Kick-Ass Audio Breaks

The stickiest stuff you can do on your show is tell a story about yourself.  Especially one with tension and drama.  We connect by telling stories to each other.  Stories define us and allow those listening to see themselves in you.  Stylz and Roman, US 99, Chicago, tell great, relatable stories about themselves.  Doug Stylz is an adult male (over 40, married, with a kid).  Getting a tattoo should be no problem, right?  Not to his conservative parents, who’ve always frowned on it.  Listen as Doug becomes a kid again as he breaks the news to his parents (his father walks out of the house in disgust).  Then a second break the day after where Justin, Doug’s on-air partner, calls his parents to smooth things over.  This is very real, very relatable, and very much fun as the listeners identify with Doug’s dilemma and drama.  This is the kind of storytelling and content that listeners define talent through and hold on to for a long time.  Both breaks are below.

Relationships content might be the most universal you can do.  Everyone has relationships so it’s very relatable and connective.  At Spencer’s Neighborhood, 106.5 The Arch, St. Louis, Spencer was complaining about the number of first dates he’s had that never became second dates.  He wondered what he was doing wrong.  So his partners, Cassiday and Brando, ventured to find out by setting him up on a series of dates.  We know we needed a twist to hook the audience so we added two big elements to this idea.  The first was to wrap it up with an on-air “focus group” of the women Spencer had dates with for honest feedback.  We believed that act of vulnerability would humanize Spencer and vibe with the audience.  We also decided we needed a certain type of woman to capture the imagination of the audience.  In our brainstorm, we decided that one kind of woman who would be very open and unfiltered were women who’d been to prison.  So we “cast” for ex-cons, adding the edge that helped this relationships idea cut through.  Here’s a supportive break where the team asked a relationships expert how Spencer should handle himself on these dates.