Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #690: TV Coaching Thoughts

While mainly working with radio stations over the last 30 years, I also worked with some television air talent. Spending the bulk of my career in Texas (Dallas and Houston), where they often outshone the major TV networks, I was able to help a few people in those markets. But coaching them helped me even more in dealing with smaller market TV folks.

Example: in Spokane, while I was coaching two radio stations, they also asked me to do some sessions with their TV stations’ news anchors.

They had an incredible, dazzling TV studio, with excellent equipment. And as I sat with the GM watching the 5pm News, a glaring error emerged. They had the robot cameras that moved themselves to different positions. And every time one of the cameras moved to set up the next shot, the anchor, seeing this activity, began to SPEAK LOUDER.

In our first session after the broadcast, I asked him why he did that – and he was totally unaware of it! I reminded him that there was a microphone right above his head, just out of the shot. So screaming at the camera was probably not the best move.
At another station, the staff meteorologist always pointed to the weather ‘map’ with her right hand, though the map was to her left. Reaching across her body, swiveling away from the camera, looked awkward and blocked out her body from the shot.

I once coached a wonderful Sports anchor in Dallas that saying “Right after this” or “when we come back” or “after this commercial break” was, in effect, promoting the commercials. I suggested that instead, he should just plug what was coming up, say “Next,” and then boom; the commercial break would start. (People know that “next” isn’t about the commercials. Things like, “Right after this break” just make people think about grabbing the remote and flipping around.)

Hilariously, he came back to me a couple of days later saying the entire News team was mad at him for shouting “Don’t say ‘When we come back!’” at them repeatedly when they went to a break.

I replied, “I’m…sorry for making you better?”

Radio people, as stubborn as they can be, are still easer to coach then most TV people. TV people tend to look down on radio talent as “lesser”, but that’s certainly not always the case.

The takeaway? Always be in “learning” mode.