Strong, C. (2008). Radio Journalism: A Unique Breed. In J. Tully, INTRO A Beginner's Guide to

Professional News Journalism (pp. 263-285). New Zealand Journalism Training Organisation.

(The paper below is an adaptation of this reference, with approval from the author..)

Audio Journalism Audio podcasting and radio reporting

By Catherine Strong

The joke among audio journalists is that they don’t have to be pretty, but

that they have to love adrenalin rush. It is true that being on radio or an

audio podcast means they will seldom have to be in front of a camera. And

it is also true that the main characteristic of audio journalism is the tight

timeframe between finding a story and completing it for a radio bulletin or

an online upload. These are the thrills of audio podcasting.

This paper will use radio journalism and audio journaism interchangably. There are

differences, as a radio journalist has to feed their stories into a pre-timed bulletin, usually

scheduled every hour or half our. The radio journalist also works within a newsroom

with many other people who carry out various tasks to get a radio programme to air.

However, the basic skilsl of producing an audio news story are the same. In fact, more

online news sites are relying on audio podcasts, even those hosted by newspapers or

television companies.

Audio podcasts will increase, as more users find that downloading a news story or

complete bulletin onto their smartphone means they can listen to the news at a time

convenient to them, not set bulletin times. They alwo listen while they are doing other

things and not able to rely on being able to read the screen. Media companies will be

wise to produce more news on audio podcasts to serve the increasing aged population that

find the failing vision makes reading difficult both on screen and on hard copy.

Join the Unique Breed of Radio Journalist

Audio podcast’s unique characteristics stem from it being sound based, and immediate.

These two words sum up the motivation that spurs on this distinct style of journalism.

It’s an inimitable reporter who can flourish in an environment that demands a rapid turn

around of stories, telephone tenacity, and a voice that blends friendliness with

competency.

These journalists differ markedly from their print colleagues in how they write, interview

and gather news. All because their work is transmitted through AM, FM and online.

Their audience access the news and information via their ears, not through their eyes as

in newspapers or television.

This has some significant advantages for journalists who work in audio/. People listen to

the radio or to podcasts on their smartphones and Mp3 players while doing activities not

available to someone concentrating on a newspaper or television. These activities

include driving in traffic, cooking breakfast, gardening outside, working at a hairdresser

or a building site.

In short, the audio news can go everywhere. Commercial radio and Radio New Zealand

each have the capacity to reach listeners scattered over more than 90 percent of New

Zealand. Of course, online podcasts cover the globe. .

Often listeners are on their own when tuning into the radio. Everything about the

communication has to be one-on-one. The words used, the pitch of the voice, is as

though talking to just one person. Even listeners of audio podcasts are usually on their

owndelivered are usually lis through the internet, so .People can listen while doing other

computer-based work, or can go back to hear one they missed via the pod casting service

some provide. www.newstalkzb.co.nz; www.radionz.co.nz; www.radiolive.co.nz

The advantage is that your story has a wide distribution.

Radio journalists work in a constant state of immediacy. They are rushing to file their

story for a bulletin, with deadlines every hour or half hour. They often will have less

than 55 minutes to compile and file an update, while newspaper and television reporters

can have up to 24 hours to mull over a story, re-write the script and discuss options.

Speed is a characteristic of radio work, but not at the expense of accuracy. You need to

think fast, pay attention to details, and be able to discard extraneous information rapidly.

It also means you have to be able to access background information quickly. The new

breed of radio journalist is a whiz on Internet research, and on identifying appropriate

informed commentators.

Tracking down the right person at the right time, can come down to

knowledge of the area, good contact, and where to find them.

A lot of this is the work you put into knowing your community or

round before the big story hits.

Lois Willliams, is winner of seven Qantas awards for

radio coverage of regional news, says the essential thing

for quick audio journalists is having reliable and updated network of

contacts.

This is not just a list of names, or an index of local officialdom. And it is not

something you can compile sitting on your butt in the office, on the end of a

phone. You have to build relationships, set aside regular time to simply get out

there and meet people, talk to them; ask them about the history of their town

or their organisation etc.

It might be the motel owner at Waitiki Landing, or a store keeper or farmer, or

the kaumatua whom lives next door to the local marae. Don't go looking for

stories at this point - just get alongside people. If they know you are interested,

they'll often call you with tips.

And if there's a flood or a fire in that area, or a police chase, or

a protest or any one of the myriad events that generate news

stories - you will have someone to call who lives on the spot,

who knows and trusts you.

People who succeed in radio often mention the adrenalin rush in chasing a story on a tight

deadline. Often no one knows all the hurdles they went through to get all the details,

make sure they were accurate, collect good quotes, and file it on time for the next

bulletin. But they themselves know they did a good job for the listeners.

