After hearing a couple of overly long breaks the other day on a music station I work with, this came up in the next coaching session:
Use fewer words.
Continue readingFrost Advisory #759 – How To Become A Market Leader, Part 3 Of 3
In the previous two Frost Advisories (here and here) I’ve shared key challenges of a station in our format becoming a market leader.
- Our format doesn’t inherently have the basic foundation for success that almost every other format does. Notably hits and stars.
- Most Christian music stations are nothing more than a commodity. While the words positive, encouraging, and uplifting are authentic benefits of the music they are inherent TO the format. In other words, any station that plays the music can be described with these words. A true brand must develop concepts that transcend the format, particularly in the markets where multiple stations play the same music.
Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #614: Inside-out Show Prep
In a recent coaching session, a very good air talent I work with had chosen to do a stunningly uninteresting story about sleeping better with something called “cognitive shuffling.” I’d tell you more, but the story itself was a better cure for insomnia.
This happens a lot nowadays. A posting that you think is “interesting,” or that you can think up a funny line for, makes it through your filters and gets on the air. Continue reading
Frost Advisory #758 – How To Become A Market Leader, Part 2 of 3
On last week’s show I began with a lofty premise: “If you’re a new programmer or new to the format this maybe the most important Frost Advisory you’ll ever read.” (Do you have to use quotation marks if you’re quoting yourself?)
I went on to say that our CCM format doesn’t inherently have the basic foundation for success that almost every other format does. Notably 1) hits, and 2) stars. (I had a similar challenge when programming Smooth Jazz. We overcame that challenge to reach top 4 in Adults 25-54, thank you very much).
Continue readingTommy Kramer Coaching Tip #613: Collaboration, and the Downside of Sharing Content
Collaboration is one thing. Sharing Content can be a whole different thing.
Let me explain…
Frost Advisory #757 – It Can’t Be Done
If you’re a new programmer or new to the format this may be the most important Frost Advisory you’ll ever read.
If you’re a general manager this may be the best reference point for productive conversations with your program director about the station’s direction.
A few years ago this tacky joke was going around.
Continue readingTommy Kramer Coaching Tip #612: There’s Immediate, and then there’s Anytime
There are really only two categories of Content in terms of when you use it. There’s what’s immediate. Needs to be on NOW. Or at least TODAY.
And then there’s “anytime” Content. I’ve heard it called “Rainy day” Content or “Evergreen” Content. My translation: crap that should be thrown into the trash. Continue reading
Frost Advisory #756 – Every Life Has A Story
Let’s make this simple.
A music radio station has in its most basic form just two components – 1) the music, and 2) everything else. Music is designed to do one thing. Everything else is designed for something else.
That something else is to connect to what’s happening NOW in the listener’s life, something the music isn’t designed to do.
Continue readingTommy Kramer Coaching Tip #611: A Different Way to View Social Media’s Place in Content
The biggest challenge for anyone who’s on the air is the search for Content each day. Often in coaching sessions, I get asked about social media, and what its place is in show prep.
Social media is what it is. There’s an entire generation of people who’ve apparently grown up caring about what complete strangers have to say about them.
Frost Advisory #755 – Dogs That Drool, And Other Things That Are Familiar
No one has ever walked into a restaurant and asked, “How many different menu items do you have?”
But every day a customer asks, “What do you like here?” Every day a waiter says, “It’s one of our favorites.”
If I really wanted to impress you I would talk about the reticular area of the brain. That’s the reason you can hear a song that you haven’t heard in years and sing along with every word.
Continue reading