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Tommy Kramer has spent over 35 years in radio as an on-air talent, Programmer, and Talent Coach, and has worked with over 100 stations in all formats, specializing in coaching morning team shows. He was elected to the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2003. Contact
Tommy Kramer Coaching Tips The oddest thing seems to be happening both on TV and in radio these days. The phony, insincere, pukey deejay delivery is rearing its ugly head ... (read more - Tip #1) A lot of Program Directors, in trying to coach an Air Talent, jump too quickly to the second phase of coaching -- getting an aircheck, playing samples of "things done wrong," and making the process an uneasy one for the Talent right off the bat. No "foreplay." (read more - Tip #2) Think of how many times you’ve heard an Air Talent say--more often than not, with the sound of rustling paper or a page turning in the background--"I was reading an article in this magazine yesterday," or "I saw in the paper this morning that...." My problem with this sort of thing is ... (read more - Tip #3) I once put up a sign on the Control Room door that said: "I just got into town. I got into the car, turned the radio on, and hit the 'scan' button. It landed on your station. I don't know what station it is, what the format is, what the dial position is, or who you are. You have thirty seconds." I base everything I coach on "first time" listening (read more - Tip #4) You hear often that someone is "funny." "He's so funny." "I love to listen to his show because it's funny." But is it "funny," or is it "fun" that we're talking about? There is a difference, from a performance and planning point of view. "Funny" is certainly "fun," but "fun" doesn't necessarily have to be "funny." The Andy Griffith Show was a great example of being both (read more - Tip #5) Think about how many Morning Teams you’ve heard that have a decent energy level, but they just don’t seem to move very efficiently. Frankly, in many situations, the decision to have a Team Show in the morning overrides whether or not a qualified team is available, or whether the PD has the proper techniques for coaching them. If you find yourself thinking, “They just take too long” or “They’re good, but they just talk too much,” here’s a tip to help coordinate them fast: When the subject changes, the person speaking changes (read more - Tip #6) If you want to talk about something that isn’t local, unless it’s a giant national headline, it’s likely that you’ll get a “who cares?” reaction in the mind of the Listener. Whenever I hear a Talent struggle with this, I ask, “How do I get there from here?” (read more - Tip #7) Many air talents, even experienced ones, BROADcast. They speak too loudly, get overly exaggerated, and can’t seem to sound conversational without losing energy or enthusiasm. Usually, it’s just what they picture in their heads—the microphone as a megaphone, a device used to talk to the listener, somewhere in the distance. It’s the same sort of principle that makes many stage actors, who are used to broad, exaggerated movements, have to rein that impulse in to not appear to be chewing the scenery and over-acting when they do film work (read more - Tip #8)
Too often, an Air Talent wants to do
something on the air for one of the following reasons: If you're going to get really proficient at anything, you have to practice every day. Eric Clapton is nicknamed “Slowhand” because he makes those incendiary guitar licks look so easy. Tiger Woods and other pro golfers make the game look effortless (indeed, even boringly easy) and crush the ball into orbit repeatedly because they hit thousands of balls every month to get that way. Every basketball player in the NBA can do a “whirlybird” dunk; I try it, and I find out that (1) my vertical leap is about three inches, and (2) I may need a liver transplant. I’ve often coached Air Talents, particularly in Morning Shows, who just don't want to do the MAINTENANCE. Instead, they want to "wing it," and rely on their ability to just "come up with something" instead of PLANNING a show (read more - Tip #10) It makes me cringe to hear someone taking way too long to set up something on the air. If it doesn't affect you the same way, it should. Weak "setup" skills are like those people that prattle on telling overly long "shaggy dog" jokes at a party--sooner or later, you just want to find an excuse to join a different conversation, to avoid the five minute setup to a lame punch line. We live in the Steven Spielberg/George Lucas, six-second-attention-span, "jump-cut" generation. Movie trailers, commercials, ESPN Sportscenter, "Best of" CD's, CNN Headline News--they're all geared to not waste a person's valuable time. You OWE it to your Listener to get to the POINT. Right NOW! (read more - Tip #11) As you know if you have an on-air job opening, finding talent with real skills who can also be adaptable and fit in is a huge challenge. With the best of intentions, I keep hearing the word “teachable” from Program Directors looking at candidates for job openings at their stations. While “Is he teachable?” may appear to be a prime component, it’s also coming from the wrong end of the binoculars, a template of the PD’s hopes that he or she lays over the process of considering someone. So here’s a suggestion. Let's replace the word "teachable" in our vocabulary with the phrase "wants to learn more." (read more - Tip #12)
People usually
try to do too much with promos, especially morning show promos. They
get too complicated and full of "marketing your aspirations." The
promos should be very simple, the "free sample" type. So use this
template: |
"Vary EVERYTHING!" Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #14 (click here to listen to the audio version) There's a great moment in the movie "What's Up, Doc?" with Ryan O'Neal and Barbra Streisand. After a series of misadventures, he says to her, "It's not that I don't like you. It’s just that you're just so.......different." To which she replies, "From now on, I'll try to be the same." Cute line, but it got me to thinking about the little ways to keep things fresh on the air. Are you the same, or different, in what you do on the air each day? Do you say the call letters the same way every time? Do you always give the basics in the same order? I just heard an Air Talent who always gave the call letters, the artist, the song title, then a time check, then his name. Every break. He was totally unaware of it.....AND THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE LISTENER! The listener gradually just listens, but doesn't really hear, because of the boring sameness of it all. “Same old same old” is the killer of diary entries. A great Talent will vary the inflection and the order of the basics. (Although I strongly urge you to identify the station the first thing out of your mouth every break. Just make sure that your delivery fits the tempo and mood of the song you’re coming out of, or talking over.) And while you do want benchmark features to be at specific times, be aware of not becoming stale and predictable in how you do anything. David Letterman’s show has a definite format, but within the structure, there’s always the ebb and flow and ad-libs from both him and Paul Shaeffer. The next time that you listen to a tape of yourself, or you're coaching a Talent, check that "sameness vs. variability" factor. You'll be surprised how much difference just that one thought can make. P. S. If you’re a PD, and you have your talent saying a positioning phrase, stop. Let the imaging do it, because jocks are not good at it, and it becomes perfunctory quickly, just more meaningless words that no one would ever really say in real life, tossed out with no emotion by people who are sick to death of saying it. This is the opposite of what you want, and a perfect example of how sameness makes staleness.© 2007 Tommy Kramer
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