Ron Wilkinson has been involved in radio news for more than 40 years, and

was awworded a NZ 1990 Commemorative Medal for services to

broadcasting. He says the reason he is still excitd about radio news is the

thrill of the chase, the drive needed for radio news.

You need to be excited by the desire to break the story early and first … to be able

to live lead a news bulletin from notes you were still taking as the introduction

commenced … to accurately report live from the scene when you have just arrived

and chaos surrounds you … and to recognise what the lead of the news story is

while you are still obtaining all the details.

A great radio journalist can’t stay away from the chase and the medium provides

many opportunities.Embrace the excitement … let its all-consuming nature push

you to absolutely the best … and you’ll never want to stop!

Radio Stories Are Short

Editors say the story has to be concise, crisp and credible. At the same time, it

should always be interesting and easily understood. Audio journalists are not

simply uploading interviews, they also need to tell the story in their own words (a

voice report) or prepare a story to be read with other bulletin stories by a news

presenter (a writ).

A council meeting debate may have dragged on for three

hours, but the resulting story still has to be concise. A

normal news story in the daily newspaper may be about

400 words, while the radio bulletin version of the same

news can be only 90 to 120 words.

This can require a lot of pruning. It's achieved by deleting

padding, selecting only the pertinent facts and background, using only the best

part of a quote, and writing tightly. Tight scripting is used

Radio reporters have to fully understand the story and its significance. They

have to make essential decisions on what is the focus point of the story, what

explanation or background the listener needs, and what can be dropped.

It requires good editorial judgement to edit a story to its essential elements,

meeting duration and deadline requirements.

Write for the Ear

A radio news story may be only 90 words long, but every word of it has to be scrutinised

for listenability so it can be easily comprehended when read on air.

Being a radio reporter requires the same journalistic

skills as those working for other media. Because of the

different characteristics, however, there are more robust

requirements for writing the story after all the facts are

collected. This is because it’s an audio-based medium.

The story has to be read by someone, and the ultimate

audience only hears the story instead of being able to

read it.

The rule of thumb to

convert word count to

time is to calculate

three words per

second. It takes

about 30 seconds to

read a 90 word story.

Think about what you do while

listening to the radio and you’ll

have a good idea of how a radio

story is competing for the listener's

attention. Because of this your

story has to be:

o concise,

o crisp

o conversational

The radio journalist must be able to take a complicated issue or large volume of

information and condense it into an accurate account that is easily digested in audio form.

Accuracy is the underlying code.

Writing for the ear entails a disciplined style of writing. The listener doesn’t have the

opportunity to re-read a convoluted sentence, nor to slow down and pour over

complicated statistics. It has to be written clear and simple.

Write the way you talk. People tend to talk in short bursts, with simple sentences that

hit only one point at a time. Once reporters get behind the keyboard, however, often

these short simple sentences become long paragraphs full of unnecessary punctuation and

parenthetical clauses. This may be appropriate for readers, but not for listeners.

Sue Burgin, News Editor of Radio Network has been at the cutting edge of

commercial radio for several decades. She says the essence of commercial radio

writing is Short, Sharp and Colloquial.

We need to take into account that most listeners will have their ears on the

radio while they're doing other things. There may be phones ringing or

children crying – it's rare that a listener will be sitting quietly listening to

every word.

We mustn't confuse them with unnecessarily complicated sentence

structure. It's important to sell the story in the intro - then make them sit

up and listen to the rest.

In happening or breaking news stories, in particular,r the staccato style

works well. The staccato pace and length will create an atmosphere of

tension and urgency.

Example

A gunman's on the loose in Kapiti.

He's fired four times so far.

No-one's been hit - but police fear for public safety.

They've cordoned off streets around the Coastland's Shopping

centre.

The drama began just after 8 this morning.

It seems to have been sparked by a domestic incident.

Inspector Bruce Scott says the man took off with his rifle after an

argument with his wife.

Conversational

Radio is a very personal medium. Write as if you are explaining the event to your friend

or neighbour. This forms the basic rules for broadcast. Write it like you speak it. The

basic guideline is that the listener can’t see punctuation, so anything that requires

punctuation to understand will be confusing. Any sentence that is structured differently

to how we normally talk will be confusing. The journalist’s aim is to make the story easy

to understand.

Attribution first, not last

POOR: The tourism industry is growing, according to the Prime Minister

YES: The Prime Minister says the tourism industry is growing.

Use active voice instead of passive voice.

Active sentences are constructed so the subjective noun precedes the verb.

In less formal language, this means that the sentence starts with the

naming word that does the action. The cat ate the mouse.

Passive sentences are the objective noun precedes the verb. The sentence

backs into the action, so it starts with the noun that is the receiver of the

action. The mouse was eaten by the cat.

YES: Active Voice POOR: Passive Voice

The athletes pumped iron

Gym weights were used

The boy hit the ball

The ball was hit by the boy.

Students painted the building

The building was painted by

students.

