Brevity is the most useful skill you can develop.
Sadly, instead of brevity, we often get bloviating. So let me help you with what I recently wrote in a coaching session recap…
Thinking “How few words can I use to say this?” is the road to brevity. As you police yourself to get rid of repetition and edit yourself better, your longer breaks will actually stand out more, as a result. (Funny how that works.)
Memorial Day weekend is a time to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Maybe, just maybe, there is a legacy lesson for our stations.
How will your station be remembered?
Will it be remembered as the station that plays 25-minute music sweeps without any talk, OR that it helped your community to be a better place to live and raise a family?
Continue readingHere’s a quick way to measure or grade your on-air performance: Is what you’re saying something you’d say at a backyard barbecue to a person you just met?
If it’s not, then why are you saying it?
“Too inside” is a disease. You potentially have a new person tuning in for the first time right now. What are you going to say to welcome that person in? And more importantly, what will you say that compels that person to stick around today, or come back tomorrow?
The simplest, shortest break you do may the one that catches that listener’s attention; that makes him or her think, “This person is like me.”
A legendary broadcaster recently asked me, “If you claim that your format can be so transformational, why are the stations so ordinary?”
Gulp.
Ken and Barbie in the morning, who replaced Ken and Barbie before them and few even noticed.* Nice Christian people talking about nice Christian things to nice Christian people.
Nice, indeed. But clearly not transformational to a listener’s life.
Continue readingMoods matter. Some shows I’ve heard recently have one – but ONLY one.
We’re humans. We have moods – all sorts of different ones, each day. So, the challenge for you is to not just plaster on a veneer every day, but to have a definable mood to each show.
Tip: Reflect the mood around you – what you feel at home, or when you stop at a store for coffee, or at the place where you work. Feed off that. Let it guide you to be in step with the Listener.
When I sense that you feel what I’m feeling, we bond. And as I always say, we’re not paid by the word; we’re paid by the connection.
They say opinions are like noses; everyone has one.
The boss, the Facebook posts from listeners, the sales manager, or the weekend disc jockey, everyone has an opinion on what your station should be doing to be better. At least for them.
On this Mother’s Day I wonder what Mom would say!
Continue readingHere’s a quick check of your Content: I believe that all that matters is what matters.
If you’re just doing “fluff” bits, even if something creates a chuckle, it’s not necessarily gonna make someone come back tomorrow. But that person probably will if you’re the best at talking about what matters to him or her.
House Democrats wave Ukrainian flags on the floor of the House chamber while approving the bill for aid.
Anti-Israel protesters on college campuses wave the Palestinian flag.
Frat boys at UNC raise the American flag to counter the actions of the pro-Palestinian protestors, while raising $500,000 in support on GoFundMe.
Reckon’ there must be something deep and meaningful to this flag thing to cause this kind of stir.
Continue reading“Ear fatigue” can be caused by many different things. I want to refocus on one that I’m hearing way too much – the “one set speed” delivery.
It doesn’t seem to matter if the song is “having a stroke” fast or “worm crawling” slow, the air talent is at one speed all the time. No variation. It’s boring. That person is a time filler, rather than a true personality.