What made you good at what you do? Was it natural ability, working within a system, guidance from a mentor, or some combination of those? Did you just walk into a radio or TV studio and hit all the marks from day one? Or did you receive coaching from a manager, leader, or someone above you?
Did you grab a notepad, pen, and recorder and head to the first thing you heard on the police scanner and come away with the story? Did you get hired by some small outfit on the outskirts of nowhere and learn everything on the fly just by doing it, and if that’s the case, what helped you get better at it?
Coaching in the media has been inconsistently valued forever, and I wonder what kind of coaching is being offered today, or who’s doing it. As a Philadelphia Eagles fan, coaching has… okay, I don’t need to tell you why coaching is on my mind this week. While I absorbed the loss all Eagles fans saw coming weeks ago, and considering the active NFL and college football coaching carousel at the moment, it got me thinking about the coaching element in talk and sports radio, TV news, and news reporting in general, and whether the proper emphasis has been placed on it, or whether the people doing whatever coaching is happening are any good at it.
Anyone who’s been a program director or news director knows the feeling: You’re not working, you’re listening or watching someone else’s show, and you involuntarily begin to pick apart everything you see and hear. That break went too long. That topic was phrased as a yes-no question. The host isn’t really taking a strong position. That answer wasn’t followed up. That article buried the lede and is missing key details. Someone should be on top of that – an editor, or a producer, but, really, the primary talent should know better.
Knowing better is a function of training. Even the most naturally gifted hosts, anchors, and writers need to be reminded of certain things along the way. And while I assume that, at least with the larger operators, there are people – whole departments, probably – tasked with talent development, I still catch a lot of stuff that gets by everyone, even on network and syndicated shows and in the largest newspapers. Every show surely has a hierarchy and procedure to ensure quality control, whether it’s having the producer monitor the content or an editor to do quick rewrites and corrections and, in some cases, send the story back for revision and additional reporting. And in radio, there’s the dreaded aircheck.
But airchecks aren’t the be-all and end-all of coaching. In fact, and I know this is heresy, they can be counter-productive with talent that really doesn’t like to relive their shows once they’ve been broadcast. (I, personally, am not a fan of rereading my columns once they’re filed.) I always preferred working with talent both before and after each show, taking the approach not to shoot down even the most outlandish topics but to offer ideas on how to make them better, maybe a rephrasing of the topic or a suggestion on an angle or focus that would generate a stronger audience response. I’d note when someone relied on a crutch phrase and point it out afterward. The key, for me, was not to crush with criticism but to help with tips to make a good thing better.
And if you’re a host or anchor or reporter who isn’t getting guidance – maybe your program director has a zillion-and-one duties and coaching the talent is near the bottom of their priorities – I hope you can seek out someone to listen and tell you when you need to fix something. It might cost you to hire a talent coach or consultant, but it might be worth the cost, because the longer bad habits hang around, the more entrenched they become.
Your employers should be investing in everything that improves the performance of their staff, but they’re probably thinking more about how much money they can save with AI. The way to survive the AI invasion will be to be both clearly human and be demonstrably, obviously better than the alternative to the point that makes a financial difference to your company. Being receptive to coaching is a good first step.
Just be careful about to whom you’re listening. Not every coach is strong in all aspects of the job. You’d rely on Bill Belichick if you’re running a football team, but I don’t think he’d be the best talk radio consultant, though he would probably do a good job of keeping segments concise. Very concise. Although “We’re on to Cincinnati” wouldn’t really be a good talk topic.
Perry Michael Simon is a weekly news media columnist for Barrett Media. He previously served as VP and Editor/News-Talk-Sports/Podcast for AllAccess.com. Prior to joining the industry trade publication, Perry spent years in radio working as a Program Director and Operations Manager for KLSX and KLYY in Los Angeles and New Jersey 101.5 in Trenton. He can be found on X (formerly Twitter) @PMSimon.
