Bad Taste Warning
If you are easily offended, please move on to the “Positive, Happy Thought of The Day” blog.
Still Here?
I am going to share with you four pieces of audio, excerpted from my Radio Station Imaging Blueprint.
You’ll enjoy this far more if you do not “read ahead.”
Please, trust me on this.
Please read only my written introduction to each piece; do not read this entire section and then go back and listen to the audio.
If you trust me and follow the above instructions, you will enjoy this a lot more.
Joel Moss is Production Director for WEBN/Cincinnati. There’s no better station imaging writer than Joel.
One day his program director gave him some raw audio, recorded by a WEBN listener who in 1975 had won a big cash prize and used it to move to California and start a new life. Now, the listener was dying. And he had decided to bequeath some of his money to WEBN, to give away to its listeners once again.
(Reminder: Please read only the description immediately before each audio sample, and then listen to the audio before reading further.)
Here is the recording that was given to Joel:
WEBN has a very strong image: Rude & tasteless. Great station positioning always is consistent. Even if it involves somebody dying, if WEBN does a promotion you can count on it being rude & tasteless.
So here is the promo Joel created for this contest:
And here is the on-air “Cue to Call”:
Definitely one of the most tasteless things I’ve ever heard. And I love the “Elvis” line.
Needless to say, this promotion garnered a lot of attention. And then Joel was given one more piece of information:
Gary Willis never existed. The whole thing was a gag.
So Joel created one last promo:
Comments, anyone?
Comments on this entry are closed.
THIS WAS ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!!!!!!!
Talk about winning cold, hard cash!
Oh God what a piece of incredible work..hilarious..
Tremendously creative. Hurt no one. Got attention. Great promo.
OMG ,..totally forgot about Plummet Mall, Joel Moss has always been twisted & Brilliant. One of the reasons EBN has been such a Rock Brand for so many years,..Jay Gilbert, TomSandman, Eddie Fingers,.Bob the Producer, Joel, Robin Wood, Ernie “Fatman” Brown,….so many great & funny talented people,…..when Radio was great!
Anything that gets exposure in other media for whatever reason is a job well done, provided the majority of the public isn’t leaning towards a backlash.
The fall book wrapped up in my market and the local heritage rock station, facing competition with a very loud brand new alt rock station decided to turn up the heat in promo by doing some fear factor type listener challenges for the 25k they gave away. Eating toe nail clippings, forcing someone to sit in a porta potty for 24 hours, having women listeners strip in a strip club, that sort of thing.
but the one challenge that caused local media to pay attention and cause maybe 50-60 complaints to the station?
Poke your papa!
Give your father a prostate exam live on air.
Probably tame from a american point of view, it’s still a conservative town and brought in a story on the top newscast in the region asking people if they offended, blah blah blah…you know.
That was the challenge that won the 25k.
It’s tough in medium-major markets trying to shock people and get their attention when the their daily lives can get pretty shocking on a regular basis.
I’m guessing the station will maintain their # 1 status overall in the market when the book comes out in Dec.
i have 2 train of thoughts. one, clever as hell and got attention as wanted……and 2, don’t ever ask me to believe or hold that station credible in the future for anything! They insulted my intelligence. WKRP was cool as hell. This is stupid as hell!
I was living in Cincy and a WEBN P1 when that contest was live. Brilliant stuff.
Musically, WEBN wasn’t my bag. I can only take so much Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Metallica every hour on the hour. What kept me listening was the stuff in between the songs. The whacked-out imaging and the jocks who each had their own brand of warped humor. There were other rock stations. There was only one ‘EBN.
Their mascot is a frog. One summer, they released “frog head” bumper stickers. No call letters, no frequency, just the head of the mascot. Even people who never listened to ‘EBN knew what those stickers represented. Name one other station that can do that with just a cartoon mascot head.
Should have revealed that the coughing was actually coming after bong hits!
I tend to agree with andy, it’s very low brow, but if you’re playing AC/DC and metallica, you’re aren’t catering to the PBS crowd are you?
You can’t argue if you have visibility to slap a frog head on a bumper sticker and have people know, hopefully it will translate with the diaries or PPM brings back the #’s.
speaking of WKRP…has anyone read America’s favorite radio station: WKRP in Cincinnati By Michael B. Kassel yet? I just started. So far i’m very impressed…that turkey drop actually happened at WQXI? go figure.
That is absolutely freaking incredible. Up there with “The Last Contest” — only utterly tasteless. I love it!
Talk about thinking ‘out of the box’ . . uhhh. . . I mean coffin..
Morbid inspiration for the creatively alive! Careful … you could die laughing. Should be great for a Halloween promo.