Episode 182

Keep Your Audience Hooked - 5 Tips from WRIF’s Dave and Chuck the Freak

Dave Hunter and Chuck "The Freak" Urquhart are an award-winning duo who have hosted mornings at Detroit’s legendary WRIF since 2013. They're always finding new ways to fire up their fan base with their take on the craziest stories from around the world.

They have co-hosts who add their own perspectives, including Lisa Way and Andy Green, along with a team of producers. Plus, their online chops keep them top of mind with a strong social media presence and playful, provocative podcasts. Dave and Chuck the Freak are an award-winning duo, famous for their incredible on-air chemistry and clever wit. Their morning radio show has been a favorite among Detroit listeners for years, and they've amassed a devoted fan base by never taking themselves too seriously.

In this episode, they share 5 Tips that can help separate your show from the competition.

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Transcript
Dave:

Well, I check and I realize, I think what was key, we were off for six months

Dave:

when we switched from Windsor to Detroit.

Dave:

We had a six month non-compete.

Dave:

We saw during that time that our social media kept us connected to that audience.

Dave:

We couldn't say where we were going or what we were doing, but we could

Dave:

still be funny with them and share stuff with them, and we were kind of

Dave:

ahead of the game when it came to that.

Dave:

In building social media.

Dave:

We podcasted our entire show for about 15 years now.

Dave:

For anyone was doing that and they thought it would hurt terrestrial radio, but we

Dave:

knew it would just help build the brand.

VO:

Welcome to BRANDwidth On Demand, your Guide to Rebooting Radio.

Chuck the Freak:

I think the biggest thing is that people want to make

Chuck the Freak:

connections with other people and.

Chuck the Freak:

I know for us, switching from a music and talk format and going right

Chuck the Freak:

to a talk format was the biggest move that we could have ever made.

Chuck the Freak:

And I'll say it, if we could have done that right away, who knows how

Chuck the Freak:

big the show could have been by now?

VO:

BRANDwidth on Demand, rebooting radio with a different take on all radio can be.

VO:

Now your guides through the mediamorphosis,.

VO:

David Martin and author of the book, BRANDwidth Media

VO:

Branding coach Kipper McGee.

Dave M:

Well, this time we talk with a morning team that started in Canada,

Dave M:

well actually Windsor right across the river where Dave and Chuck the

Dave M:

freak have been waking up Detroit listeners on the legendary W R I F.

Dave M:

Since 2013 after Bubba the Love Sponge flamed out in Tampa,

Dave M:

they also started working with a growing roster of Beasley stations.

Dave M:

And just recently they entered a network affiliation deal with key market networks.

Dave M:

Ooh, they try their best to help listeners get their butts out of bed by poking fun.

Dave M:

It pretty much everything that's happening.

Dave M:

Listeners who are easily.

Dave M:

Take caution.

Dave M:

No one is safe from Dave and Chuck.

Dave M:

The Freak's rap and that includes the President, the Pope, their

Dave M:

significant others themselves, as well as everything in between.

Dave M:

Despite that brand on demand is proud to welcome.

Dave M:

We hope Dave Hunter.

Dave M:

And Charles Qua, better known as Dave and Chuck the freak.

Kipper:

Hey guys.

Kipper:

Hey.

Kipper:

What's going on?

Kipper:

We are so glad to have you.

Kipper:

So for those, just getting to know the show, you guys have

Kipper:

been all over the trades lately.

Kipper:

Can you tell us.

Kipper:

Like what happens every morning, what the show's about and who does what.

Dave:

Yeah, for sure.

Dave:

So we get started every day and basically we're just taking a look at all the

Dave:

craziest stories from around the country and around the world and putting our

Dave:

spin on them and, and our take on them.

Dave:

Along with Chuck and I, we have great co-hosts, including Lisa Way, who's

Dave:

been with us for many years, adding.

Dave:

Female perspective on things.

