With all of the country entering high school graduation season, time to test the show’s ability to deliver a short, highly inspirational, fun commencement speech. Each cast member writes a 60-second speech for graduating seniors. Take a break or two to read them to the audience. Then place them all online for the audience to vote who did the best job with those results the very next day on the show.
Character development is always critical for a show. The audience getting to know those parts of you they can relate to makes you real and human. On occasion, play a saved voicemail from the phone of a cast member. Bleep out the cast member’s name in the message (if there) and play it for the audience, who has to guess who it was left for.
The topic of Mother’s Day is as viable the day after as it is the day before. Invite kids to come on the show and ask them to do their imitation of their mother when she’s angry. If you start with your kids, you’ll do some character development to launch the idea before opening the phones.
With Mother’s Day next weekend, find someone with musical talents and get them to write a custom song for a mother from her husband/kids chosen from the audience as a gift. Put the family on with the musician on Thursday morning and ask personal questions about the mom. The musician then goes to write a short, fun song based on what was gleaned about the mom and comes back the next day to perform it for her in the studio.
The TJ Show, AMP 103.3, Boston has a very novel way to offer prizes to a listener once they win one of their quirky games. You can choose either what’s in TJ’s sack or Loren’s box. It sounds dirty (but isn’t), has an edge, and is always the same prize regardless once the listener chooses. It’s naughty without being naughty due to the play on words. But also adds an interesting spice to games to capture listeners’ attention.
With Game of Thrones, a big buzz TV show back on HBO, “The Game of Thrones” is a fun, quirky game you can play with listeners. Describe a different throne or something someone would sit on (i.e. toilet, electric chair, airplane seat). If the listener guesses the description of the throne you’re describing, they win.
If you have a bunch of prizes to give out this week, do “He Got Waxed Because You Got Taxed”. This one is simple and ties into Tax Day (Wednesday). The listener calls to tell you how much of a check they had to write to the government. You then wax the body part the listener chooses of the most appropriate person on the show. Whatever prize is listed on the underside of the wax strip they get for having been taxed.
Need a fun, quick game to play to give something out? Try “The One Second Song”. Grab a hit record in your format and play only one second of the song. First listener to identify artist and title wins.
Adding in as characters the fun people you work with or know in life is a fun idea to add dimension to your program. Find the smartest person in the building (someone preferably at a Mensa level) and pit them against the listeners on occasion in a trivia contest your co-worker rarely, if ever, loses. Call the feature “No One Likes a Know-It-All” which acts as your hook phrase at the end of every installment.
Ellen occasionally plays a game with her guests that is very viable for your show, too. It’s called “Never Have I Ever” where she asks personal questions which could prompt an “I haven’t” or “I have” response. Questions like: being part of the mile high club, stealing from work, thinking romantically of a co-worker. You can play this on your team for character development. The fun comes from those who can’t profess they haven’t to a question. Quizzing them is where the fun happens.