Turkey Drop Thanksgiving Promotion

Thanksgiving is already next month and every time it comes around, I think back to the infamous WKRP in Cincinnati Turkey Drop. One of the best moments in television history dealt with a radio promotion that went completely awry. Even if you’ve seen this episode (I’ve linked it below) this will be a fun promotion that hopefully doesn’t end in turkeys raining down on the public.

Announce your station will have their very own Turkey Drop!! Promote it for the entire month of November. Declare YOU know turkeys CAN fly, regardless of what Les Nessman reported. Post the clip from WKRP in Cincinnati on your socials and website. Make it as big as possible. In the tv show, they had the mayor on video; see if your mayor can come down when you plan YOUR turkey drop! Contact any official and TV station you can think of…chief of police, local news, firefighters…

Before the drop, visit a local turkey farm and interview someone there. The turkey farmer will insist turkeys can’t fly but you need to argue they have wings so surely they can fly! (They CAN fly but only short distances. You want to make the argument you believe they can fly like a cardinal can fly. This will obviously be a bit so let the farmer know you’re going to act dumb for the sake of the bit.) Get as many people in on this as you can.

The day of the drop…invite listeners, mayor, chief of police, fire chief, news down to your studios. Announce you will be dropping turkeys off the roof of your building to prove they can fly. You can even have live turkeys on hand! The staff will be “perched” (see what I did there) on the roof. At the moment of the drop…you will drop as many little stuffed animal turkeys as you can! You can order a bunch from amazon. It would be great if you could get some with your station logo on them and possibly have a coupon for a free Butterball turkey attached to a few of them!

This is a fun promotion that will surely cause a lot of talk in the community. Are they REALLY going to drop live turkeys off a building?! In the end…you walk away with new listeners and they get cute toy turkeys and maybe a turkey dinner!