George, Mo, and Erik, KILT-FM (The Bull), Houston with Tattoo Regrets

We are a story-telling medium.  That’s what we do best.  Stories are how we introduce ourselves to others.  Stories define us.  In any format, but especially in country.  Because every great country song tells a story.  Here’s George, Mo, and Erik, KILT-FM (The Bull), Houston with tattoo regret calls.  A few things to note:  first, the “why” is the most important part of anything we do.  Why is this content on the show?  Mo’s husband has a tattoo he doesn’t like.  Other items to highlight:  the setup from the show is super short.  The win of this for listeners is hearing a caller’s story.  They get to that in under twenty seconds.  Finally, there’s great character development at the end when Mo’s father calls to tell his story (it’s wild).  Know your why, be relatable, tell stories, involve listeners, and get to it quickly.  The recipe for a terrific content break.

Daly/Migs Show, 99.9 KISW, Seattle with Lily Hates Metallica

If you ever need to construct a break and get stumped at how to create conflict (a disparity or incompatibility in how something is viewed), just think “what’s the opposite of this”.  The big story last weekend in Seattle was two Metallica concerts after years of not being in the market.  This is a big deal to rock fans and the Daly/Migs Show, 99.9 KISW, Seattle needed to own it in content.  Yea, other rock shows had tickets, too.  But this is about what’s done with Metallica content that competitors won’t think to do.  The opposite of a metal head is to play some of their music for a kid.  Enter Danny V, who’s on the show and has a ten-year old, who’s never heard the group.  Listen to Lily’s reactions.  To extend the content, the rest of the show did it with their kids the next day at the same time.  All of it adorable, character defining, funny, and relevant.  This is great ideation on that relevant and local topic.

Brian and Chrissy, WGNA, Albany with Chrissy is a Giggle Box

You want the audience to rally around a cast member?  Air a caller who bashes one of them.  Then watch as people shift from like to love of that personality, wanting to defend them.  On Brian and Chrissy, WGNA, Albany, Chrissy has a unique laugh.  In a discussion on-air, Brian goes there, with a listener who calls Chrissy a “giggle box”.  Yikes.  Watch the phones go crazy as Chrissy fans come to her defense because they’d never want that said about them or someone they like.  Tactically placing things like this into the show on occasion, or taking advantage of them when they appear, is a smart move to keep the audience engaged.  Then watch the audience rise up to defend the talent and show.

Christine and Salt, WTIC-FM, Hartford, with Connecticut Etiquette

You need experts on your show.  People who have an expertise in some area who can add to your breaks when you do that kind of content.  Think Oprah, who understood the value of doing relationships-based content and went out and found Dr. Phil.  Her ratings were always higher when he was on her show (until she realized they could make more money if Dr. Phil had his own show).  Put a list together of experts who can add to your show’s content.  Then find people with wattage who can do just that.  Christine and Salt, WTIC-FM, Hartford, CT did just that.  They found a fun person who was an expert in living a proper life.  So they created the Connecticut Etiquette (love the name because it rhymes and is so memorable) who comes on whenever they’re talking about manners.

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston with Ice Cream Karen

Making a big thing out of a little thing.  That’s our theme in this week’s audio as shown by Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston who are always listening out for opportunity from callers.  A listener rang them on their regular Monday “what was the highlight of your weekend” feature.  The caller told them that her one son was selling homemade ice cream in the neighborhood to raise funds for her other son’s special needs hockey team when a Karen shut them down.  Karson and Kennedy to the rescue.  They put together a massive Saturday fundraiser, centered around the first son and his ice cream sales, to improve on the paltry $60 earned before Karen inserted herself in the good deed.  They heard the mom’s story and worked hard to make it larger than life, putting all efforts from the show behind it.  Rallying their listeners and making a big thing from a small thing, they helped raise over $3500 for the team.  Another stunning victory for radio, proving the power of talent.  Look to do this so you own memorable moments with your fans.

The AD Rowntree Show, KSHE, St. Louis with Six Pack and the Art of Characters

Do you guys get regular callers?  Do you figure out how to make the more absurd of them contributors of content to your show?  The AD Rowntree Show, KSHE, St. Louis has some of the oddest oddballs calling their program (I say that with the greatest affection).  AD and Chris have figured out how to elevate these callers to star status by featuring their weirdness on their show.  We learned it years ago from Letterman, who made an art of using the quirkier people on his staff in his bits to entertain in ways that hadn’t been used before.  Howard does the exact same thing.  Think about your callers and focus on highlighting them to bring a fresh energy to your conversations.  Here’s an example of a regular caller to AD’s show and how they do this.

Dave Coombs, WKLH, Milwaukee with Fun with AI Joe

AI is a game-changer to create relevant fun content for your show.  Dave Coombs, WKLH, Milwaukee gets this on a level we all can learn from.  As Dave shows us here, you can have AI mimic any celebrity or famous person.  How can you use this to your advantage?  What big story with a famous person can you create humor around using AI?  Politics might be off the plate as a topic choice for your show, but not for Dave.  Before he left the presidential race, Dave had AI create fun stuff around Joe Biden.  He called it AI Joe so the audience knew it was a fake.  Here’s audio of how Dave did it, which opens up more topical and creative opportunities for doing unique things on your show.

The Daly Migs Show, 99.9 KISW, Seattle with Mice in Minneapolis

Our audio this week brings several points important to make.  First, we are storytellers.  First, always, and forever.  Stories are what make us interesting to other people.  But we can only tell our stories, not the stories of others.  If a story exists and it isn’t yours, get that person on to tell it.  It’ll be much more emotional and authentic.  Second, stories must have compelling drama and the more you have, as it pushes to resolution, the more riveting it is to hear.  Finally, stories don’t work unless you, as show hosts, have curiosity to bring the story out and focus on the emotion.  A local Seattle woman was caught in the vortex of the Delta issues a week ago.  She joined the Daly Migs Show, 99.9 KISW to tell of her experience (which includes finding mice in the Minneapolis airport).  This first person account of the happened is highly engaging.

The Josie Dye Show, Indie 88, Toronto with Delayed, Cancelled, or On Time

With vacations in full swing, we’re hearing that airports are packed.  Here’s audio from The Josie Dye Show, Indie 88, Toronto that taps into all that air travel.  The fun game is called Delayed, Cancelled, or On Time.  Grab a flight from your airport and call that airline’s 800-number to record the flight status.  Bank the audio and have your caller guess which of the three that flight will be – delayed, cancelled, or on time.  Then play the call to see if they win the prize.  A tip – find online a flight out of your airport that leaves for a vacation destination (like Orlando because of Disney) within a few hours and is either delayed or cancelled as that’ll be funnier when you do it on-air.  Here’s audio as an example.

Anna and Raven, Star 99.9, Bridgeport, CT with the Biden-Trump Debate Bets

With politics now ramping up as a potential Hot List topic, you can consider using it as a foundation for content for the show.  The threading of this needle needs to be precise so it’s not commentary or you advocating for a candidate (so it isn’t polarizing).  Plus, it’s important to maintain the goal – entertaining the audience.  With the Trump-Biden debate a few weeks ago, Anna and Raven, Star 99.9, Bridgeport, CT took on the challenge of crafting unique content around the topic without touching that third rail.  In a brainstorm, we realized that people like to bet and there were probably weird bets happening that night on the debate, too.  Here’s an interview with a betting parlor owner on just that angle.  It wasn’t about politics, but was about something attached to the debate that created the relevance.