“After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” — Philip Pullman
I still listen and learn from Casey Kasem and American Top 40. Casey remains the greatest storyteller in music presentation. Period.
Growing up, Casey told me:
- How Three Dog Night got their name from the Australian Outback
- Madonna was fired from Dunkin’ Donuts for squirting donut filling on a rude customer
- Karen Carpenter was a world-class session drummer before her brother Richard and A&M Records pressured her to get in front of the mic.
Last month, we wrote about cultivating and growing great storytellers. That was met with mild blow-back. How is it executed in a MUSIC format? Easy. Make every break interesting. Your talent and YOU make the music experience better.
Just last weekend on a road warrior jaunt to visit my son I was scanning Northern Indiana and suburban Chicago stations for content. Much like my cross-country journey last October, stations are content-starved and literally on cruise control.
2025 is bringing stories BIG stories for the spoken word. New President, Bird Flu, California Wildfires, etc.. One could wonder how radio’s greatest story-spinner, Paul Harvey, would craft a piece on today’s headlines.
The best SHORT form entertainers like the late Don Steele and our recent Barrett Media Award Winner Broadway Bill Lee can make a 20-second break interesting. Why isn’t short-form, interesting storytelling on air at YOUR station? Armed with a simple keyboard, the Interwebs is your prep sheet. How about a starter kit from six different formats:
Adult Contemporary
- Gwen Stefani’s middle name is Renee, as her parents loved The Left Banke song “Walk Away Renee.”
- Stevie Nicks wrote “Rhiannon” while reading about the Welch Goddess by the same name.
- Before “Wicked,” Ariana Grande made a cameo in “Zoolander 2” and animated TV shows “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons.”
Country
- Tracy Chapman became the first African American solo female songwriter to have a #1 hit – after Luke Combs took a cover of her “Fast Car” to the top of the country charts.
- MuttNation is Maranda Lambert’s animal rescue mission, which has reshaped the lives of thousands of animals while raising millions for future rescues.
- Thomas Rhett is Rhett Akins’s son – his wife Lauren has adopted two Ugandan kids, and now they advocate for global adoption.
Classic Country
- Alabama – known initially as Wild Country – considered breaking up after their first record label went bankrupt, and their drummer quit in the late 70s.
- Best-selling children’s author Shel Silverstein was not only a regular contributor to “Playboy,” but also wrote “A Boy Named Sue” for Johnny Cash.
- Tom T. Hall wrote 1968’s Harper Valley PTA for Jeanie C. Riley, while 28 years later, Alan Jackson rode to the top of the country charts with Hall’s “Little Bitty.”
Oldies
- At the age of 14, Billy Joel played piano on the Shangri-La’s demo Remember (Walking in the Sand).
- Before Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” became the most experience record ever made, that crown was held by The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations” taking 6 months and over half a year to complete.
- Motown founder Barry Gordy created the all-girl group The Primettes as a sister group to The Primes. The Primes would evolve into The Temptations, and The Primettes became The Supremes.
Alternative
- The Pixies took their name randomly from a dictionary, while Kurt Cobain said Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was a blatant attempt to rip off The Pixie’s sound.
- The Gorillaz is a manufactured fantasy band where founder Damon Albarn (of Blur) and cofounder Jamie Hewlett saw pop music void of substance as their ‘Fake Band’ make songs satirical on pop culture.
- REM drummer Bill Berry runs a hay farm after suffering an on-stage brain aneurysm in 1997.
Classic Rock – Classic Hits
- Using only a multi-track machine, Boston’s Tom Shultz recorded nearly all of Boston’s debut album’s tracks in his basement. This included Bradley Delp’s lead and backing vocals.
- • Bon Jovi’s first hit, “Run,” was nearly four years old before it became a hit. It was recorded with studio musicians, including Dave Sabo who formed Skid Row.
- Shaun Considine rescued Bob Dylan’s song, “Like a Rolling Stone,” from the trash at Columbia Records – discarded because it was one second shy of six minutes – too long for Top 40 radio.
As we know from PPM Data, the average occasion is around 12(ish) minutes. Repeating interesting trivia about artists or songs is also important. Content is KING – frequency is QUEEN. While you might view short-form storytelling as mere trivia, they are nuggets that make your content – interesting.
And trivia is white hot. Show me a local Trivia Night that’s not sold out and hyper-competitive.
Have a peek at the longevity of Jeopardy and the popularity of the spinoffs that have earlier questions (for people like you and me) like Rock & Roll Jeopardy, Celebrity Jeopardy, and Pop Culture Jeopardy. Most stations (a few outside morning drive) are satisfied with a nice voice repeating title and artist. Then they sell a laundry list of artists upcoming ad nauseam.
The difference to make your product unique is YOU, the on-air talent. What comes out of your mouth separates you from your competitors, Spotify, SiriusXM (Although some channels have terrific music story-tellers), and Amazon Prime Music. Great radio stations are built with talent that understand how to tell these stories.
MercyMe took nearly ten years and sold hundreds of CDs out of their touring van before hitting it big with “Almost Home.”
Me? I’ll be listening, learning, and sharing The Legend.
So – what’s the next story you’ll tell us?
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
Kevin Robinson is a passionate award-winning programmer, consultant and coach – with multi-formats success all over the country. He has advised numerous companies including Audacy (formerly Entercom Communications), Beasley Broadcast Group, Westwood One, Midwest Communications, Townsquare Media, Midwest Family Broadcasting Group, EG Media Group, Federated Media, Kensington Media, mediaBrew Communications, Starved Rock Media, and more. He specializes in strategic radio cluster alignment, building lean-forward tactics and talent coaching – legacy and entry-level – personalities.
Known largely as a trusted talent coach, Kevin is the only personality mentor who’s coached three different morning shows on three different brands in the same major market to the #1 position. His efforts have been recognized by The World Wide Radio Summit, Radio & Records, NAB’s Marconi, and he has coached CMA, ACM and Marconi Award-winning talent. He is also in The Zionsville High School Hall of Fame as part of the 2008 inaugural class. Kevin is an Indiana native – living near Zionsville with his wife of 39 years, Monica and can be reached at kevin@robinsonmedia.fm.
