Story ideas

The challenge of producing is that you have 30 minutes to fill whether you have 60 minutes of news or 5. On either day, it's good to have a pool of story ideas. Here are some suggestions on how to find them:

=Join twitter and follow users in your area (lots of times by following their tweets, you'll get a sense of what's interesting in your community, even if it's not strictly "hard news").

=Does your station have a good website? What are the most popular stories today or on the local/national newspaper websites? Sometimes that can give you a good sense of what viewers will be interested in...

=Call every police/fire/govt PIO in the area, introduce yourself and tell them to stick you on their email list.

=Check in with each of the big industries in the area- or the area's biggest employers. Get on their contact lists.. check their websites. Just by the mere fact that there are a lot of people employed there means if something happens, it's news... viewers may work there or know someone who does...

=If you're not from the area where you produce, it makes sense to get involved in activities you enjoy... take a class, join a club or neighborhood association, volunteer. Sounds stupid, but the more people in the community you know, the better sense you get of what's important.. you'll also meet people who can send stories your way... even if they're not the lead.

=Small govt agencies are a good place to find stories. Hardly any media ever talk with them so sometimes just visiting can get you good info at the time or down the line.

=Do you have a university in the area? Get in touch with their PR people and get on their list.. read their paper.. etc. Lots of times you can localize national stories by finding local experts at your university.

=National stories are sometimes very easy to localize. Healthcare debate? Check in with local healthcare institution and how it will be impacted. NASA launching next week? Is there a local company who makes a gidget-widget for NASA?

=I used to skip the editorial pages for the comics until I started finding interesting little stories buried in the letters to the editor. Community newspapers often have good stuff too.

=Steal story ideas from magazines, radio, whatever. Cruise other TV station websites (out of market) for ideas you can localize (and show ideas you can use).

But of course, the BEST way to find stories is to get out in the field. I know it's no fun to come in on your day off... but once in a while... volunteer to come in and go out with a photog. Or see if you can get a get-out-of-jail-free-card one day when you're supposed to be producing. A good rule of thumb is for every story you go out on... you come back with at least one story idea.