CPR Promotional Check-Up - Mar 6, 2012

Road Rage For Backstage

Simple enough: you get five listeners in the studio in the morning. You send them each out with a promo person and a video camera. You put a "Ask Me About My Grandchildren" sticker in the rear window. They have to drive the MINIMUM legal speed. First car to get flipped off, wins the backstage passes.

Car Alarm Olympics

I wrote this on a scrap of paper last month when I was in Los Angeles and a car alarm went off outside my window at 4:30 am and wouldn't go off. This is actually an old, tested bit. But it's simple; you take a winner to a mall and they have thirty seconds to run through the parking lot, pounding on car hoods. You win $10 for each alarm that goes off. Audio is outstanding.

Spring Break

Unless you're a Lite Rock or Smooth Jazz station, Spring Break is an excellent vibe for you. Clubs. Weekend contests. Trip giveaways. You can't go wrong with Spring Break. A.: Don't do Spring Break Survival Kits. The name is played out. But the concept is valid. Condoms. A phone card. One of the stations did gift certificates to a Daytona bailbond company. THAT'S Spring Break.

If you're going to pick a student to cover the action for you, do auditions. You don't want some shy, shlubby(tm) person who isn't going to be great on the radio. Like what Wired did when they sent the tour bus to the Super Bowl, they auditioned people at a club. So they got great people with huge personalities. The on-air part of the drive south was terrific. Don't forget to send your winner with a picture phone. Post updates every day. "Wild On Spring Break."

Option #2 is what I did at Wild in San Francisco. The kids from that market went to Palm Springs. So, following his shift on Friday night, Dave Morales caught the last flight of the day down there. Got up in the morning and armed with a cell phone spent the next two days prowling the pools and clubs, looking for students from the Bay Area. Did a break an hour. Sounded? Fantastic. Come out of music and check in with Dave to hear water splashing, people yelling and some girl from UC-Hayward sending out a shout to all her friends stuck in San Francisco

Option #3 is what Rick Gillette did at 'HYT in Detroit. Sent Lisa the night jock down with a DAT on Friday after her shift. She spent Saturday and Sunday on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale getting tons of audio of students from Michigan. Brought it back and played it all the next week.

Option #4 is to present it as the morning guy or the night guy having never gone to Spring Break. (Insert premise) And he's so anxious to be a part of the fun before he gets too old to pull it off, that he'll pay for the gas if some students let him ride along.