radio bulletins

8/13/2019 Radio Bulletins

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RADIO BULLETINS

10 production tips

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Radio bulletins10 tips

Putting together a radionews bulletin is like serving

up a satisfying meal thatnourishes and preparesyour audience for the day

Its not about making yousound great. It has to befocused, digestible, easy to

listen to and catch theattention of the audience

What is a radio bulletin? Nourishing the audience

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Think target audience.You need to know who

is tuning in for theinformation you aredelivering and whatthey need to know

Focus on the news

stories and informationthat is relevant for yourradio stations targetedaudience

1: Serving the audience Understand their needs

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Your top stories are notnecessarily the biggest

stories, but will bethose that have themost impact on thelives of your targetaudience

These top stories willdefine how close yournews organisation is tothat audience

1: Serving the audience Addressing their concerns

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The audience will be

listening forinformation that theycan use

Your top stories

must make up theirstaple diet of mustknow information

1: Serving the audience Informing the public debate

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Offer an informationmix

News tends to bemulti-coloured andmulti-faceted, as isreal life

Your job is to reflectthe realities of theissues that mostaffect your audience

2: Variety The spice of life

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If you are covering

politics you musthighlight how theissue impacts on thelives of your

audience Dont dwell on the

politics alone

2: Variety Issues not processes

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Always try to includethe voice of those

affected by whateverthe story is highlighting

If you are covering acorruption story, itsimportant that you talk

to the victims and theman and woman in thestreet, not just officials

2: Variety Voice to the voiceless

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A voice that pleasesis important to

ensuring the audiencereturns

Try recording a few ofyour bulletins and

listen back to them Would you like to

wake up every dayand listen to that?

3: Listenable Would you listen?

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Audio createsemotions

An attractive voicethat catches theattention of theaudience is important

The last thing youwant is a gratingvoice that makespeople switch off

3: Listenable Do you turn people off?

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Avoid the sing-song voicethat plays the same tune

for every sentence, goingup in tone and down at theend regardless of what isbeing said

And never give theimpression that you think

you know more than theaudience; there will alwaysbe someone listening whoknows far more than you

3: Listenable Sing-song news

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Dont rush. Make sureyour audience can

understand what youare saying

Reading too quicklycould result in youraudience not

understanding what youare saying and notbeing able to absorbyour information

4: Slow down Its not a race

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News readers often read fastwhen they are nervous orwhen they know that they areabout to pronounce a nameabout which they areuncertain

If you know there is a foreignname coming up in thebulletin, highlight it and

practice it until you are sure Then approach it slowly,

pause, and pronounce itclearly

4: Slow down Practice difficult words

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Is your bulletin fresh,dynamic, and stimulating?

Re-writing is essential Many people will listen to

several bulletins during theday

It's important they are not

served up stale news thathasn't been reworked

5: Deliver fresh material Not stale news

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When you come out ofstudio after reading the

latest bulletin considersitting down and rewritingall the top stories andrefreshing the key points

Dont just put the bulletindown and expect to pick it

up again an hour lateruntouched and unchanged

5: Deliver fresh material Always rewrite

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If you have a news bulletinat the top of the hour and

headlines on the half hour,the headlines cant just beshorter versions of themain bulletin

You will have to reworkthem and create a stronger

headline that tells more ofthe story in fewer words inone short sentence

5: Deliver fresh material Always update

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You may also want to usethe half hour bulletin to add

stories that you could notor did not want to includein the main bulletin

However, if you choosethat kind of presentationformat, make sure that you

stick to this pattern so thatyour audience knows whatto expect

5: Deliver fresh material Always reorder

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Dont change yourformat randomly asthis will confuse youraudience

A confused audiencemay switch channelsto a place wherethere is lessconfusion

5: Deliver fresh material Editorial justification

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Sound bites are important

A longer news bulletin

becomes a lot moreattractive for audiences ifyou include short soundbites

This can be a five- or 10-second audio clip from aninterview or sounds fromthe scene of an incident

6: Radio needs sounds Not just your voice

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Write news stories as ifyou were telling the story

to a friend This means: short, simple

and straightforwardsentences

The majority will belistening on the move andwon't be able to rewind thebulletin

7: Storytelling Short stories works best

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Crafting complexinformation into a

simple sentence is askill

Dont obscure theessential facts withverbiage

Short, simple andstraightforwardsentences are required

7: Storytelling Avoid verbiage

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The bulletin is acompilation of short,

but powerful stories This makes it much

easier for people tograsp the information

Writing for radio isone of the mostchallenging

journalistic disciplines

8: Writing style Avoid verbiage

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If you are putting togethera longer bulletin (e.g.

seven minutes or more),you may want to end thebulletin with a brief recapof the main stories

This can help audiencesrecall the top stories and/or

other relevant information

9: Concise Summing up the main points


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If you dont believe whatyou have written and what

you are saying youraudience wont either

Make sure you are honestin how you describesituations and events

Dont sensationalise; it willdamage your credibilityand integrity

10: Be honest Only broadcast facts

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Using material from

a training module byBeat Witschi Media

Helping Media

Acknowledgement Beat Witschi

Image courtesy of Beat Witschihttp://www.mediahelpingmedia.org/ Image courtesy of Beat Witschi
http://www.mediahelpingmedia.org/http://www.mediahelpingmedia.org/


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