Avoid clause-starts to sentences, which back into the main point of the sentence

POOR: While trying to avoid the jeering on the sidelines, the soldiers

marched defiantly into town.

YES: The soldiers marched defiantly into town, trying to avoid the

jeering on the sidelines.

Avoid brackets. Listeners can’t see them, so don’t use them.

POOR: The Prime Minister went (not supported by all MPs) to

Gallipoli….

YES: The Prime Minister went to Gallipoli, but was not supported by all

MPs.

Avoid quote marks. Listeners can’t see them, so don’t use them.

POOR: “I will reprimand the teacher tomorrow,” says Joan Bloggs.

YES: Joan Bloggs says she will reprimand the teacher tomorrow.

POOR: Mrs. Hewson said “I’m going to run for mayor”

YES: Mrs. Hewson says she is going to run for mayor

POOR: The “People’s Inquiry” was set up in 2005.

YES: The so-called People’s Inquiry was set up in 2005.

Immediacy

Listeners depend on radio to find out what is happening NOW. You want your

story to sound as though it is right up to date. Give special attention to verbs,

those action words that set the pace of your sentence.

o Verbs are present or future – not past. Use says not said.

POOR: Amanda said the house was destroyed.

YES: Amanda says the house is destroyed.

o Verbs can be present perfect to avoid past tense:

POOR: The Prime Minister decided that….

YES: The Prime Minister has decided that….

o Assume it’s happening now, so don’t use the word today.

POOR: The Prime Minister decided today that…

YES: The Prime Minister has decided that….

o Use active verbs instead of gerunds (a verb made into a noun)

POOR: The reading of the book by Winton went quickly

YES: Winton read the book quickly

Simplify

Write a good simple sentence by approaching only one thought at a time. Let the listener

fully understand the key point, before introducing something new.

This tests the real skill of radio journalists, as they have to be very clear which is the most

important point to make first. Following that, they need to introduce each point in

logical succession, answering the listeners' questions as they arise.

Remember that the first step for a news story is to find out the 5Ws of a story. You still

need to do that, but unlike print media, don't try to cram all of them into the first

sentence. You need to make a judgement call – which fact is the focal point of the story.

The focal point of the story explains why this is a news story today, and why

listeners want to hear it. Take the example of a fire destroying a house. If it is news

because it is a local house, then the suburb should be in the first sentence. If it is

news because it is the third one this weekend, then that is the focal point and the

suburb can be put into subsequent sentences. In every story the radio reporter has

to make priority calls on the significance of the facts.

Avoid parenthetical phrases.

They are asides to the main point of the sentence. They are better treated as

separate sentences'

POOR: The regional councillor said he objected to the proposal,

because it was racist, although he previously supported it, and he would

hold a protest march on Friday.

YES: The regional councillor now says the proposal previously

supported by him is racist. He’s planning a protest march on Friday.

POOR: The Coast MP, who’d just returned from Vanuatu said in

Parliament before he was jailed for contempt that he wanted to run for

Prime Minister next year, the year before he would turn 80 years old.

YES: The Coast MP has been jailed for contempt, but vows to run for

Prime Minister next year. He will be 80 years old at next year’s

election.

Avoid jargon.

All journalists should avoid clichés, and ambiguous language, however radio sub-

editors have to be even more vigilant to weed out the jargon and spin obscuring

the public utterances of government, corporate and community organisations.

Reporters need to understand the jargon when talking to contacts, so they can

replace it with concise, clear English.

Use common vocabulary.

Yes we want to have a Kiwi flavour on the airwaves, but don't use words that are

foreign to certain age groups or culture groups. The guidelines for using Global

English in website writing often hold validity for radio news too. Crude language

falls into this category as it offends some listeners. It also tends to draw attention

to the words, rather than the news.

Simplify description.

A string of adjectives is not usually necessary, nor easy to comprehend. English

is a rich language with a wide choice of words, so selecting the correct verb and

the correct noun can avoid reliance on too many adjectives.

POOR: The old, grey-haired, wrinkled man walked into the room with

lame and uneven steps.

YES: The pensioner limped into the room.

Avoid tautology

These phrases use two words that say the same thing. They unnecessarily take up

valuable airtime, but also show a lack of precision in language use. Examples are

totally destroyed (destroyed means total), most unique (there are no degrees of

uniqueness), true facts (if they are facts, they are true.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_redundant_expressions

Simplify numbers

When speaking with a friend we wouldn’t give the entire annual report statistics

for Telecom in a 20-second conversation. Of course not. We would focus on the

most important point and talk about that, without a complexity of figures.

Do the same when constructing your news story.

There are ways to get across statistics by using word pictures. Instead of saying

50 percent, say half. Instead of saying 20 percent of the population, say one in

five people.

