Static Live Magazine February 2019

Behind the Mic: Riggs
Hello again, friends. It’s a great time of year to be in
Daytona Beach. With Speedweeks and the Daytona
500 upon us, Bike Week lurking in March, and some
more frequent mind-calming trips to the beach,
this is the sweet spot for me. On our daily Morning
HOG radio show, we are constantly challenged by
the bosses to talk about what is relatable to YOU,
the listener. And short of coming to your house or
grabbing a beer and shooting the shit, there’s no
exact science to knowing what that relatable radio
content really is. So we at The Morning HOG / 95.7
The HOG try to connect with our audience through
many different avenues. There is extensive research,
data collection, and a tremendous amount of ratings
minutiae that I won’t bore you with that leads us to
knowing what may work on the air. But obviously
this comes with some bad reads and failed attempts.
I decided to reveal some of the segment ideas we
have tried and for whatever reason, they just didn’t
catch on…
The 8 o’clock Donut Toss - This plan involved flinging
Krispy Kremes out of our 3rd story studio window
toward cars racing down International Speedway
Boulevard. Passersby would get to keep the donut
that landed on or in their car and redeem it for a
clean one at participating locations. The idea failed
for several reasons, including the lack of openable
windows and ants … lots of ants. Also, police frown
upon donut-related traffic snarls.
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Captive Date - Lots of radio shows across the country
have attempted this rather innocent idea where
2 callers are connected and sent on a date… to our
storage room, where they are “sequestered” for 24
hours and are kept awake during their date by a series
of air horn blasts every half hour. While our first
couple did have an emotional connection, we had
to discontinue the segment after our lawyers threw
around words like “kidnapping” and “false imprisonment”.
Lesson learned.
- Tell Off My Boss - Another great idea taken down
by unfortunate circumstances. I mean, who hasn’t
wanted to speak freely to their boss, right? Well we
solicited callers who wanted to tell off their boss and
had Guy do it for them. This was hilarious radio until
we found out one “boss” was the Sheriff. Guy apologized,
but the damage was done. We made a donation
and all is well now.
- Find The Mustard - How frustrating is it when you
are dining and can’t find the condiments? We know,
VERY. So we sent Intern Steve to a local eatery, mic’d
him up, and had him announce that he had taken all
the mustard and that whoever finds it first gets a limited
edition Morning HOG Mustard Bottle, numbered
and signed by Riggs and Guy. There were scuffles
and the threat of a man promising to “beat the Grey
Poupon out of him”, plus the novelty of a unique
morning show collectible was not as big of a draw
as we thought. We got the last laugh, though, as the
mustard was in Steve’s speedo the entire time!
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