KUBL, Salt Lake City Lexi and Banks That’s All I Need To Know About You
We make these snap judgements about people all the time. Go to the grocery store and watch a shopper not return the cart to the holding area in the parking lot after they put their items in their trunk? Well, that’s all I need to know about them. Drive into a neighborhood and see someone’s washer and dryer on their front porch? You know everything else about their life, right? Lexi and Banks, KUBL, Salt Lake City do a daily feature called That’s All I Need To Know About You. Kinda like an updated version of Jeff Foxworthy’s “You Might Be a Redneck If…” this phone in feature gives listeners an opportunity to call and make their value judgments about people around them, too. It’s relatable, fun, and highly digestible because it quick. Here are a couple of versions of it.
My friends at Coleman Insights talk about the three T’s of content: Topic, Treatment, and Tone. What topics are you on? What are you doing with those topics (treatment)? And how do you want listeners to feel at the end of the break (tone)? This is all part of the strategic process of entertaining the audience in ways that are memorable. Relevance is the key to everything. With Halloween coming up, this is one of my favorite ideas that wonderfully executes the three T’s of content. John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego got a very cute sounding kid to read the ingredients of popular Halloween candy. The listener had to identify the candy to win. This is great because listeners not only played along in the car, but it was fun to hear. Offering up a new idea that fits the show around great content is what makes the break memorable and sets you up as “can’t miss” because there is always something fresh on the show.
A missed opportunity for many shows is in not aligning with the music on the radio station. I know this from experience – we often see our show as separate from the station brand and many times we are much more focused on our content. The biggest thing you hopefully have in common with the audience is your love of the music you play. I’ve launched numerous shows from that foundation and it always works to form a relationship with listeners. It’s especially powerful at a classic rock station. Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix know and love the music they play. They found a local promoter who has had hundreds of encounters with the format’s iconic artists and convinced him to tell them stories about a few. This clip proves the power of talking about the music and telling stories as the promoter tells a terrific tale about Lindsey Buckingham (from Fleetwood Mac) and how difficult he was to deal with.
There are very simple things you can do to make a good, very relatable break, even better. David, Sue, and Kendra, Magic 106.7, Boston were talking about the toys that are due to be inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame. This is very logical content, especially for their audience. The team gets to reminisce about toys from their childhood, bringing back terrific memories for listeners. Psychologically, retro content like this makes people feel warm and safe and reminds them of a happier time in their lives, especially now with all the craziness. What accelerates this break below and makes it even better for the audience is the simple use of audio. They talk about a toy, and here’s audio associated with it (i.e. the TV commercial for it). It’s in that audio that the content comes more alive and they are in a better spot to keep listeners engaged in their topic. In every break you do, ask when mapping it out, what audio exists (or what audio can you create) that will help that break perceptually for listeners who bore easily with just conversation.
We are always going for images. Being real, having fun, and doing something different with a big topic. Here’s MIX Mornings with Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah on WRAL, Raleigh. First, hear how they accrue all those images above. Then, listen to this break and ponder how much work it took to put less than three-minutes of a very strategic break together. The main topics they fuse are back-to-school and the Calm App everyone seems to have. They had to conceive the idea, then write and record the payoff, then find a listener to tell a relatable story (breaks are always better when a listener is involved), then construct the entire break. There’s much pressure on shows to get it done faster because listeners’ attention is scant. That, in most instances, requires more prep, not less. Unless you are a completely defined show, which takes many years, the days of turning on everyone’s microphones and talking around a topic until you think you’re done are not as effective to hold on to listeners, who have a ton of choices for content, connection, and entertainment when you’re on.
You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers! The cast at The Josie Dye Show with Matt and Carlin, Indie 88, Toronto are very inquisitive people. This is a key attribute in talent listeners gravitate to. With Covid-19 still a Hot Topic, the team continues to wonder about the disease and its impact on the community. They found a doctor to answer their questions, who comes on when they do. They key here is that this isn’t any doctor, it’s one who has something to say and they have chemistry with. That’s what makes this great, because the conversation took an odd turn after the topic of hooking up came up with the doctor. Someone brought up that glory holes were okay (look it up if you don’t know). The chemistry with the doctor drove the rest of the conversation, with it ending where a board-certified doctor endorsed having sex using them. Find experts for the show, but make sure they have something to say, can add to your conversation, answer the questions you have on whatever topic you’re discussing, and you vibe with, because that will drive how engaging it is.
We must stay true to ourselves if authenticity will ever rule. Authenticity is an overused word for being real. At its foundation, you must know yourself and find in that a comfort that when being honest with the audience, while you might find detractors, you stand a greater chance to move listeners from the like-to-love category. Brian and Chrissy, WGNA, Albany excel at real. There is a comfort with them which makes them friends. They had opportunity last year at this time to talk with country artist, Jimmie Allen. What are Jimmie’s passions? What could they talk with him about to showcase his authenticity? How about football? They didn’t do the standard Q and A some shows do (lazy). They researched Jimmie to find an angle for the content break that would compliment the “real” of their show. Here comes Jimmie Allen, a singer few in their audience really know because Jimmie is new and on the ascent, with his predictions for that week’s NFL match-ups. That Brian and Chrissy also like the sport and chose their favorite teams, the break radiated fun because everyone was emotionally involved.