Karen, Johnny, and Anthony, WNEW-FM, New York with Hey Dad, We Need Toys

There’s this concept of doing your break for the person least interested.  If you can craft a break around a topic and a listener who doesn’t care about that topic is entertained, you win big.  Karen Carson in the Morning with Johnny Minge and Intern Anthony, WNEW-FM, New York raised toys for disadvantaged kids over the holidays.  In our effort to stand out and engage those in the audience who don’t have the resources or would not send a toy for any reason, we needed to grab them emotionally, too.  So each of the cast members called their fathers on-air to ask them to donate some toys.  Which got us a “can you top the last dad” vibe.  Listen to these two breaks through the lens of not caring about what they’re doing.  If you are engaged by what the show did to promote the toy drive, the show won.

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston 8 Bit Hits

Effective games do two things:  they’re fun to hear and they have a play-along factor.  Enter 8 Bit Hits, played by Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston, when promotions gives them prizes.  They have a website that will convert any song into an 8 bit hit.  Meaning the song becomes cheesy, sounding like it belongs in a 1980s computer game.  One of the things that’s helped this show rise to #1 women in the market is they’ve increased their arsenal of things done on the show that are entertaining to hear when people are in cars.  8 Bit Hits is one of their many ideas that helps them win images with those who truly matter to their success, people driving to work who tune in to have a good time.  Here’s their Christmas version of this fun game.

Dave Coombs, WLZX, Springfield, MA/WKLH, Milwaukee Fun with AI

My friend Dave Coombs, WLZX, Springfield, MA and WKLH, Milwaukee is an innovative spirit.  Dave has this wonderful ability to both identify the big topics around him (those things most of his audience is aware of) and match them with his sense of humor, to create a break no one else could do.  The way you stand out is by choosing familiar topics for your show, then doing something with those topics no one else thinks of.  Dave knows use of AI is everywhere.  So he got AI to replicate the voices of celebrities to create this fun break that made for lots of laughter in the room.  The only sustainable advantage you’ll ever have over your competitor is to out-innovate them.  This isn’t a typical radio “bit” because it came Dave’s quirky sense of humor.

Logan and Sadie, WINK-FM, Ft. Myers, FL with Santa Paws

So many of you are off doing a community service project with the holidays here.  Good on you!  There are a few different levels of projects like these.  One is the actual raising of the item or money you’re asking listeners to donate.  This is important, although it impacts a very small percentage of your audience.  What moves them to give is first-person accounts of the cause you’re working on.  Which is why it’s so important to talk with those affected by the cause, who most benefit from what you’re doing.  Facts tell, stories sell.  Those folks have stories and they can help you accomplish two important goals:  move more listeners to give and show your humanity to those who don’t.  Logan and Sadie, WINK-FM, Ft. Myers, FL are doing their annual Santa Paws where they ask listeners to donate a dog toy that will be given to animals at a local shelter.  Here they are talking with the gal who runs the animal shelter, helping them do both items noted above.

John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego with Show Us Your Cans

Many shows will do their big community service project before the end of the year.  It’s important to remember that you’re talking with two distinct groups of people when you do this:  those who will give and those who won’t.  The latter group is much bigger.  Your goal is to impact the images of those listeners by showing them your heart and humanity.  A yearly project for John and Tammy, KSON San Diego is their annual Food Fund where they ask listeners to donate canned goods to the local food bank.  It’s a tenured and very successful project for them.  Their fans always step up to help them reach their goal.  But with a nod to the latter group of those who won’t or can’t give and with the objective of impacting how those folks view the show, John did a goofy song this year called Show Us Your Cans.  It brought humor to the effort and helped the fundraiser operate on multiple levels emotionally.  The song and full break are below.

The AD Rowntree Show, KSHE, St. Louis with Politics At Thanksgiving Dinner

If you talk about topics and make observations the typical listener might think, “How does he know what goes on in my house?” you are in a good spot to be tagged positively as relatable to the audience.  This is why each show I work with plays in the sandbox of what the average listener might be doing right now when prepping.  The AD Rowntree Show, KSHE, St. Louis knows that politics will somehow make its way to the Thanksgiving dinner.  So that was the topic.  They asked the audience who’ll first bring up politics, alienating everyone.  When you are in the zone of relatabilty, that’s when most listeners will have fun.  Here’s one call they received on the topic where a listener disguised his voice out of a fear of being heard by the person he was convinced would be the violator!

Foxx and Annie, WCBS-FM, New York City with Annie’s Baby Announcement

There are things that happen to cast members on a show that are indelibly memorable and highly connective.  Having a baby is one of them.  It’s so relatable to the audience and gives them a chance to cheer for that person.  We searched for many ways to announce the pending birth of Annie’s third baby on Foxx and Annie, WCBS-FM, New York City.  We felt the news to be large enough to do something bigger than just share it with the audience.  The unique idea we landed on was asking the audience what celebrity they might know who’d do it for us.  Our first pass was to get listeners involved in helping construct the ending.  All along, though, we had the celebrity chosen.  The program approached the iconic play-by-play guy for the Yankees, John Sterling, who gladly agreed.  Our job each day is to take our relatable topics and do them in a unique way.  This one’s an A+.

George, Mo, and Erik, KILT-FM (The Bull), Houston with Dress Codes

One of radio’s strengths is the relatabilty of its talent.  When the audience leaves the show having a perception that you are just like them, a connection happens that fuels authenticity.  We only hang out in life with people we have something in common with.  That’s why it’s so important to share your life and do things which indicate you’re a regular person.  George, Mo, and Erik, KILT-FM (The Bull), Houston excel at this.  Mo thinks there should be a dress code when you go to certain places.  Like your kid’s school or the Walmart.  Once you present the topic and listeners nod their head in agreement, you’re connecting.  Here’s a simple, yet powerful phone topic they did.  Hear how they present it, then the listeners contributing because they see it, too.  This is real and that’s why it works.

Logan and Sadie, WINK-FM, Ft. Myers, FL Rest In Peace Rascal

There tends to be two kinds of talent:  those who have no filters and share everything in an effort to bond with their fans.  And those who have lines they’ll go to but not cross in the kind of relationship they want with the audience.  Which are you?  Logan and Sadie, WINK-FM, Ft. Myers, FL just tested that.  Part of Sadie’s character is that she recuses dogs.  She’s talked many times over the years about Rascal, one of her toughest rescues.  Rascal had many health issues and, in this last week, passed away.  How honest and vulnerable can you be with the audience when things are sad in your life?  Here’s Sadie sharing the news about Rascal with listeners.  Hear, too, to how supportive and understanding Logan is in this conversation.  Instead of trying to dominate it, he gave her space and slipped in when necessary.  These kinds of breaks are quite powerful to build that connection with the audience.

Gregg and Fast Freddy, MIX 104.1, Boston The Oops Moment

Ain’t nothing better than when you can laugh at yourself.  We have all asked seemingly innocent questions or done mindless things, only to find ourselves in quite the embarrassing situations.  We are storytellers and this feature called The Oops Moment, done by Gregg and Fast Freddy, MIX 104.1, Boston, proves that.  They have a platform to share their embarrassing moments, reminding the audience how human they are.  Then they make the great pivot by inviting the audience to share theirs.  They disarm fans to be vulnerable so everyone can have a solid laugh around real life content, at their own expense.