It is also confusing to a listener to have different types of numbers in the same

sentence, so keep symmetry. If you are going to talk about percentages, keep all

references to percentages instead of changing to fractions or word pictures. It is

easier on the ear if numbers being compared are clustered together in the

sentence.

POOR: The bank reports 20 percent of its customers are farmers, one in

four are teachers, and one-fifth are property developers.

YES: The bank report on its customers shows that farmers make up 20

percent, teachers 25 percent and property developers 20 percent.

POOR: The smallest baby weighed 10 ounces at birth, when previously

it was believed a baby had to weigh 400 grams to survive.

YES: The smallest baby’s birth weight was 280 grams, when previously

it was believed a baby had to weigh at least 400 grams to survive.

EVEN BETTER: The smallest baby was only 280 grams, well below the

400 grams previously thought to be the threshold for survival.

Avoid too many numbers in one par

POOR: 50% of the 1000 people were inside the gate, and they stayed for

four hours with another one-third outside the gate

YES: About 500 people were inside the gate during the afternoon

Spell out numbers for easier reading

POOR: The parade included 11,000 floats

YES: The parade included 11-thousand floats.

Writing a story for a 30-second slot may seem daunting at first, but with a bit of

practice a lot of information can be covered in half a minute.

Philippa Tolley, senior RNZ journalist, says the most important part of a

radio story is the first sentence, which focuses on the news angle.

Decide what you think is the top line to your story, not what the media

release chooses to lead with or what the person you have just

interviewed has said first.

Always be aware of what has gone to air before so that your top line

will be fresh. Unlike print, radio is of course a constantly updating

medium so your story or voicer is likely to be one of a series.

Keep your sentences clear and uncomplicated so that the message can

be easily absorbed.

The rest of the written story, or your voice script, should flow on from

your top line. The information must unfold. If it jumps around you lose

the listener. For the same reason, avoid sub clauses that try to pack in

extra information.

Those journalists who make complicated stories sound simple are

always those who understand the story best. Work weighed down with

jargon and verbiage tend to come from journalists unable to untangle

the information.

Always read out loud what you have just written. You may feel foolish

in front of your work colleagues, but journalists shouldn't be shrinking

violets. Better to make sure your story works when spoken, than submit

material that does not live up to expectations when it goes to air!

Hourglass Structure

Newspaper stories are written is a style called the inverted pyramid. The most

important item is first, then scaling down to the least important at the end of the story.

Radio structure, however, can be more like an hourglass. It starts with the catchiest

item, then flows to less important or background, and then ends on a strong memorable

point or summation. Ensure your last sentence is not just a throw-away, meaningless

cliché, such as “time will tell”.

The reason for this is that you want to keep the listeners’ interest at the end, so they stay

for the next item in the bulletin. Unlike newspaper readers, radio listeners can’t skip

over the less important part, so a well-constructed story keeps them engaged.

Radio story structure is double edged, so it grabs the listener's interest at the end. Often

you will be required to write the story several ways for later bulletins. Sometimes it is

debatable which angle could be the lead of the story. With radio you can write it one way

for the first bulletin, and recast it for the next bulletin.

This is an example of a story written with a strong first sentence and a strong last

sentence. For later bulletins the story can be “turned on its head” to use the last sentence

as the lead, and therefore have a different sounding story.

FIRST VERSION:

Relations between New Zealand and Australia could become strained if a planned

trip by senior government officials to Canada goes ahead next month.

A senior officer in the Prime Minister’s office is planning to take several senior

government officers for an investment visit to Canada, at the same time that

Australia is trying to get investors across the Tasman.

The Australian Embassy in Wellington has expressed concern to Prime Minister

Bridget Robinson for snubbing them

The Prime Minister is reported to have told the senior officer in her office to

either abandon the trip or be removed from the office.

SECOND VERSION:

The Prime Minister has warned a senior official in her office to either abandon a

planned trip to Canada or face being removed from the office.

It has been established that a senior officer in the Prime Minister’s Office is

organising an investment trip for several senior government officers to visit

Canada.

The Australian Embassy in Wellington has expressed concern to the Prime

Minister Bridget Robinson, that the trip snubs their attempts to get more Kiwi

investments..

Relations between New Zealand and Australia could become strained if the

planned trip goes ahead.

Deadlines Every 60 Minutes

– Several Variations of The Same Story

Deadlines every hour, and sometimes every half hour, have a big impact on how a news

item is processed once all the facts are collected. There may be enough of a small new

development to freshen the story, but other times there’s nothing new even though it has

to sound different.

A written version of the news may need to be scripted in two or more different ways to

give variety in subsequent bulletins. They may all use the same information, but each

needs to sounds fresh for listeners who heard the item earlier.

The bulletin needs to cater to both listener groups – those who are hearing it for the first

time and those who’ve heard it before – so may also want different treatments of the

story. A significant story may need to run in several subsequent bulletins, but there may

not be updated information to “refresh” the story for many hours. This is where the

various story treatments come in to play.

