Instead of doing a standard Q&A on interviews, Cledus, Dave, and Veronica at WQYK, Tampa do something different and fun. They let listeners guess what the interviewee had for breakfast, then make that a part of their conversation. This part humanizes the person being interviewed and is silly and fun, thus drawing listeners in to the interview because it’s different. Here’s an interview they did using this approach with one of their local mayors.
The very best, most entertaining phone topics satisfy two criteria. First they must originate from an experience a member of the show has. That’s the justification to do it (verses it being perceived as a generic, prep service topic). The second is that what you ask for must be stories. Inside stories, there’s rich detail and twist and turns that will keep listeners hooked because the show has something to mine for gold. A member of Fernando and Greg, NOW 99.7, San Francisco, went to a wedding which was ruined by an invited guest. Here are the fun phones they did around it.
The very best morning radio is personal and vulnerable. Which is why the feature “Truth or Pair” works. J and Julian, B96, Chicago’s number one show had tickets to give out to see Pink perform at the station. Instead of taking caller ten (ugh!) they challenged listeners to call them with a highly personal question. If they answered it (truth), the listener got nothing. But if the question was too personal, they could take a pass and the listener got the pair of tickets to see Pink.
One of the summer’s big hits was “Magic Mike”. One of the fun features on Fernando and Greg, NOW 99.7, San Francisco’s morning show is when they talk to Greg’s mom, a conservative woman who lives in Texas. They married the opposites of old school views on sex and a naked Channing Tatum. Here’s Greg’s mom “review” of the movie.
The Indiana Pacers recently had auctions for new cheerleaders. Kyle from Kyle and Rachel, Radio NOW 100.9, Indianapolis, decided to interview some of the potential cheerleaders. What to do? In a brainstorm, I asked him what some of the stereotypes were for cheerleaders. Kyle said “they’re dumb”. So, he decided to ask them very hard science questions. The twist is he gave them the answers so they came off the opposite of dumb. The way this was done, it was quite obvious to listeners there was a set-up, which made it fun.
Late August means it’s time for back to school. All over the country, parents are rejoicing that their kids are getting out of the house and going back to class. Which is why Rob and Joss, Froggy 92.9, Santa Rosa, CA, put together this excellent production piece of elated parents and the Christmas time classic, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”
The content plot for J and Julian, B96, Chicago is “multiculturalism”. Simply put, we have one of everything on this show, which is a direct reflection of P18-34 in a major city like Chicago. We leverage the ethnicity of the show to do different kind of content. So, the Olympics was an easy putt for us. Which is why we challenged each member of the team to learn the national anthem of the country of their heritage and sing it to the audience, as though they’d won gold. The audio below is a compilation of the breaks where we did it. Here is the cast of the show singing the national anthems of China, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Poland.
One thing many young people have done is to send a suggestive picture of themselves, via text, to their significant other. Kyle, from Kyle and Rachel, Radio NOW, Indianapolis’s most listened to morning show never has. So he made a test during the program and took a naked picture of himself and sent it to his girlfriend of one year, who was not expecting it. They then called to get her take.
Karlson and McKenzie on WZLX, Boston have spent the summer making Kevin Karlson’s mother-in-law’s dreams come true. First up was a trip to NYC to see “The View”. Here’s Patsy’s review and their conversation with her about the experience. Hear how personal and fun this exchange is – you get a true sense of Kevin’s relationship with her and, because it’s reflective of real life, it’s very sticky.
We’re in the silly business, right? Here’s a break from Cledus, Dave, and Veronica on WQYK, Tampa which perfectly fuses relatable content with innovation. Dave thought his mom’s outgoing voicemail made her sound like she worked for a 900-number. Listen to how he talks about it and, more importantly, what they do with it to make the audience laugh.