Kick-Ass Audio Breaks

When the plot of your show is “smart guys, stupid show”, you have all the context you need for this week’s audio.  If you listen to Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix, you’ll find a show deeply authentic to the two guys on it.  Mark and Paul are exceptionally bright guys, but easily do the dumb stuff with a wink and a nod to the audience, saying to them that they know they’re being stupid.  Show plots must be central to who is on the program.  My job as a talent coach is to get to know the personalities so well that I can help them channel more of their take on the world and sense of humor on the air.  Such is the case with these good guys and this feature proves that.  In Weekend Preview with Jokes, they make overt attempts to be local and, because we know humor drives the show, the jokes they tell fit the plot of the program perfectly.

We can no longer avoid those serious topics that galvanize the audience.  In some fashion, if the biggest news story of the day is another school shooting, we must acknowledge it in the show, by reflecting back to listeners how they feel.  One of our goals should also be to have developed over time an emotional connection with those tuning in where they feel like they know us so well they’re comfortable calling to share their stories of hardship, too.  This is central to our strategic content strategy with Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL-FM, Raleigh who held that mirror to the audience with the school shootings in Uvalde, Texas.  Our mission is to have such a deep bond that a perfect stranger would call to participate in the show, which happened here.  The team was talking about the shootings when a local woman who was critically injured at Columbine in 1999 was listening.  Encouraged by her kid in the backseat to call and share her story, this listener called to add a first person perspective.  This is the kind of relationship you want with your audience.  That’s how you build trust and a base of loyal listeners who’ll tune in every day.