Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston with Make Your Mess Your Message

I love shows that own their shit!  Some radio talent want to paint the most perfect picture of themselves.  What do listeners want to be around but flawed, human beings.  When you slip and fall, it’s always smart to run towards it for content, as it makes you mortal to them and, like it would happen in real life, draws fans closer.  Take Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston.  Karson had promised in December to attend a local Christmas tree lighting.  As the ceremony started, the organizers called to find out where he was.  He wasn’t even close as he’d forgotten to put it in his calendar.  What did he do on the next show?  Brought them on to apologize.  He owned it, took his beating, his teammates made fun of him, and the organizers let him off the hook.  And the audience loved him even more for all of it.  As the title above suggests, if you have a mess, make that your message.

The Long Chew Challenge

Given the pressure of the world, if you need a stupid and inane idea, do the Long Chew Challenge.  Go buy ten brands of gum and find ten people in the building who’ll chew it and log how long it takes before each piece runs out of flavor.  Catalog everything.  All in your effort to find the brand of gum that lasts the longest.

Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA with Are We Rick Rolling

Rick Astley is having a birthday and, because Rick Rolling is a thing, Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA created content from it.  You’d never know how many artists actually sound like Rick Astley.  They grabbed the hooks of several songs.  Some of them Rick and some not.  The listener had to correctly guess if they were being Rick Rolled when they heard the hook.  I love several things about this idea:  it’s music and hit-oriented and there’s never a downside to do something musically.  The audience is playing along because this is vicarious.  And who’s not singing as the hooks are playing because all the songs are familiar.  Familiarity is really critical when people wake up so you can help acclimate them into the day.  All around a simple and effective idea.

The Pothole of Pennies

With all the talk of no longer making pennies, here’s one you can plan on once winter is over in your market.  Find a big pothole somewhere in the metro.  Let listeners guess how many pennies will fit in that pothole until it’s filled.  It’s great social engagement for a week, then go do it, with a video you can release once done.  Maybe get the mayor on, too, to get the pothole filled properly when you’re done.

Steve’s Pet Peeves Volume Two

What’s it like to listen to 7-8 hours of morning radio each day?  Well, you’ll need to sit with me each morning to find out.  Each show gets one hour of listening so I can get a sense of what they’re up to.

The goal for any show and any talent is to conquer content and create connection.  One of the most satisfying aspects of coaching is when I hear talent do that effortlessly.

Many of these shows are mine, some aren’t.  That’s where this list comes in.  There are certain small things shows do that, at the end of the day, have a minimal impact on their perceptions and ratings.  But enough to catch my ear and become a pet peeve.  I released volume one which you can find here.

It’s time for a fresh ten we’ll call volume two:

  1. Reading texts and Facebook posts instead of curating listener phone calls. I know that’s how many listeners interact with shows now, but we still must craft breaks that sparkle with more than chatter. Hearing other listeners voices do that.
  2. Teasing what prizes you have to win. There’s very limited appeal to that tease.  Promoting your content will impact 100% of your audience. They come for content.  Not to win something.
  3. Changing something about your show because you got a few complaints online. Those four people might be wrong.
  4. The phrase “everyone loves it”.  Unless you’ve surveyed 100% of your fans, that could be wrong, too.  Not to discount that those people do love “it” but that doesn’t mean everyone does.  Everyone is not five people.  Another vote for being strategic.
  5. Things like tweaking your processing or getting new jingles or sweepers and believing they will change the perceptions of your show and the ratings will go up. Not that you shouldn’t update your presentation, but doing it doesn’t have the impact some think it does.
  6. Shows that think they should move their benchmarks around so lots of people hear them. That’s a solid mistake to make.  You can’t groom an appointment at a certain time and then take that bowl of ice cream away from those who make that feature part of their daily routine.
  7. Use of first-person words (I, me, mine). I have this to give out; I’m going to do this next; Call me now.  It should be:  We have this to give out.  Call us now.  We’re going to do this next.  Your story or opinion is first person.  All else is collective.  Don’t send the signal to your teammates that it’s your show.  What we do is ours.
  8. Shows that air guests (callers or interviews) and then dominate the conversation. Once the guest or caller comes on, they should be the center-of-the-universe.
  9. Talent who rarely say the name of the show or station on the back side of the break. You just did a great content.  Remind the audience who did it, so you get the credit!
  10. Shows that forget there are tons of people checking them out for the first time every morning. Do resets so they feel a part of the family as a first-time listener.  I recently listened to a show for the first time that had two guys as the co-hosts.  Their names are very similar.  I left a few hours later not knowing who was who.  Not good.  The anchors on Eyewitness News in your market have been there for decades.  They still reset their newscast coming out of commercials.  You’d be shocked at the number of tenured shows that forget this.

I know you’ll be excited to hear I have enough for future collections.  Have one?  Let me know here.

Thunder and PT, 102.9 The Wolf, Minneapolis with Farmalee for Parmalee

Laura Ries wrote a great book on how to name things called Battlecry.  It’s a short but very instructional on how to name products.  It’s worth your time if looking to name a new benchmark or even a one-and-done game.  Often, when stuck, I’ll use RhymeZone to see what words in the English language rhyme with a primary word around what I’m doing.  Taking both of these to heart are Thunder and PT, 102.9, Minneapolis.  The team recently had Parmalee tickets to give out.  They came up with a clever name called Farmalee for Parmalee (rhyming is one of the techniques discussed in Laura’s book).  They substituted a farm animal for a word in a hit song by the country group.  Listeners had to identify the missing word to win.

Chicken and the Eggs

Sounds like everyone’s talking about the price of eggs.  How about finding a farmer who’ll let you adopt a chicken and then, once that chicken lays a dozen eggs, give them away to one lucky listener?

Super Bowl Bets

Will a player or coach cry during the National Anthem?  What color will the Gatorade be that’s poured on the wining coach?  The biggest day for betting in America is the day of the Super Bowl.  Find the oddest with a Google search, but locate someone from a betting site to come on to run down the full list of the oddest things people are wagering on around the game for a better break.

Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA with The Stolen Car

Sometimes listeners bring stories filled with drama.  What makes the best stories memorable are details of tension that advance them to conclusion.  Watch any great TV show or movie and this is the technique script writers use to hook us quickly and keep us on the edge of our seats so we stay until the end.  Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA had one such experience in their Feel Good feature when a caller told them that he solved the case of a stolen car in the neighborhood by accessing the cameras outside his house.  When he found out a neighbor’s car was taken outside his home, he looked at the footage to help the cops nab the culprit.  What we’re given is a compelling story of high drama and humanity of one person helping another.  This is memorable content.