The president of Different Ducks, TJ Taormina, was the kid who walked to school with his headphones plugged into his radio. Having discovered morning talk shows as a 13-year-old while growing up in Hillsdale, NJ, he was hooked. In high school, he called countless radio stations–asking to intern, organize CDs, sweep the floors, anything!–just to get his foot in the door.
Finally, in his junior year (at 16), Fairleigh Dickinson University gave him a chance. He started by running public service tapes on Sunday mornings for WFDU-FM, his mom giving him a ride to the station, since he was still too young to drive. In 2002, after getting accepted into FDU’s broadcasting department, he landed an internship at Elvis Duran and the Z100 Morning Show in New York City.
During the 10+ years he spent there, he learned as much as he could from the different positions he had: answering phones, producing, and eventually becoming a co-host on Elvis’ nationally syndicated radio show in 2010. In April of 2013, TJ began hosting his own morning radio show (The TJ Show) on CBS Boston’s 103.3 Amp Radio. After 7 years, TJ signed off and created “Different Ducks,” a podcast network and consulting company.
We’re currently offering consultation services in the following areas.
Most people who start podcasts don’t have enough content to sustain them. Many podcasts get started only to inevitably fizzle out and this is avoidable. TJ helps audio performers (of all experience levels) build a strong foundation so they can set up a sustainable home for their new (or existing) audio venture.
Some radio stations have a reputation of leaving broadcasters with a feeling of discouragement. As this creativity-killer seeps into any workspace, surviving can often over-shadow thriving. We’re offering broadcast and podcast clients an opportunity to invest in themselves. We want to empower audio performers to get into a productive dialogue about their content. We will take detailed notes on your content, talk through it, and exchange ideas with one end goal: deliver unique and compelling content that you’re excited about creating. If you’re a performer or producer and want to take your creative (or technical) skills to the next level, we would love to hear from you. TJ is taking on a limited number of clients in this area.
We’re open to partnering with radio companies in certain areas:
A call to all industries. Do you have a team that maintains they’re “not creative?” TJ will encourage them to see the potential they have to contribute in fresh creative ways.
If you’re interested in working with TJ, please let us know what your goals are.
E-mail us here: DIFFERENTDUCKSML@gmail.com
A note from TJ: Hosting a radio show or a podcast is like walking through a hallway of blank canvases. You finish one painting and you immediately need to fill up the next one with something great! But wait, when you finish the next one, you need to paint another picture…and it needs to be great again! People debate whether you’re born creative or if it’s something you learn. I believe it’s a combination, but the larger part—and most valuable to focus on--is learned. If I was, indeed, a “creative” person when I first started creating content, I had a LOT of room to grow. (And I still have room to grow.) Great performers continue to work on their craft far beyond mastering it. It’s only when I began treating creativity itself like an art form that I started to see my highest output in creative work. Sharing what I’ve learned, my goal is to help audio performers grow creatively, discover their own content development system that works for them, and ultimately have a higher output of consistently great content.