The Role of the Dummy Is Not for You
Now this one may ruffle the feathers of the ego-driven maniac host out there. But this is really for the scared-to-death co-host — the one who’s afraid of losing their job working next to an insecure personality who needs to be the center of attention for four straight hours a day.
I’ve watched radio hosts demand compliance from the people around them. You can always tell when you’re dealing with an insecure host — everything has to orbit them. Every idea has to pass through their ego. Every moment has to reinforce that they are the star.
You come in with good ideas. Real ideas. Ideas that could make the show better.
They shut them down.
Then they replace your ideas with corny, forced material nobody relates to — and somehow expect you to pretend it’s genius. Meanwhile, your nervous system is on fire every day you walk into the studio.
So what do you do?
First — even if that person intimidates you a little — you have to ask them the question:
Why are you running the show like this?
If you get a bull-jive answer, take it to the PD. If the PD sides with the host, then you have a decision to make — and that decision is not necessarily leaving the station.
The real decision is this:
You stop betraying who you are in that studio.
Life is full of people like this. You can’t keep running from station to station thinking the next place will be free of insecure power games. You’ll meet these characters everywhere. Most people run. That’s the pattern. I'm asking you to challenge it.
Now let me speak directly to the host I’m describing.
Can you look in the mirror and ask yourself why you’re suffocating the people around you?
Because you’re setting yourself up for some heavy karma down the road. Lessons are coming — and many of them could’ve been avoided.
Let me help you.
1. Everybody wants to justify their existence on the show.
Talented people don’t want to sit there watching you hog the whole broadcast. Share the show. Let people breathe. Watch how the fun returns to the studio when the room doesn’t feel like a hostage situation. Ask your co-host's. Do you feel I am hogging the show? (Hell yeah!) LOL
2. Some people are selfish as hell and will never change.
If that’s the case, understand this: radio gigs are short-term assignments. Sometimes you’re at a station to learn a lesson, not to stay forever. Some people really can't see themselves.
Early in my career, a producer looked me dead in the face and asked, “Why did they hire you?” Then said, “I don’t support you.”
I laughed it off, because I thought he was joking. He wasn’t smiling.
My co-host had been there 15 years. He had been there 15 years. I already knew how this story would end.
I got fired. They got me up out of there. And yeah — I laughed afterward. But it was a lesson.
3. Nobody is going to protect your career but you.
Don’t laugh off disrespect in the studio. When people slight you, they’re testing how much you’re willing to take. They’re trying to box you into a role in their mind.
You know when you don’t like something.
One day — don’t laugh.
Self-respect is your responsibility. Not theirs.
It’s critical that you recognize early when someone is playing games with you. Let them Know.
“I see you.”
I know I’m helping someone right now who feels trapped in an ensemble cast where somebody else is assigning a role you don't want to play.
There are roles in radio.
But the role of the dummy is not for you.
And for the hosts reading this — when you do give people space, you still have to watch the ones who overstep. You stop that immediately. Say, “Hey man, I don’t need you to do that.”
Only one hand on the steering wheel.
When you know you’re betraying yourself by not speaking up the moment boundaries are crossed, it weakens you. You feel the loss of control immediately. If you don’t address it, it goes straight into the passive-aggressive folder — and that's your poison.
You’ve got to get over the fear of correcting people.
It is your show.
If this is happening, you can correct it this year. Be honest in staff meetings. Don’t flinch. Make transparency the rule so everyone’s nervous system can relax. Free the people on the show. We are supposed to be having fun on the air and not tense.
Those knots in people’s stomachs can disappear.
And when they do, the magic of great radio shows up again.
I had to do it.
Leadership requires it.
Your ambition won’t let you bypass the hard part — learning how to lead people through discomfort. This is your training ground.
Everyone has to grow.
Or they die on the vine.
Hope this helps. Leave a comment and let me know.
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