The chief reporter may tell the reporter to “provide a writ, voicer, cut, package, plus a

Q&A for the morning”.

Written-only (writ)

This is a basic written story that includes no audio inserts. The

newsreader reads the item from top to bottom. This story may be called a

writ/reader/copy/etc. This is usually only about four or five paragraphs.

Voice Report (voicer)

The reporter records his/her own voice, explaining part of the news story.

The reporter prepares a script for the newsreader that gives the news, leads

into the pre-recorded voice report, and wraps up the story with a back

announce

Voice reports—by Denis Phelps (1943-2005), RNZ sub-editor for 35 years.

A voicer should tell a story, not just report it. It should supplement and add colour

to the basic news. A voicer should be owned by the reporter, who locates him or

herself within it. Only they could tell this story because only they were there, were

privy to the facts or dug them out.

There’s nearly always more which can be added in a voicer: a description of the

area; background on a central figure; extra details which might sound trite in a

written, but which add colour in a voicer. The voicer can also take a story further

than the news item and even be speculative. For example ―Today’s violent death in

the town is the second in three weeks, and residents are becoming uneasy. Some say

they believe a serial killer is at work. But the police are saying nothing about their

inquiry‖.

Apart from content, the important thing about a voicer is its style. It must not

sound like someone laboriously reading an elaborately written script. It must be

scripted & spoken in a natural, direct manner conveying that the reporter is on top

of the subject. They are telling a story, not reading it. The delivery will be more

animated than that of a newsreader – the reporter must give the story life, with

variation in pace and tone.

First person singular

A voicer has immediacy & direct involvement. If we are giving an up-to-the-minute

description of a disaster scene, a bit of the first person singular is quite in order.

―From where I’m standing… or with me now is the regional civil defence

commander …‖But the reporter must be careful not to intrude too much into the

item, and start thinking they are the news. It is often appropriate in a voicer for the

reporter to make some assessment of a situation or indicate what the future holds.

The format

The voice report does not tell the basic story. That is the function of the written

story, and of the introductory head. The head: ―Two firefighters have been hurt in

a major fire in downtown Auckland. The blaze badly damaged a sporting goods

store, and caused the evacuation of a cinema. Sue Jones reports from the scene.‖

Then Sue Jones takes up the story. ―The fire was apparently caused by…‖ and she

must of course say what happened to the two firefighters and identify the store and

cinema. The report should have a definite beginning and end, with a logical flow of

material in between. The apparent cause of the fire was an obvious way to begin;

another could be ―The two firefighters were hurt when…‖

The end must not be merely the point at which the reporter runs out of things to

say. It should wrap up the story, such as ―Firefighters will stay at the scene all

night‖ or ―The owner of the store says he hopes to be in business again by

Christmas‖. This is followed by the sign-off.

Try to script the voicer so it will stand up even if the situation changes – such as in

an accident story, put the death toll in the head, not in the recorded voicer, so if the

figure changes, the report can still be used. The voice report should concentrate on

description that remains valid.

The standard duration of a voicer is up to 40 seconds.

Generally, the head will run to about 15 seconds, so the

item will run to about 55 seconds in all. There aren't

many stories which can’t be told in 165 words.

Actuality (cut)

The magic of radio is hearing the actual voice of the newsmaker, or the

sound effects of the event. Hence the term “actuality”. This treatment

uses a short piece of a recorded interview with a newsmaker, who could be

someone like the fire officer, neighbour, or person who lived in the burnt

house. The part of the interview used on air is usually less than 16

seconds, and may be called a cut/clip/piece/grab/etc. The reporter writes

an introduction for the newsreader that leads into the interview piece, and

then wraps it up afterwards.

Audio cuts tips

Select the very best quote from an interview, and eliminate padding and

extraneous verbiage. This is the cut. Using a quote to explain detailed facts

is useless, as the reporter can almost always say it better. A good quote

adds emotion or opinion to the story. It fleshes out the story. Avoid

very short, meaningless cuts that can be better covered by the script.

Select the audio piece, THEN write the story.

Write at least two paragraphs before the audio cut. The first paragraph is

the news lead, the second adds background or necessary details, then

introduce the quote.

Follow the quote with a backannounce, which again identifies who was

quoted, but adds a little more to the story. It is easier to outline what to

avoid in audio cuts:

Avoid repeating what is in the quote.

POOR: Mayor Robinson called the police when the group

stormed into the council "I called the police when the group

stormed into ….

YES: Mayor Robinson says the protesters spent all morning

yelling outside Town Hall. "I called the police when the group

stormed into

Avoid dangling sentences to introduce a cut.

If the introduction stands on its own, the listeners won’t notice if

the recording doesn't work. :

POOR: Mayor Robinson explains the situation. "I called the

police…”

YES: Mayor Robinson said the protest was disruptive. “I called

the police….”

