On a conference call recently with The J Show at B96, Chicago we were all talking about how much we hate having to watch ads online before we get to watch the TV clip we really want to see.  J then noted how much he loved how YouTube handles this – they let us skip the ad after only five seconds of it.  He then wondered if a business could grab people’s attention in just five seconds and offered anyone that amount of time to promote their business on the morning show.  The feature is called “Skip This Ad”.  Business owners come on and have to grab them in five seconds or they get buzzed out.  It was local and fun to hear people try to rise to this challenge.  Hear how they did the break on the audio page here.

With one-third of the Triple Crown done, my friend Alan Peterson passes along the game “Rapper or Race Horse”.  It’s pretty self-explanatory, but he notes that lots of race horse names sound like rappers.  So, you put together a list and start quizzing the audience!  The next stage of the Triple Crown is The Preakness and is on May 18.  You can get horse names here.  Here’s a starter list for both:  Rapper or Race Horse

Have you ever bought anything at a Rite Aid or Best Buy?  Purchase one item and the receipt is three feet long.  Here’s a dumb, silly listener engagement break called “How Much Was That Long Receipt?”  Tell the audience where you shopped, how many items you purchased, and the length (in inches) of the receipt.  The listener who comes closest to the actual total amount wins a prize.

With Cinco de Mayo just around the corner, this one is an easy putt.  Find a band at a local Mexican restaurant, have them in with sheet music of songs from your format, and play a game called “Mariachi the Hits” with the audience.  They play a tune, first listener to identify the song wins.  If you cannot find one, then maybe you can find a mariachi band doing this already on You Tube.

Mother’s Day is a few weeks away.  What might be fun is to find five mothers of celebrities (even if they’re local stars) and have one on each morning the week leading up to the holiday.  You’d find out about their celebrity son or daughter from a completely different perspective.

Karson and Kennedy, MIX 104.1, Boston do a fun, recurring feature called “Rumor Has It”. Salt from the show makes up bold-face lies and then asks people on the street what they think. For instance, he’ll go to Fenway Park and tell people outside that “rumor has it, the beer at the park will now be non-alcoholic because there are too many drunk people at Red Sox games.” Or that the hot dogs will be made of soy now.  The reactions are always classic.  They use the hook from the Adele song to stage it and it’s very fun to hear what people say to what they’re being told.

The weather is turning nicer, which means lots of people will be doing spring cleaning.  Time for you to do the same.  Have you gathered lots of cheesy promotional items over the last year, which are just stacked up in your office?  Do a version of “Know the Show” with the audience to clear your office out of the stuff you would have just thrown out.  Ask a listener two personal questions about a show member (for character development).  If the listener gets both questions right, they are offered the choice of two worthless promotional items in your office.  Done under the banner of spring cleaning your office, and you have a fun personal bit.

Here’s a silly new feature that will require you to load up one phone call per incoming line, with the only criteria being that each person calling must have had breakfast that day.  Put one, very specific mystery breakfast item in a sealed envelope (i.e. Honey Nut Cheerios, link sausage, English muffin, etc.).  Ask each caller to tell you what they had for breakfast.  The first person to name the mystery item in the envelope wins a prize.  Call this “What Did You Have For Breakfast?”  Part of winning in morning drive is to cultivate silly fun.  This does that if executed properly!

What did you give up for Lent?  Diet Coke?  Chocolate?  Cursing?  Lent ends this week.  Find three listeners who gave up something small, yet consequential to them (like the items listed), bring them in, and let them break Lent on your show.  Can you imagine drinking the Diet Coke you love or eating chocolate for the first time in 40 days on the program?  Could be fun to listen to, especially if you choose the right people and the right items.

Easter is not too far off.  If you have some prizes to give out, have kids call in to do Easter tongue twisters.  It’ll sound cute, even funny, as the kids botch them in an effort to win something.  Of course be the good guys and give them the prizes anyway.  Some Easter tongue twisters can be found here.