George, Mo, and Erik (The Morning Bullpen), KILT, Houston Mom of the Year

Every great phone topic on your show should never, ever, ever start from something in a prep service.  Anytime you get the audience to tell you their story should only be after you tell your story.  The best phone calls come when you reveal who you are by sharing something that’s happening in your life now, then flipping the script and asking the audience to talk about themselves.  Use prep service phone topics and the show will sound bland and evergreen.  Generate your own and you’ll be heard as genuine and authentic.  George, Mo, and Erik (The Morning Bullpen), KILT, Houston understand this.  Mo told a story about not being able to get her kid out of a car seat because she’d just had a manicure and didn’t want to ruin her nails.  This becomes “mom of the year” stories where listeners can rat themselves out.  You can’t beat a story like this from a listener.  It can only happen if your story starts it, not a prep service.

The Ed Lover Morning Show, Jams 104.3, Chicago What’s Up With Charcuterie Boards?

The reason Jerry Seinfeld is a megastar is because he sees things we all see and he makes fun from his silly observations.  Enter the Ed Lover Morning Show, JAMS 104.3, Chicago.  Ed has the same sense of humor.  Here’s a simple break whose genesis is Ed wondering where the hell the word “charcuterie” comes from.  We’ve all enjoyed charcuterie boards.  Ed riffs on the word and, Jerry Seinfeld-like, we all nod in agreement and laugh at his observations.  What is your sense of humor?  Are you the observationalist?  The edgy person who mocks current events?  Are you the dad joke guy who laughs at rimshot punchlines?  Or maybe you’re like Jeff Foxworthy and make heady jokes out of everyday things people do.  Or your sense of humor is self-deprecating.  If you’re going to reinforce the authentic images of the show and continue to build humor images, it’s important to know your sense of humor so the show can reflect it.  If you ever met Ed Lover, this is who he is.  Which is why he’s so real.

Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix Weekend Preview With Jokes

When the plot of your show is “smart guys, stupid show”, you have all the context you need for this week’s audio.  If you listen to Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix, you’ll find a show deeply authentic to the two guys on it.  Mark and Paul are exceptionally bright guys, but easily do the dumb stuff with a wink and a nod to the audience, saying to them that they know they’re being stupid.  Show plots must be central to who is on the program.  My job as a talent coach is to get to know the personalities so well that I can help them channel more of their take on the world and sense of humor on the air.  Such is the case with these good guys and this feature proves that.  In Weekend Preview with Jokes, they make overt attempts to be local and, because we know humor drives the show, the jokes they tell fit the plot of the program perfectly.

Zach and Brittney, WBYT, South Bend, IN Zach’s Father-in-Law Loves Him

Being in radio, you and I have a certain super power.  We tend to know when listening to another show and a break starts, where they are going with that content choice.  That’s why curve balls and Easter eggs (unpredictable twists) thrill and delight the audience.  The first break for Zach and Brittney, WBYT, South Bend, IN was a call from Zach’s wife, saying her dad was upset he charged $90 to his father-in-law’s Apple account to stream a movie for the kids when they borrowed their weekend house.  That necessitated a call on the next break to Zach’s father-in-law to advance the narrative.  It was a great tease to a relatable story line.  Except, that’s not what they did.  They provided a different unexpected moment that created an even bolder laugh.

Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL-FM, Raleigh A Pivot Point for Top Talent

We can no longer avoid those serious topics that galvanize the audience.  In some fashion, if the biggest news story of the day is another school shooting, we must acknowledge it in the show, by reflecting back to listeners how they feel.  One of our goals should also be to have developed over time an emotional connection with those tuning in where they feel like they know us so well they’re comfortable calling to share their stories of hardship, too.  This is central to our strategic content strategy with Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL-FM, Raleigh who held that mirror to the audience with the school shootings in Uvalde, Texas.  Our mission is to have such a deep bond that a perfect stranger would call to participate in the show, which happened here.  The team was talking about the shootings when a local woman who was critically injured at Columbine in 1999 was listening.  Encouraged by her kid in the backseat to call and share her story, this listener called to add a first person perspective.  This is the kind of relationship you want with your audience.  That’s how you build trust and a base of loyal listeners who’ll tune in every day.

