Secure radio hosts don’t need ego gymnastics to appreciate the excellence of their co-hosts.
What’s wrong with taking the time to single people out and tell them how much they mean to the show?
Is that going to diminish you — No. It will raise your position as a leader and cause people to perform up to your level of expectation?
Balance in the studio matters.
If you want to keep people from getting puffed-up heads, you first have to get your own insecurities in check.
A great lead host will always surround themselves with people who can stand out and deliver powerful content on the show. A great lead host is the director of an orchestra. You hear the show in your head before it ever hits the air. Your job is to bring the right instruments together so they harmonize and create something unduplicable.
A signature sound.
Like Earth, Wind & Fire.
Like The O’Jays.
You can hear who says what. You already know how another person will respond. You hear the exchanges before they happen — and then you bring those voices together and create your show.
BUT FIRST......Your heart has to be right to receive them.
Because when you invite talented people into your circle and then get jealous when they blossom — when they start getting more attention than you in the community — you are not ready yet to scale your show.
Envy and jealousy ruins ensembles. Envy tears great potential apart. Usually it starts with the insecure host of the show. The type of person who wants to hog the mic and then point to you like a peasant when he wants you to talk.(Do you know this clown?)
Don’t invite super-talented people into your studio if you’re not prepared to celebrate them.
This is the number one reason shows with tremendous potential fail: when one person among you starts rising in popularity, and the host doesn’t like it because they are the host.
Listen, lead hosts — you still get credit for pulling that team together.
Celebrate the greatness of your people.
You go get better at leading them.
You go get better yourself.
Work on your on-air performance in private. Accept your role in the show you created. Keep growing. Keep getting coached.
Now when problems arise, talk to your talent individually and correct them in private. Don’t wait weeks to address behavior you don’t like. Be brave and handle it now.
Don’t let yourself get to the despise stage — where every time they open the mic you’re irritated. That’s on you as the leader.
Radio people are some of the quirkiest, most peculiar people you’ll ever meet. Some have dark auras and simply are not good team members. Eventually, you may have to let them go.
But most of the time, it’s our fear of being seen as a player hater that stops us from correcting behavior we don’t like on the show.
We have to learn how to communicate.
Rehearse what you’re going to say.
Give examples.
Show them how they can do it better.
Your job is to make yourself better as the host — and when you do that, you make the entire team better.
I always tell hosts to think of themselves as the quarterback. You’re responsible for getting the team down the field and into the end zone. Your program director is the coach on the sidelines helping you win.
If your PD isn’t good at coaching talent, find someone who is.
Most new PDs don’t yet have the body of experience to diagnose dysfunction in a studio. I do. And if you ever need help, reach out to me.
I hope this helps you better understand your role.
I’ve learned from the greats in Black radio, and I refuse to bury this knowledge with me when I exit the planet. That’s why I write BlackRadioTalent.com — because I care about the next generation of Black radio talent and who Black America will be listening to.
I only teach what I know.
If this article is resonating with you, let me know. Ask me questions about studio dynamics and working with two or more people. At one point, I had seven people in the studio with me on a morning show.
Whew. LOL.
See, I’m a talent guy. I love talent on Radio and TV. I’ve never been an envious person of someone else’s gift. Managing egos is the dilemma many leaders get wrong — because where is your correction coming from?
A player hater… or a teacher?
To genuinely be a fan of the people you work with every day is rare. But that’s the environment you have to create — one where everyone is performing at their highest level, rooting for each other every time the mic switch is flipped.
We win every break together.
Whoever has the best line — we celebrate it.
That’s how you become the most electrifying show in the country.
The ego must die in order for the show to live.
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