Have you read about Collins Moe? He is a guy from Charleston, SC who lost a fantasy football bet and ended up becoming the toast of Fargo, ND. It is a weird and wild story that Erik Gee thought we should all read.
Erik is the associate program director for The Sports Animal in Tulsa, OK. He also co-hosts the station’s mid-day show. Last week, he sent me a link to the story and said it was something all programmers should read.
I told him that if he was that passionate about it, he should write something about it. He sent me the piece over the weekend. In it, Erik Gee lays out the story of Collins Moe and what not only programmers, but promotions directors with loftier goals should take away from it. Enjoy!
– Demetri Ravanos
While preparing for my show on Thursday, a story from Bro Bible of all places caught my attention. The article was about Collins Moe of Charleston, South Carolina; Moe finished last in his fantasy football league and, as a result, was forced to fly to the city of the league champion’s choice.
That city was Fargo, North Dakota. During the flight, a fellow passenger overheard Moe talking about his punishment and invited him to a North Dakota State basketball game. While at the NDSU game, a local sports reporter caught wind of Moe’s journey; that reporter launched Moe’s story on social media, where it spread like wildfire.
As a result of the story’s traction on social media, the local hockey team invited Moe to drop a ceremonial puck at their home game. Most importantly, Collins Moe returned to his hometown with a lifetime of stories to tell, thanks to his punishment becoming an adventure.
As programmers, there is a lot we can take from Moe’s situation. The first and most obvious is we should straight up steal this idea. Think about it; there are several websites where you can set up a fantasy football league. You can select six of your air staff plus six listeners to play. Get a local watering hole to host the draft, make it a station event, and at the end of the season, the last-place finisher gets sent to “parts unknown.”
All football season long, you have fun content for the hosts to talk about and listeners to hang onto as we wait to see who is getting sent to an unknown destination. Live updates, cut-ins, and social media posts will be required of the lucky loser. You’ll want to get this sponsored, so the airline ticket isn’t coming out of pocket. Preferably a host is the loser, and you might want to send them anyway because they have the skill to make this sound more exciting than most listeners.
The not-so-obvious takeaway is that we need to be more locked into our listeners’ lifestyles. No station in our format has done this better than KTCK in Dallas. Since they launched, The Ticket has been the most fun, promotionally active station in America. From Ticketstock to Fight Night to staff and listener hockey games, they’ve given us a playbook on how to connect with our audience and how to have fun doing it.
I won’t say where or what station, but I had the unfortunate opportunity to take part in a promotion that felt like a Lion’s Club meeting. While older listeners might get a kick out of winning polo shirts, your younger listeners would rather be at a bar talking sports with your hosts.
You don’t have to copy from The Ticket, and if you have things that make money and your fans like, by all means, keep doing them. There is nothing wrong with playing the hits, but be careful about getting stagnant and doing things that only you understand. Even if your salespeople don’t quite get where you’re coming from, don’t let that discourage you from being creative.
There were some other things in Moe’s story that lend themselves to creating fun and engaging listener experiences, but I chose the most actionable here in the interest of brevity. Feel free to contact me at erik.gee@smgnational.com; I’m always open to have my brain picked as long as you will return the favor. My passion for this business drives me to connect with as many people as possible so we may help each other grow and keep our industry vibrant.
