Frost Advisory #704 – A New Year’s Message: A Fresh Start (part three)

Have you ever wondered why health clubs, weight loss products, or stop smoking schemes seem to advertise most at the beginning of a new year?

Folks in white lab coats say there is a psychological reason for it. (Perhaps you’d like to take notes)

“When we enter a new time period our relationship with our past self is weakened and it becomes a little bit easier to change our behaviour … If you want to disrupt a habit , target your messaging to the start of new time periods.”

Richard Shotton, “The Illusion of Choice”
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Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #556: Your Show is a Movie

In the last tip, I said, “Your show really is a movie without the camera.”

After you get past learning “the basics,” then develop a real Personality on the air, you’ll hopefully reach a stage in your career where the ego disappears and you actually just get in a zone where it’s almost impossible to have a bad show.

But I believe it requires getting outside of radio, mentally, and seeing each “Content” break you do as a little movie (without the camera).

What do I, as a listener, FEEL when you talk about something? Continue reading

Frost Advisory #703 – A New Year’s Message: Back To The Basics Of Programming

On last week’s show, I shared that the beginning of a new year is a good time to review the basics.

At my church, the pastor takes the first two Sundays of each year to restate the purpose and vision of the church. Fitness clubs and diet plans often base their marketing on people’s desire to return to the basics and embrace new habits.

So… let’s go back to the basics.

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Frost Advisory #702 – Gentlemen, This Is A Football!

The beginning of a new year is a good time to review the basics. At my church the pastor takes the first two Sundays of each year to restate the purpose and vision of the church. Fitness clubs and diet plans often base their marketing on people’s desire to return to the basics and embrace new habits.

Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi began every training camp with the words, “Gentlemen, this is a football.”

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Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #554: The First Class Curtain

If you fly a lot, you get perks, upgrades, free beverages, hot towels, and great seats. If you don’t (like me), you’re crammed into the “cattle car” seats with Jabba the Hut sitting next to you with his elbow in your ribs the entire flight. There’s that curtain between coach and First Class that says, “You’re not welcome here.”

The point being that often, a business concentrates so hard on pleasing the core customer that it treats the others like they’re not particularly wanted, except to buy a ticket. Continue reading

Frost Advisory #701 – Your Format Sounds Too Small

Those are the candid words of a top talent I was attempting to lure into the Christian music format.

I reckon he knew how to get my attention.

“If your station can be transformative in someone’s life as you claim, then why do you spend 99% of your time focusing on the nuts and bolts, the songs, the artists, the deejays, and features any radio station in any format can do.

Why don’t you focus on what matters most?” he says from an outsider’s perspective.

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Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #553: The More Intimate, the Better

One of the things that keeps coming up in my coaching sessions is this imaginary concept that you want to spread a wide blanket over your Content, keeping it accessible to the masses. “Broad” Subject headings, not too personal, is the way a lot of stations sound. I can’t name any right this moment, because they’re too generic to remember.

Here’s what’s actually true: the more intimate your Content is, the more people you attract.

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Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #552: The 3 Technique

If you need a good example of how NOT to bring more people into the fold, Sports broadcasting is it.

The other day, I watched an NFL game, and the “color” commentator said, “They’ve got a linebacker there playing three-technique…”

Huh? What does that mean? The average viewer (or listener) has NO CLUE. Apparently, it means that some linebacker either has three legs, or just ordered three pizzas from Dominoes.

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