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In radio broadcasting, stunting occurs when a station abruptly airs content that is seemingly uncharacteristic compared to what they normally play.

Types of radio stunting and noted examples

Continuous loop

A station may stunt by repeating the same song or songs over and over on a continuous loop:

• The song(s) in question are commonly in relation to the coming format or branding; in March 2014, San Francisco's KVVF and KVVZ stunted for 3 days with a loop of "Hot in Herre" by Nelly, which led into their impending flip from a Spanish format to rhythmic contemporary Hot 105.7. The stunt notably attracted mainstream media attention, with the hashtag "#nelly1057" being used to discuss the event on Twitter.^[1][2][3]


• Oftentimes the song chosen for the loop does not pertain to either the old or new format. A prime example is XEAK, San Diego/Tijuana, which in one of the earliest radio stunts recorded played "Mope-itty Mope" by The Bosstones for 72 hours straight in 1961 before unveiling an all-news format, one of the first such radio formats in North America.^[4] In a reference to the Rickroll meme, the new Toronto radio station CIND-FM played a loop of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" prior to its official launch as Indie 88.^[5]


• For four days before the July 8, 2012 relaunch of KOKE-FM, a radio station in Austin, Texas that popularized progressive country in the early 1970s, a live recording of Dale Watson's "Country My Ass" played in a continuous loop. This example of stunting is notable for the station-specific nature of the song's lyrics. Watson re-recorded the song for the occasion, adding a new coda in which he sings, "Now Austin's on track, 'cause KOKE-FM's back."^[6]


• In May 1990, the staff of Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio station Triple J engaged in an industrial action, protesting the suspension of its news director for playing a clip of the N.W.A. song "Fuck tha Police" in a segment discussing its subject matter (despite the full song having been played by the station without incident). During the action, Triple J played another N.W.A. song, "Express Yourself", 82 times in a row. On April 28, 2014, in an homage to the event, ABC Dig Music began stunting with a loop of "Express Yourself" (including covers of the song by Australian musicians) to lead into its flip to Triple J's new sister station Double J on April 30.^[7][8]

Sound effects

In a prelude to a format flip, a series of audio clips and sound effects centered around a certain theme may be played. 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.

• A common stunting collage consists of construction site noises (sawing, hammering, etc.), signaling the building of a new station; two examples are this are WZNN/Green Bay, WI (which transitioned to alternative rock in March 2007)^[9] and KROI/Houston (which transitioned from gospel music to all-news radio in November 2011).^[10]


• The collage may include sounds of a test pattern tone, an explosion (to "blow up" the previous format), or the sound of a flat-lining and/or beating heart rate monitor (signifying the death of one format and the birth of another). A classic example of this occurred when KLSX/Los Angeles transitioned from hot talk to CHR in February 2009. The "explosion" was provided by The Tom Leykis Show upon its conclusion and cancellation (fittingly, the show's slogan was "Blow me up, Tom!"), followed by the sound of a flatlining and beating monitor, with a 3-minute montage of Top 40 acts and LA-centric soundbites leading up into the launch of the new Top 40 format (as KAMP-FM).^[11]

Sneak preview

When changing formats, a station may be upfront about the nature of the new format by using a limited playlist of songs or highlights of the new format, an approach intended to preview what to expect after the format change takes place.

• On August 7, 2014, Clear Channel sold off the entire intellectual property unit of conservative talker WPGB-FM/Pittsburgh to Frank Iorio, who was taking over operations of WJAS. WJAS dropped their longtime adult standards format at noon that day and began a three-hour simulcast of WPGB-FM (the duration of The Rush Limbaugh Show). Both stations replaced all local commercial breaks with sweepers prompting listeners to move to WJAS, interspersed with a heart monitor sound effect. At 3 p.m., WPGB abruptly cut away from the top-of-the-hour newscast (fed from the Total Traffic Network facilities in Cleveland) and, after playing a few song snippets poking fun at the format change - notably No More Words by Berlin - debuted a country music format as "Big 104.7."^[12]

Temporary formats

Occasionally a station dropping an old format will stunt with a temporary transitional format, one intended to tease not so much the listener but competing stations who are not privy to the station's new plans. The fake format, more often than not, is only intended as a transition to a new format or existing format adjustment. A similar, but smaller, effect can be produced by registering numerous domain names suggesting various formats, in an effort to throw off "net gnomes" and generate buzz.^{[citation needed]}

• In summer 2011, two stations who had recently been sold to the same new owner transitioned from alternative rock to all-news radio by using the same adult contemporary music transition branded as "FM New." The stations, WWWN/Chicago and WEMP/New York, interspersed the music with news, traffic, and weather updates from personalities who would serve under the new "FM News" formats.^[13]


• Over Memorial Day weekend in 2010, WJZX-FM/Milwaukee, Wisconsin stunted with songs about adultery as "Tiger FM." The station was expected to change to a Top 40 format with the new call sign WNQW, but was beaten to the punch by a competitor. With that avenue blocked, WNQW reverted to temporary formats, such as patriotic music and all-Beatles music, before settling on a permanent format in June 2010, as classic country station WZBK-FM).^[14]


