Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL-FM, Raleigh with Conflict Creates Entertainment
In the construction of your breaks and in the dissection of the stories you tell on the show, where’s the conflict? Who or what helps push your story line forward and can be the center of emotional engagement that draws listeners in? Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL-FM, Raleigh think of this in every break they plan on the show. Sarah was due to have a girls weekend with college friends in Key West. Yet, one of the friends invited another gal Sarah doesn’t like, and even considers an “energy vampire” so she’s thinking of bailing from the get together because of it. A good story to tell for character definition because it’s honest and has conflict. The show took things one step further – after Sarah tells her story and lays out the drama for the audience to comment on, they get on the friend in question so Sarah can ask why she did that. This is “lean in content”. And because it had conflict throughout, it garnered an emotional reaction from the audience both on the phones and in social media to make it more memorable to keep the show top-of-mind and “can’t miss”. In your content breaks, where’s the bold conflict you can center things around so listeners are engaged and entertained?
One of the reasons FOX News is so powerful is because in every segment they air, there is a villain. Regardless of your politics, having a villain in some of the things you do will heighten a break’s stickiness. It doesn’t always have to be negative, but opposites create meaning. If I love The Bachelor and you hate The Bachelor, that could lead to an interesting and passionate on-air conversation that forces the audience to emotionally take a side as they identify with whichever position they hold. Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston have an annual project each December where they gather toys for needy kids. 5000 Toys for Girls and Boys has been a staple of the show for years. It took off this year when a villain appeared – an antagonist if you will – who was tired of everyone having their hand out for something. He called the show, voiced his unhappiness, told the show to just play more music, and even insulted a cast member at one point. What do you think happened? The feature took off and not only beat, but exceeded its goal. All thanks to the caller. That the show used the bashing to further create humor made it even more memorable.
At our core, we’re storytellers. That’s how human beings connect. By telling stories. So it was fitting to tell stories just before the holidays about Christmas tree issues gone sideways. Any show could make the case that this has been done before. This is an issue if the stories being told are bland, boring, unentertaining, and do not connect. Not so with Zach and Brittney, B100, South Bend, IN who told their stories, then asked the audience to tell theirs. Here are some wins of this short break: Vulnerability, coupled around real life, work. The audience wants in on your life. You also stand a greater chance to win if you do what these guys did – put the spotlight back on the listener and let them tell their story. Some shows feel like they should always be front and center. This break shows how to back up, let the listener shine, and support them where needed to advance the narrative so everyone can relate and the audience can have a fun time hearing the story.
We do a fun daily feature on John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego called That’s All I Need to Know About You. It’s a simple, call-in benchmark where listeners phone you each morning, make mention of something they saw someone do that irritated them, and then tag on the line, “That’s all I need to know about you,” as a hook to remember it. Benchmarks deserve to be updated in how they’re done on occasion, but must always stay true to what they are by defintion. An example of this is David Letterman’s Top Ten List. While it stayed honest to what it was for almost thirty years (one category, ten punchlines), how they presented it to the audience evolved over time. And, at times, there were special versions of it. Which is what this is. When the need strikes to do something a little different with this regular feature, but keep it consistent, John and Tammy will do special kids versions. Consider doing that with your features, too. Here are two examples.
Lots of shows and stations give stuff out to help the ratings. Contesting has an immediate impact on them. We were presented with a unique challenge when management told The Josie Dye Show with Matt and Carlin, Indie 88, Toronto that we’d have $10,000 to give out every Friday. The only thing we’d been asked to preserve was that qualifiers needed to text to win throughout the week for a forced listening part of the promotion. The win in contesting is NOT what you have to give out. The true benefit comes in how you give out the prize because that will impact perceptions of the show for all those who don’t play contests, which is 98% of the audience. We have to engage them, make them laugh, and do it in a way that garners positive images. Instead of giving one of the random qualifiers the $10,000 each Friday, we put in a twist. The first name we called got $5,000 when they answered the phone. We then pulled a second qualifier and called them. If they answered, they got $5,000, too. But, if they didn’t answer, or it went to voicemail, the first person got all $10,000. Here’s one of the breaks. It was an awesome way to give out the money that we feel was fun for non-contest players to listen in on. The takeaway? Work super hard on how you give stuff out – always think how will this impact those who don’t care to win it?
One of radio’s many super powers is to tap into whatever is going on in the world. Being about the moment heightens our relevance and helps connect our listeners to the world. Facebook decides to change its name to Meta. What would happen if you already owned a tech company named Meta? What David vs. Goliath battle would come from that? Lexi and Banks, KUBL, Salt Lake City got right in the middle of this story by talking with a guy who is in just such a situation. Here’s a gentleman who built a company and trademarked its name Meta and now Facebook wants it. What we learn is that he’s in talks with Facebook to sell the name to them for $20,000,000. Relevance is one of our key images. Setting yourself in the middle of a story, in a most unique way like hearing how this gentleman is impacted by that move, creates distinct, different radio.