AMP 103.3 Producer Matt Talks to Drunk People
My friend Dom Theodore talks about finding the “freaks and weirdos” to entertain the audience. While I am not sure those who are inebriated fall under that category, his point is that the people who live on the fringe tend to be very engaging. Which is why The TJ Show, AMP 103.3, Boston, has Producer Matt talk to drunk people each week. This is a very targeted idea around those who party each weekend in town (lots of college students live in Boston) and is entertaining to all. Behold, drunk people. Thanks for making us laugh.
Learning a lesson from Letterman, Fallon, and Kimmel, we know the value of marrying a pop culture topic with humor. This is one of the recipes that accentuate two very important images needed to win: being fun and being relevant. The best topics many days are those things going on in the world around all of us. Make it fun and the listeners will flock to it. Add in a dose of innovation and it makes the break truly cut through and be memorable. Several weeks ago when “50 Shades of Grey” was topic #1, Ryno and Tracy, KYGO, Denver decided to ask co-workers who the office Christian Grey was. They aired this audio one morning and had the guy chosen in the studio to hear it for the first time. They then had even more fun with him by having him read from the book. Three images earned here: relevance, innovation, and humor.
Newscasts are really content breaks for the listeners. Unless you’re on a news-talk station, the audience can get the day’s news items from sources dedicated to delivering them as well as mobile devices and TV stations when they wake up in the morning. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do news. But understand that what makes this break stand out is the perspective and/or humor you offer the news stories the team converses about and comments on. Here’s a great example from The Big Dave Show, B105, Cincinnati where they were talking about a new Barbie that many people find creepy. The show does something with it at the end which creates a moment of emotion (laughter) which makes it sticky.
For a break to stand out, it must not only have a relatability factor, it must also, on some level, be creative and innovative. Stacey K & Jonah, Hot 101.7, Santa Rosa, CA put together a feature called “The Censored Song”. They put a beep inside a song hook and it instantly made the lyric dirty, eliciting laughter from the audience. While Santa Rosa isn’t a PPM market, one item learned is that music-based features are loved by the audience. This is totally silly, fits both the station and morning show brand images, and is very memorable for those listening. It’s the kind of idea many fans will hear and talk about with their friends later in the day serving the dual role entertaining those tuning in while causing talk for the show.
Few shows prove how easy it is to bring listeners to their weekend experiences than Dave and Veronica, WQYK, Tampa. One of the iconic events in the market is the yearly Strawberry Festival, attended by thousands. What this team does so effortlessly is talk to people where they visit. As a show, you have a few options once you experience something in the market. Talk about it or talk to people there and use that audio to help your break. Having that audio helps improve the break’s entertainment value for listeners. In this break, they have fun asking attendees what they’re eating. So easy to do. It makes for a better listener experience.
Combine a provocative conversation around sex with terrific team chemistry and add in a pinch of vulnerability for character development and you have a very memorable, very real break. Peter Rosenberg, part of Ebro in the Morning, HOT 97, New York, believes that every single person has a certain percentage of gay in them. He throws out this theory and then kicks back as the chemistry of the team takes over. Listen as Laura Styles comments on herself, as well as listeners sharing their perspective of Peter’s thesis. This is silly and fun and a couple of great radio breaks.
When faced with telling a news story, all shows have options. The first (and easiest) is to just recount the story as you’ve read it, sprinkle in some commentary, and then move along. This is one-dimensional, somewhat boring to listen to, and (if I might be so bold) lazy. Another option is to tell the story and then open the phones for some reason. The third, and probably most powerful thing to do, is find someone in the story and get them to tell it, with you being inquisitive, asking all the right questions, and reacting naturally to what you hear from their first-person account. Isis has been threatening airplanes. John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego found someone on one of them and the gal’s recounting of her experience is absolutely emotional and riveting. Grab your audience and don’t let go and they’ll come back. Here are the interview segments proving that.
One of the easier breaks to do on a Friday show is to simply ask listeners that they’re doing that weekend. It’s completely lifestyle and will be a potpourri of things you can explore, even going back to a few on Monday if something truly interesting comes up. Which brings us to Kyle and Rachel, Radio NOW, Indianapolis, from this past Friday. When listeners were sharing what they were up to, the team was completely taken aback when one caller said she was going to a Super Bowl Sex Party and that it was thrown by someone everyone knew, who was on TV in town. Intrigue is critical to making a break work. Kyle convinced the caller to give him the name of the person off-air, introducing this x-factor into the break. Only he and co-host B-Lorde know who this person is (Rachel left the studio not wanting to hear the name). Now listeners wonder, too. Resulting in a question they’ll be asked for months: who is it? Here is the initial break they did with subsequent calls from listeners.
Let me into your life, let me learn about your relationship. One of the great attributes of the TV show “Everybody Loves Raymond” was how Ray could never do anything right. This is a thread through Sean and Michelle, B103, Rockford, IL (not because we’re copying the TV show, but because it’s true in Sean’s relationship with Amy, his wife). Sean has no issue being real and vulnerable. That’s one thing to learn from this audio. The other is how smart the show is in getting his wife on to participate in the story-telling, allowing Sean to be himself and for Michelle to have the most natural of reactions. Without Amy involved in telling this story, it sits flat. Having her on with the team makes it come alive.