Kick-Ass Audio Breaks

I’m asked regularly how long a break should be.  I think as long as the drama in the content can survive.  At our heart, we are story tellers.  Stories are how we connect and define who we are to people.  It’s also how we entertain one another – by telling a compelling story.  How long the break can go is dependent on the twists and turns and tension and drama in the story being told.  If there’s one piece of conflict, it’s a short story.  But if you have lots, it can go on longer because you’ll hold the attention of the audience.  This is kinda like a scene in a reality show.  The next time you watch one, note that the scene’s length correlates to the amount of drama in the scene.  Case-in-point is this story as told by Logan and Sadie, WINK-FM, Ft. Myers, FL.  Sadie had some DMV drama.  As things spiraled, we hear more and more morsels of goodness to keep the listener leaning in.

Sometimes we in radio take the path of least resistance.  What’s the easiest thing to do here?  For instance, imagine seeing a story about a local kid who was swimming and saved another kid’s life who was drowning.  We all know shows that might not see that as content.  Then others who would only recount the story so they could talk more.  Then there’s the Daly/Migs Show, 99.9 KISW, Seattle who live to step into stories by finding those central to it, bringing them on, and exploring what that experience was like.  It’s a very effective way to showcase their curiosity as the story unfolds.  What helps this story was the T-shirt the kid wearing when they found the story.  They knew he liked the station because of the band on the T-shirt, which makes the local connection even sweeter.