Radio-related ideas

A (Driving) Beat Idea: Car Life Columnist

Example of Car Life newspaper column

The mission is to brainstorm ways to make papers as useful, newsy and entertaining as possible, with almost universal appeal. Impossible? Here’s an idea that for a single  feature that might manage to do all that.   

People mostly live in three worlds these days: Home. Work (or school). And car. So just think of all the high-interest subjects a dedicated Car Life Columnist might explore:

Traffic miseries and mysteries … Road conditions & construction news … Gas prices and mileage  … New gizmos and gadgets for commuters and families (from TVs for kids to navigational systems) … Car repair and maintenance … Beating traffic tickets … The confusing world of maps, directions and signs … Alternative fuels … The drive-through world (this year: The Drive-Through Nativity) … Health (stay awake!) and safety (teens, alcohol, drugs) … Regular and satellite radio  … Psychology (road rage, sexual politics of asking/giving directions, keeping kids amused) … Where to park …  the list is endless.

Who wouldn’t be interested in such a column? (OK, readers of a Mass Transit Columnist.) Car Life would lend itself to a team approach, too, switching to different writers who explore different routes, use different vehicles, drive at different times, etc.

Using cellphone-to-blog technology, such a columnist could even file live reports online. Bottom line: Readers would love us for making driving less of a pain in the ass!

Drama Lessons Taken From TV

Steve Lovelady, an ex-Inquirer editor, once made the memorable remark that newspaper’s biggest threat wasn’t TV news, but TV dramas like L.A. Law. The ability of TV to captivate  is a big reason Americans have less time to read. So meet the challenge by embracing dramatic storytelling. Instead of inching multiple crime stories along day by day, adding this ID and that blind investigative alley, patiently flesh out the full story until it can recreated in full, suspenseful narrative fashion. Make it a must-read, like must-see TV. And schedule such stories regularly. Perhaps even do reruns. (Book collections of such cases?) Document the day-to-day details online, to stay competitive with radio and TV, but reserve the dramatic epic exclusively for print.

Lessons From Talk Radio

Not saying Rush Limbaugh should hold court on your editorial pages. (Not knocking that, either.) Asking how the energy and give-and-take of the best radio talk could swiped and put in print. 
Best bits of the Morning Zoos. High jinks hghlights.
Host online chats, and slap some of the lively dialogue in print. 
Do team writing, or team talking, with transcripts of the forum-like topic-hopping conversations. 
Have contests. Throw out a question. Best answer / 50th caller (to newspaper number) wins a prize. 
Do stunts. Dress up in the most creative costume, and email us your picture. We’ll print the wildest ones.
How can we put music in print? Either put the newspaper on CD, or have some kind of barcode you scan. Perhaps using your cell phone. It recognizes the code, or hooks into a Web link, and presto, you listen to a song or speaker without putting down your paper. (Have seen and heard ideas similar to this.)
Ramblings, a column that skips around between all sorts of newsy bits and smart remarks. One columnist or contributions from assorted staffers. 

Pop Culture Talk Radio Station

There’s sports talk. Opinionated political talk. Even shows all about money. But why not TV-movie-music-media-Web-celebrities-and-maybe-also-a-little sports-and-sex talk? Key to good talk radio is having two lively hosts who often disagree (a la WIP in Philly), and who can juggle several hot topics at once, to hook a wide audience. Keep the whiny politics out of it, unless major news intrudes. Or maybe insert little freelance commentaries, reviews or joke bits, to add to the fun and information. Instead of news breaks, have reports on local concerts, exhibits, etc. As audiences keep fragmenting, could fill a novel niche.

Could be a great spinoff business for newspapers. Who else in town would have the perfect experts?