AS CORNY AS IT SOUNDS...SMILE.

A jock just sent me his aircheck, asking for feedback. He's not new to the business, but it's obvious he hasn't had much guidance during his career. From the cover letter that accompanied his CD, I can feel his passion for radio.

But he's made the mistake common to so many: Because it's so easy to be a bad or mediocre disc jockey — anyone can achieve those levels — he has assumed that becoming good or great is easy, too. All he has to do is keep practicing at the mediocre level.

But it doesn't work that way. In addition to talent (a good thing to have), the truly successful radio personalities work at it. They think, they write, they plan, they aircheck themselves, they invest in materials that will help them improve and/or will improve their programs.

That's obvious? Okay. But it's also unusual. Most jocks show up for work, do their best, go home, come back the next day and do their best — but never improve because it doesn't occur to them to treat radio as a craft.

Here's one simple, "obvious" suggestion I gave him:

The biggest thing you need to add is warmth. As corny as it sounds, you (I mean you, personally; I do not necessarily mean everyone on radio) should smile widely before opening the mic and keep smiling throughout the break.

People who don't know better might scoff, "Oh, he wants me to be a 'yuk jock.'" Those people don't understand that although it might look odd for you to be smiling so much, it won't sound that way.

"On TV, I look normal."

There's something about a radio microphone that saps much of the warmth from most voices. You're familiar with the TV expression, "The camera adds 15 pounds"? (Hence, all the actresses who in real life resemble scarecrows.)

Well, the radio microphone removes 50% of the natural warmth of your voice, and you need to find a way to compensate for that.

On this aircheck, you sound bored. You sound as though you're there because it's your job to be there, not because you're doing what you want to do.

Suggestion: Concentrate more on sounding as though you want to be there and that you're talking because you have something you think is worth it for the listener to hear.