Package

A package is a longer more comprehensive report of the event, and one

used more often in online podcasts. A package is a reporter’s voice report

that includes interview pieces in it, usually two to four minutes long. The

listener hears the presenter’s introduction, the reporter explaining details,

one or more interview pieces with the reporter’s voice linking them, and

then the presenter again wrapping up the item.

Question-and-Answer

The reporter prepares questions that can be used by the front person

conducting a live interview in the studio. The front person may alter the

questions, but it is a good start for their interview. The reporter who was

at the scene can provide background and facts, contact details for possible

interviewees, as well as a list of questions. Sometimes it is the reporter

being interviewed, as the best witness.

Use a unique slug (name of your story)

Use a slug, or catchline, that won’t get confused with other similar stories, and

isn’t inflammatory if seen publicly. Some words may never be good to use, such

as killed. That is a radio term for a story that has had to be dropped because it is

inaccurate or potentially libellous. Some newsrooms prefer a two-word slug, with

the first word being the same in all running stories, and the second word

differentiating updates.

POOR: parliament

YES: smacking protest

POOR: bitch mayor

YES: mayor complaint

Scripting into Audio Cuts Audio use is a most effective radio advantage. We get to hear the

newsmakers tell the story.

Newsmaker actuality is preferred to voice reports. But voice

reports are effective where a story is complicated and needs

explaining. It's also necessary where the newsmaker won't talk

or isn't available.

Write for the listener. Humanise stories wherever possible.

People want to know what's in it for me? Example:

Instead of - The Wellington City Council has voted to

increase the cost of using its libraries.

What about – It's going to cost you more to use

Wellington Council libraries from now on.

Look for impact , ear appeal and ways to make stories easily

understood.

Use active words - the right one word to describe event

Drop inconsequential words - story may not be

grammatically correct but it’s easy on the ear.

Example - The PM meets her Australian

counterpart in Canberra today - on the agenda a

single trans-Tasman currency.

Use interesting adjectives.

Place story content up front - moving quickly to the heart

of the story.

Avoid excessive detail - those needing in depth detail will

get it from other sources.

Use actuality to enhance - not extend story.

Sue Burgin, Newstalk ZB news editor, has been writing and

presenting commercial cutting-edge radio news for many years.

Interviewing Audio Style

The key to good audio is getting a strong, striking quote -- and quotes that enhance the

telling of a story. These don’t just happen. It is the journalist’s skill that can elicit the

relevant quote.

The journalist’s questions may be used so they have to be crisp, focussed and

professional sounding. All the interviewing guidelines in apply doubly to broadcast

journalists. Audiences can be very judgemental about questioning.

Avoid too many closed questions, leading questions or convoluted questions.

For pre-recorded interviews in the field, the reporter may conduct a long interview, but

require only about 15-25 seconds of it to fit the bulletin item. The journalist needs to

gain the trust and acceptance of the interviewee, allows them to put the story in their own

words, but direct them subtly to keep it brief.

For longer live interviews, the journalists’ skills may be even-more crucial. They have

to balance keeping an interesting flow to the conversation, and at the same time

preventing long, boring discourses certain to switch off audiences.

Seasoned interviewers agree that good listening skills are basic to a good interview. This

can be easier said than done.

New reporters can lose concentration when they are also thinking about their voice

performance, recording levels, looming deadline, and other distractions. Too often they

don’t hear the gem just uttered by the interviewee, so they miss asking the crucial follow

up question.

Fortunately, this improves with experience. The more interviews you do, the better they

get. Reporters start to relax about the process of interviewing, and are able to direct more

of their energies to listening to what the interviewer is saying.

If you want to listen to professional interviewing, tune into the National Programme’s

Morning Report, which runs from 6am to 9am every weekday morning. It’s also

available online www.radionz.co.nz

Geoff Robinson, the respected, friendly voice on Morning

Report 1975 to 2014.

The main thing in interviewing is

Listening. If you're too focussed on your

questions, and the need to get a quote,

you're very likely to miss an important

point in the answer, or something you'd

not thought about before.

If you focus too much on thinking through

beforehand what the interviewee is likely

to say, and what you would ask in

response to that, and so on, you're likely to be thrown

when the answers don't come out in the form, or order, that

you had expected, and you'll miss the real story that's

hidden underneath.

And.. if the interviewee sees that you ARE listening

rather than just recording the answers, they're more likely

to want to talk to you and give you the story.

Interview Checklist:

Always check your recording equipment before starting the interview.

Get contact details of your interviewee in case you need to get back to them quickly

before processing the story.

Check that the interview was recorded properly immediately after the interview, so

you can re-do it while the person is still available if necessary.

Interrupt if you need to pace the interview, but don’t cut someone off in the middle of

a sentence so it can’t be used on air.

