Thunder and PT, 102.9 The Wolf, Minneapolis with the Alan Jackson Scam

A hypothetical: a co-worker tells you a story that they were at a restaurant over the weekend when Ben Affleck and a companion came in and sat at the table next to them.  He talked with your co-worker the entire meal and then paid for it.  What would you do with that?  Sadly, many shows would take the path of least resistance.  They’d get on and tell their co-worker’s story to the audience.  When the smarter move would be to have the co-worker on to tell their story.  When an interesting story appears, always find someone who actually was in the story to come on the show to tell it themselves.  It’ll be much more impactful.  Simple, right?  This is an easy way to make that break better.  Have people tell their own stories – and all you need to do is facilitate it.  Thunder and PT, 102.9 The Wolf, Minneapolis get this.  A listener’s mom is being scammed by a fake Alan Jackson online.  They got the kid on to tell the story and it feels much different.

The IRS Over/Under

Find a provocative question for the IRS with Tax Day approaching (i.e. I work at a strip club and want to get a breast enhancement – is the procedure deductible).  Call the IRS first thing when you come on to see how long it takes to get an actual human on the phone to answer the question.  Then run this as a show theme.  The best part is you can call the IRS now and present it as live.

The Overused Talent Excuse

Which brings me to Facebook and an exchange I had with a morning talent about relevance and appearing tone deaf to the audience.

I was listening to a show in another market getting nailed with bad weather.  With snow falling, here’s the show’s content that morning:  hacks on how to vacuum your house better, a phone topic on what listeners think of Trump’s desire to get rid of pennies, Apple’s new iPhone, and how the dress Meghan Markle wore at a movie premiere only cost $455.  No shit.  What does any of that have to do with what that market was experiencing that morning?

That market was being hit with bad weather, and that’s what the show should have been about.  I noted it on Facebook (without naming names).  A morning guy in another market, wanting to support the show I was listening to, suggested the overused excuse I swat down every time a big topic appears and is not covered:  we didn’t do it because we’re the escape.

Consumers are not rational thinkers – we interact with a brand because of how it makes us feel.

You can see the exchange here.  Out of respect to that morning talent who challenged me with the escape excuse, I have redacted his name and market.

I didn’t suggest what they do with it (that’s up to you).  Howard can go off on gun control because he is very well-defined.  You probably can’t.  But nowhere is it written you can’t discuss something like that and reflect to listeners the sadness and grief they feel knowing the story.

In the bad weather topic noted here, you have options.  You could default to giving out info.  That’s bland, boring, and everywhere.  Or do what only you can do.  Maybe talk to kids who have an unexpected day off from school, making them promise to clean the house.  Convince a cast member’s kid to shovel driveways for $20.  Or talk to snowplow drivers who are cleaning the streets.  You figure out what fits your brand and create treatments to that big topic that reflects who you are and your sense of humor (if applicable).  The escape is the fun you create.

As a talent coach and someone who wants personalities to be the reason listeners turn on the radio, I need your fans waking up each day wondering what you think about everything.

If great radio is about Conquering Content and Creating Connection, we should be on whatever is big right now.  And if one big topic appears on any given day, it’s paramount to do stuff with it that fits you.  Ignore it at your own peril.

Your fans will not tune in to hear a show completely disconnected to the market or world.  Listeners will search for a show that’s relevant.  Being tone deaf to the moment because “we’re the escape” is a poor excuse that powers the success of a competitor who is.

Mojo in the Morning, Channel 95.5, Detroit with The Kids Make Him Cry

There should be so much going on in life (yours and your show) that you can replace the more bland and boring topics with personal stuff.  Character development comes when you’re honest with the audience and when you reveal who you are.  A strategic goal should be to move the audience to care about you so that connection happens.  Some of the very best examples happen on Mojo in the Morning, Channel 95.5, Detroit.  Wanna know why this show is so successful?  The audience feels like they know them.  And we like to spend time with people we know.  Last Father’s Day, the show decided to prove how easy it is for Mojo’s kids to make him cry.  They had each kid send him a note, which he read/played on-the-air.  The reactions are great.  The content and treatment are so good, you can see why a break like this will beat something like Hollywood News every time.

