Answer:
1. Free-spoken true stories
What if your son went missing?
What if you survived a genocide?
What if you didn’t know what was wrong with you?
These are titles from the “This is actually happening,” podcast.
A typical episode starts with someone candidly talking about their life story leading up to the event that changed their life forever.
It’s an immersive experience with heartrending episodes.
I promise you—some of the stories will make you teary as you soak in the raw emotions of the narrator.
There are no commentaries, just the person narrating.
Currently, the podcast is well over 130 episodes.
You can catch up with the show at The Permatemp Corporation website.
2, Radio dramas “theater for the mind.”
(mysteries, suspense, thrillers, comedies...)
Producing a radio drama is the equivalent of giving your listeners a movie for their ears or a theater on air.
During the old-time radio era (the 1930s to 1950s), radio mysteries and crime stories were pretty popular with listeners.
In fact:
You can still find these old-time shows on the achrive.org.
BUT, I'm guessing you want an example from this century.
Okay, I hear you.
You can take a look at Linetown.
It's a story about people from a small town in Tennessee, who vanished suddenly never to be seen again.
This modern audio drama has a huge following—showing that this radio show idea is viable.
3. Investigative journalism
It’s nothing short of exhilarating when you watch an investigative piece of journalism on the TV.
But can this be a suitable radio show or podcast idea?
Yes…and here is an example:
The Center for Investigative Reporting (a nonprofit news organization) partnered with the Public Radio Exchange to create Reveal—an hour-long audio program carried by over 400 public radios.
It features some award-winning investigative reporting with episodes such as “Hunting the ghost fleet, 10 years or life, and more!”
Okay—if you can’t hike through the jungles of El Salvador looking for shark-fishing pirates, there are pressing topics you can wade into back home.
I’ll prove it.
Have you heard of “Dirty John?”
It’s an investigative podcast hosted by Christopher Goffard of the Los Angeles Times.
It's about a handsome doctor who is not exactly who he claims to be…
But I ain’t gonna spoil it for you:
What I will tell you though, is that six weeks after its release, it had 10 million downloads.
4. Radio game shows
Game shows are fun!
And this is a radio show topic loaded with potential.
I'll give you two examples you can look at:
“The 3rd Degree” – a quiz game show recorded at different UK universities, which pits students against their professors.
“Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!” - a beloved game show produced by NPR and WBEZ.
It’s recorded in front of a live audience where guests and listeners are tested on their knowledge of the weekly news.
5. A one person story
How about selecting one person from history and creating a radio series about them?
And where did I get this radio show idea?
Well, from this podcast series: “Mogul: The Life and Death of Chris Lighty.”
It’s a podcast from Gimlet Media hosted by Reggie Osse—an entertainment attorney.
Reggie follows the life of Chris Lightly, a music executive who managed some of the biggest names in Hip-Hop before his abrupt death in 2012 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.