PDs often ask, “What makes a perfect break?” The answer is the proper mix of branding, engagement, and commitment, measured in the audience’s terms.

Branding is essential to get rating credit, even with PPM.  Learn from the masters, Coke and Starbucks, where being top-of-mind is everything. Sell your brand and tattoo your station in the listener’s mind.  Think E – C – C – C:

Engagement is what listeners want from your shows.

Companionship makes a station essential to each user.  You’re not just a station; you’re a friend and companion.

Content. Begin with the essentials (morning time checks, song information, weather) and add the other items that register with your audience.  Deliver localisms that reflect their interests to your local audience.  Get to the point and pay off quickly.  Measure your time to engage or lose interest in scant seconds.  Don’t waste time with show prep filler or meaningless inside talk. Instead, engage quickly with a “hook” that builds continued listening.

Commitment includes teases of more reasons to listen, returning for another tune-in, and building partisanship.  This is where you “buy” your next rating share.  Make your station a “daily requirement” for your listener.  Grow your audience from within by building commitment.

When constructing the perfect break, clean out tune-out cues like “We’ll be back in three minutes/after these commercials” and “We want to stop and talk about….”  These phrases cause tune-out.

The ideal break doesn’t invite listeners to leave but teases what’s next. Small talk between cast members is often a tune-out.

Constructing the Perfect Break

These ingredients of good storytelling are a beginning, a middle, and an end.

>   The Beginning.  To capture the listener’s attention, engage them.  They want to hear more of the story.

>   The Middle. Entertain the listener in the middle. Stay on one edited path.  Going off on tangents will only slow the momentum of your story. Avoid adding too many details that will only muddy it up.

>   The End.  Satisfy the listener who has invested time listening to your story with the big payoff.  Provide a resolution to make your story memorable.

Often, station “business” follows your story.  Create engaging content first during the break, end with a tease of what’s coming up after the spots and enter the stopset.

Pic designed by kjekol for Envato Elements.

John Lund is President of the Lund Media Group, a radio programming consulting firm with specialists in all mainstream radio formats. Did you find this article useful?  You can leave a comment below or email John at John@Lundradio.com.