Tommy Kramer Tip #50 – Trivia is, well…trivial

It’s hard for me to believe that people are still doing trivia questions on the air as a contest mechanic. Trivia is LAME, man.

Here’s what happens:
5 people call, so jocks think it works “because the phone lines lit up.” Meanwhile, 90 people tuned out because they’ve heard enough “brain teasers” and “impossible questions” to last several lifetimes. (In my seminars, I always say “No one cares what the gestation period of the female aardvark is.” Oh, and it’s seven months. My, that’s exciting.)

Think about it from the other end of the radio. It’s usually just a bunch of “No, that’s not it, but thanks for calling” stuff leading to the one nerd who guesses right or looks it up. Boring.
If you Google “trivia questions and answers” (which I just did), you’ll see over 67 MILLION websites full of this cra….uh, stuff. It’s kind of hard to be unique when you’re doing something that I can find in 67 million other places. And you’re forgetting that it’s not 1990 anymore. Today, I can just ask Siri, and have the answer in five seconds.

You can be better! You just need some coaching. Start with just scratching Trivia off the list – permanently. Let everyone else do that stuff, while you do something more relevant instead. Then call me, and I’ll show you ways to give stuff away that generate great phone calls and will actually engage the listener, not just feed more radio tofu to the same thirty people that win 90% of your contests.

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Tommy Kramer
Radio Talent Coach
214-632-3090 (iPhone)
e-mail: coachtommykramer@gmail.com
Member, Texas Radio Hall of Fame
© 2014 by Tommy Kramer. All rights reserved.