Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL-FM, Raleigh with One Shining Moment

When there is a big pop culture story, do you know what I wonder?  I wonder what do you wonder?  Your curiosity can easily fill a break and drive interest in any topic.  March Madness was a big pop culture event the last few weeks.  An iconic moment in the tournament is its end.  Not in who the winner is, but in the yearly video highs and lows montage with Luther Vandross’s iconic One Shining Moment song.  Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL-FM, Raleigh wondered how that song became the tradition.  What’s the story behind it?  They found Leslie Anne Warren, who many years ago was the one to ask Luther to sing it.  Her story is amazing.  You won’t believe what he asked for to give CBS lifetime rights.  Near every show is on the big topics.  What you do with them makes it memorable.  This is a great example.

Anna and Raven, Star 99.9, Bridgeport, CT (syndicated) with Raven’s Mom Gets Pushed Down at the Grocery Store

One thing many in radio do is hear a story that involved someone, then tell that person’s story to the audience.  So much is lost if you do that.  You lose the nuance and, even worse, you lose the first-person emotion that comes with the experience.  You also lose the ability to be inquisitive and get more from that person it happened to because you can’t explore their story.  Which is why it’s so important to get the person central to the story to tell it to you on their own.  Anna and Raven, Star 99.9, Bridgeport, CT had this experience.  Raven’s mom (who’s always money) got pushed down by another shopper at the grocery story.  They invited her on to share what happened.  Raven turned into her son (character development) and you got all the nuance with all her emotion.  All of that made it much more memorable.

Logan and Sadie, WINK-FM, Ft. Myers, FL with Logan’s Relationship Report Card

It’s an added benefit when benchmarks are so strategic they define a cast member.  Logan and Sadie, WINK-FM, Ft. Myers, FL spend part of their week talking about their significant others on the show.  That’s part of being vulnerable to define who you are.  We decided to flip that script.  Every Monday, Logan’s wife comes on to grade him as a husband based from the weekend.  Did he not finish chores around the house?  Did he take his wife out for dinner?  What happened in their relationship over the weekend, from his wife’s perspective, that gives her equal time and further humanizes him?  She tells the stories and attaches a letter grade.  Thus making it very relatable to our female base, with many being envious to do it, too.  In this version, he gets an “A”.  But the real fireworks happen when he doesn’t.  This is strategic character development wrapped into a weekly benchmark.

Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA with Remake or Not

Align with the station’s music brand and you’ll no doubt accomplish two important items:  you’ll weave your show into the bigger station brand (very smart) and you’ll broaden the appeal of your program because that’s one of the reasons listeners turn you on.  Many listeners on the younger side listen to the songs you play and don’t know, because of their age, that some of them are remakes.  I hear you older demos reading this and groaning – haha.  Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA see this as opportunity for content.  They brought in an engaging co-worker and quizzed them by playing the more current version and the other station employee had to determine if it was a remake.  A super smart idea you can steal and do anytime.

Morning Magic, Magic 106.7, Boston with Getting to Know You

Upon launch, an important thing in character develop is to put out larger things about your persona most of the listeners can connect with first.  You have kids, I have kids, let’s be friends.  You’re married, I’m married, let’s talk.  You like sports or have pets, I like sports or have pets and we can vibe.  But what happens when you’ve been around a while?  Well, much like in real life, the longer you know someone, the better you get to know them and that, usually, is around something that would be fringe at the start.  Such is the case with Morning Magic, Magic 106.7, Boston.  David, Sue, and Kendra are very well known by the audience.  Time to reveal something quirkier, but deeper.  How many spices does David, the cook, have?  How big is Sue’s mudroom?  How many receipts are stuffed into Kendra’s purse?  We learn about each other in stages.  So should the audience about you.  Deal with the macro or bigger qualities first.  Then, over years, go deeper.

