Audio

The holidays are here.  Which means every husband will get his list of things that must be done around the house to prepare for visitors.  At B101, Philadelphia, Michael Chew is the average husband (and we say that affectionally!).  As the new cast member of the Tiffany and Michael morning show, our short term goal is to burnish Michael’s credentials as a married guy.  That’s why they put his wife, Nancy, on to detail the list of those things around the house which need to be done.  Listen as Michael shifts to “husband mode” as he reacts to her lengthy to-do list!

When a spouse goes out of town for work or to visit relatives for a short while, it’s natural to fill that time getting to know your neighbors or doing things with friends you haven’t seen in a while.  But once that spouse returns, you must re-devote yourself to them.  This was appropriately, if sardonically addressed by Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston, when Karson’s wife, Lana, returned from being away for a while.  Karson called his new friend, Michael, on the air to “break up” with him after their brief, early summer bromance.

Great radio is real.  It comes from the talent letting listeners into their lives.  Listen to this perfectly executed break as McKenzie lets the rest of the team know that she’s expecting a baby on The Scotty Show on Radio Now, Indianapolis.

Are hairy chests back in vogue?  Jim and Kim, Fresh 102.7, New York City saw this survey and, targeting women, believed it was a good topic to interact about with the audience.  They also decided to talk with famous hairy chest celebrity Tom Selleck to get his take.  They actually had an interview already scheduled with Selleck and realized they could’ve used that time to let him sell his TV show or have fun with him around a topic more appealing to the broader female audience.  They chose the latter and put together this more entertaining content break.

Anyone can do a Hollywood Report.  But only Bill Tanner, on Cliff and Company on KSON, San Diego, can do one that rhymes.  This strong, hourly benchmark draws in extra cume because it’s content is relevant and fun to listen to!

Justin Bieber goes crazy on a photographer trying to take his picture and you have a tailor-made phone topic about public meltdowns.  Fernando & Greg, 99.7 NOW San Francisco’s morning team, did just that in this easy, yet very well designed segment of radio.  This highlights the value of telling stories.  Listeners calling to tell about the time they lost it in public, with the team laughing along, mining the story for more gold.  In PPM, these segments perform very well because they’re engaging and entertaining.

One of the objectives for Reynolds Group shows is to secure an image that the audience feels their favorite morning show is just like them.  Each Monday on John and Tammy, KSON San Diego’s great morning show, we do a feature called “The Report Card”.  Predicated under the belief that the show talks about its spouses as part of our content, we give the spouses equal time to “grade” the co-host they’re married to on how they were as a husband or wife in the previous week.  Here is a terrific example of how we’re positioning John as the typical (good) husband, believing the audience will connect with him more deeply.

Quirky takes on big topics are always remembered.  Several weeks ago, America found out about a woman who spent so much time in a tanning salon (she went several times a day) she altered her skin tone.  So, Jim and Kim on Fresh 102.7, New York City, decided to call a local Sherwin Williams to see if they could color match the woman’s new pigment.  This left-of-center approach made these few minutes really innovative around the big topic, making the listeners want to come back the next day so they don’t miss anything.

Tiffany & Michael at B101, Philadelphia had a chance to talk to Jerry Springer a while ago. What’s great about this interview are the topics they chose to talk with him about.  It didn’t center around whatever he was selling, it was around very high equity topics:  Oprah retiring, Dancing with the Stars, Thanksgiving, and wrapped up with a question-and-answer session where they got him to reveal things about his life that are intriguing.   Tiffany & Michael were masters in this interview at choosing topics to talk with Jerry about that a wide swath of the audience were interested in.

Here’s a well thought out bit done by Drex and Maney, KISS 95.1, Charlotte back around Mother’s Day.  This is called “Messin’ with Mom” where listeners called their moms to have fun with them.  Two things of note in how this was constructed:  first they had Cassidy, the female on the show, call her mom so the audience would get the bit.  They could have told the audience how it was going to go, but they demonstrated it (and did character development in the process).  Then, just before they did it with the listener, they explained the entire scenario of what she’d say to her mom so the audience could get focused just on the mom’s reaction.