Radio Show Content | Audio Breaks

Matt McAllister, Gabe, and Captain Ron, The Wolf, Seattle with The Sister Massage

October 27, 2024

Tension creates great breaks. Conflict and drama inside a story or opposing forces of an antagonist and protagonist working against each other is the reason you choose to tell a story on the show. If you went to the mall to buy new underwear, it’s a story not worth telling. But if, while there, you saw someone get arrested, then you tell it. Weirdness and moral dilemmas work, too. Take what happened on the Matt McAllister Show with Gabe and Captain Ron, The Wolf, Seattle. Ron’s sister got her massage license. He’s considering letting his sister give him a massage. You feeling the weirdness? They did, too, as it’s an odd thesis. Time to ask the audience what they think. This is memorable because it’s true and they ask the audience to decide. Find that tension in your stories and then lean on that to make it memorable.

Kira and Logan, WOKQ, Portsmouth, NH with Liam Payne Passes

October 20, 2024

There’s this exercise I do when brainstorming with shows around a pop culture or local topic that helps them develop treatments which puts their authenticity front and center. It’s called Know Wonder. What do you know about the topic and also, what do you wonder? Researching every topic stimulates one’s creativity. That curiosity fuels interesting breaks because, if you’re fascinated by it in the presentation, your audience will be, too. Liam Payne from One Direction dies unexpectedly. Many shows would report what they know to the audience. Add in some curiosity and it comes alive. Kira and Logan, WOKQ, Portsmouth, NH wondered why people cry when a celebrity they’ve never met dies. It led to fascinating calls from their fans. Here’s what they did the day after Liam died. This is compelling, relevant, topical radio.

Moug and Karla, B96, Chicago with Truth or Treat

October 13, 2024

A treatment of a topic rarely taken advantage of is street audio. Getting outside voices on your show brings some color into the break. Much like when Jay Leno did Jaywalking or David Letterman interacted with people on the streets of New York. Kudos to Moug and Karla, B96, Chicago for Truth or Treat. Knowing you have to go to the crowds, they showed up to talk with Chicago Bears tailgaters. Those folks are slightly loose and all in good moods. So using them will bring that vibe to the show. In this feature, they wrote tons of personal questions. The tailgater had to choose one and answer it. Note how they had the tailgater read the question. That brought a fun dimension to the feature as we could hear their voice emotionally react to the personal thing they had to answer.

Steve Richards, MIX 96.5, Asheville, NC with Listener Jen and Hurricane Helene

October 6, 2024

What radio does better than any other medium is connection. Making people feel like they aren’t alone. The pictures and videos coming out of western North Carolina are horrific. Loss of life. Entire towns wiped away by Hurricane Helene. While it shouldn’t take a natural disaster to connect listeners, we shouldn’t underestimate our power to do that, too. It’s why many fans choose us each day. Amongst the devastation, we make listeners feel like they’re not going through it by themselves. My friend Steve Richards, MIX 96.5, Asheville, NC is one of the very best I know at this. As that station powered back up, here’s a call from a listener on her experience. It’s riveting story-telling with multiple connection points. We need to know what’s below the service emotionally with our listeners, whether it’s a bad situation or not. Connect there and we’ll always be important to them

Gregg, Freddie, and Andrea, MIX 104.1, Boston with Triple True or False

September 29, 2024

I like trivia a lot. Especially when it’s easy. Watch a trivia-based game on TV and it’s highly addictive. You end up playing along with the game, as your listeners do in their cars. There are so many creative, very engaging ways to do this. Compile a list and, when you have things to give out, use them. They are way better than caller 18 to earn images with those not contesting for the prize. Gregg, Freddie, and Andrea, MIX 104.1, Boston play Triple True or False. They have three true/false trivia questions. If caller 14 gets all of them right, they win. But if they don’t, caller 15 gets the prize. The key to creating some drama is to first put both callers on the air so one is rooting against the other. Here it is as an example. Bet you play along.

Kick-Ass Audio Breaks

Matt McAllister, Gabe, and Captain Ron, The Wolf, Seattle with The Sister Massage

Kira and Logan, WOKQ, Portsmouth, NH with Liam Payne Passes

Moug and Karla, B96, Chicago with Truth or Treat

Steve Richards, MIX 96.5, Asheville, NC with Listener Jen and Hurricane Helene

Gregg, Freddie, and Andrea, MIX 104.1, Boston with Triple True or False

Some of the Great Radio Stations I’ve Helped...