Zog and Ivy, Power 96, Miami with My Cousin Is a Disappointment

You’re getting married in 18 days and your dad is too old to drive at night.  So what do you do?  You ask a family member to pick him up so he can be there on your special day.  That was the case for Zog and Ivy, Power 96, Miami.  Zog is soon to get married – his cousin agreed to pick up his dad months ago.  Yet days out of the ceremony, his cousin started to balk, having forgotten.  The very best content comes from real life and this is a terrific example of that.  I post this for you to hear two things:  first, listen to how authentic Zog is in telling the story.  When you tell the truth, you are your most genuine.  You can tell there is no embellishment of this story.  Second – listen to the callers react to Zog.  The big takeaway is that they feel like they know him personally because so many of them offer to pick up his dad because his cousin won’t.  That’s connection and one of the primary goals of every talent.

The Kathy Romano Show B101, Philadelphia with Embarrassing E-mail Addresses

Ain’t nothing funnier than real life.  I’ve expressed that message many times on these pages.  And everywhere, stories, stories, stories are what communicates the fun/embarrassing things that happen when you’re just being yourself.  On The Kathy Romano Show, B101, Philadelphia, co-host Bobby and Laura the Producer admitted the crazy email addresses they had in their younger years.  Their ability to laugh at themselves sets the tone for great humor.  Then the smart move, opening the phones for the audience to do it, too.  In forming a club with listeners, disarming everyone to just be themselves creates a tribe through storytelling that make a show very genuine and vulnerable, which helps further cement the connection between the cast and its audience.  Great show are about conquering content and creating connection.  This does that.

Christine and Salt, 96.5 TIC-FM, Hartford with Savannah Guthrie

It’s very important for every show to align with whatever the biggest topics are of the day.  That adds relevance to your show and a timeliness that generates more attention than defaulting more often to topics that are evergreen.  I’ve long taken the position that a filter should be:  can this topic also be done next Wednesday?  If the answer is yes, replace it with something going on right now and it will be better.  Salt and Christine, 96.5 TIC-FM, Hartford are institutions in the market.  They know everyone given their tenure and use that to their advantage.  For one more break on the Savannah Guthrie story (if I don’t have to explain the story, that means it’s highly familiar to your audience), they invited on a local TV anchor who’d had a somewhat similar experience as Savannah and had even met her.  Here’s a first-person story that makes the conversation interesting, riveting, and memorable.

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston with Karson’s Testosterone-Fest

Nothing beats self-deprecating humor.  It’s disarming when a talent feels comfortable enough to share a story of a fail and allows others in and out of the studio to mock them.  Sometimes the best character development comes from your flaws and weaknesses.  Masters at this are Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston.  Karson boasted to some golf buddies about his son’s lacrosse team.  Then his testosterone started to show and it got uncomfortable.  Break one includes Karson’s wife, Lana, who’s always money because she puts Karson in his place and the audience loves it.  Quick note – listen to the first 15 seconds of the first break and hear how Karson teases that his wife is coming up before he tells the story to build anticipation and hold on to listeners. Break two are listeners chiming in to advance the story line.  All around, smart, unique, funny character development.

Logan and Sadie, WINK-FM, Ft. Myers, FL with the The Divorcee Divas

A client comes to us with a $1000 gift card for a Valentine’s Day promotion.  The default might be to have listeners text or call us throughout the week to qualify to win it.  Then on Friday, randomly choose one and call them to share the good news.  BORING!  BORING!  BORING!  At Logan and Sadie, WINK-FM, Ft. Myers, FL, we brainstormed the opposite of Valentine’s Day to create story-based content that both those who wanted to win it and those who just come to us for content and connection (99% of listeners) would find entertaining.  That’s always the challenge whenever you have any prize.  Through the week, we will take Valentine’s Day horror stories (opposite #1).  Now, how to decide who wins?  We found two women who were recently divorced (opposite #2) to listen and choose.  Which would you do?  The first idea to get qualifiers via text or phones (BORING!) or an idea that compels stories into your show of the opposite of the holiday?  Here are two examples of what they got.