Prep: Part 1 ... And 'Calling the Audible'

Most air talents do not lay out where content will fall in the show before they get on the air. Even if they do know what they're going to do that day, the actual break-by-break plan is not the norm.

Which is why 95% of them are not nearly as good as they could be. Like the old cliché, if you fail to plan, your plan is to fail.

So you'll have no excuse, I'm going to lead you through this, step by step. It's not like it's hard. Say you have stopsets at :10, :20, :40, and :50. Put that on paper for each hour you're on.

:10
:20
:40
:50

Now slot in what you HAVE to do.

:10
:20 Guest interview (Simon Cowell from "American Idol")
:40 Drawing for Disney World vacation trip, talk to winner
:50

Now slot in what you want to do. (Make sure it's something the listener is interested in.) Say you saw something about a kid being kicked out of school for bringing in the Sports Illustrated "swimsuit" edition, and last night you went to the opening night of a new, "top of mind" movie.

:10 Kid suspended for SI Swimsuit issue
:20 Guest interview (Simon Cowell from "American Idol")
:40 Drawing for Disney World vacation trip, talk to winner
:50 Movie premiere review

That hour's now done, except for what you'll do over song intros, and, of course, the service elements (weather, traffic, news).

You can "call an audible" if you need to. But here's the key -- not calling a play is not the same as calling an audible. You have to CALL A PLAY in order to audible off it.

Having done this every day of the last 23 years of my on-air career, I'm convinced that it's the foundation of good radio. I coach everyone I work with to adopt this method of organizing each day's show.

If you want to reach your goals, PLAN -- instead of just fiddling around, hoping it'll all somehow just fall into place.