Your Monday Morning Free Idea editor read over the weekend that the new King of England is quite high maintenance. King Charles has one of his butlers squeeze exactly one inch of toothpaste onto his toothbrush each morning, which is waiting for him when he gets into the bathroom. Which leads to the simple phone topic: give us the initials of the most high maintenance person you know at work or in life, then tell us why you chose them.
Let’s combine back-to-school with Halloween. The first couple of weeks of October, get teachers to send you a picture of their teacher’s lounge at school. There are great memories as a student wondering what went on behind that closed door. Post the pictures online and let the voting begin. The teacher’s lounge getting the most votes wins a year’s supply of Halloween candy!
A friend just told me he thought Chick-Fil-A’s waffle fries were inferior to the fries of other fast food restaurants. Time to have the French Fry Challenge. Grab fries from any local restaurant that wants in on the competition. Then find three great chefs in town and do a blind taste test to crown your winner.
With schools back in session, let’s find a high school teacher who’ll come on once a week to give every member of the show a five question quiz they gave their students that week. They ask you the questions on day one, you submit your answers, and they come back the next day at the same time to see who passed. Do this for the first month of school to see who the smartest is in the room.
Football is about to start again and with that, there will be lots of tailgating. Go grab audio of tailgators at a local game. Talk to them while they’re eating. Play that audio for the listener, who has to guess The Meat in My Mouth. Make sure the person eating also reveals the meat in their mouth!
Ta-dah. A new feature for the show designed to get phones and easy social media action. How Old, How Many! Choose a category like tattoos. The audience then tells you how old they are and how many tattoos they have. You can easily do this with a bunch of categories (jobs, cities you’ve lived in, sex partners), all resulting in a frame that leads you to explore some stories around it.
Does your show have a relationship with a local TV station? See if the anchors/reporters will do a video series with you called First Laugher Loses. Someone on your show sits facing someone on their air. You go back and forth telling short jokes, trying not to laugh. The first person to laugh at the other’s joke loses. It’ll help soften the images of the TV folks, give you great videos for social media, and some free attention from the TV station.
Teachers are already heading back to set things up for a new school year. Any chance you can hook up with an appropriate client, ask teachers to decorate their lounge with your logo and pictures, and submit them to you for digital content? Choose one winner and outfit their teachers lounge with the item the client provides you.
Teachers are headed back to prepare for the new school year. Lots of teachers pay for school supplies out of their own pocket. They post online the list of things they need. Grab those lists (have local teachers send theirs to you) and take care of it in Clear the List.
How about a cross-promotion with a local TV station? In return for coverage, spend an entire week on your show calling all their on-air personalities to ask one simple question (and the name of this week’s Free Idea): “Hey, What Did You Have For Breakfast”?