The Rickey Smiley Morning Show (syndicated) with the Cat in the House

Some of the funniest morning show meetings I’ve sat in were with The Rickey Smiley Morning Show (syndicated) by Urban One.  Rickey is crazy in a very good way and exceptionally funny.  We often talk about how listeners require engagement very, very quickly.  They have little time for set-ups and process.  The quicker we escalate the drama and keep that at a fever pitch, the greater chance we’ll have of holding on to the listeners’ attention.  Doing this in small, incremental doses sets us up to not just earn positive images, but not let fans become complacent with the break, get bored, and fatigue leaving us for the next hit of dopamine.  Here’s one of Rickey’s Prank Calls.  Listen to how quickly this escalates and stays there.

Zog and Ivy Unleashed, Power 96, Miami with Neighborhood Confidential

Neighbors like to tell on neighbors.  Honestly, what do you think of those people who live in your neighborhood?  What do you know and what do you see about them you rarely tell anyone about?  Who’s cheating on whom?  Who quietly doesn’t like others?  Who has the parties you’re not invited to?  We were looking for a relationships-based weekly benchmark for Zog and Ivy Unleashed, Power 96, Miami.  And organically we hit on this one.  Ivy was telling us about her neighbors and we wanted all the tea.  She had so many great stories that we developed a new feature called Neighborhood Confidential, where we let listeners anonymously tell us juicy stories about those who live nearby.

 

The Cruz Show, Power 106, Los Angeles with Six on Sex

Tension is what creates the lean in moment.  No tension or drama in what you’re doing deprives those listening of the electric moments that make content memorable.  Here is throwback audio from The Cruz Show, Power 106, Los Angeles.  Two topics that tend to work all the time are relationships and sex (this audio is super-edgy, but fits the brand).  We added a feature to the show called Six on Sex, which plays to both topics.  One listener had to answer six very probing questions about their sex life in front of their mother.  The questions got increasingly more personal and revealing, making both the mother and daughter profiled in the feature more and more uncomfortable.  As things escalate, note your own discomfort as the tension ramps up.  This might not be a bit that works for your brand, but it’s the kind of thing where Cruz show fans left not just remembering it, but talking about it because of all the tension.  The Cruz Show is now on Real 92.3 in the market.

 

John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego with the Eric Church Interview

Your first job when doing and interview, especially with an A-lister, is to connect with them.  That opens the portal to talk with them about near anything because they know you did your homework and trust builds.  Enter John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego with an interview they did with country music star Eric Church.  This happened while college basketball season was upon them.  Eric came on because he had a new album to promote.  There’s no “where did you get your inspiration for this album” questions.  These guys know better.  John poking at Eric about his alma mater (UNC) and how a local San Diego team was doing softened Eric to talk with him about drinking and what he was going to do for his wife for the upcoming Valentine’s Day.  It’s a good game plan because it’s what makes listeners interested.

 

 

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston with Barrett is Punished Over His PS5

The audience wants to get to know you.  Your fans will care about the show when they care about you.  Think of any TV show that mattered to you.  When it went off-the-air, you were sad because the characters meant something to you.  That’s part of connection.  So, share those parts of your life that have drama and humanize you.  Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston are masters at this.  Karson’s son got a PS5.  The show made a bet on how long it’d be before Barrett did something where the punishment was them taking his PS5 away.  The brilliance of this is hearing Barrett’s voice, as well as his parents, for not brushing his teeth.  Human, real, drama-filled, along with the perspective of the cast.  Here, I’m learning about everyone (character development), see myself in this story (especially if I have a kid), and care about them through relatability and laughter.

 

Logan and Sadie, WINK-FM, Ft. Myers, FL with the Barry Manilow Interview

Interviews are often not prepped – even with the A-listers.  When offered an interview, there are always two agendas:  the person being interviewed wants to sell something (tickets, web hits, downloads, etc.).  Our agenda is to always entertain and engage the audience.  Which is why, when given the interview, that you not just work based on the press release.  True, you must satisfy the interviewee’s goals.  But that comes after you engage your audience with insights and storytelling from your curiosity based on what you learned about them in prep.  Enter Logan and Sadie, WINK-FM, Ft. Myers, FL with their Barry Manilow interview.  No one would turn down talking to Barry, right?  But, he’s coming on sell concert tickets.  Here are two segments they recently aired.  Note how they bring Barry into a community service project they were doing about pets (knowing he’s a big dog guy) and the other, very mainstream things they did to make Barry even more interesting.  Also note the production value they brought to the conversation to.  All of this broadened the conversation’s appeal, as they helped Barry get his concert sold out.

Garret and Katie, WOKQ, Portsmouth, NH with Lights, Camera, Langley

The topic you choose makes you relatable (“they talk about things I am interested in”), but it’s the treatment of those topics (what you do with them) that makes you memorable.  Radio is a series of experiences for the audience.  Moment-by-moment, if it’s relatable and entertaining, the audience will tend to stick around or return.  Want extra TSL?  Focus not just on the topic, but what you do with it to hold the audience’s attention for those few minutes.  Garret and Katie, WOKQ, Portsmouth, NH had Ella Langley tickets to give out.  They know that only 2% of the audience will try to win them.  So they knew they needed to focus on entertaining those not trying to win them (the other 98%).  Part of Katie’s character is that she is an actress.  So, to build her character around that attribute and entertain those not looking to win the tickets, they did Lights, Camera, Langley.  Create humor with your treatments and the audience who controls a lot of TSL will stick around or return because you have those images.

DJ Zog and Ivy Unleashed, Power 96, Miami with The Name Game

On the show DJ Zog and Ivy Unleashed, Power 96, Miami, they’re always making fun that Ivy can’t remember the names of callers seconds after they introduce themselves.  For those of us with the disease PCB (Permanent Content Brain), we see breaks of character development in all of this!  We hatched this idea where listeners would come on, introduce themselves, and attach an interesting fact about their life to the audience and Ivy.  She then had to hold on to the fact and person’s name (no writing anything down) for 24-hours.  The next day at the same time, the callers came back on, reminded her of their interesting personal fact, to see if Ivy remembered their name.  Did she succeed?  Here’s the audio.

The Morning Bullpen, KILT-FM The Bull, Houston with Erik’s Aunt Passes

Human beings are multi-dimensional.  Those in life you have a deep relationship with can show their many sides.  Sometimes funny, other times serious.  To build a substantial relationship with your fans, you must be able to show all those sides.  When you can dig deep (in your life), you’re a true original talent.  Such was with George, Mo, and Erik with a K (The Morning Bullpen), KILT-FM The Bull, Houston.  Erik’s favorite aunt passed away.  Many shows would just ignore this.  I always wonder why?  If I’m close to you personally, to build that deeper relationship, wouldn’t you share that with me in real life?  Erik eulogized his aunt in a break on the show because it was weighing on him heavily.  Can you be this honest with your audience?

Elizabeth and Radar, 99.1 The MIX, Milwaukee with Fling or Forever

I have great respect for shows that take what could be standard, pro forma content, and twist it even slightly to make it more effective.  Summer is upon us and that brings back memories for many of summer flings.  Did you have one in your life?  You didn’t have to in order to relate to this topic.  Elizabeth and Radar, 99.1 The MIX, Milwaukee know the power of both nostalgia and storytelling.  They took calls from listeners who told them a story about a summer romance they once had.  At the end, they had to guess if the romance was a fling or forever.  What’s best is that twist – in the frame of the topic, listeners followed along and guessed in their minds, too.  Creating  content that listeners had to pay attention to because of how it was designed.