CPR Promotional Check-Up

Win & Strip

It's five weeks into the of the NFL season under our belts and the Vikings are already 5-0. But expect a major collapse. (I'm Minnesotan. And a Lutheran. A Lutheran Minnesotan. We're born pessimists. Really fun people to watch a sporting event with.)

One of the cliche bits for when you have a local team that is not doing well, is for the morning show to go and live on a billboard until they win. Or otherwise torture themselves. (Which I've always thought was fun: torturing talent)

I've got the artwork from a progressive series of boards that Trent FM did over in the UK. Every time their soccer team won, the girl on the board lost an item of clothing. Ask and I'll shoot it your way. nwcpromo@earthlink.net

The buzz, as you can only expect, was monumental. At about the halfway point, at my urging, the board was graffiti'ed overnight by an "offended listener" with the words "This is sexist!!"...which got some stories on TV and in the paper.

"Promotions" is the Art of getting people to pay attention to you. This? Personifies that.

Calling Mr. Cobain!

At one point or another, we've all had psychics (and psychos) on the morning show. It's a good bit. Don't get me wrong. But how many times can you hear some woman who's been dating a married man for eight years call and ask if he's ever going to leave his wife, as he's promised over and over?

What's the next level? Channeling. And with Halloween now on our radars, this could be large. The concept of channeling is that a psychic puts a member of the morning show into a "trance-like" state and you talk to a departed soul through that person.

Back during the OJ trial, I was standing in the shower (where all good ideas eventually arrive) thinking about what else could possibly be done with this media and cultural event. I mean, seriously, the well had been drained. Dees had held a circus on the front steps of the courthouse, stations had empanelled their own juries...it had been about as covered as you could get. And then it hit me: channel Nicole.

I called Wild in San Francisco, they called their psychic Terri Brill and the next morning, Lazano had Nicole in the studio. I was on the listen line. Amazing Radio. They did it through D. Anthony, the Producer. KGGI, which was a Clifton station, flew Terri down the next day and she did it on their morning show too. Equally as compelling. BTW: OJ did it. At least according to Nicole. And she would know.

Since then I've heard stations channel Jon Benet (The Beat in Austin), JFK (V-103 in Atlanta) and Jack Ruby (also at Wild 94.9). Got a big unsolved murder or disappearance in your market? Or do you want to talk with Tupac and find out what really happened in Vegas? This is your bit.

The Six Foot Under Club

My all-time favorite Valentines bit is "Screw Over Your Ex" which has a couple bumping uglies on the floor of a helicopter as it hovers over the home of one of their ex's. The Mile High Club is a part of our cultural lore. What if Halloween morning you put two listeners in a coffin, closed it, and let them get their freak on? You doubt that people will want to do it? I heard the same thing with "Screw Over Your Ex"...and had to deal with 200 couples who wanted to do it. Literally.