You know, you’d be surprised how little people know. Which is why we created a feature with Karlson and McKenzie on WZLX, Boston, called (oddly enough) “You’d Be Surprised How Little People Know”. They grab questions culled from today’s news headlines and ask two people, each in separate professions, to see which person knows the least. Here’s the first one we did, a true home run in the fun department.
I’ve always said there’s nothing funnier than real life. With realty shows all around us (despite being semi-scripted and heavily edited for a storyline), listeners want to laugh about things that happen in the real world. John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego, got into a conversation with listeners about all those buttons you find in a car. During the course of the chat, Tammy admitted she never knew the AC button was the one with the snowflake on it and that the gas gauge told you what side the gas tank was on. Really fun.
One of the things listeners love is when Kevin Karlson puts his mother-in-law, Patsy, on the show. He has a very unique relationship with her. In a terrific example of character development, Karlson & McKenzie on WZLX, Boston, decided to do the “Inappropriate Question of the Day.” Kevin followed Patsy around at home while visiting her with a recorder and kept asking highly inappropriate questions just to see how she’d respond.
Here’s a new feature we’ve recently added to Mojo in the Morning on Channel 95.5, Detroit. It’s called “Five Lies to Tell Your Mom”. We concoct a story with five lies in it, then have the listener call their mother to offer up the story as true. It’s rife with conflict, especially when the mom reacts to some of the crazier elements of the story we make up. This bit is like an updated version of the typical prank call. It’s lots of work (reach out and I will tell you how it’s done), but well worth it.
With last week’s President’s Day holiday, Eddie and JoBo, KHITS, Chicago, decided to see how many presidents an average kid could name. You always need a conflicting category to make something like this funny to express your point. That’s where beer comes in! See how many presidents this kid can name, and then how many beer brands come to mind!
One very efficient way to do character development is to put a relative on your show. Recently, Jobo, from Eddie & Jobo, KHITS, Chicago, gave his mom a car for Christmas. He was beside himself when one of his brothers drove the car (against orders!) and smoked in it. Jobo wasn’t too pleased. Being too emotional about it, Jobo asked his partner, Eddie (who knows his mom very well), to call her to get things right. What you have here is a break, grounded in real life, that’s quite fun to listen in on.
Nothing humanizes a radio talent more than when you put a fun relative on the show. It’s terrific character development as the talent shifts from being an entertainer to someone’s kid, spouse, or parent. In these segments from WBMX, Boston’s Karson and Kennedy, Karson’s 93-year old grandmother calls the show to see if Karson knows that that town’s famed Fenway Park is turning 100 years old. Real life is funny…and these two segments with his grandma are.
The Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts was recently in a car accident where it was discovered, via the car’s black box, that he was traveling over 100-mph. That lead Karson & Kennedy, at MIX 104.1, Boston, to wonder what the black boxes in their cars might say. This is not only innovative, it’s terrific character development.
There is no doubt that relationships topics always work on female-targeted radio shows. Jim and Kim, Fresh 102.7 New York’s morning team, saw a multiple page letter a Wall Street broker wrote a gal he had one date with that was way over the line. They could have just read the letter (or parts of it) on their show. Instead, they found someone fun in the building and had them read it to the listeners, thus shifting into a position to react, which made it much more fun because of this added dimension.
Reality shows have conditioned listeners to want to be entertained by real life. One place real life happens for some people is in courthouses. Eddie & Jobo, on KHITS, Chicago head to their local courthouse once a week to talk to people about why they’re there that day. What ensues are fun conversations that really entertain those listening.