Izabela Russell and I had a discussion on what to talk about when you just don’t know what to talk about and you’re out of ideas.
Many of us in this industry are faced with this problem. You wake up and you have a morning radio show and you ask yourself what you’re going to talk about today? Where do you find the material?
Tip #1: Be Updated with Social Media
Izabela suggested dedicating about 10 to 15 minutes of your time reviewing social media. Follow people who are influential to your niche and you’ll be able to find inspiration about what to talk about. I on the other hand wanted to dig deeper than that.
Social media is a fantastic tool especially to radio broadcasters. I personally used to use Twitter in my show preparations back when I was still on the radio presenting a breakfast show. It’s also a great way to connect to my listeners and discuss what’s happening locally. If you’re a local radio DJ for sure there’s always something that is happening in your area that you could be talking about.
Tip #2: Reach Out To Others
Another great way to source content for your radio show is by contacting people like the local council or community and asking them about updates or any interesting information you could share with your listeners.
Tip #3: Be Authentic and Live Life
Don’t sit at your desk all day – go out and live your life! That’s the best show preparation you can do. Nothing beats getting a real story, like something that really happened to you when you’re out and about, going shopping, having dinner with your loved one or just spending time with your family that’s living life. All of those experiences can prepare you and give you something to talk about on your show.
Izabela also relates this tip to just being yourself and doing the things that make you who you are. Also, don’t feel bad if you do not have the inspiration. Everyone gets to the point where they feel like questioning themselves or don’t know how to take things further at one point or another.
We’re Interested To Hear From You!
Are you currently struggling with getting content out there for whatever reason or perhaps you have an established podcast or a radio show and sometimes you think you can’t come up with anything to talk about. Maybe you want to start your own podcast, YouTube channel or your own blog but you just simply haven’t done it yet because you don’t feel you can start or you don’t feel your content is valuable enough. If you’re struggling with that please reach out to us in the comments we’d love to talk to you about it.
In addition to that we’d like to know what are you tips to keep your focus and finding good content for your show? What worked for you?
YouTube Audio Library
Finally, YouTube has come up with a free audio library – a useful resource for audio and video content creators. You’ll find royalty free music which you can use in your videos, podcast and even on your radio show all sourced and created by YouTube for you to use absolutely free or charge (subject to the terms & conditions). Enjoy this free resource!
great podcast again mike. love the youtube download library. keep up the good work
Thanks Russell. I think free music for your YouTube videos really is a nice touch from the folk at Google and YouTube. I didn’t link it in the show notes but the blog post on the YouTube Creator Blog about it is an interesting read: http://youtubecreator.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/free-music-for-your-youtube-videos.html
Hi Mike & Isabella,
Great Podcast I do a Sunday Morning show on community radio just outside Swansea, your comments of less being more is often very true, locally commercial radio has lost its personalities as big groups swallow everybody up so, being yourself, being real and local is a big plus, someone broadcasting to our area from a studio in Newcastle doesn’t sit well, some of our listeners return time and again for particular features be it a quiz, a 60s show or topical chat show, it all comes down to prep and focus, having a goal ‘what i want to achieve by the end of todays show is?’, if your ambitious it will get you noticed, at worse it will get you a lot of listeners and ‘friends’ as our Chairman says KUTGW ‘keep up the good work, speak again soon 🙂
Thank you for listening and the sound advice Neil. You’re right, in a time when many ‘local radio’ stations are syndicated from other parts of the country (or the world) you can always win by connecting with your local audience, introducing relevant features and I really like the idea of setting a goal to achieve by the end of your show! 🙂
From experience, so manyinternet radio stations are aiming for a global audience when they should concentrate on people in their own backyard.
Thanks for sharing the link Steve. You produce some great articles. Sound advice that every audio content creator should read!
hi mike
loved the episode. I always have a memory blank for creating content for my show and i wondered if you could help me in 1 way or another no pun intended
i struggle to do scripting and this is something i need to do. Can you please help me with ideas.
thank you!
Thanks for listening and commenting Liam – appreciate it.
I think we’ll certainly do some more podcasts on coming up with great ideas that will aim to inspire 😉
that will be fantastic. Please can you tell me if the new audio for the podcast will be on this week i would love to sample and buy it!
Thank you for #61! The commitment to regularly provided content is the most daunting facet of podcast production. Great advice!
You’re most welcome Spencer!
Hi Mike (and Isabella)
I have a Breakfast Show in South Africa and have been following your podcasts for a while now. Could I just confirm that the downloadable music from the Youtube library is free to be used as bed music on terrestrial radio?
Thanks again.
Thanks for the question Mike. While there is nothing I can see in the T&C to go against this I would certainly check first. The terms do state the music is “solely for use by you in videos and other content that you create.” I would err on the side of caution with this – will do my best to discover the answer for you as I’m sure this would be handy knowledge for many.
Mike & Izabela
I really enjoyed the podcast. On my show Passing Places I try and give a shout out to everybody who contributes to help build my community. The best content is when I get voice-mails I can play. So already at the start of each episode I have something to talk about, to relax and to remind me to focus on who I’m talking to.
The tip I would like to share most is similar to your point about getting out and living.
I carry my digital audio recorder with me at all times. It’s amazing how well audio recorded in the field works by bringing my audience along with me on my trips . It just brings my content to life and in creating that atmosphere it more than compensates for any loss in overall audio quality.
I’m still a beginner and need to work on being much more descriptive so my listeners can visualise what I’m describing but as a strategy to overcome lack of engaging content or things to talk about it works well.
I think people love audio, not just consistent studio quality vocals but being dropped into other sound settings for a few minutes at a time across an episode lets them hear what I call ” the sounds of Scotland “. 🙂 I do also end up with hours of audio I never use but hey it’s a diary style podcast and the files are great little snippets for me to enjoy in the years ahead.
Subscribed and enjoying your podcast.
Kevin
Thanks for the considered comment Kevin. There are some handy tips you mention – really happy to have you as a listener – thanks for taking the time to write 🙂