Unit 2 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Unit 2 BA (JMC) 203 L: 12

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Programme Formats
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Lesson 1 2
Radio Announcement and Links
Lesson 2 11
Radio Talk
Lesson 3 14
Radio Interview and Discussion

Lesson 4 22
Radio News
Lesson 5 31
Radio Feature and Documentary

Lesson 6 41
Radio Commentary

Lesson 7 47
Radio Play/Drama
Lesson 8 52
Radio Ads (Social and Commercial)
Lesson 9 57
Phone-in and Radio Bridge

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Unit 2, Lesson 1 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Lesson 1
Radio Announcement and Links

Introduction
Oral communication is an elementary urge of every human being. Radio ‘speaks’ to people. It
‘sings’ in their ears. It communicates in the language, diction and nuances of the people for whom
it is meant. It informs, educates and entertains. It lets the listeners ‘see through their ears’. It is
companion medium. The medium (radio) provides a challenging platform to broadcasters-because
the mass to whom they address are demographically heterogeneous, anonymous to each other-
even very often to the communicator. All these factors engage the broadcaster in creating content
and planning a format in which the communicator intends to establish a connection with the
listener. Think of the different types of programmes you have heard on radio. You would probably
remember film songs, phone in programmes, talks, discussions, news, cricket commentaries etc.
These different types of programmes are called formats.

Radio Format

When you read a popular magazine, you will come across various things. There will be an
attractive cover, advertisements of different products, stories or articles on issues ranging from
politics to sports and cinema, interviews and other features. Similarly, a radio station also
broadcasts programmes of different types. Think of the different types of programmes you have
heard on radio. You would probably remember film songs, phone in programmes, talks,
discussions, news, cricket commentaries etc. These different types of programmes are called
formats.

Factors to be taken into account for making a radio programme

Think of the village or town in which you live. You find people belonging to all Communities men
and women, rich and poor. Radio plays a very important role in the lives of the people of India.
Though there are plenty of rich people and highly developed cities, a majority of our people are
poor and a large number of them cannot read or write. So the only medium that can really reach
them to inform, educate and entertain is the radio. Radio stations especially those run by the
government perform a public service duty.
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Unit 2, Lesson 1 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

The requirements of listeners of radio stations are not the same. To serve them, we need to know
many facts about them. Let us make a list of what we should know about the audience:

(a) Number of people — i.e. the total population of the area.

(b) Number of men and women — Sex ratio

(c) Literate people/Illiterate people

(d) The languages spoken in the area.

(e) Schools/Colleges

(f) Children going to school

(g) Health facilities — availability of doctors, primary health centre, clinics, hospitals.

(h) Any major diseases

(i) Religions in the area-population wise

(j) Power supply

(k) Nearest radio stations/Television stations

(l) Climate of the place

(m) Main occupation of the people

(n) Income per head/people below poverty line

(o) Roads/transport facilities

(p) Irrigation facilities

(q) Number of people engaged in agriculture/other occupations.

(r) Types of crops.

You can add many more issues to this list. We need to know these facts to decide the language,
the type of broadcast, timing of programmes etc. Radio formats therefore are decided on the basis
of the needs of the audience.

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Unit 2, Lesson 1 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Processing information and creating content is just like a recipe for utilising ingredients (Spoken
word, Music, Sound Effect & Silence) to prepare a programme. Like all other medium competing to
draw the attention of customers, radio has also devised various appealing ‘formats’ which are
further innovated by creative broadcasters to deliver the content to the best satisfaction of
listeners.

Most of what is spoken on radio is written down. What is written for radio is heard and is referred
to as ‘spoken word’ as against the ‘written word’. But the spoken words on radio is written down or
what is generally called ‘scripted’.

A Radio format can be split into three parts: They are:-

(a) Spoken Word or Human Voice

(b) Music

(c) Sound Effects

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Unit 2, Lesson 1 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Radio Announcement

This is straight information given to individual listeners or group of listeners. Programme summary,
slogans, weather reports and outlook, railway time, government plans and policies etc. are
covered under announcements. These announcements are re-drafted from the original texts
received for better comprehension. Announcement is specifically written clear messages to inform.

They can be of different types. For example station/programme identification. These programmes
mention the station you are tuned into, the frequency, the time and the programme/song you are
going to listen to. These days, these announcements have become informal and resemble
ordinary conversations. There can be more than one presenter in some programmes like
magazines.

“The art of announcement is not the art of speaking. It is the art of talking”. Radio
announcements are also spoken at the beginning and end of a programme. Public Service
Announcements are an example of radio announcements.

Public Service Announcement (PSA)

Radio announcements are also known as public service announcement (PSA) or public service ad
is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media. Or Public service
announcements, or PSA's, are short messages produced on film, video, or audiocassette and
given to radio and television stations. Whereas the objective of a standard advertisement is to
market a product, a PSA is intended to benefit the public interest, by raising awareness of an
issue, affecting public attitudes, and potentially stimulating action. In commercial radio, public
service announcements (PSAs) flood in literally every day. You should adopt a standardized style
in presenting these announcements to the audience of your station.

Radio, more than any other medium of mass communication reaches more than 95% of the public
and hence its use in making PSA is more effective than that of newspapers and television. If
PSAs are carefully and precisely worded for broadcast over the radio medium, they are likely to
reach a large segment of our population and to be equally well understood by it. Communications
which urge its audience to implement or support some kind of social or economic cause deemed
beneficial by the consensus of the general public is Public Service Advertising.

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Unit 2, Lesson 1 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Sample of Opening Announcement

Opening Announcement for a Cricket Match:

“This is All India Radio.

