Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #599: It All Starts with the Writing

In the last tip, I talked about the rhythm inherent in the best comedy, comparing it to how a great TV sitcom pauses, then reinvents itself over and over again. That’s really how everything works. I’m just rewatching the amazing series “The Newsroom”, written by the great Aaron Sorkin. He understands this rhythm as well as anyone I can think of who does drama. (I would say Neil Simon when it comes to comedy.)

Whenever you start a sentence without knowing how it’s going to end, you’re on the diving board about to jump into the pool without knowing if there’s water in it. Improv is not something most people can consistently depend on. Without at least some structure laid out, you’re taking a chance (especially in a team show). Thinking something “magic” will “just happen” describes every “almost, but not quite” show I’ve heard.

Composition – writing – matters. That’s why I aways planned the ending first. Sometimes I (or we, in my team shows) wouldn’t get to that ending, because a “First Exit” appeared that would have made anything else anticlimactic. Try this. Know where you’re going, and see if it doesn’t make things smoother and give you more clarity, mentally. The confidence you’ll gain can be felt on the air.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #598: Real to Silly is Better than Silly to Real

The best Content is about real life situations, shared in little bursts. If you start with an unreal situation, there’s no emotional buy-in (unless you couch it as fantasy or exaggeration).

But going from Real to Silly is better than going from Silly to Real. (Knowing when to stop is the key to this – and I’ll share some thoughts about how to attain, or at least, sharpen this skill in a future tip.)

The last line in the opening scene of a TV sitcom is a good example. The great writers know this is almost always the first line that “kills” (meaning it worked exceptionally well). On the radio, it’s really hard to come up with another one that lives up to the first one that “ignited” itself in your brain. But I hear air talent trying to top themselves, come up with another GREAT one all the time. So here’s a little composition tip: the best rhythm is that things have to breathe a bit, then surprise you again. Hope this helps you!

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #597: The Setup Disease

“I want to tell you…” “I want to share with you…” “I want to let you know” = announcing that you will tell me something. Instead, Just TELL me. (An added benefit of this is that you take out the *I – me – my” factor.)

*(This is one of my main tenets – not starting a story with yourself. Start with the Subject first, or by referencing the Listener first in some way, THEN you add your part, or your ‘take’ on it. Less ego this way, and it sounds less “presentational”.)

Sometimes, this kind of mistake is on the other end of the Content. Example: You play a call, then recap what we just heard before giving us your take on it. There’s not always a need to do that. Consider just reacting to what we heard, instead.

I still refer to both of these things as the “setup disease,” but it might actually be better described as “over-qualifying things”.

This is just one more way to not sound like everyone else, and to put the Content and the Listener up front – just one of dozens and dozens of little linguistic and grammar usage things that I coach. The more we can “un-radio” the sound, the better. The ‘big picture’ goal is a “VISIT-driven” show.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #596: Conquering “Liners”

We’ve all had to do it – read a station “liner” that just reads like old “newspaper ad” copy. Ugh.

But, since my job is to make you sound better in every way possible, here’s a tip on how to make those things come alive.

Think, “How would I tell a friend about this?” Take out all the words you would never actually say to a human being, and put in the words that you’d use. Yes, some “name” you have to get in or some “slogan” you have to read can take you out of that to a degree, but you have to make those sound natural, too. You wouldn’t tell your friend to go to a store without telling him or her the store’s name. So, just say it like that.

Informative when necessary, but more natural, is always the goal.

My friend Jeff Laurence (jefflaurence.com) is a great example of this. He can do “power” reads with the best of them, but his more natural stuff is legendary. I’ve written hundreds of pieces that Jeff has cut, and he’s always a joy to work with.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #595: The Guy with the Nice Voice

Recently, I started coaching a new member of a Talk show about cars (getting a great deal on one, not how to repair one).

This guy has one of those “cannon” voices – the God-given kind of deep, resonant voice that used to be what every Top 40 Program Director looked for.

But that was then. Now, a Tom Hanks-type “real guy” delivery works better. (For example, Johnjay Van Es of the Johnjay & Rich show, a longtime friend I’ve worked with multiple times whose down to earth, natural approach makes people bond with him almost immediately. (He has a fine voice, but doesn’t “use it”. He’s just himself.)

I could name many others, but let me share something with you that I sent this new guy the other day after our first coaching session:

Your initial challenge is to be a bit more comfortable sounding. It’s the “I’m only 3 feet away from you” delivery instead of the “You’re 10 feet away from me” delivery. You’re not “announcing” or “presenting” as much as you’re just sharing something with a friend over a sandwich at lunch. This slightly more relaxed delivery will still carry the timber you naturally have, but in a much more absorbable way. “The guy with the nice voice” is better than the “loud guy with a big voice.”

Having a great voice is a gift, but if you sound stiff, too “official”, or insincere, that’s probably not going to get you the results you want.
You won’t be “giving up” anything. And here’s the deal: you’ll still have that God-given resonance, which is really the whole idea, anyway.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #594: The Best Conversations Are Made of SHORT Sentences

The best conversations – whether that’s between you and a listener, you and a guest, or you and a partner in a team show – are made of SHORT sentences.

