Welcome to Q&A With Tommy Kramer

Tommy Kramer has spent over 35 years in radio as an on-air talent, Programmer, and Talent Coach, and has worked with over 200 stations in all formats, specializing in coaching morning team shows. He was elected to the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2003.

Now, you can ask him any question you want, and receive a personal, in-depth answer. Send your question to Tommy using his email address below. He’ll choose one question per month to answer and will publish the answer on this page. We’ll also share the Q&A on the PDForum.

Send your question to:
tommy@tommykramer.net

Recently, a Program Director of a Contemporary Christian station that I just began working with a month ago—who wishes to remain anonymous—sent me a note that was somewhat puzzling. Not because I didn’t know what the answer was, but more because it made me wonder who we’re listening to.

Here’s what he sent:
Having some problems with (other members of the morning show team) being more worried about what their friends are gonna think about them, rather than what their on-air characters sound like.My reply:
“More worried about what their friends are gonna think about them…?” What on earth does that mean?

I would imagine their friends will think they’re getting a lot better, the same as when someone enters the Actors Studio in New York, his friends think he’s stepping up to the big leagues and becoming a true pro, instead of just a happy clown.

Or is it that their “friends” won’t think they’re overtly Christian enough on the air? To which, I would simply ask two questions:1. Are their friends broadcast professionals?

2. When did we start doing the show for their friends? I thought the idea was to do the show for the listener–and by that, I don’t mean the people already singing first tenor in the choir; I mean the person who IS a Christian, but can’t find a Christian station that’s real enough, interesting enough, or entertaining enough to listen to, so she’s listening to an A/C station instead.

Then he added that one of the members of the station’s Board of Directors thought (after only two coaching sessions, mind you) that they sounded too mellow.Okay, let’s put this to bed right now. If you’ve been “over the top” vocally, when you change to a more real, more conversational style, the other people in the hallway are going to say you sound “mellow.” But that’s because they’re used to the hyped-up, “I’m so excited I’m about to explode” delivery, or in the case of this show, a lot of “inside the room” laughter going on.

Once they stopped only talking to themselves, and made an effort to welcome the listener to the table, they got a little self-conscious, probably a little stiffer, and didn’t come across like the people at the party with the lampshades on their heads.THAT’S OKAY. What’s most RELEVANT to the Listener is what builds audiences, not how much “fun” you’re having in your own little world of the Control Room and what gets the most applause in the hallways.

Think Tom Hanks, not Adam Sandler. More real is more solid—and there’s still plenty of room for animated, excited, goofy, etc. Trust it.

Tommy Kramer

Question: It seems like our promotions department is always butting heads with management about what promotions are worth our time. They are often tasked with doing giveaways for things like “1 millionth website visitor” or “3,000th facebook friend” – and are convinced that people listen to our station to win prizes. In your research and experience, do you find that to be the reason people listen? and if not, how do I convince them that there are better ways to promote listening?

Response: Well, that’s no surprise. There’s nothing Strategic in doing the “1 millionth website visitor” or “1000th Facebook friend,” since neither of those involves listening to the radio station. Your website and your Facebook pages have nothing to do with RATINGS. If any contest or Promotion doesn’t include listening to the radio station, you’re missing the whole point.

Plus, anything non-Strategic like this keeps you from having the most exciting moment–when someone wins–on the air as it happens (or a few minutes later, since we tape all winners, rather than do them live).

Look, I know everyone has Facebook, website, and Twitter Madness right now, but those things are not the Product. The Product is what comes out of the speakers when the radio is turned on. To do a promotion that ignores the Product is like McDonald’s giving away free hamburgers to someone for being the thousandth person to watch CNN Headline News. There’s nothing in it that helps McDonald’s awareness factor, or increase sales. So what would be the point?

As a PD or Ops Manager of multiple stations, I always got along well with Promotions (and Sales) by helping them come up with something that would work with any supporter or advertiser while still keeping in mind that listening to the radio station (therefore, getting better ratings, thereby generating more revenue) is the point.

