I’ve always thought Friday shows are easy because you can just ask the audience what they’re doing this weekend (like we ask co-workers on Fridays) and they give you lots of lifestyle and local content. A great name for that feature comes from Donny and Lauryn, Pop Crush Nights (Townsquare) is Sip, Sip, Hooray.
Did you mow lawns around the neighborhood as a kid to make some money each summer? How about getting a client to give you a lawnmower then setting up a cute kid to mow lawns in his or her neighborhood through the summer? Make them a weekly feature on the show, helping them pitch for work and then following their story line until they return to school in the fall.
Turn left or right and Taylor Swift is in the news. Regardless if she’s been to, has yet to, or even isn’t coming to your city, Taylor Swift content is high equity. Taylor Tales is where you find people who’ve met her and ask them to come on your show to tell that story.
Part time summer jobs. We’ve all had them. Inside of that are several ideas and I want to share three. Idea #1: the simple phone topic asking listeners what some of their summer jobs were when they were young. With great phone screening, you will get great stories. Idea #2: find a great part time summer job for a teacher. Building the idea around one person will make it stickier. Idea #3: are any clients looking for part time summer help? Get them on the show to tell listeners. That will make you important to the sales folks.
Arrange for each member of the show to give a graduation speech at a different middle or grammar school in town. The cast member must write a moving, inspirational speech to give to the students. Record each (including reaction from the students). Then post each speech on social media with the audience voting on Who Graduated Them Best?
If you guys have a daily trivia game, why not theme one week of it around valedictorians at area high schools. Find five, then do one a day during V Week. Gives you a chance to be local and test the book smart kid against the trivia champ on the show.
With winter over, do you have a ton of potholes in your town? Find a pothole and tell the audience you are going to fill it with pennies. Whoever guesses how many pennies it’ll take to level it off gets the pennies. You might have a media event for this so don’t forget to tell your local TV stations you’re doing it. It’ll also be a great visual for social media.
Star Wars Day is this Thursday (May the Fourth Be With You!). If you need a one-off game, find two listeners in your audience: the one person who knows everything about the Star Wars franchise and one person who’s never even seen a movie. Ask the person who’s never even seen one Star Wars movie the easiest questions you can about the franchise. For every question they get right, the Star Wars freak gets a prize. The hitch? Zero lifelines!
In the next few weeks, the US Supreme Court will start handing down its rulings. Your parody of this could be silly cases decided by five listeners who love Taco Bell’s Nachos Supreme. You can call them your Nacho’s Supreme Court as they render verdict on the dilemmas.
Use moral dilemmas to instigate great phones with story telling. Today’s ethical question? Your house is burning down. Inside is your favorite dog and an ex you can’t stand. You can only save one. Which one do you get?