MOJO in the Morning, Channel 955, Detroit Five Lies to Tell Your Mom

Craft an edgy story with five lies and convince a listener to call their mom and tell it to her and you have a weekly benchmark called Five Lies to Tell Your Mom.  In search of a new appointment for Mojo in the Morning, Channel 955, Detroit a few years ago, we developed this weekly bit that highlights the relationship one listener has with their mother.  Offline, the show creates a short story with five bold, but believable lies.  They then conference call the listener with their mother and, without the mom knowing they are also on the line, they listen in as the story is told and the mother reacts.  They record this one week out to make it good – which affords the show the time to coach the listener on the story and then for editing and post production.  In some ways, this is a train wreck (in a good way) the audience would never see themselves doing, but love eavesdropping on because the stories you concoct can be as bold as you like to capture the audience’s attention.

KBZT, San Diego Jayson and His Movers

It’s really important when a cast member tells a story about any experience they have (or will have) that you include the other people in the story in telling it on the show.  Dana and Jayson, KBZT, San Diego understand to make stories full and complete that using your break time with other colorful characters helps the story come alive even more and, it gives the principles (them) more to play with.  Jayson was moving.  A relatable, common occurrence.  What kind of person is Jayson during this chore?  How did he take care of those who helped?  What is their take on Jayson and his emotional state during a task no one likes?  There are so many questions – don’t limit yourself to just your perspective (or the one perspective of the person who endured it).  Add drama through twists and turns, by inviting in others who’ll add some level of tension that will make the story more fun to tell and more fun to hear.

WDRV (The Drive), Chicago Bears and Packers and the Big Gloat

Houses divided, where each spouse roots for a different team in a sports rivalry, is an easy relationships topic that adds a special layer of emotion for your audience.  One of the classic football rivalries is the yearly Bears-Packers game, because both teams are fairly close to one another and each has a fan base deeply loyal.  It’s easy to get into these kinds of conversations on the show when these games happen, and you should do that.  Sherman and Tingle, WDRV (The Drive), Chicago (one of whom backs the Packers and the other who prefers the Bears) took it one step further the morning after the game.  With a Packers win, they asked the audience if it was inappropriate for Packers fans to gloat by wearing their Green Bay jerseys to work to celebrate the win, and rub it in to Bears fans in the office.  The resulting phone calls, mostly from Packers fans believing there was nothing wrong with doing that, results in some very local content, and breaks that radiate the rivalry and passion, giving both sides an opportunity to relate, take a position, and have fun (even if they lost).

96.5 TIC-FM, Hartford Quiz Pro Quo

Great shows are in the moment and perishable.  Sometimes the edgier topics (like the Trump-Ukraine controversy) need some innovation to tie into without angering either (or both) sides, claiming you took a position on politics they don’t agree with.  Enter Christine and Salt, 96.5 TIC-FM, Hartford who easily acknowledged that the phrase “quiz pro quo” is in our lexicon.  Everyone’s hearing it.  So it’s fair game to create content around it.  How to tie into it without being political, though?  They came up with a fun game call the Quiz Pro Quo.  They described things that could happen that rhymes with the phrase to give out a prize.  Listen to this break – they never mention Trump, Ukraine, impeachment, or even politics.  They acknowledged the phrase and do their version of it.  Hear the fun they have – and imagine the fun listeners are having, too, hearing this silliness.  All around a Hot Topic, which is highly important to do.  They could have done something generic or evergreen – but they went topical.  The more you are doing your version of these well-known topics, the more perishable your show will be.  And that’s a good thing.

Magic 106.7, Boston Sue and Kendra Go On a Shopping Spree

What works in today’s radio is telling stories and being real.  Wacky radio bits are way less effective than ever.  What’s it like when two admitted shop-o-holics enable each other on a shopping spree while in New York?  David, Sue, and Kendra, Magic 106.7, Boston have terrific chemistry as a team – you can feel that as you listen to this break below.  Sue and Kendra, super shoppers, went to New York City for a station function and happened upon a store they like mere moments before they were to be at a meeting.  Not ones to pass up that chance, they went in and shopped like crazy.  What stands out in this break, besides the fun vibe, is that the story has tons of details for David to poke around about as they tell him what they did.  Relatable to many women, this story is universal because its thesis and humor transcend age and gender appeal.  They’re almost giddy with what they got away with.  They let David in on the shenanigans and played with each other with a great self-deprecating sense of humor.  This is a great break about real life – a well told story with its colorful facts – to connect with and entertain listeners who were tuned in at that time.

