The Morning Mess, B96, Chicago The Ugly Secret Santa

You do Secret Santa at work or in the family and you pull the name of someone you hate.  This is a great thesis for on-air content because it has built in tension that will drive engagement and memorability.  So The Morning Mess, B96, Chicago found out when producer Angie chose someone in Secret Santa at her second job she detests.  This has a very sticky hook and is perfect show content that’s story-based.  Angie stays true to herself – she wants to get this person a crappy present because she does not like them.  Lots to explore here to make the story come alive.  And then the show does the smart thing.  Instead of it becoming a phone topic where they ask the audience who at work they don’t like, they get the audience involved in Angie’s story, giving her advice to keep her on message about not liking the co-worker she has to buy a gift for.  Real life always works for content, especially if the story has layers and areas to explore.  This is all of that and more.

Sarah and Jessie, MIX 96.5, Houston Teachers Worst Christmas Gift

We’ve covered before the importance of telling stories when doing phones with listeners.  Stories are how we connect.  Stories have details and twists and turns and resolutions which make them fun to hear.  Sarah Pepper and Jessie Watt, MIX 96.5, Houston, did calls asking teachers about the worst Christmas gifts they ever got from a student.  Pushing stories to the margins (in this case, the worst gift) helps the story telling because worst gifts are much more fun to hear than best gifts.  Remember when opening the phones for any topic – if you do an “st” (best, worst, lamest, funniest, etc.) – you will get a something from listeners that lives on the fringes of the topic, which is a good move for vibrant, electric stories others tuning in will want to hear.  On the topic of worst teachers gifts, here are two breaks from the show, along with a third where they asked about the best gifts.

Karlson and McKenzie, WZLX, Boston Scared Straight Santa

This is one of my favorite breaks ever as done by Karlson and McKenzie, WZLX, Boston.  We were looking to find an edgy way to connect with the audience.  The show has attitude and swagger and we wanted to channel that sense of humor into a holiday idea that would be much different than the standard fare phone topics most shows do around this time of year.  Enter Scared Straight Santa.  Everyone knows of the “scared straight” concept where prisoners scare kids into towing the line so they don’t end up in jail.  We used that to keep misbehaving children in line for their parents or else Santa won’t show up.  The first break is the call from a parent who tells us how their kid is misbehaving.  The next break (the one below) is when Pete McKenzie calls back as Santa and challenges the kid to promise to be good.  This hits all important images you should have:  it’s fun, it’s real, it’s innovative, and it’s relatable.

George, Mo, and Erik, The Morning Bullpen, KILT-FM, Houston The 6:10 Amen

Lots of shows do positive news.  It’s a great feature to communicate your values to the audience and works because it’s the opposite of the world so many listeners experience each day.  For many, while the content is the same, the frame is different.  We recently changed a few things about this feature on George, Mo, and Erik, the Morning Bullpen, KILT-FM, Houston.  We do this twice a day – it’s called the 6:10 or 8:10 Amen.  The big change we made is what we curate for content.  Where a typical show might find a good story and tell their audience about that, we decided to root for whatever good news the listeners have in their lives.  They determine the content.  We love hearing listener’s voices and stories.  The show then celebrates that fan.  Which sets us apart from what you usually hear on a feature like this.

John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego John Doesn’t Get Taylor Tickets, Too

This week was a debacle for Taylor Swift fans who were tormented by Ticketmaster.  Tons tried, but few got tickets to see her in concert.  An imperative image for any show to own is “they’re just like you”.  Rooted in authenticity, one of radio’s super powers is to convince the audience that you are just like them.  That intimacy (that you are real) helps the bonding process to build a strong relationship.  John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego are exactly that.  Which is why John tried to get Taylor tickets from Ticketmaster this week, like everyone else.  The only difference?  John is on the radio so he recorded his mood as he endured the long wait, eventually failing, too.  To be like the audience, you must have similar experiences.  Living that on-the-air helps your fans know you are just like them!

The Josie Dye Show with Carlin and Brent, Indie 88, Toronto Dani Still Has It

One of the challenges of a three-person show is that you have two talent of the same gender and need to focus on separating them perceptually.  Such is the exercise with The Josie Dye Show with Carlin and Brent, Indie 88, Toronto.  Brent’s single and Carlin is getting married is one trait that separates these two male voices to the audience.  This breaks does that.  We do lots of content talking about Carlin’s fiance and the stories they generate.  That’s all on purpose to reach the goal of separating Carlin and Brent’s on-air personas.  Carlin went to bed early one night and his fiance, Dani, went out with friends.  When she got home, she woke him to boast that she’d been hit on multiple times at the bar.  Carlin said that Dani still has “it”.  Two things to listen for in this break – a great story that moves Carlin away from Brent’s singleness and the language used in the telling of the story to stand out.  Plus, to make the break even better, Dani is included at just the right moment for an additional level of storytelling to keep the audience hooked and the energy level high.

Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix How Much Do You Make?

Here’s a feature I thought would be a total dud that completely surprised me.  We decided to take for a test ride How Much Do You Make on Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix.  A listener calls and tells you their profession.  The cast then asks all the obvious follow-up questions to gather information about the person and his or her job.  They then get to guess at that person’s salary.  The caller then reveals it.  Parade Magazine has an annual issue where they share what people in certain professions make.  This is our version and we were surprised at the number of listeners who felt comfortable participating.  It works because you’re getting to know a listener, delving into their life, and asking questions that make it vicarious where other listeners driving into their workplaces are trying to figure out the salary, too.

John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego My Ex Made Me a Billionaire

Powerball pushes a billion dollar payout this week and we all know that it owns media turf when the number is that high.  That’s your first threshold to determine if a topic is good for your show.  Is the topic near-everywhere?  Then the big question:  how do we align ourselves with the topic in a way that expresses our take and sense of humor?  That treatment of the topic makes it distinctively yours.  That’s a must if you’re going to stand out in the cluttered marketplace of radio shows and choices for entertainment.  Our Monday Morning Free Idea this week is My Ex Made Me a Billionaire.  A divorced couple comes on and each chooses half the numbers and then you buy that ticket and give it to them.  It gives you a chance to explore what happened in the relationship, which is the big win.  Here’s John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego doing it when the lottery was at a similar height.

Karen, Johnny, and Intern Anthony, WNEW-FM, New York Mother or Smother Anthony

Here’s another terrific example of getting right to your substantive content on the show.  Intern Anthony’s eye has hurt for a couple days.  Karen, Johnny, and Intern Anthony, WNEW-FM, New York have at it big time.  This is the kind of simple, very relatable content that will help you connect with the audience – how men “suffer” differently when they’re sick.  Karen, who mothers the two boys on the show, had had enough.  So they opened the phones to let other female listeners have at Anthony, too.  They asked the audience to mother or smother him.  The thing to listen for is how quickly the show gets to the substantive storytelling in this break.  Within ten seconds, the topic is set and they are already talking to a caller.  The energy level and playful tension remain high throughout.  In many instances, we’d feel the need to ramp up the topic with a big backstory with all the details after we ID the station, give the weather, and tell everyone about the big promotion coming up.  That just delays serving the true needs of the audience for content.  Don’t waste listeners time!  Here’s a great example of a break on a show that doesn’t.

 

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.