Audio

Instead of doing a standard Q&A on interviews, Cledus, Dave, and Veronica at WQYK, Tampa do something different and fun.  They let listeners guess what the interviewee had for breakfast, then make that a part of their conversation.  This part humanizes the person being interviewed and is silly and fun, thus drawing listeners in to the interview because it’s different.  Here’s an interview they did using this approach with one of their local mayors.

The very best, most entertaining phone topics satisfy two criteria.  First they must originate from an experience a member of the show has.  That’s the justification to do it (verses it being perceived as a generic, prep service topic).  The second is that what you ask for must be stories.  Inside stories, there’s rich detail and twist and turns that will keep listeners hooked because the show has something to mine for gold.  A member of Fernando and Greg, NOW 99.7, San Francisco, went to a wedding which was ruined by an invited guest.  Here are the fun phones they did around it.

On a female-targeted radio station, you can never go wrong with kids.  Listen as Michael from the B101, Philadelphia morning show quizzes kids at his son’s school bus stop about the big “event” which was coming up that weekend (the Super Bowl).  The kids are cute, create great laughter, and strategically position Michael as the “father” on the program!

With the Olympics all over television now, J and Julian at B96, Chicago did a simple, yet quirky phone topic asking listeners, “If you could win Olympic gold in the one thing in life you do really well, what would you medal in?”  These are fun, simple stories listeners tell.  So much of great radio is creating humor from real life experiences.  This one nails it.

At MIX 104.1, Boston we did “Wedding in a Week” for Valentine’s Day.  Considering the economy, we found couples who wanted to be married but were putting it off because they couldn’t afford it.  We built this from the ground up, first finding the couple, then getting listeners to donate all the items one would need for a wedding.  Once we found the minister to perform the service, we felt like we needed to check him out.  So the show called a couple he’d married previously to make sure the minister had the “golden touch” for happy marriages.  Here’s the very tongue-in-cheek (and fun) conversation with a guy who’s been happily married for five years by the man who performed our service.

The very best morning radio is personal and vulnerable.  Which is why the feature “Truth or Pair” works.  J and Julian, B96, Chicago’s number one show had tickets to give out to see Pink perform at the station.  Instead of taking caller ten (ugh!) they challenged listeners to call them with a highly personal question.  If they answered it (truth), the listener got nothing.  But if the question was too personal, they could take a pass and the listener got the pair of tickets to see Pink.

One of the summer’s big hits was “Magic Mike”.  One of the fun features on Fernando and Greg, NOW 99.7, San Francisco’s morning show is when they talk to Greg’s mom, a conservative woman who lives in Texas.  They married the opposites of old school views on sex and a naked Channing Tatum.  Here’s Greg’s mom “review” of the movie.

Great breaks are always fun and strategic.  They reflect a purpose of communicating the show’s characters and/or are a reflection of listener interests (usually pop culture).  At Radio Now, Indianapolis, McKinzie is pregnant.  Which is why Scotty (who has no kids) decided to “sample” the baby food McKinzie was buying in anticipation of the little one coming.  Mix in some laughter and you have a break of pure character definition!