Stacey and Jonah, 1065 The Arch, St. Louis Most Patriotic
It’s been a running joke that people immigrating to the United States know more about our country than actual citizens. We decided to test this theory last year around the July Fourth holiday with Stacey and Jonah, 1065 The Arch, St. Louis. We chose three fun co-workers for the test and introduced a local middle school teacher (a friend of a cast member) who would administer the questions. We did this over the course of three days on the program to extend listenership by making it a narrative arc by doing it at the same time. The keys to the win here were that we chose the co-workers based solely on one element – how entertaining they were. The teacher was added spice which allowed Stacey and Jonah to just coordinate the fun. The questions were the same each day as you will hear below, and became vicarious for those driving to work to play along in the car. On the final day, the middle school teacher tallied up the scores and we crowned Most Patriotic.
You can tell someone else’s story, or get them to tell it themselves – which one is better to you? Obviously, it’s the latter. When you hear a great story, make the effort to get the person who experienced the story to come on your show and explore it with them. Doing so brings you a deeper level of honest storytelling, you find out more details which makes the story come to life, and there’s much more emotion to it. You might have seen the viral video of Chris Swanson, the Flint, MI cop who took off his riot gear to be with protestors. Instead of just talking about it, John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego convinced him to come on the show to tell his story. Hearing his voice made all the difference because he lived it and it ended up being pro-cop, a lost perspective with all the protests. This changed the break from C-level to A-level. We all must be better at this kind of prep. Doing this makes the break much more memorable and gives you something around the topic to totally own.
Destinations and payoffs are critical elements to entertaining breaks on the radio. Simply put, once you introduce a topic, do you know where you’re headed or is it unstructured in a way where it’s just chatter which ends when you’re done? You must have breaks that have a bold conclusion to conversation to help them stand out. Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix took note of the governor’s institution of a curfew given the recent protests. This break has two parts: the front part is the fun, organic conversation around the topic. This chat defines our talent and lends a very comfortable feel to the topic via conversation. Its destination is one of the very rare song parodies the show does to heighten the break’s entertainment factor. If you have destinations and payoffs to your breaks (both large and small), you’ll condition listeners to know you’re always taking them to the candy store for some humor and goodness.