What I Learned At Morning Show Boot Camp (2007)

By Perry W. Buffington, Ph.D., & Willa Presmanes, M.A.

Morning Show Boot Camp attendees got a surprise "mental workout" at the recent Chicago meeting. It all started about ten months before, when Don Anthony approached me with a deceptively simple-sounding question. Anthony asked, "Would you design a seminar where talent can (1) better understand their personality-type, and (2) with this knowledge, learn how to best relate with their radio partners/co-hosts?"

The result was a program which debuted as Part I and Part II at Boot Camp which answered those questions, surprised everyone, and accidentally discovered a third point, a missing ingredient which separates "okay" morning shows from "#1" morning shows. This surprise finding, which turned out to be such a common science finding, magically appeared when Part II results were tabulated.

Part I. Helping talent understand themselves individually was achieved when I re-developed and delivered, en masse for over 400 participants, my award-winning speech, "The Physiology of Time." The point of this presentation was easy to learn and to apply. Humans have body clocks, and over the course of twenty-four hours, each human has approximately eight different chemical bodies, each with their own cravings, abilities, and needs. In a one-hour seminar, I taught individuals how to work with their brain wiring rather than against it. Not rocket science; easy to implement within five minutes after exiting the seminar.

Part I successfully completed, it was time to invite participants to experience Part II. This would be the seminar that provided unexpected "radio revelations."

Part II. To answer the second question, I approached my writing-partner, Willa Presmanes. Together we developed a sixteen-item quiz designed to identify ubiquitous personality types. So many companies purport to do just that, but given the task, this Part II "take a test" seminar would have a twist. Come in, sit down, take the quiz, and let's compare your test results with your partners. We knew we would be able to show them successes, weaknesses, strengths, areas of improvement, but we didn't know in advance that we just might have stumbled on "how to create a radio show which engages all listeners."

Eighty attendees followed up for individual sessions and took the 16-item questionnaire, "The T-TAQ" (Talent, Traits and Attitude Questionnaire). Here's how the test works. There are four personalities that drive behavior. Two are extroverted. They get energy by talking with people. Two are introverted and get renewed energy by pulling back and taking time for assessment. Each personality has about 20 strengths -- all you need to succeed.

Concomitantly, each personality has about 20 weaknesses. After interviewing, individually coaching all test takers, here's what we found:

Most talent were opposites. This was not a surprise. Of all talent surveyed two of the four personality types emerged as dominant in this radio survey. They were, as you would expect, extroverted personalities -- great story tellers or great leaders, both of whom can talk to just about anyone and about anything. This was not a surprise.

Those individuals who tested out as "introvert personalities" were successful, but not in an obvious way. To explain, multiple morning shows sent four hosts to boot camp, and all four took the "T-TAQ." Invariably, there were two extroverted persons ordained as the primary conversationalists; they could talk to anyone about anything, sometimes endlessly. The producer and program planner were active participants, but readily identified as the detail people (the introverts) who researched discussions and problem solved, sometimes thanklessly. These "behind the scenes" talent were essential to the success of the show, but in an under-stated way.

All talent did NOT know their weaknesses (or perhaps not willing to admit them). However, an individual's partner or other member of the morning team was keenly aware of their partner's weaknesses! What made this an even more poignant finding was that partners would NOT point out obvious weaknesses and were unwittingly content to let them bring down the show. Everyone in the group could readily identify strengths and weaknesses (of others), even humorously accept labels on personalities within the group.

Talent, not understanding their weaknesses (seeing them as failings and non-remediable), often over-compensated and took their strengths to extremes. This was interpreted by co-workers and no doubt listeners as short-comings and a potential reason to find another morning show which more clearly matches their personality.

All talent, that's ALL talent, were desirous of ways to improve, were willing to discuss their weaknesses, desired to strengthen their relationship with partner or team, were curious concerning how their partner's saw them, and appreciative when researchers were able to provide strategies to remediate perceived inadequacies.

Part III Ð The Accidental Finding. Finally, the "aha" moment of the day. Morning shows who either had all four-personalities represented in their team, or had two morning show hosts with blended personalities (each host had both dominant extrovert as well as introvert leanings), by self-report, tended to be #1, #2, or #3 in their market. Morning shows where only two of the four personalities, as identified on the T-TAQ, were represented, admitted by self-report to be lower in the ratings. Now the question became, "Why?"

The answer: Obviously simple, too common sense, and the magic bullet that consultants and program directors have been searching for years Ð or maybe the best ones know and have chosen to keep it quiet! Given the results of our T-TAQ questionnaire, it became observable!

Psychologists have known since antiquity that there are only four personalities in the human population. No matter the genre of radio, these four personalities will be statistically represented just like a bell-shape curve. So, what makes a great morning show? Top shows are created by talent who relate to all of their listeners had all four personality types. Relate to three of the four, and you're automatically handicapped in the ratings by a 25% reduction; relate to only two of the four personalities, and you're down by 50%. Relate to only one, and you're just like any cable news/finance show that pitches to only the "powerbrokers"of the personality four and wonder why more people aren't listening! When talent relates to all four personality types distributed among the listening audience, then the show is being built on a much firmer foundation.

The good news: This can be learned. Learning how to pitch anything so that all four personalities listening "get it" and respond to "it" is not difficult. It requires the following steps:

Take the sixteen-item "T-TAQ" and learn which one of the four personalities you are. Get your morning show partner to take the test & chances are you'll be opposites.

Discuss all participants' strengths and weaknesses. This step is designed to improve the relationship between all members of the morning-show team.
Identify which of the four personality types your show is "leaving out" in the desired demographic.

Learn how to pitch the same topic four different ways, and you've just guaranteed yourself a larger audience. These results were based on a sample of approximately eighty participants, hardly enough to "over-generalize" or claim "cause and effect" results. Reliability and criterion-related validity will continue to be a focus of development. However, we believe these initial results are sufficiently robust to warrant additional research. Moreover, we believe these findings, given the overwhelmingly positive response from Boot Camp attendees, are more than sufficient to offer to radio stations who would like this as a 2-3 hour consulting service.

Who would have thought? From a sixteen-item quiz comes the answer to one of radio's mysteries. To attract listeners, talent must connect with all four personality types. And that's what we learned at boot camp!

# # #
For more information on the "T-TAQ," taking the questionnaire, interpreting results, and consulting opportunities designed to connect your morning show with all four listener personalities, contact Dr. Perry drbuff@drbuff.com

WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN DR. BUFF DOING AN ON-SITE PRESENTATION WITH YOUR ENTIRE AIR-STAFF? As they say, prices are reasonable, email to discuss drbuff@drbuff.com :

For more information on "Cheap Psychological Tricks with Dr. Buff," please contact Envision Radio Networks www.envisionradio.com.