Grab a pen & just jot down the mom buzz words in this video! I bet you can incorporate a few of them into your show today!

Personalities from Boost 101.9/St Louis, The Fish/Portland, The House FM/Oklahoma, Shine 95.1, 897. KSGN, The Wind/Springfield, WCIC/Peoria and many others are contributing prep ideas inside this site! This is ideas shared by other personalities collectively. You share an idea, they share an idea. Then you make it your own so it connects perfectly with YOUR audience!

This community shares content ideas. This community challenges one another to think deeper. This community makes us more connective to our listeners.

While plenty of stations can probably be considered innovators, I do admire the community that CreativeCardio.com is building. I love the idea of people coming together to learn from each other and share ideas. In the limited interaction I have with other radio talent, we’re all too often a bit closed-mouth about our creative processes. No one’s actually trying to steal the Colonel’s Secret Recipe. You don’t see that sort of protectiveness in the film industry. They create entire documentaries to show you their creative process. I’d like to see more of that among Christian radio professionals. Let’s help each other.” –Obadiah Haybin, RadioU

“Hands down the best prep resource I’ve ever worked with is Creative Cardio. It’s DJ’s helping and sharing content with other DJ’s instead of a prep service with silly jokes and one liners.” –Shannon Steele, KXOJ/Tulsa

“If you are in radio you need to check out CreativeCardio.com with my friends Scott Herrold and Jayar Reeves. It’s an awesome collaboration of talent pooling ideas to help each other.” – Pam Lundell, 98.5 KTIS

“I love that  this is a lot more than just showprep. Most spoon fed prep services make every show sound the same, with the same corny jokes and “this day in history” stuff, but Creative Cardio’s design builds your show into a unique product with lots of help from fellow folks. GREAT concept! – Dan Young, SOS Radio

Is your station doing year end giving push? Watch this 13 min video! It will inspire you with new ideas as you ask your listeners to invest in your radio station!

Members of the Creative Cardio community post DRY CALLS you can use for idea starters for your show to get a discussion going! Here’s some DRY calls from listeners sharing how they visualized the future when they were kids! Click here to download the audio!

What The Future Would Look Like! (Mp3 audio here)

If you use our DRY call starters, please consider sending in an mp3 file from one of your call in discussions to share with the group! When we all contribute, it makes this resource even deeper! Email your dry calls to Jayarradio@gmail.com!

We recorded an interview with actor Sean Astin for our Creative Cardio members to use. You might remember him from Lord of the Rings, Encino Man, 50 First Dates, Goonies or Rudy) Repurpose this audio and insert your own voice and make it an interview for your show!

Question 1: How often do you meet superstars in music or film and you are surprised that they are star struck to meet you? Question 2) Lord of the Rings, Goonies, or Rudy… which film made it impossible for you to go to the grocery store? Question 3) Most memorable scene you were ever a part of?

Sean Astin Response on Lord of The Rings & Goonies (Right click SAVE LINK AS to save this audio)

Question 4: “What attracted you to the role of a football chaplain in Woodlawn?”Question 5: “Was there a special feeling on the set of Woodlawn that was bringing people together?”

Sean Astin Part 1 Responses

Question 6: What kind of pressure does a lead actor face during the first week of a movie release? Question 7: Where will you spend the release week?

Sean Astin Response on Release Week

Great shows prep well. Prep isn’t a routine, it’s a strategy! Our prep should be engaging, connective and strategic. When we notice the bulk of our prep before a show is just copying and pasting paragraphs from websites, rewording magazine articles or copying your friend’s Facebook posts, you have to do a gut check.

Showprep strategy should include ways to bring better interactivity to our show. It should include questions. It should include intentional storytelling. It should include a plan to extend our discussion and point of view to our social media too! If you are an airtalent in 2015, social media IS a vital part of building your show. It’s your job even if your station has a full time social media manager. Here’s a list if ideas on how to build a new strategy for your prep! Click HERE!

What’s the ONE memorable thing you did on your show this week? Grab the audio and share it on your website and on your social media pages! It’s so simple, but 90% of us aren’t doing it on a regular basis. Make it a part of your showprep. Here’s a couple ideas to help your show stretch further:

Use the schedule feature on Facebook to give potential listeners a teaser of what you sound like. Post 3 of your best calls or breaks edited together from a call in discussion on your Facebook page & Twitter. (Hootsuite is great for scheduling Twitter posts too) Think about how you can use your social media pages to encourage/invite friends to actually tune into your show!

Tease 3-5 songs that are coming up in the next 30 min. Post them on Twitter/Facebook. Just go delete them after that 30 min period has passed!

While you are on the air, post direct links to your radio station stream right in your social media posts! Explain what you are talking about on your show today and invite people to listen in. Give the DIRECT link so friends can find your stream in ONE click. That way they can stay on Facebook while the stream is open on a separate window.

Post the topics you will be talking about on your show about 40 min before you go on the air with them. Invite listeners to chime in before you go on the air with the topic. You will have some different angles & stories you can use when you explain the topic over the air.

Post as “yourself” on your radio station Facebook page. You help facilitate community when you are present inside the community. Live life alongside your listeners. Comment on your radio station’s posts and talk with your listeners inside your radio station’s “brand” page. When you post as a real person, people interact differently than they do with brands.

Let’s stop using our radio station just to promote our social media. Let’s work it the other way. Let’s think about how our social media can actually grab listeners and invite them to listen and contribute to our show!

Creativity isn’t just a gift, it’s a skill you can develop! There’s a process and it helps when you prep for it! Carving out time to think is the first step. It’s as simple as turning off your phone and closing your door to think. Sit in silence. Let your mind wander. You’ll know it’s starting to work when you feel like you have 20 other things you should be doing! Identify the problem that’s in front of you. Outline 5 typical/boring solutions and THEN add 5 totally crazy solutions! Just start writing anything related to your challenge. You see, crazy ideas work because you can always scale them back to reality later. So dream big, and worry about the details afterward. It’s much more creative to scale back wild ideas than to make boring ideas unique. That’s just putting lipstick on a pig!

Let the wild ideas flow. Think about what you would love to do if money & logistics were not a problem. Think about how you could reach new people. Think about how you could challenge your city. Think about the dreams and challenges that your staff would like to pursue. Dream big, and THEN scale it back to reality at the end. That’s how you develop the creative process!

Each week, Jayar Reeves & Scott Herrold share idea starters inside the Creative Cardio community. It’s part brainstorm. It’s part showprep. It’s part discussion that fleshes out different angles on common seasonal themes. This is a great place to bounce ideas for your show and focus your raw showprep into connective angles for your listeners.

Join us by clicking here! It’s only $35 per month for a solo jock or $50 for a team show (3 logins) – There are no contracts, so try it and see how it helps jumpstart your show as you shift gears into this new season!

We all know that phone calls can slow down in the summer. We had a brainstorm with different CCM personalities sharing ideas on how to better connect with phone discussions and tell better stories. Personalities like Lisa Williams, Corey Mann, Ellis Feaster, Beth Bacall, Jaci Velasquez, Garrett Michaels and many others shared ideas! There’s about 45 min  of content ideas. Grab a pen and share this with your team!