Morning show imaging (Yes Morning shows need love too)

I would always split the thought process down the middle when writing imaging for the morning show. You have two stations that merge into one. The morning show and the rest of the dayparts. Writing for the morning show is one fun journey. If your morning show evokes major fun and personality, then writing becomes fun and less stressful. If you have a generic morning show or a basic one, you need to develop in your writing what the show is famous for.

Do they play lots of music, contests, entertainment information, local and community based? Morning show imaging needs to be broken down into a couple of categories:

LEGAL ID'S (top of hour)

MORNING SHOW IMAGE (between songs)

BUMPERS (from bits to spots)

RETURNS (from spots to music)

SPECIAL FEATURES (intros to special bits and features)

I highly recommend using lots of real listeners (not on the phone) in the production. One of the coolest morning show topicals I've heard was Tony and Kris in 2005 at KUSS San Diego. The listeners were part of the imaging telling the listeners how long they listen to the show and where they listen. Avoid at all cost running the generic or after morning show pieces in mornings. It makes no sense to hear 12 in a row sweepers or elements that are geared for other dayparts run in mornings.

When you are down you should have around 35-50 imaging topicals for your morning show.