Since I've taken a break from doing the show this Sunday for the Easter holiday, I thought I'd take this week's blog to give you a look "behind the scenes" of how I put it together.
I usually start my show planning around mid-week. I go through my collection or try to think of what the station has in its catalog to see what I can put together for a "theme" for the first set. Sometimes, if I have enough material, that theme will move into other segments of the show. For the rest of the segments, it's mainly a matter of what I've got and what I haven't played too often. In my song choices for the show, I try to use less of the "time tested" older songs and lean toward those that don't get much play on these "oldies" stations (using that term loosely) that are left in commercial radio.
As I've mentioned before, I script the show. I write my narrations and commentary but try to let it sound as conversational as possible. I don't really have the gift of flying by the seat of the pants and being spontaneous like a couple of the other programmers do. Without a map, I tend to get lost. When I do try to go too off the cuff, I can tell the difference in those spots when I play it back from my archives.
The last part of the show is the encouragement piece. Coming up with something new each week there is the biggest creative challenge I've had in doing this show, but I think it's been a good one for me. I will either write something fresh for the week, or go through my archives from my past "Wendy V's Encouraging Words" column from my Embrace Encouragement website and rework it. I always share the current column at the beginning of the month (as I did this past week).
I'll usually show up at the studio early and use that time to read through the underwriter announcement, stack my CDs in order, write down the track numbers and go through the online catalog if I've left room in the show for additions. There are two CD players in the studio, so while I am on air I use post-it notes on each one to remind me who's in what player. It's easy to be confused and forget when you're managing so many details. Also, we are required to keep logs of what we play on air, so I write down the artist and title of each track on my log sheet.
My opening theme is "So What's New" by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, a track from the 60s. I remembered it when popular 60s music TV show host Lloyd Thaxton passed away last year; it had been his show theme song. I got it when I paid tribute to him that week and thought with its peppy, snappy opening it would make a great front theme and a fresh beginning when I made my time change. Plus, it gets me in a good groove to start the show! My closing theme is the smooth soul instrumental "Soul Serenade" by King Curtis. That was chosen because it sounded good and done primarily as a courtesy to the following DJ, Kerry Miller, host of "Samurai Songs". I like to ensure a prompt start time for him and not run over on to his time (though he is a very gracious gentleman about it all). When he comes in, he can fade it down accordingly and start on time.
I will start having guests again occasionally. When that happens I will probably do one or two short "record box" sets (depending on the plan for the guest) and give the rest of the time to the guest for music and interview, and get my encouragement piece in at the end. Here are a list of some of the people that have said they'd be willing to do the show, so I'll be working on getting them scheduled in the future: Boomer Castleman, Walter Egan, Mark Elliott, Lance Hoppen (Orleans), Gary Talley...and more to come.
By now, I've been at this just about six months. Over these past couple of months, I've actually enjoyed listening to the playbacks of my recent shows. If I were to aspire to a radio career, I'd be probably more realistic in a "behind the scenes" role rather than on-air. I know I have at least a couple of loyal listeners out there, and I'm grateful. But the main point of all this is to have fun. Thanks for indulging me each week either by listening or reading (and if you do both—love ya!).
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