While listeners don’t mind contests–if they’re entertaining, and if they believe they have a chance to win–it’s not what they listen for. I have several stations that rarely do any kind of contests or giveaways, yet still have enormous ratings. Interest in Contests and giveaways is at an all-time low right now, because:

1. No one believes they can win. (National contests have destroyed that belief.)
2. There are too many hoops to jump through. (The Amazon “one-click shopping” experience has re-defined what people will put up with. “How few steps do I have to take?” is how people think nowadays.
3. How you win can be exclusionary. (“1 millionth website visitor” or “1000th Facebook friend” is too specific a thing to have much of a chance. You’re trying to turn a mass appeal medium into a “please one person, disappoint everyone else” promotion. This is like trying to fit a watermelon through a straw. Even if you could do it, what would be the Benefit?
4. Only 3% of listeners care about contests/giveaways/promotions AT ALL. Less than 2% EVER participate in one in their entire lives.

I’m not against giveaways. I like them. But you have to stop projecting what the station wants (visit our website, become a Facebook friend) and do something that fits into the listener’s lifestyle easily and is a Benefit to the listener.

So the bottom line is, everybody read “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” by Al Ries and Jack Trout and get your heads on straight about STRATEGY instead of Tactics.

Question: I’m losing my co-host of 6 years in May. At this time the station will not be filling that position. My fear is I’ve grown too accustomed to having a partner and getting an immediate response to bits, news, topics, etc. There are some bits I’ll keep and other’s I can’t wait to put in the vault, but I’m a little nervous about going solo. I can handle it, but I want to do more than handle it… I want to rock it out. Our listeners deserve that. Any tips or traps I need to avoid other than doing trivia every morning

Response: The simplest answer is that actually, it’s always a team show–you and the listener (although he or she may not be saying anything at the moment). Getting response from a co-host is kind of subjective in that real “in the moment” response that’s honest can help something move along more crisply, but having the co-host just be an audience is a drag. Hopefully, you already know the difference and had a good co-host that helped you sound better, and you reciprocated by making the co-host sound better.

So here’s a practical game plan:

1. You don’t NEED someone to react. Trust what you do, and work on the things that connect the best–doing things that have an Emotional “crayon” you color with, being personally revealing (but AFTER you put the subject on the table or reference the listener, so it doesn’t just sound like all you want to do is talk about yourself), and welcoming input from the listener without sounding like you need it or the bit will fail. You want to be self-contained and confident, but open to input if someone calls/texts/emails with something that can further the subject.

2. Really work hard on your prep. Prepare the show for no guests and no phone calls, then jettison whatever you need to if something catches fire, and you want to run with it a little longer. If it doesn’t click, just move on to the next thing. Not everything needs a response. Some things are one break, stand alone things. Trust that it still works.

3. Don’t hesitate to make use of office personnel, interns, etc. to turn into stars. David Letterman is a good example of this. No, Paul Shaeffer isn’t the world’s greatest talent; neither is Biff, or Alan, the show’s announcer. But Letterman willingly gives them the spotlight sometimes, knowing that there are diamonds somewhere in that mine if he keeps looking.

Hope this helps. One thing’s for sure. If you did a good team show, you have it in you to do a good solo show.

Best,
Tommy

Question: So— the morning show has been together for 5+ years…

They politely listen to suggestions and ideas…but really…heart-wise…they are perfectly happy with things “just the way they are”….Suggestion(s) on how to gain some traction there? What kind of carrots/incentives are there in order to move forward?

Response: You can only keep things “just the way they are” if you’re #1.

Sometimes, it’s just about challenging people to get better. What if, say, Jon and Sherry Rivers syndicate their show–with every superstar artist in the format on their show on a regular basis, since they know them all intimately and can get them to come on for entire shows when no one else can? If they come to your market, what does your team have to offer against that kind of competition?

Being local isn’t the huge factor that it used to be. It CAN be an advantage, if you do it really well, but if not, better Content will beat you. You might also have them listen to other stations with excellent morning shows (or other dayparts), and give you their opinions on them. (Ellis & Tyler, mornings at Z-88.3 in Orlando, Johnny Stone, mornings at Star 99.1 in New York, Wally, afternoons on WAY-FM in Nashville, or Frank Reed, mornings on KLTY in Dallas are just a few.) Maybe they’ll hear some ingredients in those shows that they can incorporate, or at least work on and make their own, that can raise the bar.

I wouldn’t think about incentives, unless they’re a Top 3 show every book. These days in radio, just keeping your job is about the only incentive that people need. Usually, it lights a fire under someone when they hear someone else who just blows them away with how well they connect, or have that crisp, big-league rhythm that shows that are satisfied with themselves tend to lack.

It puzzles me that you mention “suggestions and ideas.” Do you not have a coach, or a coaching system in place? Baseball players have managers. They don’t “suggest” that players work on their fielding or take batting practice.

Hope this helps,

Tommy

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