• In October 2, 2009, WVMV/Detroit dropped their long-running smooth jazz format, and briefly promoted that it had returned to its previous rock format, Detroit's Wheels WLLZ. However, this was short-lived, as the station's first song would be interrupted by Kanye West in favor of a Beyoncé song, and the station would instead become a CHR station temporarily branded as 98.7 Takeover—with the station inviting listeners to guess the station's final branding (unveiled the following Monday as 98.7 Amp Radio).^[15]


• Multiple stations have stunted with Chinese pop music under the branding Kung Pao, such as KDOG (which led into a flip to classic hits) and WVHT (which led into its re-launch as CHR Hot 100).^[16][17]


• In May 2009, WSKS/Utica, NY announced that, due to "financial constraints," its CHR format would be replaced by the beautiful music format similar to what was broadcast on sister station WUTQ. The "change" came complete with on-air kayfabe-style complaining from the station's staff. The "new format," however, lasted for only 2 hours before WSKS management came clean, restored the CHR format, and confirmed the stunt was a way to promote a new disc jockey lineup on the WSKS.^[18]

Novelty songs

A station may stunt by temporarily formatting a series of novelty songs, a song style that usually wouldn't support itself as a stand-alone commercial radio format.

• 
  WJMP/Kent, OH, in a protest over the 1994 strike that affected Major League Baseball, played 2 versions of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" continuously, sunrise-to-sunset (the station operates only during daytime hours), for 2 months (and 57,161 total plays) from August to October 1994. The stunt merited WJMP an entry in the Guinness Book of Sports Records.^[19]

Overlap in music formats

A station may mix musical selections from both its old and new formats for a period of time. This smooth transition works best if the formats have little to no normal overlap in their playlists, such as a shift from country music to rhythmic contemporary or alternative rock; it may not be as effective or obvious if the transition is from, for example, modern rock to alternative rock. This type of stunting does not occur as often as other forms, as the approach does not increase the shock and anticipation value as much as with the other forms.^{[citation needed]}

Christmas music

The popular practice of radio stations playing Christmas music during the lead-up to (and occasionally the week after) Christmas Day has also been used as a means of transitioning to a new format.^[20]

• As a soft launch in April 2008, Saskatoon's new radio station CFWD-FM briefly stunted with Christmas music as Santa FM, accompanied by a promotional campaign in which publicists in Santa costumes paraded through the city. The station defended the debut of its actual format, CHR Wired 96.3, by joking that its staff would eventually grow tired of listening to "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". In November 2012, the station laid off its airstaff and switched to Christmas music again (this time, over the holiday season), emerging with a new variety hits format, Cruz FM, on December 26, 2012.^{[21][22][23][24]}


• In late-September 2015, Duluth's WEBC dropped its sports radio format in favor of Ho Ho 106.5, before emerging in early-October as classic rock Sasquatch 106.5.^[25][26][27]


• In November 2017, CBS Radio and Entercom merged, bringing Seattle's two country music stations—KMPS and KKWF, under common ownership. On the day the merger was completed, KMPS switched to Christmas music, ostensibly for the holiday season. However, on the morning of December 4, 2017, KMPS abruptly ended the all-Christmas programming and flipped to soft adult contemporary as 94.1 The Sound.^[28][29] The following year, Entercom's Detroit station WDZH flipped from CHR to the same format in a similar manner, spending three days as The Rudolph Network at 98.7 before official launch of its new format, The Breeze.^[30]

On television

Radio-like stunts on television are not as commonplace as they are on radio, usually due to iron-clad programming commitments, a general lack of concrete formats in television (especially among local television stations, which still mostly use a homogenized and daypart-driven block programming strategy), and a lower level of shock value in a multichannel universe.^{[citation needed]}

Instead, a TV station or network may stunt in the form of a heavily-promoted event, as in the case of promoting new on-air branding, station affiliation change, or acquisition of programming or personnel; an increase in publicity (and with it, the station hopes, viewer anticipation) will increase as the changeover date nears.^{[citation needed]} A prime example of this promo-type stunting involved British cable channel Bravo, which in January 1997 used a series of eerily-produced promos to herald a change in programming tone (including mutations of the network's old and new visual presentations).^[31]Marathons, the sequential broadcast of several episodes of the same series, are quite common during network transitions.

At least two networks have used stunting-type events prior to their formal launches: MLB Network, for example, aired a continuous loop of baseball highlights and promos as a "soft launch" in the weeks before its formal debut on January 1, 2009, while Canada's Sun News Network employed an on-screen countdown clock graphic in the hours before its April 18, 2011 launch.^[32]

Nick Jr. Too, a sister to the British Nick Jr. channel, has occasionally aired long-term marathons of Peppa Pig, during which it has branded as "Nick Jr. Peppa".^[33]

References