US 99, Chicago, Buying Your Moms’ Cigarettes
Yup, me too. Those three simple words, when thought by listeners, are immensely powerful. In a show’s quest to be honest in its story telling, if the audience hears an experience and reacts by seeing themselves in it, they identify with the material and connect with the person telling it. We’re often asked when is talking about yourself too much. Fair question. The answer is: when the audience doesn’t see themselves in the story and when it no longer is entertaining. Stylz and Roman, US 99, Chicago, reminisced about buying their mother’s cigarettes when they were young. Highly relatable content. To entertain the audience and elevate the story, they got both their moms on at the same time to add another comedic element, then they opened the phones for listener stories. For this Stage One show, with its undefined cast, this is a perfect break.
We are always in search of ideas and bits we’ve never heard before. Personalities must cultivate things to do that listeners can’t find anywhere else on the dial. These points-of-differentiation can become iconic moments in a show and help craft both humor images and additional occasions of listening because the program becomes known for them. Enter Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix, who do a feature called “ZNN: The Zeppelin News Network”. What would the day’s news sound like if it were set to music from one of classic rock’s all time great bands, Led Zeppelin? This feature is funny, topical, and very unique. That it measures to all these thresholds gives this show a great feature to develop positive images that will leverage into quarter hour listening.
We’ve long said that it’s not the topic you choose, but what you do with the topic that makes it stand out. With this being Easter weekend, and a candy weekend for kids, here’s a candy break from John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego. Last October, around Halloween, they had a cute sounding kid read the ingredients of a popular Halloween candy and the listener had to guess which candy it was to win the prize. Remember that 99.999% of your audience has no chance at that prize. They tune in to have a good time. Hearing the kid stumble through the big words in the ingredients is so cute that you cannot help but be engaged. That this idea has a vicarious element to it (you’re guessing the candy in the car, too) is an added bonus to the bit. The topic of Halloween candy at the end of October is a no-brainer. Adding the element of a kid reading these ingredients in a game totally elevates it to a fun experience those tuning in will remember.