EVEN MORE BAD CRUTCHES AND CLICHES

A few months ago I did BLOG on "talking like today and not using cliches."  I asked readers for some of their favorite "cliches" and "DJ speak" that I may have missed.  Here's a few of what I got:

CHRIS MILLER IN CLEVELAND:
I recently heard a woman in her 30s say "tomorrow will be a carbon-copy, weather-wise, of today." Carbon copy?

Furthermore, anything ending in "wise" is completely uncool sounding. "Weather-wise, traffic-wise."

All those jocks who say, "so stick around for that, it's coming up sometime in the next hour," are clueless about modern life. You want a whole friggin' hour of my time to pay off your measly tease? Have you noticed how busy we all are? No wonder your TSL sucks.

Finally, not dated as much as just my personal unhip pet peeve is jocks who post on the station's Facebook page starting with, "Hey Facebook friends!!" Yeah, right, when I see your post, I suddenly picture myself in a group of 5,000 strangers. Have a nice day

ANONYMOUS:
"24 hours a day.....7 days a week."  I believe we are all familiar with the passing of time.

ANOTHER ANONYMOUS:
It's seven-five, 75 degrees outside.".......that KILLS ME!  You don't need to tell me "degrees and it's outside."

AND ANOTHER ANONYMOUS:
"And currently we're looking at Double Nickels in downtown Wickieup, with an oldie but a goodie from the late, great Ray Price."

RICK IN BOSTON
"7:15, 15 past 7."  Double time checks are brutal.

KEVIN IN CANADA:
"Here's a little..." (title and artist of the song).  Are you going to play a little bit of the song, or the whole thing?

AND I SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST.  ANDREW JAYE SENT ME THIS LINK.  IT'S SO TRUE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIdSKigiNUw


There are a endless stream of these out there is "Radioland."  :)  Feel free to post more below.

ONCE UPON A TIME

This past Sunday I was watching CBS Sunday Morning and they did a great story on the power of storytelling and how popular it is right now. If you missed it, here are the cliff notes.  Read along and see how it pertains to what you do on the air.

The human mind is hard wired to respond to stories. Storytelling is the world's oldest art form.  Stories work no matter whether it's on TV, the big screen, at bed time, campfires, or yes, even on the radio.

Stories are so powerful and people love to hear them so much, there are story festivals happening all over the country.  One of the most popular gatherings is "The Moth."  These are real people, telling real stories.  Some are long, most are short.  All are true.  They are slice of life stories that people can relate with.  They are just like the stories you should do on the radio (The Moth actually has a radio show too.  Check out their site at www.themoth.org.)

The Moth started in NYC 15 years ago and people loved the personal, spontaneous, true stories so much they are now happening in coffee shops, rock halls and in cities all over the country.  They have a massive appeal with Generation X (most likely part of Gen X is in your target demo, regardless of your format). 
 

Even NPR is doing a weekly storytelling show (and NPR is the master of story telling on the radio). They know the value telling a great story.

Want to be the most popular jock in your market? Learn, practice and refine your story telling skills and tell them on the radio. Open up. Be you.  Be relatable.  

The segment on Sunday morning ended with the following line, "there's nothing better than listening to a great story, well told."

So true.