RADIO PRODUCTION for NEWS and PUBLIC AFFAIRS Books: “Modern Radio Production” by Hausman, Benoit, Messere, & O’Donnell: Chapter 13 Pertemuan 11 Matakuliah: O Dasar-Dasar Produksi Siaran Radio Tahun: 2010

Bina Nusantara University 3 NEWS GATHERING It consists of obtaining facts from which stories are written. It consists of collecting actualities, the recorded segments of news events or news makers. An actuality can be an interview segment or a recording of the wild sound resulting from an event. Wild sound or interview actuality is often referred to as a sound bite. Sound bite generally refers to an interview segment. Sometime its done by perusing the local paper.

NEWS WRITING A news producer must remember that what is written must sound right when it is read aloud and must be conversational. Be aware that the listeners have only one opportunity to understand what is being said; they can not look back, as they can with a newspaper article. Clarity is critical. Remember that the radio writing is WRITTEN FOR THE EAR, NOT THE EYE. Sentence in broadcast news writing should be kept short.

NEWS ASSEMBLY CHOOSING STORIES AND STORY ORDER –News judgment is a thing that a news producer must be aware; it is often necessary to shuffle news stories from hour to hour to provide variety in the news. –A story is often pushed up in the rotation simply because it is new. –The time element is an important consideration because radio is a medium that thrives on timeliness. CHOOSING SOUNDS ELEMENTS –VOICE REPORT The news are Reported by a journalist. Its usually run between 30” and 90”. There’s no hard and fast rule. –VOICE ACTUALLITY REPORT Constructed in the manner of a voice wrap. A voice actuality is simply a report from a journalist with an actuality segment inserted.

NEWS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAMMING Public affairs programming is usually directed toward a specific topic, which is examined at greater length than is possible in a news report. The role of a producer in public affairs can involve selecting the topic for discussion or examination, choosing guests, making all the organizational arrangements, and even setting up the mics. The mainstay of public affairs programming is the interview or talk show; PSA also the public affairs producer’s responsibility.

NEWS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAMMING PSA (Public Service Announcements), are generally short announcements, similar in structure to commercials, that are provided at no charge on behalf of non profit organizations. It usually 30” or 60” long, have the same structure as commercials, and can be approached with the production techniques.

NEWSCASTS EXCLUSIVELY LOCAL NEWS –The local news in such stations usually includes two or more pieces of actuality. –Much of local news coverage is rewritten from the paper. LOCAL NEWS WITH WIRE COPY –The wire services offer special feeds to broadcast outlets – feeds that differ from the service given from newspaper. –The wire services specify where the new information is to be inserted. –Wire service material is slugged (a slug is a brief identifying or clarifying phrase) with the time of transmission, along with another relevant facts. –Wire services provide what’s known as a state split; that is the circuits of the services are turned over to state bureaus, and state news is fed to the appropriate stations.

NEWSCASTS LOCAL NEWS WITH WIRE COPY –Some brief suggestions on using wire services effectively in radio news production: Acquaint yourself with the schedules and workings of the service Check copy for typos and pronunciation problems. Always verify the time of transmission am a story you will use.

TALKSHOWS The most common forms are: –The one-on-one talk show; an interviewer and a guest discuss a topic. –The panel discussion; it features a moderator and several participants. Here, proper miking and a good moderator become major consideration. This are truly awful in radio, because a clamor of disembodied voices makes things very tough on the listeners. –The call-in show is talk program designed to include the listening audience. In this case, a tape-delay system is often used. That is, the program is recorded live and fed back over the air several seconds later; just to avoid the listeners who speak about whatever in their minds, which no in charge with the topic.

PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES FOR NEWS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS INTERVIEWING –ASK SIMPLE AND DIRECT QUESTIONS –PHRASE QUESTIONS THAT INVITE BITE - SIZED ANSWERS, BUT DON’T ASK YES-OR-NO QUESTIONS –ASK FOLLOW UP QUESTION –FILL LISTENERS IN

PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES FOR NEWS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS STORY AND ACTUALITY EDITING –Editing allows you to inject some variety because you can take different pieces of interview segments, rearrange these actualities, and rewrite the stories around them. –Editing the actualities allows you to shape the story to be told in the quickest and the most succint way possible. –The fact usually is better written into the story, whereas reaction and comment are better used in actually.

PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES FOR NEWS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS USING SOUNDS SOURCES IN RADIO NEWS PRODUCTION –Sound can really dress up a new story. –If you’ve been assigned to do alive, on-the-scene voice report, it is generally helpful to have the local noise in the background because it will make the story more immediate for the listener. –Think the SFx or sound elements that can be used in your radio reports, without being overdramatic or misleading.

PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES FOR NEWS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS USING MODERN NEWS GATHERING TECHNOLOGY –According to Georgeann Herbert, Chicago’s Newsradio Managing Editor, a primary advantage of the computer system is that it captures wire-service material and fed into a computer memory where it can be used by a number of different people at the same time.

PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES FOR NEWS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS MAKING THE NEWSCAST A COHESSIVE, UNIFIED WHOLE –Responsibility is a word often repeated in radio newsroom. Providing the news is a heavy responsibility. It’s important not to forget that! News people don’t have to be stuffed shirts, but they do have realize that they’re in a serious business.