Kick-Ass Audio Breaks

We all make snap judgments about people, don’t we?  We see someone, make a note of something they’re doing, and make a broad assessment about their life.  Anna and Raven, Star 99.9, Bridgeport, CT recently added a well-evaluated feature to their show (as developed by Bud and Broadway, WIL, St. Louis) called “That’s All I Need to Know About You”.  This is a fun feature because it’s digestible, funny, and highly relatable.  If you’re the kind of show that journals each weekend to generate personal experience stories as content, it’s likely you have several in there to kick this feature off (“if I see you shopping at Home Depot in curlers, that’s all I need to know about you!”).  Throw a few out on your own to frame it so the audience understands what you’re looking for, then open the phones to grab some from listeners.

It always helps to have fun experts on the show – they add to the entertainment factor of a break and give the cast something to play with.  At Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston, Producer Mike was slated to marry two friends (he’s ordained).  Mike hasn’t done that too much.  So the show found a local justice of the peace they knew and asked him to participate in the break to give Mike advice.  Great on paper, right?  What adds to this is that the justice of the peace was very quick witted and knew the players so he could have fun with not only the scenario (he can tell stories about marrying people) but poke fun at Producer Mike, too, which made it more fun.  When doing something like this, find experts in the field who can help your break have more sparkle.