By Holland Cooke
Consultant

BLOCK ISLAND, RI — If you are among radio’s remaining newscasters, disregard what follows.  Your job is to make the-very-first-line the-very latest.  By telling the story chronologically, you’re risking listeners thinking “I already know that.”

For DJs, talkers, and commercial copy writers, consider instead…

Back-into the back story?

Example: “Chimpanzees were falling from the trees, and a giraffe bonked his head on a low-hanging branch.”

Note INSTANT engagement…as-opposed-to slow-dancing the listener into the story…

“We always wanted to go to Africa…”

“We finally saved up enough money…”

“We joined one of those safari tours…”

“The tour guide told us how animals eating rotting fruit ‘get drunk’ as it ferments in their bellies…”

Try it…

I WON’T LIE TO YA. I CHOKED-UP WHEN SHE WAVED AS SHE DROVE-OFF.

MY LITTLE GIRL…OFF TO COLLEGE!

ANY DAD TAKES-A-DEEP-BREATH AT A TIME LIKE THIS.

ONE THING I WON’T WORRY ABOUT IS HER CAR.

BECAUSE SHE-AND-I WENT TO SEE FRED AT MIDLAND MOTORS.

WE TOLD HIM WE DIDN’T HAVE A LOT OF MONEY TO SPEND.

YOU KNOW HOW MUCH COLLEGE COSTS.

BUT WE NEEDED A CAR THAT’S SAFE AND RELIABILE…

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a media consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of the e-book “Holland Cooke: Greatest Hits” from Talkers Books.  Click the ad banner in the right-hand column on this page for an instant download.  And he hosts “The Big Picture” TV show Friday nights at 7ET on RT America.  Read HC’s Monday Memo each week at Talkers.com, and follow him on Twitter @HollandCooke

Tags: copy writers, DJs, Holland Cooke, Monday Memo, newscasters

Category: Advice