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Ear to the ground...
If localnnes is your edge over your competitors, then you've got to get stories that they haven't. So where do you get the exclusives from?
Getting news stories is obviously crucial to having a decent news programme. The worst form of journalism is when you sit in your studio and wait for press releases to turn up or people to ring in with possible stories. The best idea is to get out and go around the local area, walking with your eyes open. There is enough going on in any neighbourhood to provide at least three or four stories a day, as long as you think laterally.
Many of my stories came from sitting in the pub chatting with people. Surprisingly, telling people you are a journalist is more of a help than a hindrance, and people, especially those in some form of authority, may well tell you stories that they'd like to see exposed but dare not do it themselves.
Part of your job as a journalist is to filter the interesting and relevant stories from the piles of dross that get generated each day. So it does mean going to boring council meetings, shifting through health authority minutes and press releases. Think laterally and read between the lines, and you'll often find some decent stories come of the page.
Remember one fact makes a whole new story (the Guardian v. Aitken libel case is the most obvious example of this). Don't just consider the story, but the consequences of it. The four R's of every news story are Report (what happened), React (what others are doing as a result of whats happened), Relate (where does this fit into a bigger picture?) and Resolve (whats action has been taken as a result of whats happened). So a street mugging might be; the report of the mugging ("A student today…"), what the Police say ("Police are appealing for witnesses…"), the fact this is the third mugging in as many weeks, and finally a man has been arrested. All those four are valid news stories.