For even more inspiration, check out these breaks from my clients—and get a taste for what I bring to the proverbial table with my talent coaching.
Want me to show your team how to strategically develop kick-ass content that turns listeners into raving fans?
The Daly/Migs Show, 99.9 KISW, Seattle with Fun With the Mall Santa
It’s not just the topic you choose that makes the break relatable and memorable. It’s what you do with the topic that accomplishes that. To help make breaks sticky, think about what you could do with your chosen topics that would give the audience a unique, fun experience no other show in town would. Enter the Daly/Migs Show, 99.9 KISW, Seattle. Anything Christmas works now because….well, you know why. But these guys? Well, they went to a Seattle mall to interview a mall Santa. Great topic, excellent execution. And to heighten things further, in another break for the show, they had the mall Santa play their signature trivia game Beat Migs. Glorious all the way around.
Kira and Logan, WOKQ, Portsmouth, NH with The Tribe
Every show has an issue with phones. Listeners aren’t calling to participate in phone topics or games like they used to. The reason is obvious: they can interact with their favorite shows in other ways (texting, social media) and they’re simply too busy to phone in. When we talk about using listeners to help a break sparkle, there are other ways to do this past opening the phones. Kira and Logan, WOKQ, Portsmouth, NH have assembled The Tribe. These are the opinionated and fun co-workers in their building. They’ve figured out all the ways they will need other voices to elevate a content break early in the week. Then assemble The Tribe in a studio and ask them to participate. Here’s an example of them doing this. Airing something like this actually makes the phones ring more. It’s a simple way to make content more than just the team talking with one another so those not calling in are entertained.
Moug and Karla, B96, Chicago with Treadmill Trivia
Every once in a while you get a content break that ticks multiple boxes. This one earns these images: it’s local, it’s character development, it’s unique in its execution, and it’s fun. John Moug from Moug and Karla Mornings, B96, Chicago is a new dad (character development). He’s also worried about his weight and new to town. He signed up to run in the Hot Chocolate 5K (local) and it’s been a story arc on the show. To help get him prepared, the team put him on the office gym treadmill, asking trivia questions about Chicago he should know living there for almost a year (local). For every question he gets wrong, they increase the speed (fun). This one earns multiple images. Also note that about halfway through, they re-set things for those in the audience that turned them on in the previous few minutes who missed the setup.
The Joanne, Jason, and Ben Show, WOMC, Detroit with the North Pole Debate
How did your show do last week with the US election? Many avoided it because it was so charged. Not a bad move for many shows. But…if you can handle it comedically, it potentially opens the door to tackle it as a topic. Enter Joanne, Jason, and Ben, WOMC, Detroit who imagined a debate at the North Pole, with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as a candidate and Santa as moderator. Throw in a quirky angle like this to a tough topic, leave the audience laughing, and you may never get dinged for doing politics. This is super clever and creative. It also makes the show relevant around the treatment of the big topic no one else will do.
Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA with My Mom Made Me Do It
Nothing could be more endearing than putting a parent on the show. It’s also quite efficient character development because you go from being a radio host to being someone’s kid for those few minutes. While brainstorming content for Halloween, Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA realized they had very similar experiences with their mothers and costumes when kids. Option A is to tell the audience about it and then get listener’s stories. Option B is is to get their moms on to participate in the telling of the story. This shifted the break from being a monologue (I tell you a story vs. we tell you a story) to a dialogue. Option B is much more robust and entertaining because the human dynamic appears in a conversation.