WNKS Drex’s Mom Punches Someone
“My Mom punched someone in the parking lot of a Target this past weekend!”. Well, that’s a delightful open to a break, isn’t it? Structurally, a synopsis and a great hook near the top of every break is what will best compel those listening to lean in and not leave. Drex and Maney, KISS 95.1, Charlotte understand this. Here’s a break not only with that hook, but a conversation with Drex’s mom, who came on to tell her story, leaving our team to ask the obvious questions to get all the wonderful details of what happened, entertaining the audience in the process.
Girl Scout cookies are on sale and you have a confession to make. You hate the Thin Mints. The one cookie every else seems to love. What do you do? Well, Joss from Rob and Joss, Froggy 92.9, Santa Rosa, CA went around to admit it to co-workers, recording their reactions, which are classic. This is the kind of fun, quirky, character-building break that listeners will mention to Joss if they see her at a promotion or remote in the next few months.
This break is a tad old, but highlights how things come alive when you add other elements to breaks. Each year for Thanksgiving, Cledus, from Dave and Veronica, WQYK, Tampa, visits Cracker Barrel for Thanksgiving. Pondering what Cracker Barrel is like for Thanksgiving, the team decided to call the restaurant Cledus actually visits every year with his daughter. The result is an inquisitive team having a fun conversation with the waitress who answers the phone. The team could’ve opted to just tell the story, but adding the call to the restaurant gave them stuff to work with in their effort to create a fun, memorable break.
What would you do if you felt your partner was cheating on you? Pablo, at WPGC, Washington, told his cast and audience of this fear, and then decided to step out and call his girlfriend on the air to ask if she was. There’s a curve ball in this narrative arc, so you’ll have to listen to the two breaks below. Pablo did a great job intriguing the audience and hooking them to lean in to see how this dilemma played out.
There might not be more fun than to quiz cheerleaders on things going on in the world. With the stereotype that cheerleaders might not be completely in the loop on the news, Kyle and Rachel, Radio NOW, Indianapolis asked area cheerleaders about the recent March Madness tournament. The only hitch was that the questions were very hard, and Kyle (obviously) gave them the answers so they came off as knowing more than the average sports fan. The “conflict” inserted into this bit (planned, of course) made it very fun and very topical.
On a market visit a couple of weeks ago we came up with a fun game for John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego called “Trek or Trebek”. They played an altered audio clip from either the old Star Trek TV show or Alex Trebek from Jeopardy. The listener had to guess where it came from. With Star Trek a hot movie right now, this was just dumb, silly fun!
I always ask shows to tell me what they do that no one else has done. The J Show, B96, Chicago, just added a new feature called “The Awkward Compliment” where J Niice walks up to people and compliments them on some small, quirky thing (I like your belt buckle, you’re very sexy when you use your computer mouse) just to see how they react. Of course he’s secretly recording all of this for the show. Odd, fun, silly completely works on a show because it captures listeners’ imagination, makes them laugh, and leaves them with something to talk with their friends about.
What do you get when you cross very urban and openly gay Greg and Fernando on 99.7 NOW, San Francisco with southern redneck Texas? A weekly feature where Greg calls his mom to talk about what she’s been up to for the last several days. The audience eats this up because there is such a disparity in the lifestyles and both sides are very comfortable with who they are.