The longer the sentences, the more the boredom factor is going to set in.
We live in a hummingbird-attention span generation right now. Everybody texts. (And we don’t even text full WORDS. We don’t have time to put “OK.” We can only type “K.” That extra letter just saps our energy.)

Think about this, because chances are, if I listen to your show today, I’m gonna hear you talking in sentences that are much too long and bore people to death.

Or maybe not. You could be really great. But you probably still need this tip as a reminder.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #593: The Biggest Mistake McDonald’s Ever Made, and What You Can Learn From It

If you’re old enough, you remember the ad campaign McDonald’s used with a slogan, backed up by a beautiful jingle: “You deserve a break today…at McDonald’s.”

That simple statement of BEING OF SERVICE to you – giving you a “time out” from having to go home and slog through cooking a meal – was, to me, the simplest and most effective Strategy they ever had. And suddenly, after years of imprinting that thought in the customer’s brain, they went on to some mindless fodder like “I’m Lovin’ It.” (Gee, thanks for the mid-bite review.)

You see, the thing is, people want to be acknowledged, to have worth, to be seen as more than just another customer in the drive-through line buying a fish sandwich.

So, ask yourself if your station is Being Of Service to your listeners. And then ask yourself if what you’re saying on the air or in your Imaging makes that clear.

You should want to make the listener (or the customer, if you were McDonald’s) feel like your first thought is to make their life better.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #592: A Lesson You Can Learn from Steve Martin

Content is definitely what I get asked about most in sessions and in radio seminars. And since it takes a long time to get people who haven’t seen how easy it is to catch on, many times I give them an overview – a lesson I learned from watching the great comic and actor Steve Martin over the years.

I met Steve once, in about 1971, when a radio trade paper called The Bob Hamilton Radio Report was a hot sheet. Bob and I were friends, and he wanted to put together a convention with about 300 guests from radio all over the country – PDs, air talent, etc. Speakers were selected (among them were then a youthful Buzz Bennett, Bill Young from KILT in Houston, and as best as I can recall, Mike McCormick, known for programming WLS in Chicago). They had a roundtable discussion, followed by a Q & A period, then did air check sessions afterword, where even if you were a bumpkin from Louisiana (like me), you could get some feedback from these smart and accomplished Program Directors.
For entertainment beforehand, I had a friendly relationship with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and asked them if they could open the seminar. They did, and brought a (then unknown to me) comic named Steve Martin as their opening act. (Steve’s manager was the brother of a member of the band, by the way.)

To say the least, Steve knocked it out of the park. 300 radio guys, laughing our heads off.

As I watched Martin’s career develop, I noticed something that I’ve always wholly believed in. You’ve probably seen it, too.

Every single time Steve Martin has been a guest on a late-night show, or hosted something like an Award show, there’s always been SOMETHING GOING ON.
Whether it was reciting his own notes on his appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (“August 3rd. Jokes killed. Audience was great. Ed was friendly. Johnny was…’sluggish’…”), or trying to throw a pencil through the imaginary glass windows behind David Letterman’s desk – missing each time, cutting to commercial, then coming back to 100 pencils stuck EVERYWHERE (even on a camera lens!), Steve always had something surprising to do.

And you came to know that about him. Something was coming. Guaranteed. You didn’t know what it would be, or when it would happen, but you just knew it WOULD come. (And it still does.)

So here’s the lesson: There always needs to be something going on. That’s how you COMPEL people to listen to you. Just “a voice reading words” won’t do. Yes, inform me. That’s part of the job. But always ENTERTAIN me, too.

This is a lot of what I coach. Ask yourself if this is that the kind of help you’re getting. If not, you need a different coach. (However, I don’t think Steve Martin is available.)

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #591: The Easiest Way to Prep Content – End with the Beginning

An interesting point came up in a recent session came from an air talent I’ve worked with for years. She was talking about how a break can go wrong if you’re not sure of how you’re going to start. This was my feedback…

Here’s the process that I’ve found works best:

1. Decide on a subject’s “worth” and what camera angle to use on it that will connect with the listener the easiest.

2. Plan an “out”. You may not use it; a “First Exit” may pop up, and you take it instead. But do plan an ending, so you have one ‘in the bank’.

3. THEN plan how you’re going to start. Write down a few words if you need to. Rehearse it out loud if you need to. (And most people do need to; they just think it’s not necessary. They’re usually wrong. Tom Hanks rehearses, but you don’t? Okay…)

The reason I put the Beginning last in the prep phase is because I want that last thought to be the first thing in my mind when, still fresh, I start the break. This simple way of laying out a break should help you.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #590: Memorable Moments

Here’s a question for you: What stood out on your show today? Anything? A funny line? A really connective ‘take’ on something? A phone call that surprised you?

Great radio is about Memorable Moments.

If YOU can’t remember anything that stood out on your show today, no one else will, either.

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Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2024 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.