Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #498: When Repetition is Good, and When it’s Not

Radio is all about telling stories. But I keep hearing people repeat things all the time on the air. What a drag.

IF you repeat something because you’re pounding a point home, that’s okay. (It was a huge part of George Carlin’s act. Chris Rock does this to good effect, too.) And repeating things is a good tool to use if you’re talking to a 3-year old.

But repeating something just because you’ve forgotten that you already said it, is NOT okay.

As anyone who took a first-year Speech class in college knows, unconscious repetition is a bad habit. Saying things ONCE is the best and most efficient way of telling a story.

Tighten it up. You might – dare I suggest this – actually rehearse it beforehand, instead of just fiddling around hoping it all just magically works out somehow.