Archive for category: Free Idea

Break Lent

Diet Coke, chocolate, cursing.  These are some of the things people gave up for Lent.  Invite people who gave up things to come in and break Lent on its last day on your show.  Imagine a Diet Coke lover going forty days without their favorite soda, and then having it for the first time in over one month on your show!  Open the can, let the listeners hear the fizz as it pours over the ice cubes, and then your listener takes their first drink of Diet Coke live on the show.  You could always do this, too, with people in the building.  As long as it’s entertaining, it won’t matter if you use listeners or co-workers.  Find others who gave up things like this and have a Break Lent Day on your program.

Gas Man

Yea, gas prices are through the roof (again).  Anyone can give out free gas (this always works). But developing a character called “Gas Man” might make it more entertaining for those who don’t care to hear a promotion about low gas prices.  Dress up someone from promotions in a leotard and cape.  They swoop in on unsuspecting citizens filling up at service stations during the morning show and, after they recite the fun “gas pledge” you write, Gas Man fills their tank up for free.  You can even rewrite the old Batman TV theme to stage it.  The great part is that you don’t need tons of free gas to do this.  Once a morning show for a few weeks doesn’t add up to much and is entertaining for 100% of the audience who just come to you to have fun.

Bed, Wed, or Dead

Mix celebrities and relationships and you have a new feature called “Bed, Wed, or Dead”.  Offer up three celebrities of the same sex (Jonah Hill, Cee Lo Green, Kris Humphries) and your female listener must tell you which of the three she would want to marry, which she’d rather have a one night stand with, and which of the troupe she’s so tired of hearing about, she wants him off the face of the Earth.  You can always flip this and do three female celebrities for male listeners to evaluate, too.

Where Are You Going?

This feature is so simple, it’s almost mind numbing.  As an occasional bit on the show, dedicate a break to going around the cast, asking each member for the most interesting place they’re going that day.  Might be the dentist, or to their kid’s school to meet with a teacher, or to a lawyer’s office to sign papers to buy a house.  There are stories in each and set you up the next day to hear how things went.  If the place you’re going (and the reason you’re headed there) are interesting and told well, you have character development.  You can easily include listeners in this, too, to get to know them!

The Middle Name Game

With Monday of this week being President’s Day, an easy game to play is “The Middle Name Game”.  For some strange reason, we know the middle name of almost every president who’s been.  Sometimes in PPM, easy wins because listeners can follow along, especially if the design of the game is vicarious.  Offer up the president (“Richard Nixon”) and the listener has to tell you their middle name “(“Milhous”).  Three of five right and you win.  Doesn’t need to be any harder than that!

The Last Meal Game

Keep an eye out for when there’s an execution in the country to play “The Last Meal Game”. Listeners have to guess what the convict’s last meal was.  First to guess it wins.  Edgy, yea. But definitely memorable!

Who’d It Happen To?

Here’s an easy Monday morning character development bit.  Each member of the show notes to the producer the most interesting thing that happened to them over the weekend.  The producer reduces the story to once sentence and throws them out, one at a time, to listeners on the phone.  The listener must guess who that interesting thing happened to.  Then the cast member tells the story.

Little Guy Insults the Giants

With the Super Bowl this Sunday, here’s a cute bit to tie in, especially for the Patriots fan on your show.  Find a cute 10-year old boy (preferably the son of a cast member or station employee) and have him read insults you write about the New York Giants and Eli Manning.  In a character definition bit throughout this week, package the insults with a small production value and air them in a feature the Patriot’s fan will call “The Little Guy Takes on the Giants”.

Know Tebow

This is very simple street audio that can do this week to prove the power of a sports star cutting through.  Get on the streets and ask women if they know who Drew Brees, Aaron Rogers, Jay Cutler, and Marc Sanchez are (every guy knows they’re quarterbacks in the NFL).  Then, ask the average woman on the street who Tim Tebow is – everyone will know he’s the quarterback for Denver.  You might need to use a little creative editing to prove the point, but watch how Tebow has cut through with a constituency (women) who tend to have much less knowledge of who QBs are than guys.

Golden Globe or Golden Girls

Here’s a simple game to play with the Golden Globes being front and center.  It’s called “Golden Globes or Golden Girls”.  John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego did this and it’s fun. You give the listener a fact about something pertaining to the Golden Globes or the Golden Girls.  They have to identify which show it is to win.  You can hear audio of this here.

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