Easter Egg Butts

With Easter about a month away, create a competition between the male members of the show or station where the loser must pose for a picture for social media called Easter Egg Butts.  See an example here.

Trivia Done Right – Dishing Out the Dopamine

In many of the focus groups I conduct or see, a show’s trivia feature usually scores well.  Ever wonder why?

If uniquely presented, they are vicarious.  All game shows on TV are trivia-based yet every one is different – Who Wants to be a Millionaire and The Weakest Link are both trivia games done differently.  A critical item must be noted that helps their popularity.

I’ll often explain a feature’s success from a strategic point-of-view.  Today, let me tackle the success of a trivia feature psychologically.

Every trivia game isn’t about the person on the phone.  That player is a conduit to your having fun and doing content directed at everyone not on the phone.  But its success is about how addictive it can be to those thousands of people in their cars playing along.  What are they looking for?  Fun, yes.  But…

When you ask a player on the air trivia questions in a game and tell them if they’re right or wrong, if the listener in their car gets it right in their head, you give them a hit of dopamine.  You make them feel smarter.  Ask a bunch of trivia questions, every one the listener gets right is another dopamine hit for those in cars who get it right, too.

If they leave the feature feeling smarter, they come back for more the next day for the same reason.  That makes your feature addictive.  (Kinda like if I share a compliment every time I see you, you want to see me more!)

The converse is true, too.  Some trivia features seem to have as a goal to ask hard questions so the person on the phone and those in cars playing along struggle.  Don’t do that!!!  Your fans in cars playing along just woke up and they have limited mental bandwidth.  If you force them to think too hard, they’ll bail, believing your feature is too difficult (hence, no dopamine hits).

Evaluate your trivia feature.  Is it unique in its presentation?  Are you focused on what really makes it successful – people in cars?  And are you dishing out the dopamine, so they get addicted and come back for more?

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston with Does Karson Owe Lana an Apology

Forcing the audience to take a stand on something is another way to emotionally engage them.  Let’s first note that one thing listeners are looking for when they tune in is connection.  They’re fans of your show because you are just like them.  Your content needs to prove this.  A smart way to do that is by telling a story about yourself to prove it.  And what drives successful stories?  Drama, drama, drama.  Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston get that.  We’ve churned out of that show all the bland and boring content anyone can do and replaced it with more personal stuff to define the cast and engage the audience.  Lana, Karson’s wife, believes he owes her an apology for something that happened when she was sick.  Lana and the team go at it here, grabbing the audience.  Then on break #2, it’s their turn to chime in.  Easy, smart, powerful, and memorable radio.

March Sadness

The NCAA basketball tournament is front and center for the next few weeks.  What’s your parody of it?  How will you be topical and engage the audience?  At some shows, we’ve chosen 16 of the saddest songs ever written and will whittle it down with lots of digital and on-air engagement to find the winner of March Sadness.

Jen and Tim, Star 102.1, Cleveland with the RnR Hall of Fame 80s Music Quiz

Here’s another example of a music-based break that would do very well in research.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a new list of inductees.  Jen and Tim, Star 102.1, Cleveland want to quiz their producer to see if she knows the group based on the song hook.  This is another sing-along, play-along type game for people in cars.  There is no prize involved, yet it still shines because the chemistry of the cast advances the fun, it’s local (because of the Hall of Fame), there is a little character development for the producer, and the show is weaving itself, once again, into the music brand of the station.  I’ve seen breaks like this played in focus groups for listeners – they are always very well evaluated.

The Irish Booth Annoucner

What might be fun is to find someone with an Irish accent and have them be your booth announcer on St. Patrick’s Day on Monday, March 17.  They talk you into stop sets live with teases for what’s next, talk out of stop sets to re-introduce the show, and do all promos and sweepers.