Dave:

Andy Green, who joined the show shortly after we started at Rift, and then our

Dave:

producing team is James Campbell, Jason Watson, and Al Beck who all chime in.

Dave:

Now and again to the show as well.

Dave:

So it's really, it's a, it's a fun take on the day's events from

Dave:

a different kind of perspective.

Dave:

Uh, just to keep it entertaining and distracting from all the real bull craps.

Chuck the Freak:

Yeah.

Kipper:

Yeah.

Kipper:

So who does what on and off the air?

Kipper:

Cuz you guys are like massively all over social media and

Kipper:

podcasting and stuff like that.

Kipper:

Who does what?

Dave:

Well, when it comes to putting the show together, our show's

Dave:

very unique in that we really.

Dave:

Prep together, we found that it was just for us, we were much better at improv.

Dave:

So I'll gather up everything that we need for the show for the day

Dave:

in terms of content and stories and I present it to everyone.

Dave:

And so a lot of this stuff they're hearing for the first time on

Dave:

the air, cuz for us that's.

Dave:

Genuine reaction.

Dave:

That's when the laughs are at the best.

Dave:

That's when the humor is at its best.

Dave:

And I know a lot of people aren't comfortable operating like that,

Dave:

but that's really what works best for us for more of an improv

Dave:

approach to, you know, and we've

Chuck the Freak:

been doing this for so long, we've been a part, uh, different

Chuck the Freak:

management teams that we're trying to push us to do things in the, I guess

Chuck the Freak:

what you'd say is the normal way.

Chuck the Freak:

Write bits have it all down on paper and it.

Chuck the Freak:

Honestly, the more we knew going into something, the worse it ended

Chuck the Freak:

up coming across on the radio.

Chuck the Freak:

So we're, we're like an improv group really.

Chuck the Freak:

When it comes down to it,

Dave M:

Chuck, why the freak?

Dave M:

How did that happen?

Chuck the Freak:

Oh wow.

Chuck the Freak:

Um, so it, it really came about a long, long time ago, and if I want

Chuck the Freak:

to be fully honest, which I do, um, it basically was, uh, a boss at the

Chuck the Freak:

time believed that Dave and Chuck just didn't have enough Baz pizzazz.

Chuck the Freak:

And so they went through a whole contest on the air of

Chuck the Freak:

what are we gonna name Chuck?

Chuck the Freak:

And all these people wrote different things in and.

Chuck the Freak:

Basically the one that stuck was the freak.

Chuck the Freak:

And back then I was a little bit different than the dad that I am now.

Chuck the Freak:

And, uh, it seemed to fit with me.

Chuck the Freak:

Okay.

Chuck the Freak:

Back in the day.

Dave M:

And it just lasted right?

Chuck the Freak:

Well, once it's, once it's set in stone

Chuck the Freak:

and you start to do Okay.

Chuck the Freak:

I mean, it's pretty, it's pretty much set in stone.

Chuck the Freak:

Yeah.

Chuck the Freak:

That the name of Joe.

Chuck the Freak:

Yeah.

Dave M:

Well, after almost a decade of top ratings in Detroit

Dave M:

and Windsor, before that, you guys branched out first to a bunch of

Dave M:

Beasely stations and now nationwide

Dave M:

with Key Market Networks, what are some of the biggest differences, guys?

Dave M:

Changing your focus from a single market to several.

Dave M:

And will anything change as you continue to grow?

Dave M:

In your goal of world domination?

Dave:

I think really, no.

Dave:

Our show has always been about just finding the funny in

Dave:

everything and that's universal.

Dave:

So for us, once we expanded, you know, our first, uh, other station was in

Dave:

Boston when we, outside of Detroit, obviously, and once we kind of made

Dave:

that move, it, it really doesn't matter from that point if it's two or 20 or 40.

Dave:

You know, we, we still focus.

Dave:

If something amazing comes up in one of the cities that we're in, we're

Dave:

absolutely gonna talk about it.

