Listeners often state in focus groups how much they like to hear players on their favorite morning show debate each other. They love passionate debates between and among players who still sound like they are friends at the end of the day. Check out the Kevin and Bean Show KROQ-FM Los Angeles/syndicate with sports guy Ralph and Kevin going at it over soccer.

Here’s a good example of a morning show using an entertainment report to both entertain and define character. Notice how each show player has a clear point-of-view on the stories. Listen to an entertainment segment from Kidd Kraddick in the Morning on Kiss-FM Dallas/syndicated.

A “rant” is an effective platform for a “lightning rod” character to go off on a topical, potentially controversial topic. Yukon’s Yap has become so popular on The Bear/ Edmonton that the Edmonton Sun prints it every Saturday.

Humble Howard from the Humble & Colleen show on Boom/Toronto does an excellent Jon Stewart—style newscast with punch lines. This type of segment allows you to be topical (news, entertainment and stupid news type stories) while staying in keeping with the tone of the rest of the show.

We encourage shows to be honest and vulnerable, because it deepens the audience's connection to you.  Take a listen to how vulnerable this show, and co-host Holly in particular, is in this segment.  Notice how you feel about her afterwards.

Jeff & Jer's cohost has an embarrassing story about her toddler son.  Her  parenting story is funny but it's the producer's story at the end of the segment that will have you laughing out loud.  They take a relatable parenting issue and exaggerate it to great comedic effect.

Each show player reveals something about themselves, except that one person tells a lie. Listeners call in to guess who is the "big fat liar". This is an interactive way to showcase your on-air character and tell listeners something they may not know about you.

The most characterizing segments involve admitting vulnerabilities. Bert reads embarrassing statements and the players raise their hands to the ones that apply to them. Bert announces the number of players, but not which ones, raised their hands, creating mystery and curiosity, paid off with video on the website.

The premise is that everyone has a lover they've lost track of. We take entries from listeners with tragic and heartwarming stories about love lost.  This bit is good relationship content that often provokes an emotional reaction.

Two people who had a falling out decide to forgive and forget. This could be family members or ex-friends who haven’t spoken in years. One decides to call the other one and apologize, forgive and forget. The show initiates the call and puts the two together. It either erupts in a fight all over again or it ends in a warm and emotional reunion.

From The Dave Ryan Morning Show on KDWB, Minneapolis, Dave Ryan and Lena solicit listeners who dumped their ex because they caught them cheating.  They give names of their exes, and challenge other listeners to call in and if they have cheated with someone who fits the description. Ask each caller to describe what is unusual about this guy. To add realism, tell the audience you're carefully screening through callers who are trying to fool you by lying and saying they slept with this guy.  All this is supposedly done off the air so no one hears the unique characteristic on the air.  If you need to, set up with ringers.

Get Over It is a funny benchmark that develops show character and involves listener interaction.  The content runs the gamut from the inane (I'm 26 and I like Hannah Montana, get over it) to the real stuff (to my baby daddy, I'm allowed to date too, get over it).  Production value is enhanced by using the song as a bed and punch line punctuator. 

The structure of this type of game can be done with all sorts of different types of people, but Chio in the Morning on Wired/Philadelphia has had success with this weekly segment which tests gay men’s knowledge of “straight guy” topics like sports, tools and video games. And while this contest could get cumbersome and long, listen to how efficiently Chio moves through the mechanics, eliminating the “fat” and keeping entertainment value high.

Cadillac Jack calls employers every Friday morning and persuades them to let an employee off for the day. The title is an innuendo that makes for an enticing tease: "Cadillac Jack gets you off in five minutes".

From the Mikey Show on FM 94/9, San Diego, Mikey challenges co-host Woods to incorporate several random words and phrases -- some selected by show players, some chosen by their listeners -- into a call with a random person. Here Woodsy has to incorporate phrases, like “Who let the dogs out?”, “dilly-dallying,” “banana hammock” and seven more, into a conversation with a clerk at a Joann’s craft store. The segment has humor, listener interaction, suspense and characterization for the quick thinking skills of one of the show players.

Rich Plays Trumpet:  Just listen to this.  It is not likely that the opportunity to recreate this bit will arise in your market anytime soon, but this segment is hilarious.  Rich the stunt guy on the Kidd Kraddick in the Morning Show goes down to the race track to audition to be their new bugler. 

