If you target women, you can never go wrong putting cute kids on the show. Sean Henry, B103, Rockford, IL offers up “Back Seat Trick or Treat” where moms call who are taking their kids to school. The kid tells you a funny Halloween joke and you give them, as thanks, exactly what they’re focused on this week, a bag of Halloween candy!
To thrive, personality shows must affirm images. The four critical images are those of humor, authenticity, innovation, and relevance. Here’s a terrific break from Dave and Veronica, WQYK, Tampa, which tackles all four, and very successfully. Dave showed up at a town hall meeting with the mayor of St. Petersburg. Going last, he asked the mayor, unexpectedly, to read the Vincent Price poem at the end of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. This took both the mayor and the room (who were complaining about red lights and poor roads) totally by surprise. The mayor, seeing the opportunity, did it, with all having had a good time. There was danger involved in how Dave set this up, as he thought he’d get kicked out of the room. But the exact opposite happened and the show got a great break, loaded with the four images noted above, producing an experience for those listening that was exceptional satisfying.
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It’d be very edgy and create talk if you figured out a way to give out a hazmat suit. You can qualify people by them telling you their symptoms if they’re sick. Guess what they have then qualify them to win the prize, which could be given out on your Friday show that week. Dark humor, given the ebola scare, but it’d certainly get noticed.
Best breaks of the week go to Kyle and Rachel, Radio NOW, Indianapolis. This shows that from the smallest of comments, great ideas can emerge if you just listen for them. On a conference call last week, Bryan Lord (a cast member) said, in casual conversation, that one of the things he hates about hooking up for sex was what his butt looked like when he got out of bed, especially if the gal stared at him. He hates his ass. Seizing on that small comment, we came up with an idea for Bryan to take a selfie of his ass in the bathroom, which was texted to some female listeners in the moment, who came on to critique Bryan’s behind. We created intrigue, which then pushed listeners to the web to see what it looked like. That partial nudity was involved helped the bit. Here are the three breaks and how it evolved on-air. Quite entertaining for those just listening.
A major effort of morning radio is positioning each person on the show as though they’re just like those listening. Recently, Ryno, from Ryno and Tracy, KYGO, Denver, took a few days off to attend a high school reunion. He could’ve just talked about it on the air. Instead, Tracy surprised him by getting on some classmates Ryno hadn’t talked to in quite some time. What’s wonderful about this break is that he had no idea so his reaction was very spontaneous. This added to the entertainment quotient and energy of the break for the audience who were just eavesdropping and reminiscing about their school reunions.
Tired, exhausted, and frustrated with all the political ads you’re seeing on TV? See if any politician will take you up on “The Friendly Four”. If they consent to come on your show and start the break profusely apologizing for their part in all those horrible, ugly, negative ads, you’ll give them a friendly, four-minute interiew without any tough questions.
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