Mix kids and Santa and you have a win. Invite kids to come on the show and make their pitch on why they deserve certain toys and gifts directly to Santa. You’ll need someone fun to play Santa Claus and great phone screening so you have kids who can contribute to the bit (and not just offer up one word answers to questions).
Know that tangled string of Christmas lights you have in the house? Challenge a show member to untangle them. The curve ball can be that they compete against a brainiac from a local college who will, at the same time, try to figure out Rubik’s cube. First to do it wins. This is a visual so make sure you grab that for social media. And to add a twist, invite a local sportscaster in to do the play-by-play as things unfold.
The big box stores ain’t going nowhere. They have large footprints and massive marketing budgets. That’s why you’ll get behind your market’s small businesses by showing them some love through Christmas. This is the time of year that makes or breaks their year. So do “(Your Town’s) A-Z: The 26 Days of Christmas”. Once a day, choose a letter in the alphabet and let any employee of a local small business starting with that letter call to plug where they work. The image you’ll get from this is that you support the little guy. Which is very powerful.
With Thanksgiving about a week away, play the “I Wonder” game. I wonder…what Thanksgiving is like at the governor’s mansion. I wonder…what Thanksgiving is like in prison. I wonder…is a way to have interesting conversations with atypical people your audience will lean into.
Seems like everyone is offering to do flu shots these days: the drug store, your doctor, where you buys groceries. No one likes getting shots. So…get shots! Invite someone in the studio one morning to give everyone their flu shot. You’ll get video of winces to share on social media and great reactions for the listeners.
Many shows (maybe yours) ease into the broadcast day with the “First Caller of the Day” feature for their first break. The TJ Show, AMP 103.3, Boston start their Monday show with a different feature called “Awesome or Awful” where TJ asks his cast and callers to tell him something from their weekend that was either awesome or awful. This is a better feature because “First Caller” gets you nothing more than a caller where TJ’s feature gets you a story.
How fun would it be to find a cute sounding kid and have him or her read the ingredients of typical Halloween candy to the audience with the first listener to guess the candy being described winning a prize (and maybe a bag of the candy)?
Easily the most despised Halloween treat is the dreaded, awful, horrible, disgusting candy corn. Open those phones and put together the voice of listeners who agree for The Candy Corn Haters Club.
October is the month for Pumpkin Spice Lattes and pumpkin spice everything! Find a bunch of folks who’ve never had a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks and give them their virgin experience on your show in a bit called “Pop Your Pumpkin”. Thanks to Stacey K from HOT 101.7, Santa Rosa, CA for the catchy name to this idea.
Tracy Dixon from Ryno and Tracy, KYGO, Denver, suggests one of the great ideas for this month: record listeners calling their moms to remind them to get checked because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Then let the audience listen in on those conversations. You’re soon to see pink everywhere. This is timely, very topical, and very human. Excellent idea Tracy (and thanks for sharing it!!).