One of the easiest ways to do character development is to involve a family member in the show. In this clip from Tiffany & Michael on B101, Philadelphia, news guy Bill Tafrow tells a story about not paying at a restaurant because the waitress wouldn’t show him any attention when he wanted to take care of his meal. In this clip, the show calls Bill’s mom to ask her if he should go back to the restaurant to pay.
The very best phones always come out personal stories. Many shows lean on surveys or magazine articles to launch phones – that’s generic, boring, and impersonal. When the show shares something that happened to them, and then open the phones to get similar stories, they’re even better because character development happens (the audience is connecting with the story). In this audio segment from J & Julian on B96, Chicago, J tells a story about wanting a refund from a car wash that messed up his car. Listen after for the great stories they get from listeners as everyone kicks back to be entertained. This is simple bread-and-butter stuff, but quite effective when launched from talent sharing a relatable experience they had.
One of our signature features on Karlson & McKenzie, WZLX, Boston is “Senseless Survey”. Kevin Karlson calls an unsuspecting citizen, claiming he’s with the US Senseless Bureau. Once they consent to a quick thirty second survey, he fires the quirkiest, oddest questions at them to see how they react.
We do a fun thing at the end of every artist interview on syndicated country morning show, Tony & Kris. It’s called “60 Seconds”, where the guys throw odd, quirky questions at the artists only looking for the first response that comes to mind. It’s a fun way to end interviews and gives listeners additional insight into the artists’ lives. Here’s a recent version of “60 Seconds” with The Band Perry, who’s up for several CMAs.
To introduce Candy & Potter, the new morning show on KMPS, Seattle, to the market, we’re doing “The Hole in the Wall Tour” where we take the show out each Friday to meet listeners at a small, local breakfast place. On this Friday, the mayor of the small town was asked a bunch of trivia questions, with each correct answer worth some money to his favorite charity. Listen as they ask local, quirky questions with a pop culture feel. This one’s fun and works because listeners can play along in the car.
Anyone can run down the list of things going on during the upcoming weekend in town. There was a time when that content worked. No longer, though. Now, it’s how you do it that matters. Listen here at Jimmy & Yvonne, from DAVE-FM, Atlanta talk to a regular character on the show (and listener to the show), Bob the Queen. Bob’s not only tied into Atlanta, he has terrific chemistry with the team, is quite authentic, and exceptionally quick-witted. The draw here for listeners isn’t what’s going on in Atlanta, it’s what Bob says that make people want to tune in.
Jimmy Baron (from Jimmy and Yvonne, who do mornings on DAVE-FM, Atlanta) decided to sell some tickets he’d purchased to another employee at the station. Not looking to for anything other than face value, listen as Jimmy tells the story of about how the money he was given came up short, followed by an on-air “discussion” with the person he sold the tickets to. These kinds of honest, unfolding conversations on-the-air are great character building and riveting for listeners to hear because they are relatable and unpredictable.
Women went on in pairs of twos on Mojo in the Morning on Channel 95.5, Detroit. The team judged which of the two had a better “hand” in this game of “Bitter Ex Poker” when they told a story about how they were wronged by a former boyfriend. It’s another way to do relationships-oriented content.
Back over the summer when it was incredibly hot in the northeast, there was an air conditioner war going on in the home of Tiffany Hill, from the Tiffany and Michael Show at B101, Philadelphia. Tiffany’s husband, David, liked it set at 60, she liked it set at 68. How to resolve this? By the use of trivia, of course. In this audio segment, Tiffany turned the air conditioning down one degree for every heat-related trivia question David got right. This one’s fun!
One of our signature features on J & Julian’s show on B96 Chicago is “Showbiz Shelly’s Smackdown” where our show biz expert, Shelly takes on a listener in a daily pop culture trivia game. This is a special version because she payed against Perez Hilton! We billed this as the Showbiz Queen verses the Showbiz Queen!