Keep your own questions crisp, clear, open, and unbiased. Ask the question again if

the response is off the subject or is unclear.

Ask questions from more than one viewpoint, so as not to sound biased on the topic.

You can even say, “being devil’s advocate, why did you…..”

A strategic last question is “Is there anything else you’d like to say?” Sometimes

inexperienced interviewees forget to tell you their main issue until the end. This is

often the best part of the interview.

Know why you are doing the interview, and have clearly in mind what sort of

information you want out of it. This doesn’t mean pre-judging the news angle, but an

aimless interview is tedious for listeners as well as the interviewee. While the interview

is progressing listen carefully to responses and keep in mind what would make a good

news angle, what the listeners want to know. This may help you decide on a follow-up

question versus keeping to your prepared questions.

Dot point prompts can help you remember an important point, but don’t be a slave to

them. Beginning journalists may find it useful to jot down a question line. They may

never need to refer to notes once the interview starts.

Editing Quotes “The editing process should result in a true reflection of what was

originally seen and heard. What should result from selection and

editing is a compression of reality – a slice of reality – that

nonetheless reflects the essential truth without distortion.

RNZ Editorial Policies

Voice Performance

Some people are born with a good broadcast voice, but most people need to work at it.

The voice is one of the main skills used by audio journalists, so it needs to be developed

and maintained.

The microphone is your friend, once you marry the technical characteristics with your

voice performance. You need to ensure your voice is the optimum distance from

whatever microphone you are using for clear transmission. Being too close or too far

will adversely affect the sound quality.

This comes from practice and trying it out beforehand.

Listen to good broadcasters and notice how well they pronounce every word. Their

diction is clear. When we are chatting with a friend in everyday life we don’t actually

hear every word they say, because of slurring, mispronunciation, or fluctuation in

volume.

It doesn’t hamper communication because our mind fills in the gaps. We can guess what

the word is because of the context, facial expression, gestures, and the rest of the

conversation.

This isn’t the case on audio podcasts or radio. Listeners can’t see the facial expressions

and gestures. In addition, there may not be a “rest of the conversation” if it is a short

news item.

So care in articulation of each word is part of the professionalism of a radio journalist.

Exercise your lips, tongue and jaw before starting to talk into the microphone. Read

your script aloud emphasising each word, or say a poem. Make sure that you use words

that have the “eee” sound and the “ah” sound so that you are exercising your mouth

muscles in both directions.

Say “freespa” several times. Put your tongue down between the inside of your bottom lip

and bottom front teeth. It forces the muscles to work a little harder in this warm up. In

truth, it doesn’t have to be literally out loud, as long as you exaggerate the mouth shapes.

The lip, tongue and jaw limbering exercises can be done silently.

Understanding the principle of resonance and how your voice works helps. Humming is

a good exercise to develop your voice. Voice coaches will help you learn how to project

your voice, which means talking with enough volume and energy that the microphone

picks up your voice clearly, without your having to yell. Over-projection will raise the

pitch of your voice and use up energy better spent in more delicate variation of pitch.

Use your diaphragm for breath control, rather than using solely the upper part of your

chest.

Developing a good pitch, projection and tone is outside the scope of a paper like this.

The important thing to do is to pay attention to any voice coach you may have the good

fortune to have. They will give the same advice about talking into a microphone:

o Stand up or sit up straight to help project your voice.

o Breath 'abdominally', relaxing your stomach muscles.

o Relax your throat muscles for a more conversational sound.

o Pitch your voice as though you are talking to just one person, not to a crowd of

thousands.

o Aim for variety in pace and variation in phrasing and pitch.

Hewitt Humphrey, veteran radio broadcaster for over 40

years and Radio New Zealand Presentation Standards

Manager. He has coached many successful broadcasters into

their careers.

In audio journalism the most important thing to remember is

that the listeners hear only your voice - and perhaps some

other audio. They cannot see you, they do not have your words written down in

front of them and there are no pictures. So it is essential that you deliver your

words at a pace that allows listeners time to absorb every detail and form pictures

in their minds. A controlled and varied pace also helps you to achieve clearer

diction. Imagine that you are talking to someone across the table from you - look

up at them as you talk. The best audio journalist sounds as though they are

talking to the listener, not reading at them. Use your sense of theatre to create a

performance.

Read aloud

Many words read perfectly well on paper, but not so when spoken. Sometimes it is the

juxtaposition of sounds that draws attention to the sounds of the words, rather than the

content of the story.

One example is sibilants, too many “s” or “sh” sounds together. Try reading rapidly the

old nursery rhyme “she sells sea shells at the sea shore” in the midst of a news story.

Listen to how it blurs into a dominant sound of “shushushu”.

Reading aloud to someone else helps you catch misconceptions that stem from the

listeners not being able to see punctuation.

