Cellmates is a trivia game played by two listeners who’ve done time or gotten in trouble with the law. They each tell their story of how things went sideways, then each are asked three trivia questions. Between the two, they must get five right to win. Your win comes in hearing how they got in trouble! Thanks to the Daly/Miggs Show, Rock 99.9 (KISW), Seattle for this idea.
With the Trump trial headed to a verdict, I suggested in last week’s Monday Morning Free Idea to engage listeners who’ve been on juries to find out what that was like. You can tackle the Trump trial without ever talking about the ex-president so you don’t trigger the audience. Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston took that challenge and asked listeners who’ve been on juries to tell them about their experience. This is terrific story telling as everyone with an experience has a different one to share. This highlights you don’t always have to be fun, but you must always be relevant and engaging. Here’s a listener telling them about the trial where she judged someone’s fate. This is “lean in” radio.
Without friction, you don’t get any explosion! That’s another way of saying if you don’t have conflict or tension, your story is less valuable to the audience, maybe even worthless. When looking at the stories to tell on-air, ask if there’s a tension of opposing forces. Mix those and then watch what happens. As evidenced by Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA. Back before Mother’s Day, they heard from a stay-at-home mom who wasn’t going to get a gift from her husband. That’s moderate tension, as they wished her well. On the next break, they heard from her husband who said she always complained and that he felt her being able to stay-at-home with the kids was a gift all itself. Explosion. How do you think the audience reacted? Yup, that’s what happened.
It’s believed the Trump trial is rounding the corner to a verdict. Lots of shows have been avoiding the topic (smart) because it’s so polarizing. But there’s no reason you can’t mention the trial, then pivot to wondering what it’s like to be on a jury and solicit for those stories.
Years ago, when he was on in Los Angeles, I had a chance to work with the iconic Rick Dees. On a market visit and having lunch one day, Rick asked if I wanted to stop by his house. Rick and I had our weekly chats on Sundays at 4pm and he wanted to show me where he was when we talked about content.
Who’d say no to that? Not me.
There were many memorable moments touring Rick’s home (you won’t believe what was under the garbage can on the driveway – email me for that story)! But it’s what happened in the bathroom that I’ll always remember.
As Rick brought me through his upstairs, we cut through a bathroom that connected two bedrooms. Almost every drawer in that bathroom was partially opened. I noted this to Rick and that’s when he told me his wife never shuts the drawers completely and it drove him crazy. That’s when I shared with Rick that that was content. Radio was changing from bits to being real with lots of storytelling. And Rick sharing this tidbit about his relationship was quite relatable.
One of radio’s many superpowers is its intimacy. Our ability to remind the audience that we are just like them. How do you curate that valuable character-development content?
Every talent I’ve ever worked with thinks their life is boring. I still ask them to journal through the weekend, keeping track of all they do, even if they don’t think it’s viable content. Weekends are when we’re doing regular-person stuff, just like listeners.
My toughest day for email is Sunday nights, as every talent I work with shares their weekend journals with our entire content team. Two things happen when I read them: I get to know them better as people and can help make them stars because of the stories they tell and content they provide. I also learn about their life so I can have a better relationship with them personally to build trust because I care about them.
Doing nothing but watching golf in your underwear on Sundays might be boring to you, but it might be fascinating to me. I can make that relatable content that defines someone with a little bit of curiosity. On Mondays and throughout the week (including our weekly chats), we all get inquisitive about what we learned from everyone. And then, regular-person content appears that helps us position them as just like their fans so that connection forms (the initial building block to creating a fan is connection).
A sampling of what I’ve learned from those I work with in the last few weeks:
All the above is potential content. Yes, you can talk about yourself too much. It backfires when the audience can’t see themselves in the stories you tell about yourself or they aren’t entertaining. But we must be purposeful in aggregating that content. The little stuff (sometimes the most connective stuff) is forgotten if you don’t collect all of it for a fair shot at sharing it with listeners to forge that connection. Weekend journaling helps you do that.
When Rick shared his take on the bathroom drawers and told me it drove him nuts (Dees nuts?), that’s when we had the a-ha moment. It became content the next day on his show. Rick’s a superstar to his audience. Telling that story said, “I’m just like you.” Connection!
So, I’ll never forget that moment in Rick Dees’s bathroom. A sentence I never thought I’d type.
Journal your life for content and be epic. It’s in you if you’re strategic.
Now, what exactly was under that garbage can on the driveway…
You know what builds your brand and can’t be duplicated? Having interesting, engaging, electric people on your air. People like those we’ve seen at parties everyone is gathered around.
I recently hosted a session for the NAB. The shows featured in the session were asked to finish this sentence: Great talent are…
Check out this list of adjectives describing talent a cut above. How many of these qualities do your talent have? When talking with talent to add to your station, are you screening for these? I’d love you to add to this list below. What’s missing? E-mail it to me here.
Great talent are…
Vulnerable
Fun/Funny
Curious
Fearless
Don’t take themselves too seriously
Know who they are
Have a high work ethic
Have a confident vision for their show
Are humble
Have a heart
Can relate to the audience
Mischievous
Memorable
Inquisitive about everything
Knowledgeable about the world
Give back to their community
Honest
Genuine
Authentic
Have balanced lives
Imaginative
Wonder about the world
Understand that a win is “we not me”
Know a little about a lot of things and a lot about a few things Have stories to tell
Have multiple skill sets
Radiate wattage without saying anything
Interesting people are interested people – folks who have interests outside of radio and vibrate with energy. The people you choose to be around in your life have many of these qualities above. It’s the same way you build a relationship with listeners – and how you turn listeners into fans who want to be around you.
Go find people with these X factors above. The slate of traits that make talent great. Develop them in those you already have on-the-air and listeners will gravitate to you, much like, in real life, you choose to be around friends who are like this, too.
Graduation season is upon us! Get in touch with all the famous and powerful people in your market and ask them to tell you a story about their life that proves the tassel was worth the hassle. They can talk about how much better their life is because they got educated. Would be relevant to feature them when graduations are happening.
I’ve featured on this page examples of the positive news and content features done by many shows. Research has proven over the years that this feature resonates with the audience because the world can be such a negative place. I’ve always encouraged you to feature the good news from listeners instead of just finding good stories that you tell them. What works is letting listeners talk about their favorite topic – themselves! Foxx and Annie, WCBS-FM, New York City had a perfect example of this feature the other day in the 6:40 Feel Good when a listener called to boast about how she learned how to fix her washing machine from YouTube. Listen to this break and hear the listener’s pride!