KSCS, Dallas Singing at Katelyn’s Wedding

A morning show recently suggested they don’t do interviews because interviews don’t work in PPM.  That’s an absolute to me so I challenged them.  Bad interviews don’t work as I’ve written on these pages.  Enter Hawkeye and Katelyn, KSCS, Dallas who presented the perfect opportunity to disprove that theory.  The show was just a few weeks away from Katelyn’s wedding.  So, we decided to do some character development around that fact.  Hawkeye gathered as many artist interviews as he could (the list is a who’s who:  Dan and Shay, Garth, Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, Kelsey Ballerini to name a few).  Along with a quick interview, he then pitched at each (without them knowing it was coming) that he would give them $750 if they would perform at Katelyn’s wedding.  This would be his gift to her.  We wanted to hear how the artists reacted the offer.  As you’d expect, every artist turned him down.  The fun came in listeners anticipating that moment.  The discomfort, and its subsequent humor, turned this from a regular Q&A into something both fun and strategic for character development.  Here is a recap break the show did on Katelyn’s first day back after the weekend ceremony.  They added Hawkeye’s voided check done throughout as a visual for social media, which you can see here.

WRAL-FM, Raleigh Bryan Meets Someone Who Hates “It”

When you’re out and have a local experience, it always helps in the telling of your story when you gather audio from those who are having fun with you.  Bryan Lord from Two Men and a Mom, WRAL-FM, Raleigh went to see the “It” sequel the weekend it was released.  His impetus landed on two fronts:  it was a Hot Topic and he has interest in the movie.  Knowing that fewer people would see the movie than not, Bryan looked for audio from others there to help him tell his story on Monday morning – and do so in a way for the vast majority of the audience who hadn’t seen the movie but are aware of the franchise.  He had to look no further than a fellow movie-goer who hated it, didn’t think it was close to the book, and wanted her money back as she left the theater.  Many people would just note this and tell this story.  Bryan talked with her and got all that passion on their show, making me feel like I was in the theater lobby with him.  He also broadened the topic, assuring that I didn’t have to see the movie (or even know much about it) to follow along and be entertained by the break

96.5 TIC-FM, Hartford The Sean Spicer Interview

If Dancing With the Stars offered you Sean Spicer for an interview, would you take it?  Or, because he’s politics and associated with the president, would you turn it down?  If you took it, what would you ask him?  Great shows are in the moment – they do content that two weeks from now feels stale.  Sean Spicer and Dancing With the Stars are “the moment”.  Christine and Salt, 96.5 TIC-FM, Hartford were offered the interview and accepted.  Their first question was asking if he knows how to spell “impeachment”, allowing Spicer to show his sense of humor.  They then explored his job, if he’d ever met Melissa McCarthy who played him on Saturday Night Live, and then the outrageous outfits they’re making him wear on the show.  The best part of all of this is that they leaned into the interview and saw its potential to grab the audience, instead of being worried about how it could harm them.  Be about “the now” with your show – know the big topics and what your take is on them to do the most relevant, contemporary program.  All the media around that you compete with are about what’s going on right now in the news and pop culture – and while some judgement will need to be used (not everything fits), talk through how you might do something so you stand out in the marketplace.

Indie 88, Toronto Can I Keep and Cook the Bird?

We consumers of audio love destinations and payoffs.  Each break is kinda like inviting listeners to hop in a car with you.  They are more inclined to jump in if they know where you’re going.  Headed to go wait on line at the DMV?  Nope, not hopping in that car.  Going to get ice cream?  Yup, let’s do this!  One of the harder parts of a break is figuring out where you want to take a story – asking what the payoff will be if the audience sticks around for a couple of minutes.  The Josie Dye Show, Indie 88, Toronto works hard on destinations for their breaks so the show isn’t just conversation.  Matt Hart heard a thud against his window while at home.  Going outside to figure out what happened, he discovered a bird had flown into his window and died.  Not a bad story to tell the audience – it happens to all of us (note the conversation around the story makes it funny).  Then the payoff.  Matt calls city services (311) to ask if he can keep and cook the bird (they’re there to answer any question a Toronto resident has).  The fun part is that the woman who answered took him seriously, even putting him on hold to find out.  Destinations and payoffs in content breaks – they’re required if you want the audience to take the car ride.

AMP 103.3, Boston Tommy Tales

It’s September, the NFL season is back, and that means there is no bigger topic in Boston than the New England Patriots.  Specifically, there is no bigger star in that city than Tom Brady, the Patriots quarterback.  Let’s prove to you the power of story-telling.  The TJ Show, AMP 103.3, Boston, on the eve of the team’s home opener, did a new feature called Tommy Tales.  Producer Matt on the show had met Tom Brady and told his story (he is a huge Brady fan so you feel his passion) to kick things off.  The team then opened the phones all morning for listeners to tell their stories about meeting Tom Brady, too.  Stories are how we connect as human beings (you tell yours, I tell mine, and we connect).  Great stories have beginnings and endings (payoffs) with delightful details in the middle that make those hearing them lean in.  Here is a compilation of great Tommy Tales that TJ and his great team aired throughout the morning.  Hear not only the energy of those telling them (it’s as though they all happened yesterday to these people because they were so memorable), but also make note of how you lean in to hear all the twists and turns, as well.  Tell stories to win and you will win big.