Jessica Simpson or Homer Simpson

With Jessica Simpson making the rounds, Karson & Kennedy at MIX 104.1, Boston did a simple, fun game called “Jessica Simpson or Homer Simpson”.  They read a sentence uttered by either Jessica or Homer to the listener, who had to guess who said it.  Three of five right and they won a prize.  They had supporting audio of everything to prove who said the sentence, which is what made it funny.  Oddly enough, each sentence they chose could have been said by either person!

Gifterventions

With Christmas approaching, can the morning show provide “Gifterventions” for the audience?  Ever get a crappy present from a friend or relative?  This is where the show calls the well-intentioned person who chooses bad gifts and tells them on behalf of the listener what’s up.  Isn’t that relatable and wouldn’t it be fun to hear?

Drop a Bomb at Thanksgiving

Years ago, a friend said his parents dropped a bomb at Thanksgiving dinner.  They announced to the family that they’d decided to divorce.  Needless to say, it was a rather quiet and uncomfortable meal.  So here’s the idea:  find a listener who has a bomb to drop to the family and convince them to do it at Thanksgiving dinner.  This can be a two-day narrative (day one is your call with them to set things up before the holiday, day two is your first day back from the break to see how it went – with potential calls with other family members to see how it was received).

Break it for Bieber

Nick Cannon on New York’s 92.3 NOW, had a bunch of front row tickets to see Justin Bieber in concert.  To win them, listeners had to “Break it For Bieber”.  They asked listeners what they’d be willing to break to get them.  This is a fun idea you can hold on to for when you have a great prize to give out and need a way to create some talk in how you do that.  One person broke a TV and a Waterford crystal to get them and you can hear the audio (along with an upset wife) here.

Wheel of Re-Gifting

With Christmas just a few weeks away, plan on a holiday bit once we truly get into the season called “(Your Name) Wheel of Re-Gifting”.  Gather all the crappiest prizes you can, claim they are previous Christmas gifts given to you, then when you play an on-air game, the winner gets to spin the “Wheel of Re-Gifting” and they get the cruddy prize it lands on.  Center this around one show member so it’s focused.

The World Series of Revenge

The Scotty Show at Radio NOW, Indianapolis is doing something fun to tie into the World Series.  They’re calling it “The World Series of Revenge” is a great reframe for how women got back at a guy who did them wrong.  They pit two stories against one another, crowning a victor each day who moves into the the next round the next day.

The Halloween Apology

With Halloween this coming weekend, it’s time to come clean.  In almost every neighborhood, there’s usually one family’s home that was abused that evening.  This was always the family responsible for calling the cops on Halloween.  If you were one of those mischievous kids who pulled these pranks, it might be great radio to find these families now (very easy with Google) and apologize as an adult on the air for all the mayhem you brought many years ago.

The Hat of Inappropriate Jokes

Here’s a new topical feature you can do when the mood strikes.  It’s called “The Hat of Inappropriate Jokes”.  Write an inappropriate joke for the biggest news item of the day (i.e. the Chilean miners – make sure you choose a news item where no one is hurt or dies, of course). Place the joke, along with blank slips of paper in a hat.  Each show member chooses a slip of paper from the hat.  Whoever chooses the slip with the inappropriate joke must tell it on the air. There will be tension because no one knows who’ll get it.  And for a moment, all eyes are on that show’s character to see how they deal with it.

My Friend Said it on Facebook

Here’s a new game to play called “My Friend Said it On Facebook”.  Grab some of the dumb, inane things friends posted on your personal Facebook page.  Note the friend, and read what they said to a listener who has to guess if a friend actually posted that inane thing or if you made it up.  Three of five right and they win.  This easy game allows you to play off the stupid things people post on their walls on Facebook.

Shit My Mom Says

With the strong debut of William Shatner’s new TV show “S&#@ My Dad Says” (from the highly popular summer book about the writer’s dad), time to get a show member’s mom to do the same in a feature called “S&#@ My Mom Says”.  Have a show member’s mom offer up some sage “mom advice” with a carefully placed bleep to lend the impression she’s cursed.  These are slightly produced and stand alone packages (yes, you should introduce them) which can run the next few weeks to play off the new TV show and popular book.