Dave and Veronica, WQYK, Tampa The Mayor Does Thriller
This is one of my all-time favorite breaks, done by the great Dave and Veronica, WQYK, Tampa several years ago. Dave was absolutely fearless and both had work ethics out the door. There was no idea we came up with that scared them, if they heard it in their head. With Halloween approaching, we wondered what it would be like to get local dignitaries to do their version of Vincent Price’s poem at the end of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Knowing that there was a town hall meeting coming up in his building with the mayor of St. Pete, Dave decided to show up and ask the mayor to do it in front of a room full of people. The room had a righteous what-the-hell-is-going-on-here reaction when Dave took the mic. The mayor was confused, too. But he played along in this impressive break that no one else thought to do. The St. Pete mayor does Thriller. Go be different around the big topics. Think about the talk this one break caused for the show. Enjoy!
What’s the audience looking for when they turn you on? Yes, humor and companionship. They’re also looking to connect with people just like them. That is one of the foundational images that jettisons you to success. “They are just like me,” is one of the most powerful things an audience can say about its favorite morning show. Like all their fans, Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston is having issues when they order stuff online. Everywhere they turn, they can’t get what they want due to “supply chain issues”. Sometimes the best breaks are the easiest. A quick conversation to communicate they know what the audience is experiencing. Followed by phone calls of passionate (sometimes upset) listeners who cannot get the simplest things ordered in their life. Great radio is “me, too”. That’s when the audience hears the content and is entertained by it because it speaks for them, as well.
Topic + Treatment + Tone. The 3 T’s of Content as espoused by the folks at Coleman Insights. Are you on the very best topics of the day? What will your treatment be of those topics? The tone is the emotion you want listeners to feel. Some of the best content comes from the lives of the cast, as shown here by The Josie Dye Show with Matt and Carlin, Indie 88, Toronto. Josie has kids and regularly checks books out of her local library. Being forgetful (that’s character development), she sometimes misses bringing the books back to the library. That’s why Matt and Carlin regular make her call the library to see if “the books” have been returned. As you’ll hear in this week’s audio, the guys on the show make up fake book names, all quite embarrassing and racy, just to hear Josie say it and to see if the librarian has a reaction. The topic and tone are great here. The treatment is what sets it apart.
It’s not a revolutionary observation to note the true power of social media. I post something clever, fun, personal, or heartwarming. You like or comment on it. I keep checking on reactions. And feel like a super star as it grows in popularity. Rinse and repeat! Radio is the same way. We spent last week at many of the shows I coach elevating listeners for what they do for their communities. Our mission, in the face of 9/11, the worst thing that happened to America in our lifetime, was to show the best in people. We actively searched for regular listeners who have causes important to them and profile them on the show. Our week wasn’t necessarily dedicated to first responders. And we didn’t want to do all the low-hanging fruit asking listeners where they were when 9/11 hit (all of it twenty year old content). Our mission was to be about now and to control how listeners felt about our show by highlighting regular listeners who make the community better (local content!). Elevating these people made them more popular, which happened to us, too. Here are Tony and Kris, WIVK, Knoxille, with one conversation they had which accomplished all of those strategic goals with our 9/11 content.
Our audio this week is a terrific example of teasing a benchmark. Two important qualities of an effective benchmark include that you intrigue me. The other is you must make me feel something. Often we offer bland teases: “coming up next is our Hollywood Report.” That’s snooze city. There’s nothing there that either intrigues or gives me an emotion. Then the marginally better: “J Lo is back in the news, tell you more next.” Then this: “You won’t believe what Hollywood couple is back together again after breaking up four times.” The latter works because it’s intriguing. Lexi and Banks, K-BULL 93, Salt Lake City tease benchmarks well. Here’s a tease and solicit for calls for their feature That’s All I Need to Know About You. They use a clip of an admission to the feature from the previous day to intrigue and make me laugh so I’ll call with mine (or stay to hear other listener’s contributions). That’s how you tease!
We offered up a new 
Great radio is a story-telling medium. Let’s tell stories. Even better, let’s tell them in the first-person. If you have an experience, your telling it is the best route to get the most authentic details at their most emotional. If others are included in the story (i.e. your mom, a neighbor, your pastor), invite them to play a role in telling the story, too. Because they might have other details or a different perspective that will have fresh tension and conflict. That will make the content more electric. But, if you aren’t part of the story, instead of telling someone else’s narrative, ask them to tell it. Simple, but effective storytelling here when Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston found out that someone they know was on Jeopardy. Instead of them recanting it, they invited the friend to tell her story. Always find the principles of any story and get them to share their experience. It’ll be perceived much differently by listeners if you facilitate that and ask the obvious questions from your POC (point-of-curiosity). Note they started with the audio from Jeopardy – smart!