CPR Promotional Check-Up - Jul 19, 2011

Punches WILL Be Thrown

What couple, in the weeks leading up to their marriage haven't said "Screw it. We're going to Vegas. Why? Because of getting caught in the middle between the parents and the haggling and bickering over reception details. Do this as a topic, find a couple off-air, fly them to Vegas, video tape the wedding, fly them back, invite the families in for a staged discussion about the reception, and then go to the video. Punches WILL fly.

Tonight, On A Very Special Blossom

I'm analogy retentive. Several times I've written about how a great morning show is like a television show. There's a period of defining each others roles and then once everyone determines "who" they are supposed to be in this puzzle, they fall into their routine.

Routines are bad. Routines become predictable. Routines let the audience know that if they don't listen on Monday, geez, it's not like they're going to miss anything. Because on Monday, you always do (bit), (bit) and (bit).

Consistent is good. Predictable is death.

What happens in almost every hit TV show at least ONCE? There is a falling out. There is a character who might leave the show forever. Like when Paul and Jaime almost got a divorce on "Mad About You." (HEY!!!! I like her. She's cute. Shut up. Leave me alone. Her sister "Lisa" was kinda cute too.) They made that into practically the second half of a season and then lo and behold, they made up. Aw....(sniffing of tears. Or Sniff 'N The Tears.)

What if you set the stage by having a week of continued and increasing tension between the partners on the morning show. Someone did something to someone, found that it pissed them off, and because they're immature morning people (the highest compliment ever), he/she continues to needle the other person with it...until they snap and quit on the air. There's a week of "will they ever come back?" and then the reconciliation. And maybe some penance. Like a spanking machine.

Radio Theater requires acting. If you can pull this off with panache no one will ever know the difference. Kind of like the "We apologize" bit. If you do it well, it'll be a part of station lore forever: "C'mon, seriously. What did Dave say in 1997 that got him suspended?"

All (Artist), All The Time

I dipped my toe in the music marathon pool back in '90 when Janet made Charlotte the second stop on her Rhythm Nation tour. Obviously was a big deal for the station and Mark Shands magically was able to extract 75 pairs of tickets out of the label. A real fete.

There was a real sense of anticipation in the week leading up to the show and one day, while out at a remote I thought to myself (which of course is the best way to do it), "I wonder how many hours of music are in 1814 minutes?" (Her album was called "Rhythm Nation 1814" for some inexplicable reason.) Well, the answer of course would be 32 hours. Got back to the station. Lobbed the idea at Mark and 32 hours before the show started, we went all Janet. We were the Rhythm Station.

Mark threw this at the label. They flipped out and gave us more tickets and we did a pair of passes every 18 minutes and 14 seconds leading up to the sold out show. The Charlotte phone system has yet to recover.

My point? This is Radio. It's supposed to be fun. Why not blow up the format for a day if the biggest concert of the year is coming to town. KUBE in Seattle used to regularly do that with artists like Madonna and Janet.