No one can doubt the dedication of MIX Mornings’ Bryan Lord. He recently braved a bevy of bees to help a WRAL-FM listener win tickets to the Beyonce concert in Charlotte. He fought to “Survive the Hive” on Monday morning, August 7, 2023.
MIX Mornings’ Bryan Lord braves the “Survive the Hive” promotion, ultimately lasting 44 minutes and 38 seconds, so a WRAL-FM listener could win ticket to see Beyonce in Charlotte. The buzzer beater took place on Monday, August 7, 2023.
The premise? Listeners entered online for a chance to be called in order to guess how long Lord could “Survive the Hive,” without going over, at Bailey Bee Supply for a chance to win a tickets to see Queen Bey herself, Beyonce, in Charlotte on August 9. The winner would snag tickets to the Bank of America Stadium concert with a hotel room to boot.
“Beyonce has her legion of fans called ‘The Beyhive.’ In the spirit of everything that is Beyonce, we figured let’s create our own human beehive, with Bryan!” explained Lord’s fellow MIX Mornings host Kyle Smelser. “By the time he yelled out his safe word, ‘Honey Boo Boo,’ he had 2 PNC Arena’s worth of bees on him.. over 40,000 bees! Proud of you Bryan!”
Lord lasted 44 minutes and 38 seconds, making Laura of Sanford the big winner!!! She had guessed 36 minutes.
The craziness went down on Facebook Live. Lord suited up and Bailey continued adding bees while MIX Mornings’ co-host Sarah King narrated and talked her bee-covered buddy into remaining calm.
“Can you believe we pulled that off without any FCC violations?!” said Lord, who tried vehemently not to spontaneously swear as Bailey added bees. “That accomplishment alone is the hallmark of my radio career.”
He continued, quipping about how the promotion came about, “The funny thing is I was never ‘talked into’ it. I left for paternity leave and returned to, ’Hey Bryan! We came up with this GREAT idea…’. That’s kinda how things work around here. And from there it got worse. The promotion was pitched to me as ‘hundreds of bees’ and a ’10-minute time limit.’ Beekeeper David from Bailey Bee Supplies had a different idea. The final result was 45,000 bees and 45 minutes. It. Sucked. And I kept forgetting to breathe (important). I would’ve passed out had it not been for Sarah’s reminders to “breeeeeeaaaaathe innnnnnnnnnnnnnnn and ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut”. She’s the MVP.”
King was happy to be Lord’s support person during the fantastical event and was fascinated by all she learned.
“I am not afraid of bees!” she said. “I think they are some of the coolest insects on Earth. The more you learn about them the cooler they are. I knew Bryan was going to be in crisis with his fear of bugs. So, I stood next to him and kept him focused on things he could control- like his breath. I am very proud of him! He is willing to go so far to make great radio. I’ll never forget what it was like being surrounded by 50,000 bees. I don’t think our audience will either!”
MIX Mornings’ Bryan Lord braves the “Survive the Hive” promotion as his co-host Sarah King encourages him to breathe and talks him through the 44 minutes and 38 seconds he lasted so a WRAL-FM listener could win ticket to see Beyonce in Charlotte. The buzzer beater took place on Monday, August 7, 2023.
Who knows where “Survive the Bees” could spin off to in the future. Carpool Casanova finding a school with a bee mascot? King hosting a meditation breathing podcast? The possibilities are endless.
A team went into making the un-bee-lievable promotion work. MIX thanks Bailey Bee Supply ‘s David Bailey and his wife for providing the bees and teaching all of the FM staff so much. They thank Major Chris Pope and the team at Orange County EMS for being on-site just in case. And to MIX’s friends at Champion Orthodontics NC who sponsored this event and came on-site to enjoy the fun!
But the “king of the hive” is sure the man in the middle of the buzz himself. MIX Morning’s Bryan Lord is truly the bees knees.
Links
Thanks to WRAL-FM’s Shelby Lloyd for this CapCom scoop and these CapCom photos.
MIX Mornings’ Bryan Lord braves the “Survive the Hive” promotion, ultimately lasting 44 minutes and 38 seconds, so a WRAL-FM listener could win ticket to see Beyonce in Charlotte. The buzzer beater took place on Monday, August 7, 2023.
MIX Mornings’ Bryan Lord braves the “Survive the Hive” promotion, ultimately lasting 44 minutes and 38 seconds, so a WRAL-FM listener could win ticket to see Beyonce in Charlotte. The buzzer beater took place on Monday, August 7, 2023.
MIX Mornings’ Bryan Lord braves the “Survive the Hive” promotion, ultimately lasting 44 minutes and 38 seconds, so a WRAL-FM listener could win ticket to see Beyonce in Charlotte. The buzzer beater took place on Monday, August 7, 2023.
He did it! MIX Mornings’ Bryan Lord gets a honey of a reward for lasting 44 minutes and 38 seconds covered by bees for “Survive the HIve” so a MIX listener could win tickets to see Beyonce, the Queen Bey herself. The fun took place on Monday, August 7, 2023.
