Kick-Ass Audio Breaks

Your first job when doing and interview, especially with an A-lister, is to connect with them.  That opens the portal to talk with them about near anything because they know you did your homework and trust builds.  Enter John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego with an interview they did with country music star Eric Church.  This happened while college basketball season was upon them.  Eric came on because he had a new album to promote.  There’s no “where did you get your inspiration for this album” questions.  These guys know better.  John poking at Eric about his alma mater (UNC) and how a local San Diego team was doing softened Eric to talk with him about drinking and what he was going to do for his wife for the upcoming Valentine’s Day.  It’s a good game plan because it’s what makes listeners interested.

Interviews are often not prepped – even with the A-listers.  When offered an interview, there are always two agendas:  the person being interviewed wants to sell something (tickets, web hits, downloads, etc.).  Our agenda is to always entertain and engage the audience.  Which is why, when given the interview, that you not just work based on the press release.  True, you must satisfy the interviewee’s goals.  But that comes after you engage your audience with insights and storytelling from your curiosity based on what you learned about them in prep.  Enter Logan and Sadie, WINK-FM, Ft. Myers, FL with their Barry Manilow interview.  No one would turn down talking to Barry, right?  But, he’s coming on sell concert tickets.  Here are two segments they recently aired.  Note how they bring Barry into a community service project they were doing about pets (knowing he’s a big dog guy) and the other, very mainstream things they did to make Barry even more interesting.  Also note the production value they brought to the conversation to.  All of this broadened the conversation’s appeal, as they helped Barry get his concert sold out.