TK Tip 6 – How tall is King Kong (click to hear mp3 version)
In the wonderful 1980 movie “The Stunt Man,” where a fugitive stumbles onto a movie set just when they need a new stunt guy, the kid keeps getting surprised by how different the movie world and its special effects make things appear onscreen that don’t exist at all in real life. The wonderful Peter O’Toole, as the Director, keeps asking the new stunt man, “How tall is King Kong?”…the point being that the model of the “giant” ape in the original movie was only three and a half feet tall, but we were made to believe that Kong was SIXTY feet tall.
It’s the same in radio. Our “King Kong,” whatever that may be—a contest, a station event, a Promotion of some sort online—is, to us, only three and a half-feet tall. It’s OUR JOB to make it sound larger than life to the Listener.
I hear jocks every day that take contests and Promotions for granted, and sound less than enthusiastic or even bored as they talk about them.
But if you’re not really interested in it, why should I be, as a listener? I’ve even heard Talents put these things down! They’re “too hip for the room,” and have lost sight of the fact that for the listener, winning something or going to some event is a BIG DEAL.
This is all part of my “Camera Angles” technique (Tip #2 in this series). If you can’t find a way to make that contest or station event sound as tall as King Kong—the 60-foot version—you might want to find a big box to empty the contents of your desk into, because you’re going to be leaving soon. (“I’ll bet you make THAT sound big when you talk to your friends about getting fired.)
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Tommy Kramer
Radio Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2013 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.