Radio Show Content | Audio Breaks

B101, Philadelphia Michael Gets Thanksgiving Chores To Do

November 22, 2020

Let’s play off stereotypes for this week’s audio: guys don’t do any work around the Thanksgiving meal. They neither cook, clean, nor offer anything else. With that stereotype out of the way, here’s a classic piece of audio from Tiffany and Michael, B101, Philadelphia. Holidays are a time of family gatherings, in groups large and small. We know that strategic character development almost always happens when we put family members of the cast on the show and get them to bring us inside the relationship. Real works and this is real. Here’s family man, devoted husband, all-around great guy and cast member Michael Chew getting assigned the list of things he needs to do around the house from his wife, Nancy. To effectively define your character, the audience must see themselves in the story that you tell, you must add dimension to the break (this is what Nancy does – she brings the real and the room plays with it), and at its end, the typical listener must say the cast member is just like them. This accomplishes all of that.

Rob and Joss, Sunny 98.1, San Diego Alex Trebek Tribute

November 15, 2020

Even though we all knew Alex Trebek would, at some point, leave us, we were faced last week with ways to treat that content on the show. I did some extra listening around the dial – to shows I work with and shows I do not – to sample how talent handled it. Several took the path of least resistance: let’s give out some Trebek facts and spend the balance of our time reflecting on his life and making commentary. Good, not great. These moments call for deeper dives of storytelling. Finding people who can talk about the subject from a first person perspective. Of them all, Rob and Joss, Sunny 98.1, San Diego were one of the few who stood out. Yes, they started the break as we all would. With a great frame. They then pivoted and put on someone who had been on Jeopardy to reflect on Alex and talk about him in ways they could not. Bonus points because that person was local, but they didn’t need to be. Great content is relevant to the moment, emotional in its display, and centered around a story no one else can tell. This hit all those marks.

Brian and Chrissy, WGNA, Albany Chrissy’s Mom Screws Up the Songs

November 8, 2020

An oft-used bit is to mess up the lyrics of a song and the listeners have to guess the right song to win. Where things gets into unique territory (and become much more valuable because it’s unique) is to have a cast member’s parent do the bit. Often, a cast member would just do this, but using your mother helps position you as their kid (and a real person) and gives you more to play with. Such is the case in a regular bit done by Brian and Chrissy, WGNA, Albany called Chrissy’s Mom Screws Up the Songs. Here’s the payoff to one they did around Halloween. Listen to the production value of this bit and how quickly they moved through the content to not waste the audience’s time. In less than two minutes, the listener is hooked, engaged, having a good time, and leaves with several positive impressions of the show’s humor and relevance. Bonus points that they never put the caller on to guess the song – I love this because there is no inane banter with the winner. They just credit them, focusing more on the execution of the content that is entertaining to everyone not calling.

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston Drunk News

November 1, 2020

“Yea, but what are we doing with it?” That’s a question I ask every show in near every weekly conversation. Choosing the topics for the program is the easy part. What we do with them, past the interesting angles that define the talent, is what makes it sticky. You have seen me preach this countless times on this page. The audience wants to be around people they know and like when they turn you on, but most importantly, they want to laugh and have a good time. Looking for a new feature for Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston, the team came up with Drunk News. It’s been done by other shows (Leno even did it for a while). The difference here is how the show did it. They could have read news stories and acted drunk – that would have be perceived as a wacky radio bit. Or, you could type up some news stories and go to the bars in Boston at 2am and get actual drunk people to read them – that’s real. That’s what they did. Nothing truly revolutionary here. It doesn’t need to be. It just needs to be relevant and fun, which this is. Here’s a retro-break that easily shows how it can be done to stand out.

AMP 103.3, Boston TJ’s Street Match

October 25, 2020

PPM ratings are all about occasions. Our job in developing daily, fun radio, is to have as part of our recipe, “tune-in features” that affect listeners’ behavior so they turn us on. Listen to any successful show breakdown their wins and you will almost always hear them reference that fans set their watch for features they must hear. Solid, fun, can’t miss benchmarks must be a part of your show if you care to turn a two-day a week listener into a three-day a week listener. Much like Apple releases new products and targets them at Apple fans, your fans are the easiest route to getting more listenership because they already like you. Benchmarks must reach certain thresholds to be effective, though. Just doing the same thing at the same time each day isn’t good enough. When The TJ Show was on AMP, 103.3, Boston, we challenged TJ to come with a can’t miss feature we could get known for. Here’s TJ’s Street Match, a play along game that used people on the streets of Boston, one listener, and a bunch of very quirky questions to keep everyone tuned in.

Kick-Ass Audio Breaks

B101, Philadelphia Michael Gets Thanksgiving Chores To Do

Rob and Joss, Sunny 98.1, San Diego Alex Trebek Tribute

Brian and Chrissy, WGNA, Albany Chrissy’s Mom Screws Up the Songs

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston Drunk News

AMP 103.3, Boston TJ’s Street Match

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