The Scripps National Spelling Bee in the last week of this month. Let’s have a contest amongst the show cast where they’d need to be blindfolded! It’s called “Smell It Then Spell It”. A cast member smells something (reaction) then has to spell what they smell. First to three points wins. You might want to include listeners on the phone who can help in the spelling part.
With Cinco de Mayo this week, your show needs a decidedly festive feel. How about finding a local mariachi band to do one of two things: Mariachi Wake Ups (the band enters the room of a kid who hasn’t woken up for school yet) or the band plays you into your stop set breaks all morning!
May 5th is right around the corner, which is a great time to do “Know the Show: Cinco de Mayo Edition”. Invite your PD to come in loaded with personal questions about the cast everyone should know. Another member of the show is asked a question. If they get it right, you move on to the next person. If they get it wrong, they must eat one of the really hot peppers you buy at your local grocery store.
Each of us has certain sounds that mean certain things in our life. On our phones, tablets, in our homes and cars. Each person on the show should record some of those sounds. Play one for the audience who then must guess its meaning. Then the cast member shares what that sound signifies for them.
With April 15th right around the corner, I wonder what it’s like to go to jail for not paying your taxes. Find someone who’s had to do that and get a first hand story!
With spring here, lots of people will have weekend weddings. Find a best man who has to toast a bride and groom at an upcoming nuptial. Then build a one-week narrative arc around getting him professional help to write that speech. It all culminates on the Monday-after-the-ceremony show with audio and reaction.
So many people think they can multi-task. How often have you been texting someone when someone else is talking with you and you hear nothing? Put someone on the show to the test. Have them start texting their friends as you play a 60-second portion of an audio book (for all to hear). Once done, ask them about the part of the book you played to see what they retained while texting.
With Dos Equis retiring the Most Interesting Man in the World character, go find The Most Interesting Man in (Your City) as a promotion. Listeners call and have ten-seconds to convince you why it’s them (yes, it must be a man, not a woman). If they engage you in ten-seconds, learn more. At the end of the week, have your panel of judges crown your winner. Bring them in to award them a scepter and crown, as well as a year’s supply of Dos Equis.
With baseball’s spring training going on now, take the least athletic person on your show to a local batting cage to see how they do. Remember audio for the show and video for social media. Marrying the person who knows nothing about sports to the challenge is great conflict to create some topical humor.
On Monday morning you can roll down the list of winners at the Academy Awards (snoozefest – no one has heard of these movies) or you can play a fun game called “Oscar Impostor” where you give the listener the name of a blockbuster and they must tell you if it won an Oscar when it came out or if it’s an impostor.