To get you off to a head start, we've compiled a few show features and a web directory. The web directory includes details of show prep providers, many of whom offer a free trial of their material.
You're free to use any of our ideas and samples. However, the best way to get the most out of these and to develop your own writing style is to choose a feature you can build on and write your own questions and answers, comedy one-liners etc.
You can click on any of the samples below to view in your browser or right click on the icon, select 'Save target as...' and download to your PC. Each sample is available in Word and as a PDF, please choose your preferred format.
The Today Game
An easy to plan phone-in competition. Three questions (as easy or difficult
as your listeners can handle!) based on events on this day in history. Make
the questions fun and you'll be surprised just how popular this game can be.
What Did I Just Ask?
This is a phone-in competition based on a tried and tested
format used on both TV and radio. You ask your caller a series of questions.
Instead of answering each question as you ask it, they have to answer the
previous question you asked so their answers are always one question out of
sync with you!
Sound confusing? It's actually quite straight forward. You ask
question 1, they say nothing; you ask question 2, they give the answer to
question 1; you ask question 3, they give the answer to question 2 and so
on. Script your questions carefully, order them creatively and you can have
great fun with this game.
Show Prep Directory
The following sites provide show
prep to presenters, usually on a fee-paying basis. Free trials are usually
available as well as online samples.
Part of Murf Media, FM Jock offers a range of products from written show prep
to comedy audio, audio clips from last night's TV and original competitions.
There are several levels of subscription available. www.fmjock.com
Fat Attitude offer a free weekly show prep service called The Weekly Fix
Express as well as a more comprehensive weekly and daily prep service,
which operate on a flexible Pay As You Go scheme. www.fatattitude.com
or www.theweeklyfix.com
Daily American humour but easily adapted to work on UK radio... and it's free!
This site also links to several other US free show prep sheets. www.wakemeup.biz
Daily show prep, mainly US orientated but includes some generic material.
Audio clips accompany some of the written comedy. The service offers good
value for money and a free two-week trial. www.comedy-wire.com
Today's Birthdays, Today in History, This Day in Music, Daily Wav audio, Wav
Sounds, Top 5 List, Trivia, Jokes, Late Night One-Liners the list goes on.
A free web based service. Optional membership providing more prep is available
as a cost option. www.dailyprep.com
These are just a small selection of the Show Prep services available. We have selected the sites above based on a combination of quality and value for money. Typing "show prep" into a search engine will provide you with many more sites to visit. If you find a web site offering a Show Prep service that you think we should add to this page, please email the details to enquiries@onahi247.com.
The following links are also invaluable for constructing show features.
www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/artist_area
www.80snostalgia.com
www.pure80spop.co.uk/bandlinks.htm
www.remembertheeighties.com
www.ananova.com/entertainment/index.html
www.radiotimes.com
www.everyhit.com
