What happens when you’re grounded for the summer? The best radio is a reflection of real life. Nick is an 11-year old kid in Detroit who got grounded for the summer. Following the drama (something reality TV shows do quite well) is very memorable and fun. That’s why Mojo in the Morning on Channel 95.5, Detroit “adopted” Nick and is following his exploits.
A guy friend of newsman Bill Tafrow is being “domesticated” by his fiance. His buddy’s walls have been painted peach and he’s upset about that. Which is why Michael and Tiffany, B101, Philadelphia’s morning show, decided to have a “mantervention”. They called Bill’s friend so Bill could confront him about how he’s changed. The first break below is the “mantervention”. The second is the fiance calling to defend herself.
Here is a terrific break showing how to do character development. Karson, from Karson & Kennedy on MIX 104.1, Boston, had to call the cops because his daughter was getting harassed on Facebook. Character stories must have three elements: the ability for listeners to see themselves in the story, a bold point of conflict, and strong emotions connected with the story. This had all three.
A couple of weeks ago when Oprah was going off TV, Jimmy and Yvonne at DAVE-FM, Atlanta decided to find a guy listener who wanted to watch Oprah’s last show live instead of from his DVR later that evening. So they called the guy’s female boss to get him out of work early that do. Very quirky and creative.
Here’s a fun and dark way to involve listeners in the upcoming execution of an inmate that might work on a male-targeted morning show. It’s called the Death Row Inmate Game. Karslon & McKenzie at WZLX, Boston describe the inmate and give listeners a shot at guessing an item in his last meal to win a prize. The approach adds dimension and emotion to the conversation and builds anticipation to hear the actual meal he’s chosen as his last.
Facebook is being used by all demos now, which is why we got into a conversation about it on Tiffany & Michael’s morning show on B101, Philadelphia. Specifically, news guy Bill Tafrow was bothered by the fact that an ex-girlfriend had de-friended him on Facebook. So, the only course of action was to get her on the show to find out why she did that.
Last month on Karson & Kennedy on MIX 104.1, Boston, we did “The Race to 1K” where we challenged the two co-hosts to spend the month meeting listeners. The first to meet 1000 listeners won. This was another effort to get our team out in public and to generate lots of local content for the show through the audio they got during visits with listeners. Here’s one break which showed how much fun they had when they went out.
We just added a new weekly benchmark to Mojo in the Morning on Channel 95.5, Detroit called “Five Lies To Tell Your Mom”. The show concocts a story with five plausible lies a listener must tell her mother, just to see how mom reacts.
Jimmy and Yvonne on DAVE-FM, Atlanta have a regular character on their show called The Queen. He’s a flamboyant gay guy who tells the market all the fun places to go each weekend. Who better to have in the studio than Bob The Queen when they needed commentary on the Royal Wedding the week it was happening? Great contributing characters fill a specific role on the show and tend to create talk because of this focus and their humorous point-of-view. Here’s The Queen on the Wedding.
While out on paternity leave, Nick Cannon from New York’s 92.3 NOW wanted to stay in touch with listeners. So he did something completely out of the ordinary. He gave listeners his home phone number, which he says he’ll answer when he’s there. Then to prove the number works to the skeptics in the studio, he dialed it and a very pregnant Mariah Carey answered. Now, all of New York has Nick’s home phone number, which is a nice was to create buzz. The audio is below so enjoy!