KSON – John Gets a Tattoo, KHTH – Jonah is Adpoted
This week we’re going to talk about preserving the natural reaction. Oftentimes, you don’t want to share too much with your team off the air out of fear the best and most natural reaction will come in that conversation and it will be difficult to recreate. These are almost always gut calls the others involved will react better if they don’t know where the story is going. This takes chemistry and a trust that the people you’re telling will not only have a reaction, but will have a good one.
In the two audio segments below, John from John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego, calls his mother to tell her he committed the cardinal sin…he got a tattoo.
In the second clip, Jonah, from Stacey K and Jonah, HOT 101.7, Santa Rosa, CA admits to something very few know about him, that he’s adopted.
There’s nothing more fun than real life. That’s what listeners are most looking for when they turn on a morning show. They want to be around people like them, who can be honest in a fun way. At Kyle and Rachel, Radio NOW, Indianapolis, Rachel was having some “issues” with her personal trainer. Kyle wanted to hear the trainer’s take on the problems so they got him on the phone. One thing to note in this break – listen to all the drama. These moments of drama are what draw the listener in and gives the team its best chance to create humor.
Games on morning shows work best if people in cars listening can play along (it’s why “Wheel of Fortune” is America’s most popular game). Ryno and Jackson, KYGO, Denver play “What Are They Talking About” where they bleep the topic from audio of a celebrity on TV. The listener has to guess what they’re talking about. It sounds naughty but isn’t, and you don’t have to have seen the TV show to play along.
They say interviews in PPM don’t work, which is nonsense. Bad interviews don’t work but entertaining ones do. Dave and Veronica, WQYK, Tampa understand that when they do an interview, the person they’re talking to has an agenda – to sell something. Their agenda is to entertain the audience, which is what they do in this interview with Dave Heywood from Lady Antebellum.
Terrific radio is story-based. Tell yours, then ask the listeners to their theirs. Stories are relatable and have twists and turns and moments of unpredictability that draw listeners in. In this simple break of phones, Mojo in the Morning, Channel 95.5, Detroit asked listeners what they learned about a happy couple from a best man.
One way to bond with women is to talk about kids. An easy concept, right? Sean Henry, Lite Rock B103, Rockford, IL is the master. Sean’s son Declan just turned five. To celebrate, he played The Pyramid with his son. The category was things in fives. Way too cute. And women walk away loving Sean even more for being a great father.
We needed a simple, quick benchmark for an early hour of Ty Loves New York, on 92.3 NOW, New York City. Enter “Food Porn” where Bryan the Phone Screener and a listener talk very suggestively about an item they recently ate, attempting to make the other person laugh. It sounds dirty, but it isn’t.
You must love a morning show that thinks outside the proverbial box. Approaching Father’s Day in June, Rob and Joss, Froggy 92.9, Santa Rosa, CA had a grand idea. Luke Bryant is one of country’s biggest artists right now. With the holiday upcoming that week, they found his father who offered up a unique take on the star. This is radio genius because no one else in the market thought to do it.