An example is “In court on pornographic charges was a Wellington high school

teacher…..” This was meant to mean simply a secondary teacher from the city

of Wellington. However it sounds as though it is a teacher from the secondary

school called Wellington High School. In print this would be clear because of

the lack of capital letters, but on air it gives the wrong information.

Terminology

Radio industry jargon varies from newsroom to newsroom, from country to country, and

even from year to year. Students shouldn’t get too concerned about learning the

terminology before they start working in the newsroom. It doesn’t take long to pick it

up, as long as they understand the concept.

Ideally all interviews are recorded, so a segment can be edited out for the bulletin item.

This isn’t always possible, but the editor may ask a reporter “did you get

audio/actuality/tape/ quack/recording?” Many words can be used, depending on the

culture of the newsroom. Many still say, “did you get it taped” when in fact all the

recorders are digital and there are no tapes available!

Once the interview is edited, the small segment going on air could be called a

grab/clip/cut/.

And the most important first line of the news item can be called a lead/intro/topline.

A bright new reporter listens to the seniors in the newsroom and learns the jargon. It

doesn’t take long.

Audio Podcasting with home equipment

News Podcastings means developing a story in video form or audio form to upload

on the internet. The actual file may look exactly like a television news item, or may

be different, but as it is an MP3 or MP4 file accessed online, it is usually called a

podcast. Originally the word meant only audio files, but that has expanded. It also

covers learning talks, recorded speeches, etc.

We, however, are interested in news podcasting. Many mainstream media are now

uploading podcasts as an extra-value to their normal news outlets, be that newspapers,

television, radio. The podcast is able to be downloaded so the audience can watch or

listen to it later. That is the value of it.

The first part of the news gathering is the same for most good journalism. Do the

research, interview key people, find an angle, develop a structure. Most of the guidelines

above are valid.

Students don’t need high specification equipment to do this well. You do, however, need

to ensure that the audio and the visuals are of a high quality. Your audience is used to

listing to top quality music on the iPod, and watching television produced videos on their

smartphone. They don’t want to waste their time on grainy video or crackly audio.

Let’s start with audio podcasts. Use a digital recording device, which can be a

professional Marantz recorder, a Dictaphone, smartphone or tablet, or even your PC or

laptop. The important thing is the microphone you use. Most of these have inbuilt mics,

that actually don’t usually pick up the sound good enough, especially if there is any other

noise or echo in the room. If you must rely on the inbuilt mic, make sure it is very close

to the source of the audio (your newsmaker’s mouth!)

But the best move is to use a handheld mike, a unidirectional one is best. The iRig

brands work on Apple products as well as androids, so are good value. Practice

beforehand to ensure you get the mic in the right position to pick up good quality sound.

How do you record? Well most of the equipment have an obvious Record button, so you

simply record and save the file until time to edit it. Using the PC or laptop is a little

different, and you will need a software to allow this, and I suggest the software Audacity

or Wavepad. Once installed, simply open it, set up the mic, and push the record button.

The software suggested for editing are these two, because they are free downloads, and

also are useful on a variety of hardward:

Audacity will work on both a Mac and and a PC: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Wavepad works on smartphones and tablets: http://wavepad.en.softonic.com

Once installed learn to upload the files and edit. The main trick with Audacity is when

you are finished editing and want to save your file to upload, you need to “export” to an

MP3 file, do not “save. Editing is fairly intuitive, but here is some help:

Written tutorial for AUDACITY

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/tutorials.html

Video tutorial (record, edit, volume fade)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rQr5YVNqI0

Wavepad tutorial

http://makecustomersloveyou.com/posts/how-to-record-wavepad-tutorial/

When you are happy with your audio story, save to an MP3 format, because it is

universally recognised and easy to download.

Finally, upload your audio to the internet to share with others. There are many audio

hosting services, but we will use SoundCloud, as it is free and holds long as well as short

audio files. The instructions for SoundCloud are at the end.

SoundCloud will give you a link for that particular audio file, just paste that into social

media, web blog, etc.

Except for the microphone, most of the resources for podcasting are free or easily

accessible. Once you start creating audio news stories and features you’ll find out how

rewarding and fun it can be.

Uploading to Soundcloud Step 1: Go to Soundcloud.com

Step 2: Sign Up - by an email address.

Step 3: Check your email, open the message from Soundcloud and click the comfirmation

link. Soundcloud.com will launch in a new browser window

Step 4: Log in (if you need to)

Step 5: Click on "upload" (top right)

Step 6: Click "choose files" and select the audio clip to upload

Step 7: While uploading set the clip to "Private" then only people with a unique URL will

be able to hear it. Click "save'. Don’t leave it on “private” because SoundCloud is having

troubles with that application at the moment and then no one can hear your link.

Step 8: Once uploaded (takes a few minutes) click on "share" and copy the "Secret link"

URL shortened version

Step 9: Paste the URL for the audio clip into your assignment submission