Hawkeye in the Morning, KSCS, Dallas with Missed Connections Comes to Life

Lots of shows have used the Missed Connections portion of Craigslist for content.  I tend to tell shows proposing it as a feature that it’s played out and very old school.  Mostly because all shows generally do is read the racier ones.  Enter Hawkeye in the Morning, KSCS, Dallas who always adds his twist to ideas like this.  He got a call from a listener who posted a missed connection and wanted help.  The listener read his post and, shockingly, the woman referenced called the show.  Hawkeye then sent them on a date to a Rangers baseball game and had them on after to talk about how things went and if they’d go out again.  That we got this one story, start to finish, is what makes it unique.  All three segments are in this one audio file below.

Karen Carson with Johnny Minge and Intern Anthony, WNEW-FM, New York with Kelly Won’t Graduate

Sometimes in playful relationships, you play practical jokes on your significant other.  Making things like that come to life on your show is unique character development which proves how great your relationship is.  Oftentimes, listeners are aspirational to that dynamic.  Meaning, they admire your relationship, wishing it were theirs.  Connecting with listeners is a deep experience.  Revealing who you really are by digging deep in your personal story telling, and letting the audience glimpse into your relationship’s playfulness, goes a long way to deepening that connection.  Karen Carson in the Morning with Johnny Minge and Intern Anthony, WNEW-FM, New York prove this when Johnny’s girlfriend, who’s about to graduate from college, gets a prank call that she’s ineligible due to missing requirements.

Moose and Breezy, 98PXY, Rochester, NY with Letting Interviews Breathe

When conducting any interview, my radar is up for who talks more, you or the person you’re interviewing.  It should be the latter, as they are the focus of the story telling.  Terrific interviews are done when you have a deep interest in the story about to be told.  Your inquisitiveness to draw out the subject and get them to dig deeper in their story and its emotions determines how impactful the interview is for listeners.  That requires great prep, an ability to listen instead of focusing on your next question, and allowing the interview to breath (silence is a very powerful tool, especially in a serious interview, to give listeners the space to absorb what’s been said).  Moose and Breezy, 98PXY, Rochester, NY show a picture-perfect example of this in a conversation they had with a listener about suicide prevention.

Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA with The Great Lego Walk

One pain every parent knows is when you unexpectedly step on an errant Lego left on the floor by their kid.  A relatable known to everyone, but especially Chris and Dina, WMAS-FM, Springfield, MA.  Dina set up the story line on the show, challenging Chris to remove his shoes and take a long walk over a sea of Legos.  A fun idea that’d vibe with any parent.  And listeners who related felt great empathy for Chris, who had endured the same pain, too.  Plus, it was quite funny to make Chris do this.  Stunts like this build characters and force a sense of compassion by the audience.  Here’s the final break from the show of the walk.  Doing a social media video helps extend the fun and presence of the idea to accrue images.

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston with 1000 Days of Playing Catch

When the driving force of your show is to be kind and highlight the positives of the audience, you position yourself as the opposite of the negativity most people see every day.  Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston are about real life, always looking for the good their listeners put in the universe.  Their Good Vibe Tribe feature was developed to do just that.  In this installment, Karson’s pastor comes on with the story of his commitment to play catch with one of his kids.  Started years ago, he’s here to celebrate 1000 consecutive days of doing just that.  Both the feature and feeling they want listeners to experience when they hear the show are your takeaways here.

Anna and Raven, Star 99.9, Bridgeport, CT with the Courtroom Sketch Artist

What do you know?  What do you wonder?  Two critical questions in the prep process that define who you are and create your connection to a topic.  It’s much harder to do a great radio show if you don’t have any curiosity to the topics of the day.  In their prep, Anna and Raven, Star 99.9, Bridgeport, CT (and syndicated) knew they had to be all over the Diddy trial – it’s a Hot Topic and requires addressing.  How to do that, though?  It’s salacious testimony, but you can’t rely on just that.  As they jumped down the rabbit hole, they saw lots of pictures from the trial as done by a courtroom sketch artist.  They wondered what that was like.  So they found one and he shared some insight, making for a fascinating conversation around a big topic as done from their curiosity.

The Morning Wolfpack, KKWF, Seattle with Getting Right to the Content

First let’s talk about the content.  Story-based, lots of drama, and multiple points-of-view.  Gabe on the Morning Wolfpack with Matt McAllister, Gabe, and Captain Ron, KKWF, Seattle posted a Tik Tok video that pissed off her boyfriend’s father.  It’s a pretty simple story to tell and mine for gold.  Here are two segments of the drama on the show.  There are a couple of things I want to note before you listen to them.  First – in radio we often have a story and then the cast member in it tells everyone’s side.  That’s pretty one-dimensional and deprives you of first hand extra voices with perspectives.  The show invites on Gabe’s boyfriend in the first break, and then her father to tell their side of things.  Both those people add much more to the story,  The other item to note – the song ends and the content (story telling) starts.  They spend zero seconds up front with nonsense.  They get right to the content!

John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego with Winning an “ACM”

A running theme on John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego is that they always get nominated for awards, but never win them.  They’re the Susan Lucci of local radio!  As a tenured show, the rules are different.  They can mock themselves and treat sardonically not winning an award.  This is a connection point with their audience, as their fans don’t win any awards, too.  Because they are so well-defined after 10+ years on-the-air, it’s okay to do this.  They were up for an ACM (Academy of Country Music) award this year, but didn’t win again.  So they did the next best thing the morning the ACM show was on TV.  They broadcast live from ACM Auto Body and Paint in San Diego.  The client was smart and gave them their ACM.  Here’s a video they put on social to continue that story line.

Elizabeth and Radar, 99.1 The MIX, Milwaukee with Pope or Nope

Being creative to grab listeners doesn’t take much sometimes.  It could be a simple twist that rockets a break from passive to active.  As proven by Elizabeth and Radar, 99.1 The MIX, Milwaukee.  A new Pope emerges and he’s from America!  We have a new rabbit hole of information everywhere.  Many shows will just read stuff online and discuss it on-air.  But here’s a simple twist, turning that information into a vicarious game played with a listener called Pope or Nope.  Sometimes it isn’t too tough to create a fresh treatment to this very relevant topic.  Elizabeth has a bunch of facts and she engages Radar and caller on each, thus creating humor around something that’s very topical.  At times we default to just conversation.  But a little creative push can sometimes make the difference to earn the right images to impress and engage your fans.

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston with Kennedy’s Thailand Fail

What’s the length of a good break?  It depends on the quality of the content.  And how much drama there is in telling it.  The more conflict, tension, and drama you have, the longer the story can go.  Case in point is the story told on Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston after Kennedy came back from a vacation overseas.  Kennedy’s trip to Thailand, specifically a dinner she attended, went horribly wrong for many reasons.  Twist and turns and lots of speed bumps coupled with a self-deprecating sense of humor compel the audience to want to hear the story to conclusion.  Breaks with those elements feel shorter than they really are, if the break is structured right.  Go watch a reality show and see that they change the camera angle or scene every few seconds.  They do that to keep your attention.  Just like this break.