Radio personalities have a chance to shine the brightest when faced with local tragedies or emergencies. The community counts on established personalities to relate to and respond to stressful situations. Following the Little Rock tornadoes, KLAL (Alice 107.7) Little Rock’s morning show Heather and PoolBoy rose to the occasion with a perfect balance of responding to the community’s needs in a personal, relatable way.
The devastating tornadoes struck Little Rock on Friday, leaving a path of destruction (and death) behind. This aircheck is from the following Tuesday. Life was still not back to “normal”, of course. The show suspended regular features. Listen to this segment as they met the audience in a difficult time:
Here’s what stands out in this segment:
- The show offers resources with updated information from officials, but they do it quickly. It doesn’t turn into a long infomercial for “how to get help”.
- PoolBoy shares his personal experience of relating to two young children and how their schools dealt with the issue on Monday. This is a thoughtful, relatable way to connect with parents in the audience.
- Heather lightens the mood with a short detour about PoolBoy and his family taking shelter in his room off the garage. The conversation includes sidebars about hanging a tennis ball on a string and PoolBoy’s wife being parking challenged!
- And it finishes with information on where to go to volunteer and help today.
This is a terrific example of the show understanding that the community depends on the show for connection and comfort in the face of tragedy. However, they also recognize that the audience comes to them for a personal connection and relatable stories. This is a great balance!
For more details, visit our Guide To Dealing With Emergencies here.