Tease Me, Please Me

Some jocks sound to us -- as we critique otherwise good personality work -- like they tease a contest or the news "just to have something to say." Maybe that is because they are simply emulating a radio hero. Many are copying verbatim the very crutches, clichés and other things that the DJ they admired most when they were a kid, wanting to break into radio, said at that time.

Problem is, many younger listeners today didn't grow up listening to that jock who, now, lives in your memory. And, you may be mimicking the communication style of a decade or two ago rather than actually communicating meaningful content in a believable and emotionally powerful way.

That stereotypical DJ/Talk pitter-patter may simply sound like a stereotype, which tells your personal listener that you actually have nothing original or interesting to say.

Two Ways To Break The Habit!

1. Ask yourself, as you listen critically each day to your own air checks, if you really talk like that to any 'real people' in your life, or do you talk to your radio listener completely differently than you talk to the folks who are important in your life and…

2. Be clear in your own mind what you are trying to achieve -- what reaction or action from your listener do you want? Then, evaluate what you say and the words you use to say it. Do they get the desired result? Are they simple, direct, active, clear?

For example, when it comes to the 'pre-promotes' you routinely do, a tease is supposed to be a sales message. We use it in hopes of modifying the listener's behavior; of getting him or her to do something they might not have been planning. Specifically, pre-promotes are used to keep listeners tuned in or to consciously remind them to come back to the station at a certain time for an upcoming event.

The Tease Test!

Do your teases meet that test?

Seems to us that a generic tease -- "Stay tuned for the news..." isn't much of a way to sell the message. Or the music tease like, "In the next half hour, Tommy Shane Steiner, Mark Chestnutt and Steve Azar." This leaves us cold, too.

Sales and entertaining have this in common: In order to produce a result in the listener, one has to affect him or her emotionally. You do both in essentially the same way.

Take a moment to ask your newsperson what the most interesting or most dramatic news story is. Not the "most important story" (unless it's something everyone's buzzing about today, sure to be water cooler talk), but one that a listener is most likely to want to hear the details about and, maybe even, repeat to friends.

Here's an example of worthy news teases. "Metroville High School student scores number one in the nation...," "Lost dog saves baby's life...," or "Neighbors rally to help a fire-ravaged family." Hopefully, your reaction is: "I would care about each item and be interested to hear about those!"

It is certainly OK to tease upcoming music, but instead of a laundry list of upcoming artists or songs coming up, why not look for *one* song or artist on the log that you have some feelings for?

F%&* Hank Williams Jr.!

One PD we greatly respect requires his jocks to play one "REASON RECORD" per hour and TELL WHY she or he played it: "Hank Williams Jr. is back... sounding as fresh as my teenage kid (except my kid doesn't look HALF as good). Wait until you hear what he has to say about rap music and "The F Word," in the next twenty minutes!"

Once you've got the idea -- look for something that affects *you* emotionally, then *convey* that emotion to your listener -- you can use the same technique teasing the weather.

Avoid the technical lingo of the weather service like "partly cloudy, mostly cloudy, considerable cloudiness." They don't mean anything in terms of listener's lives. Rather, relate it: "Not much good news for that weekend picnic -- I'll have the forecast in a minute."

The error that spawns generic teases perhaps comes from the same mind-set that depends on the product to sell itself. Name the songs you'll be playing, and the listeners will be irresistibly compelled to stay for them.

Can You Handle The Truth?

The truth -- as any salesman will tell you -- is that people respond more to *people* than to products. When you show your emotional commitment to a product, anyone who thinks of you as his or her friend will be more likely to stick around, *for you*, than for the benefits of the product itself.

Phrases like, "You gotta hear this!" or, "I really need to share this one with you…" enlist the listener as a personal friend, and position you as one asking a favor of a friend -- or inviting him/her to something special to you. Either one is far more effective than simply pushing the product.

There is one specialized tease you can use to do wonders for the station, but it can also be extremely harmful to TSL (time spent listening) if you don't do it well: Your swansong. The final break in each day's show should include a subtle thank you for your listener for being with you, a quick invitation to rejoin you tomorrow.

But -- NEVER say 'good bye!'

We don't want to give the listener the impression you're shutting down the station when you leave. In fact, the most important thing we do in our final break is to impress the listener that *the best is yet to come*. Yes, you can help by mentioning some of the songs in the next jock's quarter hour or two.

Run With Them, As You Pass the Baton

But you do far more when you tout your successor with something specific and original: "Don't let (jock) get through her show today without telling you what happened to her on the way home from work yesterday!" "Coming up, the only DJ in Metroville who ever made me laugh out loud while listening to the radio ... "

Find something you like about the next jock. Not the usual hype about "best music" or "good company," but something you can be genuinely excited about. Make it a sales message for him or her. Naturally, you can't do the same one every day, anymore than you can use the same story to tease the news every hour, or the same song you're excited about.

"I'll be with you until the hour of ten o'clock" isn't a tease that contains anything involving for anyone but YOU. It may be important to YOU that you get off work at 10:00, but hopefully that is anything but a positive to the listener!

Think about your teases before routinely saying the same thing tomorrow that you said yesterday. This takes a little work. It's the kind of work that pays off in your being perceived as a friend, as a real human being. And you're doing a much better job of influencing your listener's behavior, in the process.

And, yes, "Tease Me, Please Me" WAS last a hit by the Scorpions in 1990.