George, Mo, and Erik, KILT-FM, Houston We Need A New Area Code

Know how I know an idea is great?  I’m jealous I didn’t think of it.  Curiosity fuels creativity.  In a brainstorm, asking the “I wonder…” question leads to well, wonderful places.  Such is the case with George, Mo, and Erik, KILT-FM, Houston and this week’s audio.  The team learned that Houston will need another area code next year because of population growth.  I wonder how area codes are decided?  I wonder who makes those decisions?  Those are two of the “wonder” questions they pondered so they explored them.  The show first talked to someone nationally who approves new area codes.  That person told them to call the Texas Utilities Commission, which they did in the second segment.  The show first lobbied for 468, as that spells HOU.  It’s taken in Canada.  So they opened the phones and a listener suggested 489  which spells HTX.  All the way around, this is local, relevant, creative, and fun because it came from the wonder of the team.  I give this an A+.

Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix The Tide Pod Controversy

The frivolous always wins and tends to be the stickiest content.  Proven here by Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix.  The show got into a conversation about the right number of Tide Pods one should use with a load of laundry.  All coming from a conversation Mark had with his wife.  This became a short term story line on the show, as proven by this break.  Some things to hear:  the caller wanting the update happens very quickly in the break to grab the listener.  Then Paul is smart and does a reset for listeners who are unaware of what’s going on (very smart).  They then push the narrative forward with another caller plus a quick Q&A with a co-worker who helped advance things.  The structure of all of our breaks needs to be like this so the three minutes of content feels shorter.  The other very important thing to note is how stressful the world is so a controversy about something silly like how many Tide Pods to use with a load of laundry will be remembered.

 

Thunder and PT, 102.9 The Wolf, Minneapolis Taylor Swift’s Valentine Line

Our audio this week highlights the best way to solicit for listeners when you want them to do something creative to win a prize.  Last February, Thunder and PT, 102.9 The Wolf, Minneapolis had Taylor Swift tickets to give out.  Her tour was in town and it happened to be Valentine’s month so they brought both topics together, which is brilliant.  The idea was asking listeners to leave Taylor a love message on their Valentine Line – the purpose being to generate audio for the show (content) with the best winning the tickets.  The smart move here was Thunder doing his Valentine so those wishing to enter would know what they were looking for.  This break is fun for those not entering (a very important point) and instructive to those who will.  Guess what they got over the next few weeks?  Fun entries from listeners because they gave an example of what they wanted instead of just explaining it.

Karen Carson with Johnny Minge and Intern Anthony, WNEW-FM, New York City Hey It’s Father’s Day

Relevancy almost always is being topical.  What are the big topics today and what are you doing with them to create fun and capture the imagination of your audience so they come back for more the next day?  This weekend we celebrate Father’s Day and Karen Carson with Johnny Minge and Intern Anthony, WNEW-FM, New York City are all over it, as is evidenced by these two breaks from this past week.  I love the first because it’s never been done before, which makes it unique.  Karen hadn’t bought her dad a gift yet so Johnny and Anthony got him on to quiz him about much he knows about her.  Each correct answer netted a dollar amount Karen had to spend on his gift.  While done before, the second and third breaks are two dads telling dad jokes.  They’re included because they’re just so damn funny.

Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL-FM, Raleigh Offer Accepted – Bryan Finally Buys a House

Buying a house is an adventure.  Part of Bryan’s character on Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL-FM, Raleigh is that he’s starting a family.  With baby number two almost here, the listeners have been following the on-going saga of Bryan and his wife making offers on bigger homes with them not getting one because their offers were too low.  Relatable content, right?  Then one day the heavens open and they win the bidding war.  Here’s a break of the reveal of that good news.  We want the audience to get to know the characters on the show.  These stories can’t be done by anyone else.  One item I also want you to hear is the pivot.  At just the point the audience might fatigue with the story, they bring on the mayor of the town where Bryan lives (Apex, NC) to tell him that Bryan’s new house is also in Apex, so he’s staying in town.  It’s a great transition and makes the break even more fun.  I love content that’s story-based and breaks that can’t be done by anyone else.  This lives up to that.

