ON-AIR INCONSISTENCY QUESTION FOR DAN O’DAY: I enjoyed your seminar in Austin the other weekend. I think I learned a lot of practical tools for my on-air work. I am having problems with my consistency though. As a person, I am very inconsistent and that has always been my personality. For example, sometimes I'm serious, then playful, then sarcastic or sardonic, then back to happy-go-lucky. Do you think this will be a failing on the air or will people see me as more of a real person? How can I achieve the consistency I need? Should I seek psychotherapy or just a new profession? DAN REPLIES: Taking your self-description at face value, it sounds like you might want to decide which of your personality traits to concentrate on showcasing while on-air. All of us seek consistency from our service providers — be they doctors, newspaper carriers, or radio entertainers. That does not mean we cannot afford the luxury of being human. But if a listener enjoys your seriousness today and tunes in for more of the same tomorrow, he or she might well be disappointed to find the Serious You completed displaced by you Sardonic You...which, in turn, might be obfuscated the next day by the Happy-Go-Lucky You. You do not need to be — should NOT be — one-dimensional. But you should be recognizable from day to day.\par