Dave:

But it's just about finding the funniest and, and the freshest

Dave:

stuff to break table every day.

Dave:

So from our standpoint, nothing really changes.

Dave:

And from our listeners standpoint, uh, all they'll notice is different cities joining

Dave:

the party in the morning if they call in and text in and send an email and that.

Chuck the Freak:

Because we take a lot of phone calls.

Chuck the Freak:

I think that is the number one thing that sort of changes when we get put on

Chuck the Freak:

in a new market is we all of a sudden meet all these new people and mm-hmm.

Chuck the Freak:

I know that when Boston and both Florida stations came on board, It just

Chuck the Freak:

changed the audience by just giving us a huge pool of different thoughts on

Chuck the Freak:

every topic you could ever bring up.

Chuck the Freak:

Mostly just, you know, dirty stuff, right.

Kipper:

Well, you guys have clearly had your share of PDs, oms, GMs, brand

Kipper:

managers, content developers, whatever you want to call 'em, and you probably had

Kipper:

a few corporate types along the way too.

Kipper:

What do you guys look for these?

Kipper:

In a good coach, what does it take to coach a network show like yours

Kipper:

and how do you handle the dozens of PDs you're going to be working with?

Kipper:

Do they all have your direct line or not?

Dave:

Uh, we have someone who kind of filters stuff for us and kind of, you

Dave:

know, just one person on the show, aleck.

Dave:

Is kind of our syndication producer, so every we're seeing will kind of go

Dave:

through him instead of getting lost in all sorts of different channels.

Dave:

And yeah, we've had a ton of different experiences with

Dave:

different kinds of bosses.

Dave:

Uh, I think the thing that we learned over the years is just to

Dave:

fight for what we know works for us.

Dave:

You know, we were kind of doing it our way and we've got a chance to do it.

Dave:

More our way as the years went on, and that's when we saw our biggest success.

Dave:

And so I think knowing what we are strong at, knowing how we can do it, and then

Dave:

fighting for that, no matter who you're dealing with is really key for us.

Dave:

And as the years gone on and our success speaks for itself, then

Dave:

that's not so much of a battle.

Dave:

You know, people just kind of back off and let you do your thing.

Dave:

Doing pretty well.

Kipper:

Yeah.

Kipper:

Amazing how programmers want you to do it.

Kipper:

One don't way until it works another way and once the ratings come in and it's

Kipper:

working, suddenly they like the idea

Kipper:

a lot.

Dave:

Yeah, exactly.

Dave:

Yeah.

Dave:

Yeah.

Dave:

We've seen that.

Dave:

Yeah, we've seen that.

Dave:

Guilty definitely has.

Dave:

I've done that.

Dave:

See, what really changed the show for us if, if we're honest, is years ago when

Dave:

we were in Windsor, I was actually made program director of the radio station.

Dave:

We were on Wild Morning Show.

Dave:

Okay.

Dave:

That let us do the show we wanted to do.

Dave:

I was the boss all of a sudden, so I could say, okay, we're

Dave:

not playing music anymore.

Dave:

This is what we're gonna do.

Dave:

I had our general manager on board and said like, just give us a shot.

Dave:

Let us try it this way.

Dave:

We wanted to do it this way.

Dave:

And that's when our show really started to take up and see success.

Dave:

So we've been able to continue doing it.

Dave:

It had to be great getting, uh, memos from the PD on how great you guys were doing.

Dave:

So you guys are really crushing it when it comes to social media,

Dave:

podcasting, all the off air stuff.

Dave:

So tell us, how do you really keep engaged and connected to your

Dave:

audience when you're off the air?

Dave:

Oh, well, I'll check and I realized, I think what was key, we were off

Dave:

for six months when we switched, you know, from Windsor to Detroit.

Dave:

We had a six month non-com.

Dave:

And we, we saw during that time that our social media kept us

Dave:

connected to that audience.

