Archive for category: Audio

Thunder and PT, 102.9 The Wolf, Minneapolis with Hillbilly Jean

One of the things I’ve learned from research (focus groups and dial testing) is that listeners love when you do something centered around the music you play on the station.  This is not something like gossip around artists, but when you actually do music-based content.  It draws you into the station brand (always smart) and is widely liked.  Thunder and PT, 102.9 The Wolf, Minneapolis did this regularly.  PT tells a story about singing at the dinner table with his family, then Thunder gets creative by meshing two songs together for an ear worm.  Here, they marry country artist Billy Currington with Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean.  All around fun, distinct, and unique for content.

Trey and Loren Raye, WCBS-FM, New York City with Primetime Disasters

An iconic radio station gets a new morning show and the haters will show up.  This stems from the fact that listeners hate change.  Their disliking the new show usually comes from discomfort because of the disruption in their morning routine.  Enter Trey and Loren Raye, WCBS-FM, New York City who started on the iconic brand a few weeks ago.  Also welcome those who voice this displeasure with the new show on social media.  Every great storyline has a villain.  So the show used the negative comments to build sympathy for the show.  Normally, I’d avoid inserting a negative perception into a storyline for a new program.  But this one is different.  They did it through comedy – when you generate laughter, the content becomes more universal.  The show used A.I. for a feature they call Primetime Disasters, highlighting the negative comments.

Zog and Ivy Unleashed, Power 96, Miami with Office Gossip

Listeners love hearing stories and they adore gossip.  Here’s a fresh angle for a new feature that will bring both to your show:  Office Gossip.  No doubt at work, you know stuff about co-workers and have made value judgments on all of them.  In this new occasional bit, open the phones to listeners to share some gossip about something happening in their workplace.  The entertainment comes in the details and follow-up questions you ask.  Zog and Ivy Unleashed, Power 96, Miami do this every few weeks.  Here’s a sampling of what they get.  (Remember – no names – people or offices – probably protect you legally.)

Dave and Veronica, WQYK, Tampa The Mayor Does Thriller

I post this every year around Halloween because it’s truly one of the most innovative breaks a show I’ve worked with has done.  When I worked with Dave and Veronica, WQYK, Tampa, we hatched an idea one October to get the mayor of St. Pete to do his version of Vincent Price’s poem at the end of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”.  Dave was fearless.  He went to a town hall meeting the mayor was having with constituents and told the moderators he wanted to go last with his question.  Once engaged with the mayor, he asked in front of everyone if he would read the poem.  The mayor had no idea what was going on, but played along (it was not a set-up).  It’s dangerous and fun.  And at the time unique and topical.  Here’s the terrific audio of Dave doing it.  Dave passed away years ago.  I miss that guy.

Moug and Karla, B96, Chicago with Truth or Treat

A treatment of a topic rarely taken advantage of is street audio.  Getting outside voices on your show brings some color into the break. Much like when Jay Leno did Jaywalking or David Letterman interacted with people on the streets of New York.  Kudos to Moug and Karla, B96, Chicago for Truth or Treat.  Knowing you have to go to the crowds, they showed up to talk with Chicago Bears tailgaters.  Those folks are slightly loose and all in good moods.  So using them will bring that vibe to the show.  In this feature, they wrote tons of personal questions.  The tailgater had to choose one and answer it.  Note how they had the tailgater read the question.  That brought a fun dimension to the feature as we could hear their voice emotionally react to the personal thing they had to answer.

Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix with Nun Sightings

Shows I work with keep weekend journals.  It’s a common (and very smart) exercise to identify real life content that helps you tell stories about yourself that positions you as being just like the audience.  Everything is fair game in these journals.  We never know what you’ll experience that could become great on-air content.  Enter Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix.  When they were on, these guys did some of the best journals because they are quite observant.  Mark was out with his wife one weekend and saw a nun.  He commented in his journal that you rarely see this any longer.  So we created a new feature for the show called Nun Sightings.  We asked the audience to call the show when they saw a nun.  They had to note the time and place and, our running joke was that it really didn’t happen unless you send  a picture.  Which we used, of course, on social media to get more Nun Sightings!  You’ll enjoy the production value, which makes it even more entertaining.

Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL-FM, Raleigh with Lady Boss

Any time you elevate and celebrate your listeners is good for your show.  Most listeners don’t think anyone is rooting for them.  That’s where you can step in.  There are several versions of features that celebrate the women in your audience.  I like Lady Boss, as done by Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL-FM in Raleigh, because you’re forming an exclusive club.  Your interest in them and hearing their story allows your show to connect with other listeners.  Building a community of lady bosses in your audience is supportive of your female listeners and gives you opportunities down the road to create promotions around this group.

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.

 

Some of the Great Radio Stations I’ve Helped...