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RADIO BULLETINS
10 production tips

Radio bulletins 10 tips

What is a radio bulletin?

Nourishing the audience

Putting together a radio news bulletin is like serving up a satisfying meal that nourishes and prepares your audience for the day Its not about making you sound great. It has to be focused, digestible, easy to listen to and catch the attention of the audience
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Radio bulletins 10 tips

1: Serving the audience

Understand their needs

Think target audience. You need to know who is tuning in for the information you are delivering and what they need to know Focus on the news stories and information that is relevant for your radio stations targeted audience

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

1: Serving the audience

Addressing their concerns

Your top stories are not necessarily the biggest stories, but will be those that have the most impact on the lives of your target audience These top stories will define how close your news organisation is to that audience

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

1: Serving the audience

Informing the public debate

The audience will be listening for information that they can use Your top stories must make up their staple diet of must know information

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

2: Variety

The spice of life

Offer an information mix News tends to be multi-coloured and multi-faceted, as is real life Your job is to reflect the realities of the issues that most affect your audience

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

2: Variety

Issues not processes

If you are covering politics you must highlight how the issue impacts on the lives of your audience Dont dwell on the politics alone

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

2: Variety

Voice to the voiceless

Always try to include the voice of those affected by whatever the story is highlighting If you are covering a corruption story, its important that you talk to the victims and the man and woman in the street, not just officials
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Radio bulletins 10 tips

3: Listenable

Would you listen?

A voice that pleases is important to ensuring the audience returns Try recording a few of your bulletins and listen back to them Would you like to wake up every day and listen to that?
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Radio bulletins 10 tips

3: Listenable

Do you turn people off?

Audio creates emotions An attractive voice that catches the attention of the audience is important The last thing you want is a grating voice that makes people switch off
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Radio bulletins 10 tips

3: Listenable

Sing-song news

Avoid the sing-song voice that plays the same tune for every sentence, going up in tone and down at the end regardless of what is being said And never give the impression that you think you know more than the audience; there will always be someone listening who knows far more than you

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

4: Slow down

Its not a race

Dont rush. Make sure your audience can understand what you are saying Reading too quickly could result in your audience not understanding what you are saying and not being able to absorb your information

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

4: Slow down

Practice difficult words

News readers often read fast when they are nervous or when they know that they are about to pronounce a name about which they are uncertain If you know there is a foreign name coming up in the bulletin, highlight it and practice it until you are sure Then approach it slowly, pause, and pronounce it clearly

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

5: Deliver fresh material

Not stale news

Is your bulletin fresh, dynamic, and stimulating? Re-writing is essential Many people will listen to several bulletins during the day It's important they are not served up stale news that hasn't been reworked
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Radio bulletins 10 tips

5: Deliver fresh material

Always rewrite

When you come out of studio after reading the latest bulletin consider sitting down and rewriting all the top stories and refreshing the key points Dont just put the bulletin down and expect to pick it up again an hour later untouched and unchanged
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Radio bulletins 10 tips

5: Deliver fresh material

Always update

If you have a news bulletin at the top of the hour and headlines on the half hour, the headlines cant just be shorter versions of the main bulletin You will have to rework them and create a stronger headline that tells more of the story in fewer words in one short sentence

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

5: Deliver fresh material

Always reorder

You may also want to use the half hour bulletin to add stories that you could not or did not want to include in the main bulletin However, if you choose that kind of presentation format, make sure that you stick to this pattern so that your audience knows what to expect
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Radio bulletins 10 tips

5: Deliver fresh material

Editorial justification

Dont change your format randomly as this will confuse your audience A confused audience may switch channels to a place where there is less confusion

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

6: Radio needs sounds

Not just your voice

Sound bites are important A longer news bulletin becomes a lot more attractive for audiences if you include short sound bites This can be a five- or 10second audio clip from an interview or sounds from the scene of an incident

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

6: Radio needs sounds

But only the right sound

Such sound bites can make your bulletin easier to listen to, more authoritative, more credible and more interesting for the listener However, all sounds have to have an editorial reason for being there You should not fill with sound clips that distracts
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Radio bulletins 10 tips

7: Storytelling

Short stories works best

Write news stories as if you were telling the story to a friend This means: short, simple and straightforward sentences The majority will be listening on the move and won't be able to rewind the bulletin

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

7: Storytelling

Avoid verbiage

Crafting complex information into a simple sentence is a skill Dont obscure the essential facts with verbiage Short, simple and straightforward sentences are required

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

8: Writing style

Avoid verbiage

The bulletin is a compilation of short, but powerful stories This makes it much easier for people to grasp the information Writing for radio is one of the most challenging journalistic disciplines

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

8: Writing style

Small and effective packaging

Long, heavy sentences may work for print but they dont work for radio audiences Remember subject, verb, object Fact, fact, fact Don't try to be clever. Use words that make most sense and can be understood by all

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

9: Concise

Summing up the main points

If you are putting together a longer bulletin (e.g. seven minutes or more), you may want to end the bulletin with a brief recap of the main stories This can help audiences recall the top stories and/or other relevant information

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

10: Be honest

Only broadcast facts

If you dont believe what you have written and what you are saying your audience wont either Make sure you are honest in how you describe situations and events Dont sensationalise; it will damage your credibility and integrity

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

Acknowledgement

Beat Witschi

Using material from a training module by Beat Witschi Media Helping Media

http://www.mediahelpingmedia.org/

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Radio bulletins 10 tips

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