The listeners love it when Karlson and McKenzie, WZLX, Boston have Kevin Karlson’s mother-in-law on. Kevin just lost 40 pounds. His in-laws call the show to ask questions about it and make comments. This is truly original programming. It humanizes Kevin, we get the essence of his relationship with his in-laws, and it’s very funny!
What’s always fun? To freak out family members! “The Bail Game” does just that. Your listener is conferenced in with a family member (a parent, preferably, as they’ll have the best reaction). They must tell that family member that they’ve been arrested and need a large sum of money for bail. If the family member freaks, they win a prize!
With the economy still in question, here’s a great character building bit that’s also quite vulnerable. The entire morning team should run their credit reports. Once done, give the listeners the scores and they must match them up to the cast member, which is when details emerge on how each person on the show is faring.
Trivia always works on morning shows because is makes listeners play along. How you do the trivia, though, determines if it’s entertaining. Jimmy and Yvonne, on DAVE-FM, Atlanta, do “The Waffle House Aptitude Test”. They line up five callers and then ask the person who answers the phone at a local Waffle House five questions based on current events. However many of the five questions the person get right determines which phone line/listener wins the prize (i.e. if they get three right, the listener on line three wins).