This week's All Access newsletter goes after a forgotten necessity of talk radio:
The problem with being a former program director, besides the lifetime vow of poverty, is that I can't listen to radio without falling back into the program director thing anymore. Ask my wife, who hears it all the time. We'll be driving around, enjoying the afternoon, and I'll suddenly blurt out something like "did you hear that? He stepped all over that intro" or "hey, they got a new imaging voice... sounds like... hmm...." It's annoying, but it's a lifetime affliction.
And it's especially annoying when I'm listening to talk radio. I listen to a lot of talk radio, and I can't help but be hypercritical. Some of the shows I hear- I listen to shows from all over, thanks to the Unbridled Magic That Is The Internet- are really good, some are pretty bad, but the ones that get me most aggravated are the ones that... okay, let me see if I can explain this in a coherent manner (I know, it would be the first time. Ha ha.). You know when you hear something and you think, well, that was okay but if he'd just tried it a different way, it would have been better? Yeah, that. I hear shows that just miss the mark by inches. That's tougher to take.
What those shows tell me is that the hosts aren't getting something they need- direction. Help. Guidance. And that's something the industry needs more of- coaching. Some PDs are really good at teaching and bringing the best out of their talent, but some stations sound suspiciously like the PD isn't even listening, because there are some basics being ignored. The topic setup might be way off. Calls might be dragging on forever. It's usually something that would be easily fixed- a revision of the topic, the excision of a crutch phrase. All the talent needs is for someone to say "hey, you know that topic you did in the 2:00 hour? Here's how to make it even better- do it like THIS." Explain the adjustment, hear it work better the next time, and the station sounds better. Easy, right?
It IS easy, but I still hear experienced talent making the kind of mistakes and doing the kind of things that a PD shouldn't be letting go by. That tells me that some folks just don't get the guidance they need to help them advance their abilities to- oh, how I hate this cliche- the next level. A lot of PDs and consultants ARE providing the necessary coaching but, judging by what I've heard in markets of every size, some hosts are on their own.
If you're one of those hosts who finds him or herself left to his or her own devices, what do you do? Ask. Just ask the PD for feedback. Whatever works for you- aircheck sessions, comments on the fly, whatever. Ask for it. Don't be shy. The PD's job is to do whatever is necessary to make you and your show better... assuming that you still HAVE a PD and that your station's not being programmed from another market by some regional VP you've never met. But in that case, you were probably replaced by a syndicated show two years ago anyway.
So the word for this week is "coaching." If you're a PD, you need to do it. If you're talent, you need it. Even Michael Jordan had a coach. You can't coach natural abilities into someone, but you CAN coach a talented host to help him or her utilize those abilities to the best advantage. Yeah, this all seems way obvious, but if it's so obvious, why do I hear hosts in major markets flailing away making the same unforced errors every day? Maybe the word for the week ought to be "listen," as in "listen to your own station once in a while."
Enough of that- time for the REALLY important part where I plug All Access News-Talk-Sports, reciting a bunch of items you'll find in the Talk Topics show prep column and a few other items before wrapping things up and going off to watch some basketball. This week's Cavalcade of Stupidity includes some nostalgia about summer toys (ah, yes, the Slip 'n' Slide, I remember it well), a guy who gave up being a lawyer to play with Legos, dining with Fido, A-Rod's eventful week, the indignity of getting your home vandalized by an endangered species, the curious case of the guy with TB, why not to break into a warehouse through the big industrial fan, more football for everyone (maybe), the stay-put yarmulke, the invasion of the chicken fingers, a whole article about "guyliner," useless college degrees, the dangers of sidewalk cafes, Yoko Ono allegedly eating a dog, way too much about Kobe Bryant's existential crisis, and Britney Spears vomiting in a men's room. And there's plenty more at All Access, including the industry's first/fastest/best news coverage at Net News, charts from Mediabase, the insanely useful Industry Directory, and, as they say, much more. Come to AllAccess.com several times a day. (But you already do, don't you?)
Next week: I take a trip and whine about travel delays, probably.