“I don’t know what they are going to ask me, but I know what I’m going to tell them.” -Ryan Detrick
I was in New York City on Tuesday for a day trip to do some media. We’ve been trying to find a time that worked for awhile and I was able to fly in on Labor Day, have some fun in the city that day, then have a full day of media on Tuesday.
I get asked all the time what it is like to go on TV, so in today’s blog I’ll talk some about it.
First off, I’ve been doing TV hits since the summer of 2005. I worked at super small research shop at the time and their media person had recently left. I was one of the last people there, so I drew the short straw. I wasn’t crazy about it, but I sure wasn’t saying no. My very first hit ever was with Reggie Jackson on CNBC. Yes, that Reggie Jackson. I was SO NERVOUS! I survived it and after a few more times started to enjoy it. I was always fairly fast on my feet, so it felt like a good fit.
Stay on Top of Market Trends
The Carson Investment Research newsletter offers up-to-date market news, analysis and insights. Subscribe today!
"*" indicates required fields
Now here I am many years later and hundreds of live hits under my belt and sometimes I joke I’m too laid back. I mean, just the other day I talked with Brian Sullivan on CNBC how I spilled water on my laptop the prior time I was on with him. It drives me crazy how robotic some guests are, so I do my best to smile, thank them on air for having me, and try to keep it fun. This helps to differentiate me from other guests. I mean, I wore a Joe Burrow jersey on Yahoo Finance during the Bengals Super Bowl run for goodness sake.
One of the common questions I always get is do you know what they are going to ask you? Go read the quote above for my answer there, as I sure don’t, but I do know what I’m going to tell them. I always have one or two big things I want to say. No matter what they ask me, I will make sure I still get across what I want to say. I’ve done media training and they taught me how to use bridges to subtly do this. They might ask me about Greek debt (which I have no idea about), but I’ll say something like “You know, that’s important and it could move markets, but at Carson we are watching….” If you do this enough times, it comes off fairly smooth and no one will really notice it. Watch any politician, they do this all the time.
The other thing from media training that always stuck with me was 93% of communicating is how you say something, while 7% is what you say. Trust me, I don’t know how in the world they could ever quantify this, but it has always stuck with me. What it means is to come off confident in what you are saying. No one has all the answers, but nobody wants to listen to someone who isn’t confident when discussing how they should invest their money.
Wish I could tell you I stood in a mirror and practiced some of these things, but I never really did. It all came fairly naturally to me. I will say, I did watch a lot of other people, taking small things from who I considered to be good live media guests. Sam Stovall is one that I learned a ton from by simply watching how he handled himself in interviews. And then of course there’s the inimitable Burt White.
So what is it like to do a live TV hit in person? I got up super early on Tuesday and met with Zef from our PR firm at 6:20am ET in the lobby of my hotel. We walked over to Fox on Avenue of the Americas and met with the front desk. From here we had to use the passes they gave us to get through security. We had some trouble getting those cards to work, but someone helped us, and we took the elevator to the third floor. Here we met with a producer who walked us to the green room. I’ve been to Fox many times, and it was good to see this room again, as it had been a while. In the past, I’ve done makeup, which oddly I get a kick out of doing. This time they said I didn’t need it though. I’m still not sure what that might say, but I’ve been told I have a face for radio so it might be something there. We had about 25 minutes in the green room and I met the other guest. Soon someone else put a mic and earpiece on me, meaning it was almost time.
We were next ushered to the big studio in the room next door during a commercial break. I was on Maria Bartiromo’s show, but Maria was on vacation, so I was on with Cheryl Casone. We took a quick pic, so I could promote it on Twitter.
We had some small talk, but next thing you know you are on TV. The hit was more than five minutes long, but it sure does go by quickly. I spoke twice and overall think it went fine. I joke my goal after a TV hit is not to be too memorable. If I’m too memorable it means I probably messed up! Once it was done they took me back to the green room where I took off the mic and earpiece. I thanked everyone and out the door I went!
People ask all the time if I get nervous at all and anymore, I really don’t. I get excited, but not nervous. Trust me, I’m way more nervous watching my boys play sports than I am when I’m on TV!
Here’s the full hit if you want to watch it.
Overall it is funny how things work out. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d go on TV as much as I do. It all just kind of happened and now it is a big part of my job. Even though TV hits might be a few minutes, it does take hours and hours of research and reading to be ready to answer whatever question might come my way. But don’t get me wrong, I love it and enjoy that rush I get right before I go live. Presenting for live crowds is another huge part of my job and I love doing that as well.
Lastly, the best part about my trip? I was able to take my daughter Susanna with me. She is 15 and we had a lot of fun on Monday running around NYC. I hate shopping, but she really wanted to shop (she is a huge Gossip Girl fan and apparently this is what she thinks you do in NYC). We did shop for a few hours in SoHo and The West Village, which was surprisingly not as painful as I expected. We ate a ton of great food and had a fun day together. We even stopped at Taylor Swift’s old apartment on Cornelia Street, which was full of Swifties posing for pics! Until next time, New York!
1896305-0923-A
