Once in a while, broadcasters and podcasters tell me they are anxious about cancel culture. Some worry they might get fired for stumbling into a politically incorrect landmine. Others complain, “people are just looking to be offended,” or “you can’t say anything anymore.” My advice? Stop worrying. Eliminate cancel culture from your vocabulary and replace … Read more
Presenters can be thrown by a harsh critique about something that actually worked, or they can become overconfident even though a segment died on the air but generated text response.
Here are a few success indicators to consider watching. Some are scientific; some are like testing the wind with your finger. All will at least give you a clue about your performance.
There is an old rule on Broadway: In shows like Wicked or Hamilton it is always around the third song in the show when the main character must sing about what they want. What does theater have to do with you in radio? You are going to have to learn to sing! I’m kidding. Actually, … Read more
I never thought I’d miss working from the office. Even before the pandemic, I preferred working from home. I loved avoiding the stinky, crowded subway. I loved the flexibility to work in my pj’s. I loved having my own space where I wouldn’t be interrupted by other people or distracted by the office around me. I … Read more
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, working parents have cobbled together patchwork child care strategies—many of which probably involve lots of screen time and plenty of stress and guilt. Online school in the spring gave way to a summer of camp closures. And now, as COVID-19 cases surge across the United States, parents are eyeing an … Read more
COVID-19 isn’t finished with us yet. As the virus continues to spread, its impact is being felt on businesses both large and small. So, what can you do to support your employees, whether you’re still open for business (online or otherwise), or shut down for the foreseeable future? Morale-wise, probably the most important thing you … Read more
What are the most common mistakes we hear from television, radio and podcast hosts? Here are the top three and what you can do about them. Weak start How you begin determines whether your audience listens to you or not. The first words out of your piehole in the first few seconds are where your … Read more
What are the most common mistakes we hear in ensemble television, radio, and podcast shows? Here are the top three and what to do about them. Talk-over and interruptions A multi-player show sometimes becomes a cacophonous din where no one is understood. On new shows, there is sometimes a lot of stepping on toes as … Read more
The 2020 general election promises to be one of the most consequential in modern U.S. history. The Lowest Unit Charge (LUC) period begins Friday, September 4, 2020. With the flood of calls coming in to clarify LUC issues, it might be a good time to take a breath and review the basics of LUC. The … Read more
Those who don’t know history are bound to repeat it. One of my favorite radio stories from the 1940s may be repeating itself in 2020. As president of NBC, David Sarnoff was a technology guy. Sarnoff believed that once you owned all the radio stations and built the network, you had won. And NBC was … Read more