Executing the Feature

Phone Jibba is designed to fit into your station’s format add a hilarious element to the show. It works for solo performers or multi-cast shows.

There are many ways to deliver the feature.

Here’s a typical structure of the feature (some of the production pieces can be downloaded from the resources page):

Produced Intro:  Make it stand out. Some stations link the time it airs to the intro. For example, they call it the "7:20 Phone Jibba". Another good tactic is to sub-title the feature with something like, "The funniest four mintues on the radio".

Personality: Using the provided episode guide, air personalities should set up the episode. Don't go cold into the Jibba. Build it up to create anticipation and let listeners in on the phone prank. Make it a part of your show!

Play recorded episode. The Jibba is fully produced. For best results, leave microphones on to add to a "studio audience" effect. 

End on a High Note. It's usually best to NOT talk out of the Phone Jibba. It ends on a high note, with a big laugh. Leave the audience laughing and go directly into the recorded close.

Recorded Outro: This is the perfect time to promote the next Phone Jibba, or invite listeners to submit ideas for a Jibba.

Personalities can then talk coming out of the recorded close to tease an upcoming element, or go into the next programmed event.

Scheduling Phone Jibba

Daily Feature: The feature is most effective when programmed daily. Every day. Seriously. Every day. And always play it at the same time.

Multiple Plays Per Day: Most stations air Phone Jibba multiple times per day. Once established, some stations air it every hour of every morning.

The episodes do not get old, and they do not burn out. Many stations tell us that listeners actually request their favorite Jibbas, or will call and say their friend told them about it and they want to hear it.

If airing it multiple times per day:

• Schedule a new episode at a key appointment tune in time. For example: 7:10am.
• Replay yesterday's episode at another time. For example: 6:10am.
• Replay the new episode at a later time. For example: 8:10am.

Recycling the Classics

Play the hits more often. We think Phone Jibba is the most consistently funny feature in radio. But some episodes are better than others. When you find a great one, label it and set it aside.

At some point, you'll hear an episode that you think may not fit your station or you think it's just not as funny. No problem. Recycle a classic. Or choose an episode from the archives.

Set up promotions with the best Jibbas. After the feature is established, it can be fun to take "requests" for listener's all time favorite episodes. Play an episode every 15-20 minutes for a day.

This is a great way to promote the feature, and you'll be playing nothing but the best episodes.

For Best Results

Involve personalities, but don't compete for punchlines with the Jibba. A good way to finish is inviting suggestions for prank calls and promoting the next episode.

Invite listeners to ask questions. Let them submit by text, phone, email, online form, etc. It sounds great to introduce a question as, “(Name) from (location) is asking us to prank _______.”

Make Rick a part of the show's cast. Be creative in introducing Rick as part of your team. But once the Jibba is on the air and you've introduced Rick once or twice, there's no reason to constantly revisit the back story. Some of the ideas stations have used include:

• An intern trying to break into radio.
• A guy who works in another department (accounting) and does this for fun.
• A listener who keeps calling and bugging us to be on the air.
• An old college buddy who has been doing this for years.

Promoting Phone Jibba

Promote the next episode by teasing the set up for the next Jibba.

Play audio. nothing sells tune-in like a sample of what is coming up. Use some of the audio for an upcoming Jibba to promote the next call. Don't worry about giving away that "it's not live." Listeners don't care!

Tease it! Each episode comes with a short version of the episode (30-40 seconds). This can be used as a promo or tease a few minutes before the feature airs. You can use it with your personalities or produced as a stand-alone promo.

Promos: You can also use the promo as a back-sell to run later in the day. Set it up with a great intro and tag it on the outro with a call-to-action to listen tomorrow morning at a specific time for the next Jibba. 

Create a Phone Jibba page on your website, with the most recent episode available on demand. We've found that it's best to make only the most recent episode (or two) available, though. Provide too many, and listeners can get all they want without tuning in. Also, be sure to make sharing easy. This allows fans to spread the word about the feature.

Set up a Phone Jibba form form on the website page and invite listeners to submit ideas for a prank call. Just have your website administrator embed this HTML code on your page exactly as it appears here:

<div class='kartra_optin_containerc9f0f895fb98ab9159f51fd0297e236d'></div><script src="https://app.kartra.com/optin/81XylsbDCI9c"></script>

The form will send an email directly to us. We can't guarantee all entries will be used, but it's a good way for your audience to feel connected to the feature.

Promote Exact Times. Try to promote specific times to listen on the air every chance you get.