Another funny stunt from Rich on the Kidd Kraddick show:  Rich goes down to a local bingo hall, seemingly unaware of the rules of the game.  As he continues to shout "Bingo!" after each number is called, the people's reactions go from bemusement to annoyance to "Call the police!"   Like the Matrix bit, the emotional reaction is what makes it.

Relationship content is big with female audiences. This segment has relationship content packaged in a fresh, creative and compelling way. Bad Boyfriend Poker pits two female callers against each other, poker style, to find the person with the worst ex. This is a feature on several shows. In this example, from That Guy Kramer, Island 106/Panama City, the caller’s disguised voice adds even more mystery to the segment.

Check out this fresh take on Battle of the Sexes from Larry Ulibarri, Kendall B. and Kathie J. on KS1075/Denver. Rather than simply asking trivia questions, they adopt the question style of the $10,000 Pyramid, using categories like “Things Oprah Winfrey would say” or “types of razors.” The segment is enhanced by strong production values.

This stunt is a few years old, but the idea could work with any highly anticipated movie.  The bit works because it's topical, funny and the audio of the crowd getting more and more irate is priceless.
 

Listeners call in to tell a friend or loved one that they are "in love with a guy named Darryl", a fictional character. The host (Fitz) jumps in as Darryl to convince the friend that the love is real. The bit is hilariously ridiculous, and sure to bring a laugh as the friend gets more irritated as Darryl talks.

A fun staple of the Dave Ryan Show that is topical, pop culture oriented and interactive.  Every day at 8:05, Lena asks five questions ranging from pop culture to a current news story to what has recently happened on the show. The contestant must correctly answer three out of five to win.

The morning show got a call from a frantic woman whose car had just been repossessed. The repo man was listening to The Wolf, so she called the station to beg the guy to let her keep the car one more day. The show threw out what they had planned and ran with this story, first talking to her and then following up with a call from the repo man.  Click here to listen to the final clip. 

The team is setting up a stunt they’ve planned for two members of the show to run with the bulls in Pamplona Spain.  In this break they announce their latest stunt and create the drama, excitement and peril the two will face.  They’re also creating an impactful story arc that will engage their audience  leading up to and including the event.

Good News, Bad News is a clever way to talk about the day's news stories in an entertaining, informative way. Notice how in this format you can include character news (e.g. Robbie the Intern's sister having her baby) as well.

Mad Dog and Maura go to the nose bleed section of a concert and reward listeners front row tickets. The audio captures the excitement of the moment and adds depth to their storytelling. It reminds the audience of the station's involvement with the concert and takes ownership of the experience.

Listeners who think they can lie to their mother with a straight face compete for prizes. The show players give the caller five lies, and if the listener can pull it off without Mom hanging up, he or she wins.

The news that The Westboro Baptist Church planned on picketing Steve Jobs' funeral didn't sit well with a lot of people. Church elder Timothy Phelps joined the "That Guy" Kramer Show to explain their reasoning. But he didn't realize co-host Miguel is gay. The questions were raw, honest, and respectful, until Miguel had had enough.

In an effort to be topical about hit reality shows, which Kevin & Bean hated, the show created a character, Loquecia (voiced by third player Ralph Garman), to do the reports. Doing a well-crafted segment with a memorable character creates topical, yet unique content the audience can't get anywhere else.

Creating a custom song that takes advantage of a local, topical news event can really get you noticed. Ace wrote and produced the Jet Rock Anthem for the new Winnipeg NHL team, The Jets, with several local artists stepping up to help record it.

This feature, called "What the hell did Jesse Jackson say?" is a fun, interactive game for a news/talk format. Play clips from Jesse Jackson, and have listeners call in to translate. (It's harder than you think.)

Elvis Duran, Z100 New York/syndicated, gives a good example using the “You technique.” Notice how Elvis begins the conversation referring to listeners as “you.” He speaks one-to-one to listeners in a personalized way getting into this parenting relationship topic.

We now know that you have to start all content segments with a hook headline within the first 10 seconds to maintain listeners in the morning in PPM. Chio at Wired 96 Philadelphia does a great one to start his parenting story.

Teases are most effective when you apply the “80-20 Rule”, that is to give listeners 80% of the story in the tease and pay off the juicy 20% in the content segment. You have to give listeners enough details to engage them emotionally so they will feel compelled to stick around and hear the content payoff. Here’s one from The Bert Show Q100 Atlanta/syndicated.