Kick-Ass Audio Breaks

With Halloween a few short weeks away, this is one of my all-time favorite breaks.  Halloween is a kid’s holiday, right?  And it’s all about candy!  Which is why John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego grabbed a cute kid of a co-worker (Emma) and had her read the ingredients of popular Halloween candy.  They played the audio for a listener who had to guess which Halloween candy Emma was describing.  You can hear audio of the execution of this fun idea below.  If you do this idea, two keys to its success are finding the right kid.  Also, don’t let them pre-read the ingredients before you record them.  Hearing the kid stumble over the big words adds to its cuteness.  If you find the right kid, record a bunch so you can do it a few times leading up to October 31.

With all the syndication in radio, it’s an asset if you’re local.  But, what is being local?  It’s certainly not giving out the temperature in various cities or referencing major thoroughfares when you do the traffic.  Being local is knowing the stories driving your market at any given time or being involved in things that happen in town and using them as content to entertain your audience.  Being local is only an advantage if you’re substantive with local topics and do them in a way that helps you connect with the audience.  Humble Pie is an iconic Raleigh restaurant that, after thirty years, shocked its fans by closing.  A significant part of the content strategy for Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL-FM, Raleigh is to be local.  That’s why this is such a terrific break.  A few things to hear:  listen to how quickly they get into it.  Within 30 seconds you know the drama and the connection happens.  Then, Sarah (who worked there) tells first-person stories about the place.  If you don’t understand this break, they were exceptionally local.  To earn images of being local, especially up against syndicated shows in the market, this one’s an A+.