Prep: Part 2 ... The Finishing Touches

In the last tip, we went over how to lay out, break-by-break, a usable show plan each day.

The imaginary hour included these stopsets and this content:

:10 -- Kid suspended from school for bringing in the SI Swimsuit issue
:20 -- Guest interview (Simon Cowell from "American Idol")
:40 -- Drawing for Disney World vacation trip, talk to winner
:50 -- Movie review (new "top-of-mind" flick)

This "subject heading" plan tells you where each thing will fall, and at what time.

Now here's the next step: Start thinking of how you want to begin, and then how you want to finish each break.

Take the :10 break as an example.

Start:
"...don't know if you ever got sent home from school, but I was once, and it was the worst feeling in the world..."

(I would then go on to tell the story of the little kid who got suspended for bringing the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue into class as a "show and tell" item.)

Finish:
"Seems to me that this pretty much covered "The Three R's" -- reading (he had to read to find out Heidi Klum's name), 'Riting (he wrote a fan letter to her), and 'Rithmetic (trying to figure out her measurements)."

If you're pretty clear on the beginning and the end, the middle -- the telling of the story --will pretty much take care of itself. (And if it doesn't, I have a technique for that which we'll go over in another Coaching Tip.)

Radio is a combination of "left brain" and "right brain" activity, a blend of Science and Art. Getting the "left brain" organization part done frees up the right side of the brain to paint the picture for the Listener. Trust me. This process WORKS.