Thunder and PT, 102.9 The Wolf, Minneapolis with the Alan Jackson Scam

A hypothetical: a co-worker tells you a story that they were at a restaurant over the weekend when Ben Affleck and a companion came in and sat at the table next to them.  He talked with your co-worker the entire meal and then paid for it.  What would you do with that?  Sadly, many shows would take the path of least resistance.  They’d get on and tell their co-worker’s story to the audience.  When the smarter move would be to have the co-worker on to tell their story.  When an interesting story appears, always find someone who actually was in the story to come on the show to tell it themselves.  It’ll be much more impactful.  Simple, right?  This is an easy way to make that break better.  Have people tell their own stories – and all you need to do is facilitate it.  Thunder and PT, 102.9 The Wolf, Minneapolis get this.  A listener’s mom is being scammed by a fake Alan Jackson online.  They got the kid on to tell the story and it feels much different.

Mojo in the Morning, Channel 95.5, Detroit with The Kids Make Him Cry

There should be so much going on in life (yours and your show) that you can replace the more bland and boring topics with personal stuff.  Character development comes when you’re honest with the audience and when you reveal who you are.  A strategic goal should be to move the audience to care about you so that connection happens.  Some of the very best examples happen on Mojo in the Morning, Channel 95.5, Detroit.  Wanna know why this show is so successful?  The audience feels like they know them.  And we like to spend time with people we know.  Last Father’s Day, the show decided to prove how easy it is for Mojo’s kids to make him cry.  They had each kid send him a note, which he read/played on-the-air.  The reactions are great.  The content and treatment are so good, you can see why a break like this will beat something like Hollywood News every time.

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston with Does Karson Owe Lana an Apology

Forcing the audience to take a stand on something is another way to emotionally engage them.  Let’s first note that one thing listeners are looking for when they tune in is connection.  They’re fans of your show because you are just like them.  Your content needs to prove this.  A smart way to do that is by telling a story about yourself to prove it.  And what drives successful stories?  Drama, drama, drama.  Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston get that.  We’ve churned out of that show all the bland and boring content anyone can do and replaced it with more personal stuff to define the cast and engage the audience.  Lana, Karson’s wife, believes he owes her an apology for something that happened when she was sick.  Lana and the team go at it here, grabbing the audience.  Then on break #2, it’s their turn to chime in.  Easy, smart, powerful, and memorable radio.

Jen and Tim, Star 102.1, Cleveland with the RnR Hall of Fame 80s Music Quiz

Here’s another example of a music-based break that would do very well in research.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a new list of inductees.  Jen and Tim, Star 102.1, Cleveland want to quiz their producer to see if she knows the group based on the song hook.  This is another sing-along, play-along type game for people in cars.  There is no prize involved, yet it still shines because the chemistry of the cast advances the fun, it’s local (because of the Hall of Fame), there is a little character development for the producer, and the show is weaving itself, once again, into the music brand of the station.  I’ve seen breaks like this played in focus groups for listeners – they are always very well evaluated.

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston with Make Your Mess Your Message

I love shows that own their shit!  Some radio talent want to paint the most perfect picture of themselves.  What do listeners want to be around but flawed, human beings.  When you slip and fall, it’s always smart to run towards it for content, as it makes you mortal to them and, like it would happen in real life, draws fans closer.  Take Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston.  Karson had promised in December to attend a local Christmas tree lighting.  As the ceremony started, the organizers called to find out where he was.  He wasn’t even close as he’d forgotten to put it in his calendar.  What did he do on the next show?  Brought them on to apologize.  He owned it, took his beating, his teammates made fun of him, and the organizers let him off the hook.  And the audience loved him even more for all of it.  As the title above suggests, if you have a mess, make that your message.

Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA with Are We Rick Rolling

Rick Astley is having a birthday and, because Rick Rolling is a thing, Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA created content from it.  You’d never know how many artists actually sound like Rick Astley.  They grabbed the hooks of several songs.  Some of them Rick and some not.  The listener had to correctly guess if they were being Rick Rolled when they heard the hook.  I love several things about this idea:  it’s music and hit-oriented and there’s never a downside to do something musically.  The audience is playing along because this is vicarious.  And who’s not singing as the hooks are playing because all the songs are familiar.  Familiarity is really critical when people wake up so you can help acclimate them into the day.  All around a simple and effective idea.

Thunder and PT, 102.9 The Wolf, Minneapolis with Farmalee for Parmalee

Laura Ries wrote a great book on how to name things called Battlecry.  It’s a short but very instructional on how to name products.  It’s worth your time if looking to name a new benchmark or even a one-and-done game.  Often, when stuck, I’ll use RhymeZone to see what words in the English language rhyme with a primary word around what I’m doing.  Taking both of these to heart are Thunder and PT, 102.9, Minneapolis.  The team recently had Parmalee tickets to give out.  They came up with a clever name called Farmalee for Parmalee (rhyming is one of the techniques discussed in Laura’s book).  They substituted a farm animal for a word in a hit song by the country group.  Listeners had to identify the missing word to win.

Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA with The Stolen Car

Sometimes listeners bring stories filled with drama.  What makes the best stories memorable are details of tension that advance them to conclusion.  Watch any great TV show or movie and this is the technique script writers use to hook us quickly and keep us on the edge of our seats so we stay until the end.  Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA had one such experience in their Feel Good feature when a caller told them that he solved the case of a stolen car in the neighborhood by accessing the cameras outside his house.  When he found out a neighbor’s car was taken outside his home, he looked at the footage to help the cops nab the culprit.  What we’re given is a compelling story of high drama and humanity of one person helping another.  This is memorable content.

The Josie Dye Show, Indie 88, Toronto Patriots Fans Get Their Cable Cut

With the Super Bowl coming in less than two weeks, here’s a classic idea you can do.  The Josie Dye Show with Matt and Carlin, Indie 88, Toronto, deftly took the topic of the Super Bowl a few years back when the Patriots were in the game and created some mischievous drama.  They called people in the New England area, introducing themselves as representatives of their cable company in Boston, and telling them that there would be no TV service Sunday evening between the hours of 5:00-8:00pm, right when the Patriots are playing.  This was a fantastic concept on paper, easy to comprehend by the audience tuning in, very well executed, and garnered some classic reactions by Patriots fans expecting to see their team win their sixth Super Bowl.

The Daly/Migs Show, 99.9 KISW, Seattle with Cover Songs

We’ve talked before about the kinds of content that work best for your audience.  As a reminder, they are:  pop culture (because pop = popular), local content (if you’re not syndicated), and stories about you that prove you are just like the audience.  Let me add a fourth, which tends to be over-looked.  And that’s music-based content that brands you as part of the station.  Often, shows ignore the music and this kind of content, creating a potential silo that you are not part of the station (which is based on music).  Here’s the Daly/Migs Show, 99.9 KISW, Seattle showing how easy it is.  They found a list of popular cover songs as done by artists in the format, and some groups that are local.  All around a very relevant break that folds the show into the station brand.  One note:  they aren’t even twenty seconds into the break and the real content has already started with a cover song hook being played.  That part is fantastic.