Stunting

Stunting in radio broadcasting occurs when a radio station abruptly begins broadcasting seemingly uncharacteristic programming. Commonly used as a sort of publicity stunt when a station is about to undergo a major change — such as a format flip, a branding change, a frequency change, new ownership, or the acquisition of a high-profile new program — the tactic is intended to generate greater media and audience attention, by virtue of its shock value, than a straightforward format change.

Depending on the station, stunt formats can last anywhere from a few minutes to a week or more before the permanent change is launched.

On occasion, a station may also stunt for a few hours as a prank, especially in connection with April Fool's Day, and then return to its previous format later in the same day.

History

One of the earliest known radio stunts occurred on March 15, 1975, when WCFL in Chicago aired two hours of ocean wave sounds between 5pm and 7pm local time, and then switched from rock music to beautiful music. An even earlier stunt was when XEAK (later XETRA-AM, now XEWW) played the same song, "Mope-itty Mope" by The Bosstones, for 72 hours straight in 1961.^[1]

Types of stunting

• A station begins airing music outside of its normal format, but which is also not consistent with the planned permanent format. For example, a soft adult contemporary station which is planning to shift to a contemporary hit radio format might suddenly play nothing but novelty songs, television theme songs or country music for 24 to 48 hours before its relaunch. Parodying the trend, common in the 2000s, of radio stations temporarily shifting to an all-Christmas music format as much as six to eight weeks before Christmas, some stations have also stunted a Christmas format at a time of year when it was unexpected, such as the middle of the summer. Between 2007 and 2008, WIBC, then WNAP, started airing Christmas music while WIBC-AM switched over to FM. In Baltimore, Maryland, WSMJ ("Smooth Jazz 104.3") played all-Christmas music in May 2008 before relaunching as WCHH ("Channel 104.3"). In 2009, WVHT in Hampton Roads, Virginia and CIGM in Greater Sudbury, Ontario both stunted a Chinese pop music format branded as "Kung Pao".
• Alternatively, a few stations have shifted to an all-Christmas format at the same time of year as other stations, kept playing Christmas music for at least a week after Christmas, and then relaunched in the first week of January with a different format than they held before flipping to Christmas music. In Charlotte, North Carolina, WSSS (classic hits-formatted "Star 104.7") did this in 2003, before its eventual flip to Soft AC as WKQC ("K104.7") the next year.
• A station may mix musical selections from both its old and new formats for a period of time. This works best if the formats have little to no normal overlap in their playlists, such as a shift from classic rock to urban music.
• Repeating the same song over and over again; two variations of this theme exist. The first is to play a song that somehow relates to the new format (an example of this is WBUF's format change from disco to active rock, signaled by playing "We Will Rock You" by Queen repeatedly for an entire day; another variant is WOLF-FM's format change to country music as "The Wolf" by playing "Hungry Like the Wolf" by Duran Duran for a full day). The other is to use a completely oddball novelty song; In 2007, KBVB (Fargo, North Dakota) and KXLP (Mankato, Minnesota), for instance, repeated the song "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" by Rolf Harris for multiple days.
• Playing a variety of songs by the same artist for at least 24 hours straight. In this case, the chosen artist may serve as either a clue to the new format or a tribute to the departing format. (For instance, previously hot-AC WVOR in Rochester, New York aired a selection of songs by the Dave Matthews Band for a day in June 2007 before changing to WDVI "100.5 The Drive," a modern-AC station.)
• Using a limited playlist featuring only a selected number of songs, usually a preview of what to expect with the station's new format. WJJZ ("Smooth Jazz 97.5") in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania played the same 15 Hot AC songs over and over again, prior to its re-branding as WNUW ("Now 97.5").
• Sometimes a series of audio clips and sound effects centered around a certain theme are played as well. Known as a sound collage, the theme under which these bits of audio fall may or may not have something to do with the previous and / or new format. For example, WCBS-FM in New York City played a sound collage featuring sound effects, audio clips from movies, and songs with the word "Jack" removed. This went on for half an hour before the station flipped to Jack FM at 5:00 PM on June 3, 2005. It has since dropped the format in favor of its current oldies/classic hits offering.
• Also, a moment of silence (more commonly known as "dead air") may occur before a station changes formats. This has happened in various lengths of time, lasting as long as five minutes. This brief period of silence may or may not be preceded or followed by the sound of a test pattern for a few seconds, or even the sound of an explosion to "blow up" the previous format. Some stations has even used the sound of a flatlining heart rate monitor to signify the death of the previous format, followed by the sound a beating heart which signifies that a new format will bring new life to the frequency.
• After acquiring rights to The Rush Limbaugh Show from a rival station in early 2008, WRNO-FM in New Orleans stunted under the brand "Rush Radio", airing exclusively repeats of the show for a full week before returning to a schedule which integrated a single daily broadcast of Limbaugh's show into the station's normal program lineup.
• Announcing a fake format change: in May 2009, WSKS in Utica, New York announced it would change its KISS FM format to a beautiful music format similar to the one heard on sister station WUTQ. Within two and a half hours of the supposed change, most of that time including kayfabe complaining from the morning show about the change (such complaints would normally get a person fired from the station), the station flipped back,^[2] though not without a new morning host.^[3] Within a month, the new morning host was fired.
• Temporarily changing formats, after another station changes to the same format, to gain publicity: in Syracuse, WOLF-FM (after itself stunting with a novelty format) changed to country music, prompting WPHR-FM to temporarily change its usual urban adult contemporary format to its own country format as "Young Country 106.9." The station changed back at the end of the weekend. Usually, this type of stunt happens as part of a hedging effort: a dominant station in the market, who is being threatened by an upstart, will use a sister station to change to a similar format to sap away listeners; in the case of WPHR, it is the sister station of market leader WBBS.

References