Breathe Life Into The Basics

If you want to stay on top of your game, here's one thing you may not have thought of -- but need to.

Breathe life into the basic stuff -- the name of the station, a song and artist back-sell, the weather forecast, promoting something coming up.

Often, a talent will just blast through the formatic elements, saving his best effort for what he thinks is the "real" content. This is a mistake. First of all, if you're in a music format, for instance, who sings that great song you just played may be the most important thing to the listener right now.

In the News or Talk arena, you might want to keep in mind that my learning (and remembering) the name of the station you're on is essential to my making listening to you a habit. (No, PPM won't handle this for you. PPM just measures that decision's already having been made.)

In the forecast, using language that real people use -- instead of the "partly to mostly cloudy with a 40% chance of precipitation" gibberish that we hear so often -- might be your key to actually having the listener value what you say.

Everything counts. Not just the things you consider to be the "creative" stuff. Creativity can be as simple as the wording you use or the "camera angle" that's unique to you.