Sarah Pepper and Jessie Watt, KHMX, Houston Remembering Ulvade

Sometimes the best breaks are the easiest breaks.  They sit right in front of you, waiting to be done, and will bring you impressive imagery.  This past week was the one-year anniversary of the school shootings in Ulvade, Texas.  Because there are so many shootings in America, this content might not pass noticed.  Unless you’re a show in Texas.  Then you could even consider it local content.  Sarah Pepper and Jessie Watt, KHMX, Houston excel at touching the audience.  Often in easy, but quite powerful ways.  In their trending feature, they decided to note the one-year anniversary by simply reading the names of the students and teachers who died that day.  They followed it with a song to keep the audience reflective.  That’s where many listeners were that morning.  They were right there with them.  This content, and the way it was done, was impressive.

Karen, Johnny, and Intern Anthony, WNEW-FM, New York Karen Forgets to RSVP

We’re story tellers.  And one of radio’s greatest super powers is our intimacy – our ability to connect with the audience and remind them that we are just like them.  When you have a story that has several participants, it’s always best told when the tension and drama that drives how compelling a story is, to put those in the story on your show to tell it, too.  One of the greatest strengths on Karen Carson in the Morning with Johnny and Intern Anthony, WNEW-FM, New York is they have lives just like their audience.  Karen forgot to RSVP to Intern Anthony’s fiance’s bridal shower.  Average shows would just talk about it and maybe launch a phone topic.  Not these guys.  They made Karen call Anthony’s future mother-in-law to apologize.  It’s this pivot in the story telling that keeps the audience hooked in the break to hear how it turns out, putting that tension on full display.

Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL-FM, Raleigh Love Him or List Him

If you target women, it’s always encouraged that you have a regular feature on the show that is relationships-based.  There are the standards that work:  Second Date Update or War of the Roses.  But here’s one you might not have heard called Love Him or List Him as done by Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL-FM, Raleigh.  You’re right about the name.  It’s very similar to the show on HGTV.  That’s on purpose because the name has equity.  Its simple thesis:  a woman comes on who’s been with a guy for a short time.  She sees some odd behavior and wonders if she should love him (stay with him) or list him (stop dating him).  Air listener’s advice then go back to her with the results.  A few things to listen for in this segment:  the quirky jingle up front to grab listeners, how quickly the show gets to her telling her story, they localize where the drama happened, all those listener calls (who had stories), and then the resolution.

Dave, Mahoney, and Audrey, KSLX, Phoenix with Dave’s Mother-in-Law Is In Distress.

New shows have a different strategy and work on different images than tenured programs.  Enter Dave, Mahoney, and Audrey, KSLX, Phoenix.  Replacing Mark and NeanderPaul (Mark retired and Paul moved to middays) only several weeks ago, we needed to form a launch strategy for the new cast.  The core attribute of a Stage One show is unfamiliar people doing unfamiliar things.  When we wake up, we crave what we know and familiarity plays an important role in the choices we make at that time of the day.  So our primary goal is to be very familiar with our topics (because our cast isn’t familiar) and tell lots of stories that define our characters and introduced the team as real people, just like the listeners.  Here’s a simple story, loaded with lots of drama, that Dave told about his wife and mother-in-law.  Both strategic and powerful to serve the goals of launching the new show.

Karen Carson with Johnny Minge and Intern Anthony, WNEW-FM, New York Johnny Is Banned From a Deli (The Narrative)

Narrative arcs are stories that last longer than one break on the show, intended to hook the audience to listen longer (or come back the next day).  Chapter one sets the stage – this is the break of drama (the reason for the break’s being) and establishes the characters.  You must then know your conclusion – if this were a book, what’s its last chapter where you wrap up the story line?  Then, chapters in between that substantively advance the story from start to end.  You can spread these out over days (at the same time to get another occasion, as long as you tell the audience what happens in the next day’s chapter so they come back) or across a few quarter hours to try and extend listening.  Johnny Minge got banned from a deli and we told the audience all about it on Karen Carson in the Morning, WNEW-FM, New York City.  Our chapters are in order below.  Chapter one is the team setting the stage of drama, chapter two is listener calls telling Johnny where they’ve been banned (two breaks).  Chapter three is the show calling Johnny’s parents to find out if they know.  Chapter four (conclusion) is Karen calling the deli, trying to get Johnny un-banned.  This is wonderful and creative character development and very sticky content.