How To Get 'The Story'

There are basically two categories of morning shows. (Keep in mind that I think the only difference between a morning show and a show in another daypart is the amount of time available to talk or the number of times you can talk. No show should lack Content.) There's the "bit"-driven show, and there's the "visit"- driven show. I've done and coached both types.

Shows that are "bit"-driven are about a series of setups and punch lines. They have a veneer of a certain energy level, and are all about being perceived as funny, like the old comedy styles of a Bob Hope or Milton Berle … comics of a bygone era. But the "setup, then punch line" thing is out of date now, because there's no STORY to it.

[The "visit" driven show] grows in the listener's heart as well as in the funny bone.

The alternative to this is the "visit"-driven show, the modern organic replacement for the older style. This style is more about what happens in our lives, what we see and hear all around us, and definable personalities than it is about "material." This type of show grows in the listener's heart as well as in the funny bone. Here's how you attain it.

Reject saying what anyone else would say. Yes, there are top-of-mind subjects that every show needs to talk about each day, but you want to do it from your particular "camera angle," and that means divorcing anything that sounds like it could be heard on another station across the dial. Simply put, to be unique, you have to not be the same. Since we may have been told throughout our careers that no one cares about our lives, or since all the air checks we've ever heard have similar-sounding contests or games, it's easy to think that a less personal approach and "things" are what attract listeners.

But the proof that this isn't the case is everywhere. "Everybody Loves Raymond" had a terrific nine-year run that was predicated on the "visit" philosophy. Even though it was funny, it wasn't funny in a predictable joke way. It was about the PEOPLE (the characters on the show) in the same way that the Honeymooners, the Andy Griffith Show, the Dick Van Dyke show, the Mary Tyler Moore show, Seinfeld and Friends were before it. We didn't tune in for jokes ("bits"), we tuned in to visit with our friends, familiar people whose takes on the things around them were the same as ours, if only we could have chosen the right things to say like they did. (That's why great writers make a LOT of money.)

[A] "visit"-driven show is built on a core of personal truth and observation.

And "visit"-driven shows, because they're based on chemistry between the listener and the members of the show, occupy a different space than "bit"-driven shows. They also take more work, because you can't just play another stupid trivia game and think you're doing your job.

The architecture of a "visit"-driven show is built on a core of personal truth and observation in a way that "bit"-driven shows can't be.

If you want to know more, call me!