Brian and Chrissy, WGNA, Albany, Valen-Rhymes

Brian and Chrissy, WGNA, Albany did something fun and different for Valentine’s Day last month.  With a mission to be super local, the team partnered with a country artist who lives in town and got him to do custom Valentine’s Day songs for listeners as gifts for their significant others.  The effort happened on several levels – getting to know the couple the song was being written for, customizing the song, then getting the local artist to record the Valen-Rhyme, which was presented to them.  This works because it was topical and different.  Then it scored its biggest points being local and fun to hear. We often do things in radio and play with whatever is presented to us at that time (i.e. a phone topic where we only get to use whatever is called in at that moment).  Brian and Chrissy seized control of this idea, orchestrating the listener calls prior to the holiday, gathering the info to write the songs, then penning them with the local artist, who recorded them.  The audience would have never known, nor would they have cared.  Listeners just want relevant content that is entertaining.  That they put these elements in place to create memorable content for the holiday helped craft and present breaks to their fans they’d laugh at and come back for more of the show’s brand of fun the next day.