Kick-Ass Audio Breaks

I’m a fan of trivia games that allow the audience in cars, driving to work, to play along.  I’ve featured many on these pages over the years.  This one works not just because it accomplishes that but because its name is memorable and the trivia questions are cut from today’s headlines so it helps the show be contemporary.  I also preach let’s be about now.  Every trivia game must have its genre of trivia and this is about current events.  Zog and Ivy Unleashed, Power 96, Miami play Trends with Benefits twice each morning to accrue those images and help define Ivy as the one on the show who’s tapped into whatever is going on in the world and in the market.

You might be doing a community service project now to show your heart.  That’s a smart move to rally the audience to help you reach some goal to make the community a better place.  Listeners are searching for any reason to feel better about their town, those less fortunate, and themselves.  Your event probably does all of that.  Matt, Gabe, and Captain Ron, KKWF (The Wolf), Seattle just wrapped up their annual effort called Operation K-9 Companion where they ask the audience to help them buy and train service animals for soldiers who are home with PTSD.  Lots of country stations do this – it’s a great event.  This year, the team rallied their listeners to help them raise over $400,000 in one week.  That number is outstanding.  I reminded them that this week-long effort is not a fundraising event.  It’s a story-telling event.  Tell stories and you’ll motivate more people who are inclined to give to do so.  You’ll also elevate the images of your show with those who won’t.  Below are two stories told that showcase two very different emotions.  In the first, they surprise the woman who runs the organization with her mom, who beams with pride.  In the other, a soldier tells a tough story about how his service dog passed away.  Both stories have intense emotions, elevating things for the team.