Most stations start thinking about Halloween programming when they see the first pumpkin on a coffee cup. By then, the best opportunities are already gone. The sponsors have spent their budgets, there’s no time to produce anything memorable, and the plan defaults to “play Monster Mash and run a costume contest.” That’s too late.
This Halloween programming calendar fixes that. It’s a week-by-week plan that starts in mid-August and ends on November 1, covering programming, promotions, imaging, sales, and digital. Follow it, and October becomes a season listeners remember instead of a month that just happens.
If you haven’t read it yet, start with Halloween Programming: Why It Matters and When to Start. It explains the philosophy behind this timeline. This article is the how.
The Big Picture
Your Halloween season has five phases:
- Brainstorm (mid-August)
- Plan, Program, and Sell (late August to Labor Day)
- Build (September)
- Launch and Build Momentum (October 1 to mid-October)
- Peak and Exit (the final two weeks through November 1)
Notice that the first three phases happen before a single Halloween moment hits the air. That’s the point. Listeners don’t want Halloween in August. But the work starts in August, and the audience never sees it. They hear a station that sounds more prepared, more creative, and more fun than everyone else.
One more thing before you start: check the calendar. Halloween moves around the week. Sometmes it falls on a weekend, and that is different than when it happens on Tueday. Where the holiday lands determines whether your finale happens on the morning show, over a weekend, or both. Build the plan around it.
Phase 1: Brainstorm (Mid-August)
Week of August 10: Schedule the Session
Put a dedicated Halloween brainstorm on the calendar. This is a key session that is more than a few minutes tacked onto a regular show meeting. This is a dedicated session with one goal: find the ideas that will define your station’s Halloween season for programming, performance, promotions, and sales.
Invite the show cast, producers, the promotions director, digital, and someone from sales. Different perspectives produce better ideas, and involving sales early means they’ll be invested in selling it later.
Send out the prompts from How To Brainstorm Original Halloween Ideas in advance, so everyone arrives with stories.
Week of August 17: Hold the Brainstorm
During the session, work through three questions:
- Where are we on the Scare Dial? Is your brand “Fun Size” (costumes, candy, kids, family) or “Full Fright” (ghost stories, haunted houses, horror)? Most stations land somewhere in between. Decide deliberately so you can execute with confidence.
- What’s our anchor idea? Every great Halloween season has one big thing. It might be 13 Days of Halloween, The Haunted House Show, a themed weekend, or a signature promotion. Choose one.
- What personal stories do we have? Your cast’s real Halloween experiences are content nobody else can copy. Capture every good one.
Don’t try to finalize everything in one session. Let ideas breathe for a few days. The first idea is rarely the best one.
