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Last Valentine’s Day, Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston, decided to find a listener-bride for their new co-host, Salt. Part of the drama was the fact that Salt has a girlfriend. And in the process of involving Salt’s girlfriend, the show met Toni. Great radio is finding the really funny people in life and figuring out how to get them on your show. That Toni is a firecracker is an understatement. Here’s a break where the show not only understands this, they step out of Toni’s way to let her radiate out of the speakers. Real life is funny. This shows that.
Listeners always like to play along – if you do things that are vicarious, they’ll lean in, you will emotionally engage them, and you have them hooked for that break. Slacker and Steve, Alice 105.9, Denver, play a fun game with listeners. It’s called “Drunk or a Kid”. Listeners call and tell the show a story about something they did when they were either a drunk or a kid. The show then has to guess. The listeners will do that, too.
One of the most important things you should be with your listeners is honest. We can spot fakes and phonies a mile away; the audience always knows if you’re shooting them straight. That’s why this break, about Johnny Manziel flipping off the Washington Redskins bench, is so valuable and powerful in creating a bond with the audience. Jody Dean and his Team, KLUV, Dallas, were talking the morning after Manziel showed that immaturity in a pre-season game. Jody has been in the market forever and knows football, having played it in college. His comments are raw, real, and very honest. The audience is nodding up and down, having their own connection moment with the show because of how well this topic was handled.
Some of the best ideas happen when you marry opposites. Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” video is now up to 60-million views on YouTube. It’s racy, over-the-top, and being talked about. This week’s Free Idea comes compliments of Kyle of Kyle and Rachel, Radio NOW, Indianapolis, who suggests you show the video to polite, courtly grandmothers to get their aural reaction as they watch it.
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Sometimes the really fun ideas come out of a simple statement someone makes. My neighbor, talking about her three kids returning to school in the next week, said, “Kids go dumber over the summer.” So we have something for the show! Talk to moms with kids in the car headed off to a new school year. The kid comes on and tells you the grade they’re going into. Find out if the kid went dumber over the summer by asking them questions from the grade they graduated from a few months ago.
There seems to be a Gen-Con convention in every city every week now. My good friend, Dom Theodore, always preached to find the odd balls and get them on the show because that was great entertainment for the masses. Dom is right. Gen-Con was just in Indy. Kyle and Rachel, Radio Now, Indianapolis had two paths to potentially follow to get this odd ball fun on their show. They could chat about it based on what they read in the paper, saw on TV, and what their friends said. Or they could go there, immerse themselves in the event to feel it, while talking with attendees. The latter approach takes more time, but results in way better authentic content. Here are two breaks of Kyle talking to those who went to Gen-Con and his having fun with them. This is terrific, real life, genuinely fun radio.
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