Kick-Ass Audio Breaks

Two certain things that will resonate with any audience and make your break special:  first, regardless of format, you must be on whatever relevant topics are happening on any given day.  Contemporizing your show makes you be in the moment and any move you make away from being a generic, evergreen show is important.  The other item is having destinations and surprises built into some of your breaks.  Yes, conversation is critical in this day of “real talk”.  But we still need to surprise the audience with payoffs which will make your break more fun and memorable.  Enter Mark and NeaderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix, who execute this break perfectly.  KSLX plays classic rock and targets a mostly older male audience.  The rules don’t change there.  During Pride Month, they still tackle former American Idol contestant David Archuleta’s coming out and then offer a surprise jingle at the end to remember all the letters of the alphabet when referencing that community.

What do you do when your church going 80-year mother, a Chicago Bears fan for life, detests Aaron Rodgers and he’s hosting Jeopardy that night?  You charge up your phone to get commentary about what she thinks.  So did John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego weeks ago as Jeopardy continued to offer up guest hosts with the death of Alex Trebek.  Bring me there.  That’s the message of this post.  Make me feel like I am in the room with you.  John knows his mother would be opinionated and fun with topic. So the show had options:  recount the story themselves, get Bonnie on the phone after-the-fact, or record her in real time as she drips with emotion.  It’s option “C” every time because that’s a higher level of drama for the audience to glum on to.  That she’s older and works at a church is a wonderful setup.  Remember…when in the middle of emotion, record it.  These work parts will help you better tell the story and you will make the audience hearing it feel like they were there with you.