CCM Coaching Tip #44: Celebrate Your Quirkiness

by Tommy Kramer, KramerMedia.net

Okay, now that we're done with the 4th of July stuff, let's get back to getting BETTER. So here's the thought: Celebrate your quirkiness.

In one of my earliest tips, "The 5 Subjects", I outline...

1. Job stuff (wallet/economy),
2. the Entertainment world (as it applies to our format's listeners),
3. Relationships,
4. The "Buzz" - THE thing that everybody's talking about today {note: it could very possibly also be an example of one of the other categories}, and
5. Things that grow out of the show.

That 5th category is the one that's the most difficult to define for people, because it's completely organic. And THAT'S what this tip is about.

Two examples:

1. Brant Hanson is a brilliant mind, and is definitely different from anyone else I've ever coached in the CCM format. Face it, the format has often been traditionally seen as lacking much genuine personality, but Brant and a few others have been pioneers in turning that impression around. Once, when we were still getting to know each other, it came up in a conversation that I play guitar. Brant then mentioned that he plays the accordion. First, I told him an ancient musician's joke: "What's the difference between a snake lying dead in the middle of the road, and an accordion player lying dead in the middle of the road? The snake was probably on his way to a gig."

It wasn't long before Brant started playing his accordion on the air, as part of a contest. Cute, odd, and HIS.

2. Howard Clark was one of the greats, part of the original KFRC staff in San Francisco when consultant Bill Drake's AM Top 40 stations ruled the earth. Late in his career, Howard came back home to work in his (and my) hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. He had a profound effect on me (and my associate John Frost, who also worked for Howard back then).

One day, I was listening to "Hired" (as he called himself on occasion), and a song ended, then a recorded announcement by the huge-voiced Charlie Van Dyke came on saying, "And now, Howard Clark looks at the weather..."

Then you heard Howard's chair squeak, a few steps taken across a floor, a door open, then Howard walking waaaaaay down a long hallway, the back door opening (a creaking screen door that hadn't been oiled since 1957), then Howard's voice muttering "Mm hmm.....yep...."

...and then you heard the back door creak shut, Howard walking the 50 steps back down the hallway, the Control Room door closing, a few more steps taken, then Charlie Van Dyke's voice said, "This has been 'Howard Clark looks at the weather'..." Then a station jingle played, and a song started.

No forecast. No temperatures "at the airport." Just that little moment.

I still think of these two things, years later.

What have you done that's quirky - that's really you, and ONLY you - for your listeners to remember?

DO SOMETHING. Maybe someone will notice you. You can't get Arbitron diaries or PPM devices - or listener funding - without people.