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.

Matt, Gabe, and Captain Ron, KKWF (The Wolf), Seattle, with Billy Bob Silliness

What’s the audience looking for when they come to you?  Certainly a connection.  They want to be around people (and shows) that are real, authentic, genuine, and friendly.  But they’re also looking for humor.  Silly, entertaining, relatable breaks.  Often, that comes in the topic you choose and then what you do with that topic.  Matt McAllister, Gabe, and Captain Ron, The Wolf, Seattle, were talking about Billy Bob Thornton’s new TV show “Landman”.  It’s perilous to talk about the TV show as most people haven’t heard of it, much less watched it.  Hear how they broaden the appeal of this content by just talking about Billy Bob.  And then, talk with him.  This works because it’s obviously fake and the entire team is in on the joke.  Stupid silliness, resulting in laughter and an important image for the show.

Karen Carson in the Morning, WNEW-FM, New York with Doughnuts at the Gym

Marry opposites and you get comedy.  Humor happens when you do that.  What are lots of people doing now that the holidays and all that eating are over?  Trying to lose weight by crowding area gyms.  In a brainstorm about opposites last year at this time, Karen Carson in the Morning with Johnny Minge and Intern Anthony, WNEW-FM, New York decided it might be fun to camp out at a gym close by the station and offer those leaving a doughnut just to see what they’d do.  Here’s a compilation of the absurdity when Johnny did that.  Great on-air content in the moment, but an even better video for social media (see it here), which still lives in their feeds and was viewed thousands of times because we married opposites to create the fun.

The Daly/Migs Show, 99.9 KISW, Seattle with Fun With the Mall Santa

It’s not just the topic you choose that makes the break relatable and memorable.  It’s what you do with the topic that accomplishes that.  To help make breaks sticky, think about what you could do with your chosen topics that would give the audience a unique, fun experience no other show in town would.  Enter the Daly/Migs Show, 99.9 KISW, Seattle.  Anything Christmas works now because….well, you know why.  But these guys?  Well, they went to a Seattle mall to interview a mall Santa.  Great topic, excellent execution.  And to heighten things further, in another break for the show, they had the mall Santa play their signature trivia game Beat Migs.  Glorious all the way around.

Kira and Logan, WOKQ, Portsmouth, NH with The Tribe

Every show has an issue with phones.  Listeners aren’t calling to participate in phone topics or games like they used to.  The reason is obvious:  they can interact with their favorite shows in other ways (texting, social media) and they’re simply too busy to phone in.  When we talk about using listeners to help a break sparkle, there are other ways to do this past opening the phones.  Kira and Logan, WOKQ, Portsmouth, NH have assembled The Tribe.  These are the opinionated and fun co-workers in their building.  They’ve figured out all the ways they will need other voices to elevate a content break early in the week.  Then assemble The Tribe in a studio and ask them to participate.  Here’s an example of them doing this.  Airing something like this actually makes the phones ring more.  It’s a simple way to make content more than just the team talking with one another so those not calling in are entertained.

Moug and Karla, B96, Chicago with Treadmill Trivia

Every once in a while you get a content break that ticks multiple boxes.  This one earns these images:  it’s local, it’s character development, it’s unique in its execution, and it’s fun.  John Moug from Moug and Karla Mornings, B96, Chicago is a new dad (character development).  He’s also worried about his weight and new to town.  He signed up to run in the Hot Chocolate 5K (local) and it’s been a story arc on the show.  To help get him prepared, the team put him on the office gym treadmill, asking trivia questions about Chicago he should know living there for almost a year (local).  For every question he gets wrong, they increase the speed (fun).  This one earns multiple images.  Also note that about halfway through, they re-set things for those in the audience that turned them on in the previous few minutes who missed the setup.

The Joanne, Jason, and Ben Show, WOMC, Detroit with the North Pole Debate

How did your show do last week with the US election?  Many avoided it because it was so charged.  Not a bad move for many shows.  But…if you can handle it comedically, it potentially opens the door to tackle it as a topic.  Enter Joanne, Jason, and Ben, WOMC, Detroit who imagined a debate at the North Pole, with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as a candidate and Santa as moderator.  Throw in a quirky angle like this to a tough topic, leave the audience laughing, and you may never get dinged for doing politics.  This is super clever and creative.  It also makes the show relevant around the treatment of the big topic no one else will do.

Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA with My Mom Made Me Do It

Nothing could be more endearing than putting a parent on the show.  It’s also quite efficient character development because you go from being a radio host to being someone’s kid for those few minutes.   While brainstorming content for Halloween, Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA realized they had very similar experiences with their mothers and costumes when kids.  Option A is to tell the audience about it and then get listener’s stories.  Option B is is to get their moms on to participate in the telling of the story.  This shifted the break from being a monologue (I tell you a story vs. we tell you a story) to a dialogue.  Option B is much more robust and entertaining because the human dynamic appears in a conversation.