(By Paige Nienaber) Dan Aykroyd had a great line about being civil and treating his fans with respect. He said, “My job is to put butts in seats.” A big part of that is creating fans. You don’t create a fan by spamming them on social media. You accomplish it by treating people cordially and with respect.
I can’t think of anyone in Canadian radio who hasn’t had an encounter with Dan Aykroyd and they ALL have the same thing to say: “Great guy. Total sweetheart. Just a joy to hang out with.”
Great talent understand that value and it’s gone a long way to paving their path to success. Two people I’ve worked with who fit that bill are John Hines from Twin Cities radio and Jo Jo Wright. I’ve never known either of them to say, “Ride in a parade and then hang out afterward at a DARE event? Is there a talent fee?”
Hines? Everyone in Minneapolis/St. Paul seems to have a Six Degrees Of John Hines thing happening – and not one of these seems to be, “My sister met him at Grand Old Days. What a jerk.”
They’ve unintentionally marketed themselves like politicians and in an election year, it’s a good reminder to get your talent out, creating a political base. So when it’s time to vote, either by diary or meter, they’ll remember the time that a DJ from your station was nice and treated them like they were the most important person they’d met that day.
The next thing that you should be planning on selling is Father’s Day. So… on to the Dumpage:
Daddy’s Report Card From Mike Miller at iHeart in Baltimore where he suggested having a printable report card on your site or social media with categories like:
- Your Hugs
- Bathroom Etiquette
- Cooking Skills
- Dancing Skills
- Driving Skills
- Fashion Sense
Father Factor Put five dads (plus kids) in the studio the Friday before Father’s Day. Ask them some kind of dad-related trivia question. The winner stays in the studio and the other four have to leave. The bit? They have to do something that it is traditional for parents to warn their kids never to do, to win. Like, shove a pea way up their nose. They have 30 seconds to do it before they’re eliminated and the next dad comes in.
Doppledaddies Done by Matt and Sherri at Hot in Sudbury. Listeners submit photos of dads and their sons for a voting gallery.
Done It As A Dad Men confess to lies that come with being a parent, like maybe stretching the truth to get their kid onto a team or taking the blame for something they broke at a store.
“I Love You!!” Also from Sudbury: Matt and I once did a bit with my dad. I told Matt how my dad doesn’t say “I love you” back on the phone. He’s just an old-school no emotions tough guy. We called him and I proved my point. “Okay bye, I love you, Dad!” “Okay, Sherri bye” “Dad, love yah!” “Haha Bye, Sherri!” You could find listeners with dads like mine and use it as a challenge for the show or other listeners how long it would take a dad to say I Love You back.
Father’s Day Formal Father/Daughter dances are always huge as evidenced by the Instagram and Facebook coverage. If a station hosted one, it would be large.
Draw Dad Done by Johnny and Cari at Hot 96.7 where they got little kids to draw crayon impressions of their fathers. It was “aw!” inspiring.
Father Mows Best What could possibly be more photogenic than lawnmower races?
Father Mows Baseball Best This came up at a brainstorming session. The concept was to have one dad mow Coors Field before a Rockies game. And have him honored before the crowd. 97 Rock in Buffalo did something like this when they had a dad mow the lawn seats at Darien Lake before a Tom Petty concert…and he got to take the mower home.
Fearless Fathers A station in Portland did this for Taylor Swift tickets. It was basically a version of Dads In Drag. Could also be done with men overcoming phobias to win stuff for their kids.
iPad For Your Dad Done in Portland. Kids won their Father’s Day presents for their dads.
Hot Dads Done as a voting gallery by KDWB. Also done as a beauty pageant on The Zoo at KLUC where adult film uberstar Kayla Kleevage was one of the judges. Obviously, this offends me. AMP in Detroit did it and ensured TV coverage by having a news anchor as one of the contestants.
He’s With The Band I did a Father’s Day cookoff (judged by local barbecue chefs) when I was at Wild in San Francisco. What if you did something similar and the winning dad gets to cater your next station concert? Cook food for all the acts. Hang out backstage all day. Go home with a Hank-Hill-sized grill. What dad wouldn’t think this was the coolest of the cool?
Grill Your Dad Using that Skype app I sent out, give men lie detector tests: “Dad, when you were in college, did you smoke marijuana and have pre-marital relations with mom?”
On-Air Vasectomy The goal of Promotions is to stand out. If everyone is doing the warm and fuzzy thing, then this would certainly be different. Done by KSON in San Diego for Spay Day in February.
Vasectervention I’m proud, honored, and humbled to report that Mix in Boise did this in 2010. A guy got ambushed by Mike, Kate, and his wife at work, was loaded into a limo, and sent off to get snipped. He returned with a bag of frozen peas to keep him comfortable.
Deployed Dads Working with the local base’s FSO, arrange for dads and their kids to get some Zoom time.
Bad Dad Fashions Jerry Springer has made a career of taking people and giving them makeovers. One of the stations plans to have listeners post photos of embarrassing dads’ fashions, and the audience will vote on who will get made over. Another station plans on taking dads around on a bus, with a fashion coordinator and a credit card.
Rad Dads Have listeners submit photos of their dads with the hair and fashions they had when they were their age. My friend Michele’s dad was a motorcycle racer. RAD!!!!!
Father’s Day Freak Out As done by Hot in Ottawa. I have the audio. Girl called her dad and said something like she was in porn. I played “Dad” in 2009 at Fly in Albany. Phone blew up with people concerned I was going to beat my trampy kid.
Extreme Comb-Over From the Morning Rush at Fly 92. Photos submitted. You get the idea.
Paige Nienaber insults/consults more than 100 radio stations on Fun ‘N Games (Marketing & Promotions). Find him at CPR Promotions. Read Paige’s Radio Ink archives here.
