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Assuming a healthy environment, a kid grows up surrounded by encouragement to be their best. Little League, Boy and Girl Scouts, homecoming kings and queens, varsity sports, National Honor Society, summer camp trophies, college applications, dean's list, and for a few, their first job in radio. You needn't be a Phi Beta to view the common thread stretching across the years and cheers; in the shadows are parents, well-wishers, teachers, and coaches. The story of success still exists (though the country is awash in self-doubt and uncertainty). Refocusing on the art of performance and people who make their living in Radio or TV, one alarming and inexplicable exception rises up leaving us bereft an answer: with so many increments of growth and accomplishment in our formative years directly connected to a mentor or a coach, why then are people in media so everlastingly under-developed?
You learned to bat, hit a tennis or golf ball, do calculus and work out intricate dance steps. Then one day you turn around and you're in a studio, charged with audience ratings that may account for millions in revenue...and you're alone; the last outpost of the French Foreign Legion. Conversely, sadly, in those rare companies where talent development is still at a premium--as opposed to a convention cocktail hour claim--we find equal numbers of talent who reject coaching, are afraid of coaching, waving it off with "no thanks, I've already had that course!" Someone penned the following postulate at the dawning of consolidation: "Radio is a red hot medium, largely populated by cold and unimaginative people." That extends to performers who for inexplicable reasons avoid or fear constructive coaching.
As in any field there are essentially three types of people, says George Johns: the gifted, the creative...and everyone else. The question is not "why can't we improve someone's performance?" Instead, it's "Why do so many media performers fear developmental scrutiny?"
Circling back to the rare air of the "gifted group" I firmly believe that group further subdivides into two classes: those who believe the incredible-and those who do the impossible.
The idea that "coaching just isn't in the budget" is contra-factual." If listeners are looking for reciprocal companionship not found in other platform sources, isn't it VERITAS improving skill ensures moving closer to the very people who wear meters and accept diaries? The greatest listener abandonment results from shows that only talk about themselves. Cute, friendly, in-the-middle talent seldom wins anything because to be famous for something, you simply can't be in the middle. Topic-grazing, crutching, and failure to define roles are but a few of the daily sins heard in any market on any day. For the very gifted, inherently knowing how to sidestep these and other pitfalls happens naturally. For the rest it comes down to listening, learning, and asking for help. Whether that help is available is yet another topic.
A few weeks ago in an FMQB column highly accomplished Triple-A programmer Haley Jones (Seattle, San Francisco, L.A. and today, San Diego's KPRI) afforded ADG the ultimate compliment, referring to our consultancy and talent coaching.
Humbled by her words I remember thinking, "well, we're really only spending some time with dedicated people offering them a different camera angle; they're doing the rest." As Confucius said, "In radio it goes fame-first, then fortune."
Today I shall perform as if it were the only day for which I will always be remembered.
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