Help a Tease: Save a Story

It's hard to write a good tease when you're teasing a crummy story. Please don't assume viewers (other than your family) will stick around just because you think you've put together a well-crafted show. Save something interesting for them- and by interesting, I mean, something YOU would actually stick around to watch, not the two stories you still have leftover after stacking the rest of the show.

This can be tough, I know. By the time viewers see your show, they've probably already caught some of the really interesting stories of the day. This is why you must be your own news gatherer (or more correctly, your own :20 vo collector). Surf the web. Read magazines. Go straight to the source online or on the phone.

The story does not have to be hard news. It just has to be interesting.

Here are some ideas for finding stories when you're desperate:

=What are the top ten searches? What are the most watched videos on YouTube?

I checked digg.com just now and found..

"Woman buys back foreclosed home for a stranger"
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/localnews/news8/stories/wfaa081026_mo_auctionangels.151177f7c.html
(You could use foreclosure file, a graphic and on cam tag)

"Google earth comes to IPhone"
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/introducing-google-earth-for-iphone.html
(Here you could look up file of the IPhone and Google Earth)

="Top 10" lists themselves can be good stories.
I searched "Top 10" and "Dallas" and found.. "Top ten things to do this Fall." You could name the top 5. The top options included the local Farmers Market, catching a Cowboys game and hitting the Arboretum. If you had a photographer sitting around, you could send him or her by to spray one of them.

Remember, you can't go wrong with "news you can use." Think health, money, kids, pets. Have a "reader" (www.google.com/intl/en/googlereader/tour.html) page that tracks websites and columns so you can have them all at your fingertips.

And then, there's always Fark.com If nothing else, it's an easy way to waste half the day.