Dave:

We couldn't say where we were going or what we were doing, but we could still be

Dave:

funny with them and share stuff with them.

Dave:

And we were kind of ahead of the game when it came to that.

Dave:

In building social media.

Dave:

We podcasted our entire show for about 15 years now, long before anyone was

Dave:

doing that, and they thought it would.

Dave:

Terrestrial radio, but we knew it would just help build the brand.

Dave:

So all of that combined, not only did it help us bridge that six month gap,

Dave:

it brought people with us immediately to our new station and then just

Dave:

now continued to help it grow and.

Dave:

When we're not, you know, we're, we're posting stuff seven days a week, 24 7.

Dave:

It's all about just when you're on the air and off the air, staying connected

Dave:

to the people that listen to you.

Dave:

We really always have realized the importance of that.

Dave:

Yeah.

Kipper:

Now there's lots of shows doing lots of formats and people

Kipper:

who often think they might be ready for doing a national show, but maybe

Kipper:

they just aren't quite there yet.

Kipper:

Do you have any advice for people like that, that maybe need to have

Kipper:

a few more laps around the track?

Chuck the Freak:

Well, I know myself, I think really you do have

Chuck the Freak:

to prove that you can do it at home.

Chuck the Freak:

And it's not easy to be put onto other stations.

Chuck the Freak:

A a lot of times you're taking over for people that were big names in that town.

Chuck the Freak:

Mm-hmm.

Chuck the Freak:

And you start out automatically as an outsider.

Chuck the Freak:

You know, all of a sudden two guys from Detroit are on the

Chuck the Freak:

radio in Boston and I think it.

Chuck the Freak:

Some time for people to give you a chance, and luckily for us, our show's always been

Chuck the Freak:

a show that if you just give us a chance, And you leave it alone, people are gonna

Chuck the Freak:

find it and people are gonna like it.

Chuck the Freak:

A lot of what we've done was never from massive promotion

Chuck the Freak:

budgets or anything like that.

Chuck the Freak:

A lot of the spread of our show is your water cooler talk, and we've been

Chuck the Freak:

fortunate that that's the way it is.

Dave:

And I do think the key for us is you've gotta be genuine.

Dave:

You, you can't fake laughter, you can't fake, uh, how we all

Dave:

get along in our friendships.

Dave:

And that's been our key.

Dave:

You have to have the nice mix of ingredients that goes into

Dave:

everything else that you're doing, and people realize that it's real.

Dave:

And you're enjoying each other's company as well with doing what you're doing.

Dave M:

They are amazing, aren't they, Dave and Chuck the Freak from W R I F

Dave M:

Detroit and the Key Market Radio networks.

Dave M:

Somebody you'd like to hear from, we'd love to hear from you.

Dave M:

Email your suggestions to show@brandwidthondemand.com,

Kipper:

Or you can simply stay in touch on social, just follow BRANDwidthPlus,

Kipper:

that's BrandWidth, P L U S one word.

Kipper:

We're on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

Dave M:

Coming up, Dave and Chuck the Freak share some things they know now.

Dave M:

They really wish they knew way back when they were first starting out.

Spot:

If you run a music station, why you software to simply select your music

Spot:

when Music Master can perfect your music.

Spot:

Hey, it's Lee McNabb, operations manager for Saga Communications Des Moines Radio.

Spot:

My mentors taught me music scheduling on Music Master, and that's what I used

Spot:

to teach the Young Padawans of today.

Spot:

Why just select music when you can perfect your music.

Spot:

Visit music

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master.com today, I'm a major fan.

Spot:

Hey, it's Hannah B, associate producer of the BRANDwidth.

Spot:

Podcast and a huge fan of Morning Show Boot Camp.

Spot:

This will be my third year in a row attending bootcamp, and

Spot:

it's truly the best experience.

