7 Perfect Voice Broadcast - Radio Prep Places You Should Know

There are plenty of simple ways to come up with local and national Show Prep for your radio station.  You don't have to spend all day prepping for your morning, afternoon or other talk show.  Spend less time prepping and more time enjoying life with these perfect prep places.

1.  Grab your local paper.  Quickly scan the paper and look for local events.  And I'm not talking about Alcoholic Anonymous meetings.  Develop a speed reading eye for spotting upcoming carnivals, parades, car washes, school fundraisers, golf tournaments, or anything else that will help keep your show local, topical and timely.  This will help you set yourself apart from national shows and satellite radio channels (cause they can't be hyper local).

2.  Search the internet for local websites that post local events.  You'll probably be able to find online calendars with upcoming events you can talk about.  Make sure you bookmark these sites for future use too!

3.  Put on a cable news network TV station whenever you can.  I always have one on somewhere in the background and I have an ear out for possible topics.  If you hear only part of the story and you think you didn't catch it all, not to worry.  Just visit a site like Google news and throw in a couple search terms that you heard in the report and 9 times out of 10 the AP story will come up.  That's where the cable news channels usually gets it from anyway.  Then use the info for a topic on your show as needed.

4.  Other radio stations/personalities.  And no it's not really stealing, just "recycling".  When you do hear another jock doing something interesting, or if you hear another radio station report on some news that you think would make a great addition to your show, take it, but make it your own.  Take what you've learned from them and try a new spin on the issue or take it one step further, but never redo something they did and try to outdo.

5.  National publications and online news sites.  These are some of the most obvious, but never overlook the prep you'll find in a USA Today or People Magazine.  And now that you can find lots of great entertainment news stories online, websites like news.google.com and news.yahoo.com are always great places to find the most up to date national news.

6.  Voice Broadcast Show Prep websites.  A few of my favorite sites, which I've used for years are:  http://radioonline.com, X PREP and the Ross Brittain Report.  If you like trivia and quizzes our FUN AND GAMES page might be for you.  There are many more out there and it all depends on what you're looking for.  There are prep services for every format.

7.  YOU are your greatest Voice Broadcast Show Prep resource.  If you're a guy for example, who's a morning show host for a female targeted morning show, eavesdrop on the women in your lives.  Listen to what your sisters, your mom, and your female co-workers are talking about.  Are they talking about Paris Hilton?  Britney?  Childcare issues?  This is all great free research that you'll be able to turn into great phone topics later.

Of course these are a few of many places to get Voice Broadcast Show Prep in our world.  If you have any suggestions to add to the list, please feel free to email me at Chris @ Airtalents.com.