What separates a “shaggy dog” story from one that entices a person to listen is whether or not it goes in a straight line.

Too many “side references” stall the story out and put it in neutral as far as the plot goes.  In real life conversations, people may listen.  But on the air, a minute is a long time.  (Want to argue the point?  Hold your breath for one minute, starting right… now.)

There’s also the danger of sounding like you’re interrupting your own thought.  This is a weird habit because at that point you’re just trying to sort out in your own mind how to tell the story.

I don’t have time to listen to that.

You need to be prepared and make the story march at a decent pace, but also be mindful of when a pause is needed.  We do want to sound as natural as possible, but we owe the listener being expedient, too.

Years ago, I heard a very good morning personality say that his show, which was a team show, was just the cast members having a conversation, and people (the audience) just listening in.

Not a bad thought, but an incomplete one.

The truth is that you’re talking to your team AND ME – the listener. I’m right here. I’m just not saying anything at the moment.

Picturing the listener “at the table” with you is, to me, an essential overview. So I have to wonder why so many shows seem like they’re just “in the room” and I’m not.

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2023 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

It’s incredible to me that we still hear ‘bits’ on the air that were stale 25 years ago.  Here are some examples of the type of stuff I’m talking about:

This Day in History.
No one cares.  Especially the younger demographic.  Millennials don’t remember past last Thursday. Continue reading →

Over my more than two decades of “officially” being a talent coach, I’ve had a hand in putting dozens of team shows together.  (I’ve coached over 300 of them.)

Here’s the most important thing in putting a team show together: Does each of them make the other person sound better? Continue reading →

This tip is primarily for Program Directors, but it also applies to air talent.  Never have the air talent say your “positioning” phrase.

First of all, they’re not good at it, because it’s a “selling” thing that no one would ever say in a real-life conversation.  (And most “positioning phrases” or slogans backfire anyway.  Think about how many times you’ve heard something like, “Favorites of the 80s, 90s, and Today” – and then they play a song you hate.)

Let the Imaging voice do the liners.  That’s what that person is for, to take the unnatural language OUT of the equation for the air talent.

Let the air talent concentrate on things that actually matter to the listener, and that he/she can relate to.  Your sales pitch isn’t one of them.

It’s only natural that I get a lot of inquiries about how to break into the Voice Acting world.  Several years ago, after a seminar, a guy asked if I would listen to some of his work.  He was a very good talent, but listening to his demo, I noticed something.  I told him, “If I were playing the notes on a keyboard that you hit with your voice, you always seem to end sentences on the exact same note, and it almost always goes down in pitch.”

He was surprised by this, and said he had never noticed that before.

Going down in pitch repeatedly can make you sound predictable, or even bored.  You should (of course) VARY your deliveries.  And I also believe that thinking about it in a musical context can add a dimension.

Tip: I always picture the person – the ONE person – that I’m talking to.  That seems to ‘shape’ the delivery, and helps avoid the “same note” thing.

It’s called Voice ACTING for a reason.

John Lennon once said, “When I was five years old, my mother told me happiness was the key to life. When I went to school they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment. And I told them they didn’t understand life.”

So, with that in mind, do you sound happy on the air? You know, like you actually enjoy your job? Or are you just going through the motions, plodding along doing “fluff” Content or reading stuff off a computer screen?

If you’re not happy doing radio, please get out of it. Life’s too short to listen to someone who’s just “filling breaks”, and there are many people who’d love to have your job. This may sound corny, but we’re here to RELIEVE people of sad feelings or boredom, not add to them. Radio isn’t dying, but some people make it sound like it is.

If this is too “pie in the sky” to you, I quote John Lennon again: “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2023 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

Each break you do is an “egg”. But ALL the breaks during an hour (or your show as a whole) are an omelet.

The point is, this break should stand as a break, but it should also be part of some sense of what today is like. A mood, if nothing else.

If you’re just doing isolated breaks, there’s no “story” that day. To be great, your show should be an ongoing saga of your experiences with things that are also part of the listener’s life. Who wouldn’t rather have an omelet than just one tired little egg?

– – – – – – –
Tommy Kramer
Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (mobile)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2023 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.

If you concentrate so much on the “big” things, but you don’t get really good at the little things, it’s not gonna work as well.

You need to be well-rounded.  It’s nice if you have “big” moments, but don’t have any “empty” moments.  Be right here, right now, even just doing the weather or promoting something.

It’s like baseball – it’s great to hit home runs, but strikeouts kill.  They’re wasted times at bat.  No fielders have to move; no runners advance.  You might as well have just gone up to the plate without a bat.

The “little things” MATTER.

Imagine going to a fancy restaurant where the server is just perfect.  He’s taking your order, but he’s also helping you with a little opinion, making sure you get the dressing you like on your salad… whatever.

And then all of a sudden, the floor show comes on, and he goes down and he’s the performer!  He makes you laugh and do stuff, and he’s interesting.  It’s the same guy.

That’s your job.  (In a team show, it’s easy.  One’s the server; the other’s the performer.  And those roles can switch.)

That’s what you are.  Whether as a solo or part of a team, we need to serve the needs of the listener AND entertain him/her.

It’s really boring to hear shows where only one of those roles is present.