Monthly Archives: June 2014

Frost Advisory

Frost Advisory #211 – The Ten Commandments of John Frost

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Thanks to my pal Kevin Avery at The Fish in Atlanta for his creative musing on success.

Kevin and his talented pal Taylor’s morning show just so happens to be #1 in Women 25-54 in Atlanta, a very competitive radio market of 4.5 million people! So, maybe Kevin knows something worth hearing (‘cept #4, perhaps!)

10 Commandments

The 10 Commandments of John Frost!

10) Thou shalt take the first exit!

9) Thou shalt give the listener ‘hugs’!

8) Thou shalt get to the point!

7) Thou shalt reflect back the listeners values!

6) Thou shalt love children!

5) Thou shalt love childrens’ mommas!

4) Thou shalt talk baseball with me whenever I visit!

3) Thou shalt tattoo the values pyramid on the inside of thou’s eyeballs!

2) Thou shalt be relevant!

1) Thou shalt be enthused about being in the best format in the world!

Tommy Kramer Tip

Tommy Kramer Tip #56 – The Barney Fife Method

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Barney Fife, the classic Don Knotts character on the old Andy Griffith Show, probably never thought he’d become a role model – at least not for radio. But that’s exactly what happened.

Sure, many radio jocks share Barney’s ego, bravado, nervousness under pressure, taking rules too seriously (or ignoring them), trying to pretend you know more than you actually do, bad singing voice, and rather vague knowledge of the human anatomy (“the obondalla isn’t in the leg, Ange…it’s in the brain”), but the passing on of the “idiot torch” is not what made him a role model. It’s that in his shirt pocket, this fearless deputy, this symbol of law and order, this staunch upholder of the people’s rights carried… his one bullet.

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Mason Morning Minute

Morning Minute – The Art of Storytelling

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“No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.” – Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland.

I first met John Moore in Nashville at a GMA event. He was a guest speaker, and wanted to meet my friend Jon Spoelstra. The next day I saw him speak about Starbucks, and how they managed the brand through their marketing.

It was only after he’d spoken that he mentioned about his stutter. Yes, someone who makes a good portion of his income speaking in front of large groups had a stutter.

But the real point of this story is the story. In a recent post John talked about his situation, but it’s not only the story, but how he told it. We can learn a lot about how John told the story. When we see on-air people trying to communicate a story, it’s a great example of mixing facts with emotion to create a reality you can feel.

Telling a great story can take longer than 60 seconds, but if it’s done well enough, it’s worth it What do you hear on your station, facts or the emotion of a story like John’s.

P.S. If you want to have a highly successful station, you need to read “The Passion Conversation,” which was co-authored by John.

Frost Advisory

Frost Advisory #210 – See Me, Talk About Me!

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Most people in your town have never heard of your radio station.

That’s hard for us to grasp because we’re involved with our station every day, and almost everyone we bump into knows where we work. But our world is not their world.

I’ve written in previous Frost Advisories about social proof, the grown-up term for peer pressure. Jonah Berger’s remarkable new book “Contagious: Why Things Catch On” discusses “The Power of Observability”; the easier something is to see, the more people talk about it.

Consider how the kind of car your neighbor drives is far more likely to affect your buying decision than does the toothpaste he uses. One is visible, the other is not.

It has always baffled me why Christian music stations seem content to be invisible. We have the greatest reason to reach people (see: The Great Commission), we have the most tribal format (our audience gathers without us even asking them to), and the format is about the things people care about most.

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Tommy Kramer Tip

Tommy Kramer Tip #55 – “Human Interest” stories

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Not long ago, I heard this so-called “story” in a newscast:

“They did a study letting dogs just hear someone yawn. They responded with their own about half the time. But when the canine heard a familiar person like their owner yawn, it happened five times more often.”

Who cares? If you asked ten people what mattered most to them that day, I’d give you 1000 to 1 odds that dogs yawning wouldn’t be anywhere near the top of that list.

When I asked the air talent about this, the justification for it was that it was a “human interest” story.

I don’t see the Interest. (Plus, saying “the canine” is that stilted old newsy language, like saying “the five-foot-eight-inch male was spotted running away from the scene.” No one would EVER say this in real life.)

Yes, I keep harping on this, but I’ll stop griping about it if you stop boring people to death. What do you not get about the fact that you’re in competition for the listener’s time with every other station, hundreds of TV channels, social media, audio books and gaming?

Don’t let your SHOW be the thing that makes the dog yawn.