Radio Show Content | Audio Breaks

Christine and Salt, 965 TIC-FM, Hartford Going Deep on An Interview

May 17, 2020

You might be doing lots of interviews with the Covid issue. Compelling and interesting story-telling with experts and listeners really resonate with the audience. But, you don’t get there by accident and certainly cannot make it happen without prep. There is a very compelling TV commercial featuring a nurse at a Hartford-area hospital (here). It is immensely powerful and paints the picture of a day in her life for viewers. Christine and Salt, 965, TIC-FM, Hartford decided they wanted to talk with Nurse Sophia, considering how moved they were by the commercial. A good first step in doing an interview is that you must be moved. What aids this interview is that they are curious people – not on the surface (i.e. tell us what time you wake up, what time do you get to work – these are the kinds of questions that signal you never prepped to figure out how you’d explore her story – so Nurse Sophie could expose her true life past what we see in the spot). As you will hear in this interview, the team probed about what it was like to be in a room with a Covid patient and what her life was like when she went home after experiencing that each day. They went deep and you must, too, if you will do an interview that will be impactful, emotional, memorable, and lasting for the audience.

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston Iron Mom

May 10, 2020

Karson & Kennedy We’ve all done the same half dozen Mother’s Day ideas for years, right? Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston developed a new idea this year called Iron Mom. It’s the pretty simple bit where listeners call a voicemail line to tell them about what makes their mom special – what elevates this idea is the frame (they are creating a club of Iron Moms, which is powerful) and what they are asking listeners to share when they call. The brilliance of this break is how they debuted the feature. Where many shows would just promote the number, keeping the idea in listeners’ heads as they explained what they wanted, the team left their own mock voicemails for themselves and then played them for the audience. As you will hear, the examples both defined the show’s cast for character development but also gave those inclined to call what they are looking for. Each was both touching and funny and they moved the audience to feel the idea so listeners knew what to leave on the voicemail line for airing – which is smart.

David, Sue, and Kendra, MAGIC 106.7, Boston, The $8-Million Stimulus Check

May 3, 2020

There are stories all over the place of the odd things happening to people around the coronavirus topic. While you should start transitioning to other kinds of content now, this topic is still relevant, especially if you’re telling a story and having fun. Charles Calvin got what he thought was an $8-million stimulus check from the federal government instead of his expected $1600. David, Sue, and Kendra, Magic 106.7, Boston had to hear the story. What makes this break great is that they let him tell them the story. Knowing all the details because of prep, they helped him move the narrative forward to its conclusion. When interviewing anyone, I am listening for many things (is it a well-told, interesting story? Will the audience laugh at it? Has it been edited well?). Chief among the things I am also listening for is how much the talent talk and how much the person being interviewed talks. I hope for more of the latter than the former.

Two Men and a Mom, WRAL-FM, Raleigh Whatcha Haulin’?

April 26, 2020

A challenge for every show, regardless of market size, is getting phone calls early in the program. We all have smaller audiences then and listeners are less inclined to call a show and participate in any game or phone topic you might have. What could help is focusing the phones on a specific type of listeners. Two Men and a Mom, WRAL-FM, Raleigh know that, while most of the audience is getting up and ready for work or school (when in session) at that early hour, they are not inclined to call. But an audience on the road and more ripe to participate in a radio show is truckers. So they direct this occasional phone topic at them, asking truckers to call to tell them what they’re hauling. It’s a simple way to generate some content early in the show on the phones – the win comes in the conversation, then the payoff of finding out what’s in their truck and where they’re bringing it.

The TJ Show, AMP 103.3, Boston Operation Cupcake

April 19, 2020

One quick way to get phones is to ask the audience to help you solve a dilemma. That’s reflected in this week’s Free Idea. The TJ Show, AMP 103.3, Boston gets this, too. Loren from the show enjoyed a delicious cupcake given to her by a listener. This wasn’t your ordinary, average cupcake. It was a cupcake a cut above anything else she’d every had. One thing this show does quite well is find these quirky content items and, instead of them just being one on-air break where they talk about it, they make it something much bigger. Like Loren giving out all the details, then asking listeners to help find the person who made the cupcake so they could have more, even moving this to talk with that person once they figure out who it is. This is a narrative in real time, across a period of the show, with the payoff of the conversation. Setup-details-payoff (beginning-middle-end), which is the perfect structure for all breaks. Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David understood the power of taking something small and turning it into unique content. This show does, too.

Kick-Ass Audio Breaks

Christine and Salt, 965 TIC-FM, Hartford Going Deep on An Interview

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston Iron Mom

David, Sue, and Kendra, MAGIC 106.7, Boston, The $8-Million Stimulus Check

Two Men and a Mom, WRAL-FM, Raleigh Whatcha Haulin’?

The TJ Show, AMP 103.3, Boston Operation Cupcake

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