How much time do you spend each week researching and developing new ideas for your radio show? R & D is an important part of any thriving business that hopes to grow, and your business as a radio personality should be no exception. Unfortunately, the demands placed on a four hour radio show present a real challenge to the creative mind. It’s all we can do just to keep up.
To move to the head of the pack, you’ll constantly have to develop new ideas. If you’re the type who waits till you hear about an idea someone else is already doing, or you find it a lot more convenient to listen to airchecks and “steal from the best,” well, then the “best” will always be passing you up.
New, great ideas are out there waiting to be discovered. Once in a while you might accidentally stumble onto a really good one. And if you’re actually paying attention, you’ll recognize it for the innovative gem that it is. But why put your fate in the hands of chance? If you devote just a half hour a day, or maybe two hours a week, to searching for new ideas you will find them. One of my favorite quotations of all time came from Woody Allen, who said, “90% of success is showing up.” Just show up once a week at your desk or computer with the intention of developing new ideas for your show. I guarantee you’ll be pleasantly surprised how quickly you’ll be bringing many new, creative ideas to the airwaves.
The first step in Research and Development, of course, is research. A large manufacturer isn’t going to develop a new product if there’s no need out there for it. To determine that need they’ll spend millions of dollars and hours of time to find out what people want. This is also an excellent way for you to begin in your search for new ideas. What do your listeners need in the short time they spend listening to you? What do they want? What’s on their minds? What are they talking about? What are they seeing on TV? What are they reading about? The answers to these questions will fill your “IN” bin with maps to new ideas.
Since you’re not working with a big company budget, you certainly can’t expect to hire a research company to compile data for your radio show. Your research will be a lot less formal, and often more introspective. You can gather a great deal of information just by listening to your own show. Every day your listeners are telling you something about themselves. Listen closely for the hints they will give you for new ideas, and examine your own life for ideas you can bring to your show. Let’s say you watch the same local newscast every night and notice that your wife never fails to make some derogatory comment about what the anchorwoman is wearing. Take that to the airwaves and see if other people feel the same as your wife. If they do, maybe you can create a daily “fashion show” spoof, describing what the anchorwoman wore last night. By doing a little of your own personal research and development, you can tap into a mindset that’s out there amongst your listening audience and turn it into a new idea.