Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #660: “Heavy Dan”

One more trip down memory lane that I hope will help you…

In my radio infancy at giant CHR station KEEL in Shreveport, Lousiana, I was blessed with influences that would not only flesh out my own career, but lead to many things I’ve coached over the last 30 years.
Such is the case with a guy named Dan Voigtlander. (Pronounced Voit – lander.)

Dan was in the air force, serving at Barksdale Air Base. But he also did the all-night show on KEEL (midnight to 6am). Great attitude, loved being on the radio, worked all night, went home and slept a few hours, then worked all day. But he wasn’t a really great talent. He was average, but he was also a nice sweet guy. Just very “straight” (as we said in those days). Not “hip” at all.

So, one day, because it was just the opposite of what he was, the afternoon guy and I started calling him “Heavy Dan”. (“Heavy” being a word we tossed around back then.) We were just joking around, and I guess some people might have thought this was a little bit cruel, actually. But it made us laugh, and since the name “Voigtlander” was cumbersome, we kept the nickname.

And he LOVED it. The gently teasing nickname THRILLED him. So, “Heavy Dan” he was. The guys at the air base starting calling him that, too, and in his own way, he became a star! (And, stiff as he was, he did get better and better over time. He was “one of the gang” now.)

The reason this worked out was because we all really liked and cared for Dan, and each other. And as I moved up (and around) in my career, I found that this was a key ingredient in every truly great station I ever heard. Every member of the air staff cheered the rest of the staff on. We were each other’s biggest fans.

If this isn’t how your station is, why not?