The Josie Dye Show with Carlin and Brent, Indie 88, Toronto The Jewelry Store’s Been Robbed

There is content everywhere you look – if you see it, the richness it brings your show can be immeasurable if you capitalize on it.  In an off-air conversation with the midday gal, Josie, Carlin, and Brent, Indie 88, Toronto found out that she’d been in a local mall the day before and witnessed a robbery at a jewelry store.  It’s excellent content as it’s a story listeners will want to hear.  That it happened the day before means the emotions and details are fresh so the story will be well told.  The first decision is an easy one – the team had the midday gal on so she could tell her story (they didn’t tell the story for her).  All they had to do was get the details from her in conversation.  Then the pivot, which is so necessary to advance the story line to keep the audience hooked.  They asked for stories from listeners of when they witnessed (or were part of) a crime.  Here’s the break of callers telling their stories.  A bold one to grab the audience at first, then something silly at the end.  Both real life, which is great content for the audience.  Keep your ears open.  There is content all around you.  Just hear the good stuff like this and bring it to your show!

Josie, Carlin, and Brent, Indie 88, Toronto Goofiness at Comic Con

We are entering the season of fairs, festivals, and conventions in every market.  What’s the list of those happening in your city and how will you tap into them (past promoting them) that can make you more local?  They just had a Comic Con and Josie, Carlin, and Brent, Indie 88, Toronto decided to go.  When you go to these things, you talk about them differently on the show because you’re in the middle of it and can feel it.  And always, target getting audio from those attending.  Because people are at their peak emotion, jazzed to be there.  You might think Comic Con attendees are perfect for messing with…and you’d be right.  The show put together silly and absurd questions to ask those there.  With some editing, this is a perfect break that highlights the show’s personality and features a great exchange that made the 99.9% of the audience not going to Comic Con feeling like they were there while accruing images of being local, fun, and authentic.

London and Engleman, KWST, Los Angeles My Kid Was In a Car Accident

This week’s audio is forty years old!  Cruising around YouTube to reminisce on some of my favorite shows as a kid, I happened upon London and Engleman, KWST (K-West), Los Angeles and this gem from 1982.  I remember these guys as having unbelievable chemistry and showmanship.  What also made them stand out to me back in the day was their high level of sarcasm. While this radio station didn’t last very long, I always remembered this team because of those attributes.  In this vintage retro clip, Engleman’s kid had been in a car accident the evening before and they decided to discuss it.  Even then radio shows understood the power of going personal.  Sharing your life defines you and establishes that bond radio excels at developing with loyal listeners.  Make sure you’re always doing that – and in ways listeners can relate to.  They tacked on the end of the break an equally sarcastic call from a listener.  I still can’t figure out if the call was real.  Regardless, enjoy this clip of high sarcasm, comedy, and real life.

Tony and Kris, WIVK, Knoxville The Golf Ball Drop Decides the Winner

It’s really important to be topical.  Being about the moment makes your show sound connected and relevant.  Think of the nightly comedians.  Minus political comedy (which doesn’t fit most radio shows), they create humor around whatever topics are hot right now.  That’s a smart approach to prepping your show, too.  The week of the Masters, Tony and Kris, WIVK, Knoxville decided the audience deserved to know who’d win before the iconic weekend golf tournament started.  So they wrote the names of each golfer on a ball, dropped them down a flight of stairs, and whichever one their producer Cody grabbed first was predicted to be the winner.  Think Topic-Treatment-Tone (as espoused by my friends at Coleman Insights).  The topic was perfect, but the treatment (the idea) was meant to ramp up the laughter and talk.  Here’s audio of the break.  They did a companion video that was released on social media, too, to extend the life of the idea.

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

What’s fun is hearing listeners call themselves out when they’ve stumbled in life and done something stupid.  Your show and its cast are elevated when you do the same with the audience; make them the star.  That’s why it’s critical, even in these days when so much effort is put on social media engagement with your fans, that you continue to cultivate great story telling on the phones so listeners add to your program’s content.  In this regular feature as done by Gregg, Freddy, and Danielle, MIX 104.1, Boston’s great afternoon show, they ask the audience to call with their oops moment and tell them a time they did something completely inane and left embarrassed by it.  The show asks all the appropriate questions to create the fun.