps turning, people have their own thoughts about things, and your job as a Program Director or as an air talent is to REFLECT what matters most to the Listener back to that person, filtered through your own experiences, observations, and emotions. This sounds ultra-simple, and it can be, but it usually takes some coaching. Focus doesn’t come naturally to most air talents.

That’s why I do what I do. There is no room for bad radio in the lives of today’s listeners.

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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 was a time when it was in vogue to be overly audacious, tricking people with prank phone calls, embarrassing people, making fun of them, etc.

I thought it really sucked, because to me, it seemed kind of cruel. I didn’t – and still don’t – get why it would be okay to demean the listener, or use that person as a “prop” for something that you wouldn’t do to a friend or coworker.

Stupid games, like getting someone to try and talk about something for a given amount of time while avoiding saying “Uh,” for example, seemed to me like squirting the listener in the face with a water pistol

But, as Bob Dylan sang, “Things Have Changed.”

You know what stands out now?
Kindness. A feeling that’s celebratory – not just phony cheering, but making us feel that you’re really glad to talk to that caller. That you’re glad they took that time to call in, you’re glad that they got their ‘moment’ on the radio, you’re glad that you were able to give them a prize. We can’t hear enough of that.

Drop the “I’m cooler than you” stuff, and you’ll actually BE cool.

– – – – – – –
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.