Radio Show Content | Audio Breaks

KHTH Taco Quest

July 16, 2017

Stacey K & Jonah Production values against quirky ideas make them stand out. Stacey K and Jonah at HOT 101.7, Santa Rosa, CA embarked on Taco Quest 2016 after Jonah admitted to the room he did not like tacos. Who doesn’t like tacos??? So, we went to find the market’s best tacos over the course of one week. Listeners gave suggestions, they went for lunch buying tacos for those who showed up, all in an effort to convert Jonah into a taco lover. There are a few things to point out in the structure of this short break: the taco jingle they use close to the top of the break sets the table for the silly that follows. Understanding that the audience responds to “visual cues”, they also include in the break a quick interview with the winner of the market’s best tacos as well as the audio they use just after, giving him the coveted ten tacos rating. When designing a break, having other elements inside keeps its energy level high and offers the audience opportunities to get reinvigorated if the conversation starts to drag. Breaks designed like this don’t feel as long as they are because of that.

Power, 106, Los Angeles R U Down?

July 9, 2017

Every show need a signature feature. Its defining moment. The one thing it does that forces audience to turn the show on because it’s habitual. You’re better off, as a strategy, if you do this feature more often. Which is why The Cruz Show, Power 106, Los Angeles, does R U Down, its version of the highly rated prank call, every hour on the tens. Shows tend to get very nervous airing a bit like this so often, but remember two important things: PPM is about occasions and occasions are usually tied to creating appointments. Also, listeners come to the show and stay for just a few minutes – so the tactic of doing a signature feature once an hour will rarely work against you if it’s that entertaining. The other thing to consider is to figure out your most unique, highly entertaining benchmark, and worry about burning it in, instead of being worried about burning it out. Build appointments in your show and you’ll tend to get more occasions – central to a winning recipe.

WDRV, Chicago Tingle’s Parents on the Concert

July 2, 2017

One easy way to spice up your show is to find fun “characters” to play a role in it. Not fake characters, but people in real life. This week’s audio comes from Sherman and Tingle, WDRV, Chicago. It proves two points when putting your program together: bold ancillary characters, who come and go as needed, add color to a show. Also, when telling a story, invite the people in the story to participate in telling it. They have a perspective and will add detail and emotion that you can’t because they were in the middle of it. Tingle and his sister have parents who are huge Doobie Brothers fans. That’s why they bought tickets to the Doobie Brothers/Chicago concert in Las Vegas for them. Tingle could have told the story of their concert experience. Or he could have invited his mom and dad on to tell their story, coming at it in the first person, which is what he did. Now, all Tingle needed to do was help them navigate through the story and react. Listen to this short character building break and note how much better the story is because his colorful parents participated in it.

MIX 96.9, Cincinnati The Comey Bleeps

June 25, 2017

The world and country are so political. Everywhere you go, it’s Trump, Trump, Trump. Unlike the nightly TV shows that bathe in the topic and take political stands with their comedy, the relationship between your audience and you is different. The audience doesn’t feel like they have a personal relationship with Stephen Colbert, but they do feel that with you. Much like in person, there are topics you should be very cautious about. Politics is one of them, out of fear the audience will mentally shut down at the mere mention of a political topic. That said, there are a few ways to do this without doing this. The Sandy Show, MIX 96.9, Cincinnati found one last week when they speculated about all the profanity used by James Coney when he testified in front of the Senate. This is a technique done before of inserting bleeps where there could have been profanity and profane words appear in the brain of the listener. The audience knows this didn’t actually happen, which is why it’s fun. This approach tackles the Hot Topic of politics without ever taking a stand because its sole purpose was to create fun by being farcical.

KSLX, Phoenix The Batman Villain Quiz

June 18, 2017

No one break will rocket any show to number one. Growth is an incremental game of earning and affirming images that get you there. Be fun, be different, be topical, be real and you’ll gain images that get you to stronger and stronger Nielsen numbers. Here’s a break that does that. Mark and Neanderpaul, KSLX, Phoenix know that Adam West passing away is a relevant topic for their adult male audience. Here’s how they seize the moment with this perishable topic (the topic will not be relevant the next week). They gathered a list of iconic villains from the show and then made up a few. They asked a listener to guess which ones were real and which were fake at a station event, which is great spice. They then asked the same questions to a caller in the break, and pit the caller against the listener from the night before. Humor comes in the made up villains names and the listeners’ reactions to them. It’s completely vicarious, very much in the moment, had an intent to make those tuning in laugh, and earned those images noted above for growth.

Kick-Ass Audio Breaks

KHTH Taco Quest

Power, 106, Los Angeles R U Down?

WDRV, Chicago Tingle’s Parents on the Concert

MIX 96.9, Cincinnati The Comey Bleeps

KSLX, Phoenix The Batman Villain Quiz

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