Spot:

Kipper encouraged me to attend bootcamp when I was looking

Spot:

to get my foot in the door.

Spot:

I took his word and ended up attending my first morning show Bootcamp.

Spot:

Back in August of 2021 and just a few weeks later, I was

Spot:

offered my first on air gig.

Spot:

We all know networking is huge in this industry, right?

Spot:

And that's why bootcamp is simply the best.

Spot:

I am now doing afternoon drive with Chicago Radio legend Eddie

Spot:

Volkman on three stations.

Spot:

I'm so incredibly grateful for everything Morning Show Bootcamp

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has brought into my life.

Spot:

I've met the best mentors while attending bootcamp, including Don Anthony.

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Cruz Sean Tempa, Mike McVay Plus so much more.

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I truly don't know where I would be without Morning Show Bootcamp.

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It has helped me grow as a broadcaster while meeting some of

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my lifelong best friends, or as I like to call them my radio family.

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Don't wait.

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Don't hesitate.

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Visit Morning Show Boot Camp.com today and register for this year's

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bootcamp, I hope to see you August 10th through the 11th in Dallas, Texas.

VO:

The stuff, we know now, we wish we'd known then BRANDwidth On Demand.

Dave M:

We're with the stars of the show.

Dave M:

Dave and Chuck, the freak from W R I F, Detroit and the key market Networks.

Dave:

Guys thinking about traditional broadcast radio,

Dave:

what's the one thing you know now?

Dave:

You really wish you knew way back when you got started.

Dave:

Chuck, I'll let you go first.

Chuck the Freak:

I think the biggest thing is that the realization that people.

Chuck the Freak:

Want to make connections with other people.

Chuck the Freak:

And I know for us, switching from a music and talk format and going right

Chuck the Freak:

to a talk format was the biggest move that we could have ever made.

Chuck the Freak:

And I'll say it, if we could have done that right away, who knows

Chuck the Freak:

how big the show could have been by

Dave:

now.

Dave:

Yeah, I agree.

Dave:

Uh, like I said earlier, it's having faith in yourselves and

Dave:

fighting for what you believe in.

Dave:

It's kind of hard sometimes in the corporate world, but it really is

Dave:

the key to success for talk radio.

Dave:

It's being able to be who you are and.

Dave:

You know, playing four songs an hour in between talk doesn't really get across

Dave:

any kind of market and, and ratings.

Dave:

And we, we saw that early on.

Dave:

It was presenting the show that we wanted to do.

Dave:

And also, I think another big thing is just to interact with the fans even more.

Dave:

The listeners, we have gone out of our way to try and return emails and

Dave:

Facebook messages and Twitter messages as much as possible through the years.

Dave:

That makes a loyal listener that you wouldn't believe.

Dave:

The hundreds and hundreds of emails we get, like, oh my

Dave:

God, no one's ever responded.

Dave:

I messaged shows through the years, and that means so much that you

Dave:

replied and it's a tiny little thing, but it goes so far in.

Dave:

Loyalty and people that want to be with your show for a long time.

Dave M:

Our thanks to Dave and Chuck, the Freak from WRIF "RIF" in

Dave M:

Detroit and the Keymarket networks.

Dave M:

They're great guys.

Dave M:

You'll find all kinds of cool links to their stuff you scroll down on your phone.

Kipper:

As always, thanks to exec producers Cindy Huber for

Kipper:

helping us make this happen.

Kipper:

And our associate producer, Hannah B, who helps with booking and coming

Kipper:

up.

VO:

I'm McCall Taylor of ninety four five Utah's Bfx and even outside of Utah.

VO:

Radio is transcending into this social media era.

Dave:

That's what we're gonna talk about.

Dave:

That's a wrap, Kipper.

Dave:

The next One Minute Martinizing is about change and taking advantage of the season.

Dave:

Find it at brandwidthondemand.com.

Dave:

I'm Dave Martin.

Kipper:

And I'm Kipper McGee.

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