Radio Show Content | Audio Breaks

Brian and Chrissy, WGNA, Albany, Valen-Rhymes

February 28, 2021

Brian and Chrissy, WGNA, Albany did something fun and different for Valentine’s Day last month. With a mission to be super local, the team partnered with a country artist who lives in town and got him to do custom Valentine’s Day songs for listeners as gifts for their significant others. The effort happened on several levels – getting to know the couple the song was being written for, customizing the song, then getting the local artist to record the Valen-Rhyme, which was presented to them. This works because it was topical and different. Then it scored its biggest points being local and fun to hear. We often do things in radio and play with whatever is presented to us at that time (i.e. a phone topic where we only get to use whatever is called in at that moment). Brian and Chrissy seized control of this idea, orchestrating the listener calls prior to the holiday, gathering the info to write the songs, then penning them with the local artist, who recorded them. The audience would have never known, nor would they have cared. Listeners just want relevant content that is entertaining. That they put these elements in place to create memorable content for the holiday helped craft and present breaks to their fans they’d laugh at and come back for more of the show’s brand of fun the next day.

WRAL, Raleigh MIX Morning Show Real Life WINOS

February 21, 2021

We offered a Free Idea last week called WINOS. As Rush Limbaugh taught us years ago, putting together tribes in your audience gives them power to not feel like they are alone in this world. Kyle, Bryan, and Sarah, WRAL, Raleigh seized the idea, which is an acronym for Women In Need of Sanity. Their target is a 35-year old female who’s going crazy after one year of Covid. Sarah from the show will lead the group, then over the course of the next few weeks, build out the tribe by taking calls from women who have this in common with her and the others who want in. There’s power in the group. There is also humor as this week’s audio proves. This is where your win actually happens. Listen to not only the real life offerings from this nurse, but how deft the show is at allowing her to be the star of the break, maximizing her observations and sense of humor. We all know shows that would be uncomfortable allowing the caller to be the center of the break, even trying to top the lines. Not here and not with this team. The show is elevated because they elevate the caller. WINOS starts a new idea for the program, a tribe for the audience, and more genuine humor coming from listeners who feel comfortable to call the show to have fun.

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston Karson Has a Family Meeting

February 14, 2021

A misstep for some shows is to try too hard to impress the audience. Real life talk works and does best when it’s grounded in truth and based in story-telling. With the recent snowfall in New England, Karson, from Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston, decided it was time for his ten-year old son to start shoveling the driveway. An important marker to decide if a real life story should be shared on the air is if there is a better than fair chance listeners have experienced the same thing or could see themselves in that scenario. The center of this story is how much young Barrett should be paid for that task. Instead of just telling the story and opening the phones, Karson decided to call for a family meeting to discuss the dilemma during dinner. What is in our hands is how we offer the content to the audience. In this break, you feel as though you are not only relating to the topic, but sitting at the kitchen table while the family eats, discussing things. The topic works well, the presentation of the audio helps advance its memorability.

John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego Take It or Toss It

February 7, 2021

One thing that makes powerful talent powerful is they’ve moved the audience to care about them. The intimacy of our medium (it’s just you and that one listener, as we learned years ago) flows from a very deep relationship. Built on vulnerability and the sharing of your life with listeners, the more you let them in and prove you are like them, the more that connection happens. You have the power to make people care not only based on what you share, but how you share it. At John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego, John has been abruptly forced out of his apartment because the landlord sold the house. On its face, you could think: how do I make them care about my problem? Emotion, and more specifically humor, moves them into the “care column”. John has accumulated lots of stuff as we all do (very relatable) and must decide what to take to his new place. The X-factor in this break is the show asking the listener who joined to decide if the item John references should make the move. The feature they did was called Take It or Toss It and the ruling made by the caller was final. That John has to move is his problem. That they figured out how to use a listener in a fun way made it sticky, thus moving the audience to get to know him and care about him.

Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix Tiko the Singing Parrot

January 31, 2021

One of the many ways the internet has come to help shows is to offer up audio of almost anything you’re talking about. Breaks need another element to keep listeners’ attention. Often that’s a listener call. But almost any topic that’s tackled has some kind of audio available online. Chatting about last night’s big TV show? Play a piece of audio from it so those listening who didn’t see it feel included. Then, social media has lots of audio from videos of relevant topics that help sell what you’re doing and create laughter. Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix found a video of a parrot who can sing along with Led Zepplin songs. Just the right silliness for a show that plays classic rock music. Hear how the audio of the parrot helps create the fun. Bonus points from these guys for the front and back ends of the break. In the first part, they seamlessly talked about NFL football from the day before and on the back end, there was a tease about the My Pillow guy, taking a break that could have been done anytime, and making it topical, too. Make sure you use available audio in all of your breaks to help them stay electric.

Kick-Ass Audio Breaks

Brian and Chrissy, WGNA, Albany, Valen-Rhymes

WRAL, Raleigh MIX Morning Show Real Life WINOS

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston Karson Has a Family Meeting

John and Tammy, KSON, San Diego Take It or Toss It

Mark and NeanderPaul, KSLX, Phoenix Tiko the Singing Parrot

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