Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #659: Steve Kelly

In the last tip, I talked about one of my main mentors, the great Larry Ryan, in my hometown of Shreveport.

Another person on that same staff at Top 40 “blowtorch” KEEL back in the day was a guy named Steve Kelly.

Steve was doing middays at KEEL, had a fantastic voice, and was a wonderful Production man. (You’ve no doubt heard Steve’s voice many, many times on national spots and hundreds of concert promos. He eventually became President and Creative Officer of Bill Young Productions – for over 30 years now.)

I had started on the all-night show, midnight to 6am, and for a long time, I was only allowed to dub commercials into the system – which Steve showed me how to do. He then began to use me on two-voice spots, usually as a character voice. Little by little, he fed me more tips on how to do polished Production.

Decades later, I still remember Steve’s incredible guidance and patience. And I ended up doing literally hundreds of commercial spots and promos, nationally-aired PSA’s, writing and producing jingles, and winning dozens of awards I could have never envisioned when I was just a duckling, paying rapt attention to whatever Steve showed me.

Here’s the point: you should want to work with people who are more skilled than you are, and LEARN from them.

If that’s not the environment that you’re currently in, you might want to take a look at how you can change it.