I was clearing out some old e-mail and found the following from Tommy Kramer.
I get asked a lot about exactly how to do show prep.
It all starts with the Listener Profile for your station. Obviously, if your target demo is 18-34 males (like on a Talk or Rock station), your prep is going to be different than if you’re a 35-54 female-targeted Soft AC station. So that’s the first step—know who you’re talking to.
You have to know what SUBJECTS your listener cares about. You may have seen my coaching tip on the five subjects that always work (Jobs, Entertainment, Relationships, “The Buzz,” and “Things that grow out of the show”). Just use those to guide you, so you don’t waste time talking about things your listener doesn’t care about, and sift them all through The 3 Questions: Why is it on, where are you going with it, and what does it mean to me (the Listener)…here in my city…today?
The bottom line is that it’s not about what YOU find interesting. It’s about what’s relevant to your LISTENER’S LIFE, what’s top of mind for her/him, filtered through your experiences and observations. Use the available tools of magazines, TV and movies. Examples: Female targeted? Watch “Oprah” or “Live with Regis and Kelly.” Young male targeted? Watch “The Bachelor.” Consider the differences in how a man feels about “American Idol” as opposed to a woman. Movies? Same thing. My wife saw “Finding Nemo” in the theater with our little nephew, rented it to watch it again, and now wants me to buy her a copy for her birthday. I watched it once, thought it was cute, and now I’m ready to move on.
Then it’s a matter of putting it into a form that your listener will find most interesting. Don’t just read some newspaper or magazine article to me, or make some generic comment. That’s not content, it’s just a deejay quacking.
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