March Madness will consume the country for the next three weeks. For those (of us) who love basketball, it’s nirvana. Considering it’s happening in every office, it might be fun for you to join an office pool from listeners. Have the person who invites you in their office pool on the show each week to tell you how you’re doing.
An idea you can plan on now is inviting listeners in on the day Lent ends and they break it live on your show. Say a listener gave up chocolate or Diet Coke…they have their first chocolate or Diet Coke live on your program when it’s over on April 13, which should result in a great reaction after not being able to have it for a long time.
The name of this feature might be way too edgy for your show/station. But the concept is brilliant. Colleen and Bradley, myTalk 107.1, Minneapolis, do a weekly feature called Lord and Lady Douche Bag where they highlight the bad behavior of a male and female celebrity, bestowing that honor on them both. If the feature works, but the name doesn’t, simply change it as the frame to do the idea.
You can never go wrong talking about pets. So how about “Fat Dog Friday” where you let listeners tell you about their fat dogs, then feature pictures of some on your website and social media feeds at the end of each week! Why? Because fat dogs deserve love, too!!
You can do this with either the grandmothers of listeners (good) or the grandmothers of the cast (great). Call to see, once given a category and a few nominees, if they know the winners of Sunday evening Grammy Awards.
We wonder…what does your spouse do for living? We wonder…who cuts your hair and why do you go to them? We wonder…have you ever been pulled over by the cops? We Wonder is a new frame for phone topics that keeps you inquisitive and focused on getting stories from listeners.
No doubt many guys will go blank trying to figure out a special Valentines Day gift for the their gal. Find someone who has musical abilities. The day before the holiday (a Monday), get a guy on the phone in this predicament and learn about his partner. They then both come in the next day (the holiday) where your musician sings a custom Valentine’s Day song written as a unique gift for her and from him using the information learned the day prior.
Shows tend to complain that they cannot get calls in the 6am hour. How about an occasional feature in that hour called “Whatcha Haulin’?” Compliments of Two Men and a Mom, WRAL-FM, Raleigh, who open the phones early to talk to truckers, asking drivers of semis what they’re hauling. Weird and fun.
With Donald Trump’s inauguration later this week, find the interesting, knowledgeable, fun people in your building and, without tipping them off (record this ahead of time), put 10 seconds on the clock and ask them to name ten presidents. Offer them $100 of your own money if they can. No one will be able to do it, but it’ll be fun to listen to.
If there’s one thing no one can do, it’s fold a fitted sheet. There are a slew of YouTube videos on how to do this which can be used to launch this narrative arc where your entire team is challenged to learn how to do it properly. After a few days of practice, each cast member, using Facebook Live, tries to properly fold a fitted sheet, with the audience voting for a winner.