Many morning people can be misguided from the very beginning by thinking their goal is to "do things right" when in reality their goal should be "doing the right things".  This is often illustrated by overloading bits within a break...or going beyond the punch-line, trying to make more of the situation than there is! To have the maximum impact on your audience you should stick with one primary thought/bit per break and NEVER go over.  If you know you are going to have a substantial bit lined up, keep the setup very condensed.

Then let the bit work for itself. Avoid coming on afterwards and laugh and make lots of follow up comments. This only detracts from the bit you worked so hard on.

Another way to have a greater impact on your audience is to expose all of your material to your entire morning cume throughout the week. To do this set up a grid or rotation system for your bits. Let’s assume that you know there are going to be five ongoing bits you will run week after week with their varying themes. If we were to label these bits A,B,C,D & E and run them the same time each hour, each day... some people would only hear a few of them. 

Consider the advantages of building a rotation for your bits, knowing that most people listen to the same 15-20 minute slot every morning.  SAMPLE GRID:

                                                Mon.   Tue.     Wed.    Thu.    Fri.

                        6a-7a Hour        A         B          C        D         E

                        7a-8a Hour        B         C          D        E          A

                        8a-9a Hour        C         D          E         A         B

By following this grid your audience will be exposed to all of your standard benchmark bits each week. Now, you may have some real high-powered bits that people can set their watch by, in this case we recommend not moving those around.  If they are that powerful you may want to replay them at other times in the morning show in addition to the original run.  These high-powered bits are also good recycling tools to run in afternoon drive.

Though the scheduling of bits is important, it won't help bad material... a joke is not a joke if it isn't funny. Having even an average morning show requires work, having a great morning show requires passion and deep rooted ambition.

One last note…always avoid over reacting emotionally to your material. In other words, if it deserves a chuckle, don’t give it a loud belly roar. Let the listener have whatever emotion they want.

Brian is a 30 year radio veteran who has successfully served many companies over the years as Program Director, Operations Manger and VP of programming. After many years of success working for individual radio stations and clusters, Brian Joined one of the most trusted consulting firms in the country, Audience Development Group. For the last 15 years Wright has enjoyed building alliances with scores of stations in the US & Canada helping them grow in ratings and revenue. Contact Brian at brian@audiencedevelopmentgroup.com
 

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