USE YOUR BENCHMARKS AS A DRAMA PLATFORM

Which is more dramatic? A Super Bowl game with two great football teams, or a Super Bowl where one of those teams is the New England Patriots and they have been accused of cheating with deflated balls?

Think about how you can add some drama, conflict and fun to your next on-air feature.

For example, listen to this on-air drama involving the “Thousand Dollar Minute” at 987 The Bull in Portland.

With $1000 at stake, it is a killer benchmark already. But Chunky, Mckinzie and Jake have cleverly upped the drama with friendly conflict over Jake’s choice of game questions, which the others protest is too difficult. Jake refuses to budge.

Another example is this episode of “The Puzzler” on NPR’s Car Talk, where Ray Magliozzi chooses this week’s question based on his very quirky, specific criteria. On this show, “The Puzzler” is not a contest, but a comic vehicle for Ray to argue with his brother Tom, and a stage upon which both hosts can make endless wise cracks. http://d2ozqge6bst39m.cloudfront.net/CT162304.mp3

Your regular features like entertainment reports, newscasts and games are merely a platform that you dance on. It is not the game that matters, but how you play it.