Stacey and Jonah, 1065 The Arch, St. Louis Running in the Opposite Direction
The challenge for this past week is to tackle the serious topics of Bill Cosby’s prison sentence and the Supreme Court hearings without alienating the audience. It’s a tougher needle to thread if you don’t have a deep relationship with the audience yet. That’s where Stacey and Jonah, 1065 The Arch, St. Louis are. They’re new to the station so you have to be cautious. The topics are so pervasive, they must be tackled. In our discussion, we noted how corrosive social media can be – it clouds our take on a topic and can easily anger us. You must come up with a portal to enter any topic that’s honest and resonates – they came in with the promise to turn off all social media this weekend and actually be with people – they would not let social media affect them negatively this weekend and ask listeners to join that tribe. Here are four absolutely stellar breaks that resonated deeply with all of their audience, without ever taking a social stand. They talk with Jonah’s sister in two breaks (she’s a social worker), Jonah’s mom just to tell her they love her, and a listener. This is the classic “running in the opposite direction” from where we are. Will listeners actually stop using social media (for those of you inside thinkers who worry we’re telling the audience to not look at our Facebook page). Nope, they will still use all social media platforms. But the messaging is awesome. All of this rates an A+.
One of the applications against relevant content in your arsenal is to find funny people in your orbit and figure out a reason to get them on the show. David Letterman was a master at this and taught all of us that funny people who float in and out of a program can significantly add to the humor you can develop. Enter The TJ Show, AMP 103.3, Boston who found a young, very precocious, opinionated kid by the name of Carter, who comes off not like the youngster he is, but as an adult. Both in his tone and how he views the world around him. Add in TJ with his weird questions and inquisitive way, and you get a terrific example of using a real life character to add a perspective and sense of humor to the show that helps it stand out. These “characters” must be real, must own a perspective, and radiate wattage (as Carter does) to add to the program.
The primary reason a listener chooses a specific show is because it affects their mood positively. We sometimes convince ourselves that the brands we frequent are for intellectual reasons only (“they play 12 songs in a row!”) when, in reality, listeners choose a show because of how it makes them feel. Each afternoon when listeners are headed home after a long day at work, Koz and Jen, 101.9 The Mix (WTMX), Chicago play Jen’s Show Biz Pop Quiz. No doubt you’ve heard some version of this game on radio shows. Why does it work everywhere? Because after a hard workday, this is mind candy for the audience. It’s not weighty being centered around Hollywood trivia, it’s vicarious (one of its critical features), it’s character defining for Jen, and it’s fun to hear. Outside thinkers know that we choose a brand to match or affect our moods. On listener’s long ride home in Chicago, this feature puts them in a happy place because of the content done and how it’s designed
When telling a story, nothing beats getting at least one of the people in the story to come on the show to tell their part. We all know the value of telling stories on the air, right? Many shows feel as though they must tell every person’s perspective in the story. The Big Dave Show, B105, Cincinnati experienced the first day of school like everyone else. Instead of just talking about it, Dave called his house to chat with his kids about their first day. They sounded exactly like you’d expect as the team quizzed them. If Dave and the team had done the entire break without them, the break could have been very linear and not fun. Getting the kids on gave them something to play with, which is why it worked.
Odd ideas around the topics of the day cut through. One time when Mega Millions and Powerball were over a half-billion dollars and everyone was talking about it, John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego, decided to buy a ticket. Instead of the typical ideas of listeners choosing the numbers or one of the other ideas that’s been done before, we did My Ex Made Me a Millionaire by finding two people who are divorced and then they choose the numbers, with the promise that if they hit, they’d split the money. What’s fun about this is that they were on Topic of the Day content (a must for any show – the more tied into the Hot Topics you are, the more relevant and contemporary you are for your audience) and they inserted it into a relationship in dysfunction, which is always relatable to everyone.
Take one part naughty DMs, add one part mom who is easily shocked and embarrassed, and you have the makings of a new feature where the most prudish mother of a cast member reads the raciest direct messages of another cast member. Enter The Cruz Show, Power 106, Los Angeles who developed the idea because cast member Krystal keeps getting highly suggestive messages from male listeners who follow her on social media. It’s one thing to just read them and out the guys. It’s an entirely different idea to have Cruz’s mom read them (without having seen them before) and allowing her to be shocked and react naturally. The goal is to connect and entertain. In one short break, this does that magnificently.
Real life is really funny. Relatable stories are fun to hear. That’s proven in this clip from the legendary Scott Shannon, CBS-FM, New York City. Scott knows he’s perceived as a star by the audience (he earned his way there by connecting with and entertaining the audience over the years). That’s why this break about Scott going to lunch is so humorous. Admitting he’s hungry, Scott finds a new restaurant in town which is “just like Chipolte” where you have to get on line and choose the items you want in the meal. Here’s where the fun happens as Scott admits confusion to knowing what all those items are. He said he had to choose between six lettuces – and didn’t even know there were six lettuces. The whole break has wonderful details that paint a great picture and reminds the audience that, while Scott is a star, he’s actually a regular guy like you and me. Don’t underestimate the power of a story like this to grab the audience.
Hooking the audience with a question almost always works to build intrigue to hear a story. Brian Sherman, from Sherman and Tingle, WDRV, Chicago, had a lovely summer vacation, until he got home. That’s when he discovered his air conditioning unit and furnace were completely, totally dead. And that the cost to replace all of it would be $14,000. Brian could have just told the story, which would have been good. But he hooked them by asking the audience what happened that cost him $14,000 at the end of his vacation (there’s your hook and intrigue). After a series of wrong guesses, someone got it right, which is when Brian then told the story. This is brilliantly structured and executed to grab the audience to want to hear the story while including listeners.