This is the Delhi Station of All India Radio.

We now take you over to Rose Bowl Stadium, Southampton, England for the live broadcast of the
first day’s play of Fourth Cricket Test Match being played between India and England.

Our Commentators are Praksh Wakantkar and Dr. Milind Tipnis in English & Vineet Garg and
Dileep Doshi in Hindi.

Our Scorer is Jatin Sood and Statistician M. Venkat Balreddy.

Over to Commentary Team”

Closing Announcement for a Cricket Match:

“You had been listening to the live commentary of the Fourth Cricket Test match being played
between India and England at Rose Bowl Stadium, Southampton, England.

Our Commentators were Praksh Wakantkar and Dr. Milind Tipnis in English & Vineet Garg and
Dileep Doshi in Hindi.

Our Scorer was Jatin Sood and Statistician M. Venkat Balreddy.

May we remind our listeners that All India Radio will broadcast the live commentary of the second
day’s play of Fourth Cricket Test match being played between India and England at Rose Bowl
Stadium, Southampton, England tomorrow from 3:15 pm onwards on the same frequencies.

This broadcast came to you from the Delhi Station of All India Radio.”

Types of PSA

We can look at the theme from three aspects-regular PSA, current PSA and Public Service Campaign.
They all deal with affairs related to our daily living, social issues and information on essential
matters. Over the radio, these PSAs reach out to all segments of society all over the country. For
the PSAs to make an impact on the listeners and for them to be effective, the time of broadcast,
and its duration are of considerable importance and the message has to be precise and in
unambiguous terms.

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Unit 2, Lesson 1 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Regular PSA: While preparing the text for such announcements, care is to be taken to provide
correct information and details so as to leave no doubt in the minds of the listeners.
For Instance- Employment News, Weather bulletin, Market rates/ Bazaar rates, Announcement of
new policies, programmes and proposals on important days, Book reviews and Highlights of the
day's broadcast programmes.

Current PSA: On the Radio, there are specific times allotted to such PSAs. Usually these
announcements are sandwiched between two programmes i.e., at the conclusion of a programme
and before the commencement of the next programme. Under this category, information and
announcements relating to basic daily amenities are given:

 Water supply at low pressure in certain areas

 Warning about weather-floods/storm/ hurricane/ Earthquake etc.

 Latest sports results

 Blood donation for a patient in need in a hospital

Public Service Announcements / Campaigns: This does not provide information, but is more in
the nature of persuasion. The aim is to make the listeners aware of certain basic issues and
principles governing the health and welfare of the society. For example, given below are a few of
such PSAs:

 Use/ Waste of water

 Observation of traffic rules

 Blood donation

 Eye donation

 Family welfare

 Health and Environment

 Wild Life

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Audience Research: For a successful campaign on radio, audience research has to be made at
frequent intervals with reference to important announcements. The research should relate to:-

 The area covered by the broadcast.

 The degree of clarity of the message in its apprehension by the audience.

 The percentage of audience who listen to the message.

 What special groups have felt its impact?

 The utility value of such PSAs.

Scripting a PSA

The following points are to be borne when preparing the announcement:

 Easy language simple and direct sentences

 Precise and clear diction

 A certain degree of friendly appeal without being casual and informal

While writing slogans, the following points have to be kept in mind:

 Extreme precision

 Clarity of expression

 Appeal to emotion

 Friendly intimacy

Examples of Slogans

Helmet wearing- “Accidents get either your head or your helmet” and "Keep your head Wear your
helmet".

Eye donation- “All that stands between darkness and him is your signature”

Blood donation- “Your blood...Someone’s life-blood".

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Advantages of PSA's

1) PSA's are generally inexpensive. Since the airtime is donated, your only cost is production. If
you keep to a tight budget, you can make PSA's very cheaply.

2) Most stations will allow you to include a telephone number for more information in your PSA.

3) PSA's tend to be really effective at encouraging the audience to do something -- for example,
call a phone number for more information, use condoms, or have your pet spayed or neutered.

4) PSA's can raise awareness of your issue.

Writing for Public service announcement (PSA):

Decide upon and clarify the purpose of your PSA. What are your goals here? What do you want to
accomplish by putting a PSA on the air?

Target your audience: What type of people are you hoping to reach through your PSA? This will
help you focus in both your desired media outlets, and also upon your PSA content. Survey your
media outlets to best reach that audience: That means that you need to know what media outlets
are available in your particular geographic area.

Prioritize your media outlets: That is, you need to know which outlets your target audience is
most likely to prefer. For example, is your audience more likely to tune in to the 24-hour country
music station than to the one that plays mostly golden oldies? If so, then you point toward the
country music outlet.

Choose points to focus on: Don't overload the viewer or listener with too many different
messages. List all the possible messages you'd like to get into the public mind, and then decide on
the one or two most vital points. For example, if your group educates people about asthma, you
might narrow it down to a simple focus point like, "If you have asthma, you shouldn't smoke."

Brainstorm: This is also a good time to look at the PSA's that others have done for ideas. Get
together with your colleagues to toss around ideas about ways you can illustrate the main point(s)
you've chosen. If possible, include members of your target group in this process. If you're aiming
your PSA at African-American youth, for example, be sure to invite some African-American youth
to take part in brainstorming.

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Unit 2, Lesson 1 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Check your facts: It's extremely important for your PSA to be accurate. Any facts should be
checked and verified before sending the PSA in. Is the information up to date? If there are any
demonstrations included in the PSA, are they done clearly and correctly?

Identify a "hook”: A hook is whatever you use to grab the listener or viewer's attention. How are
you going to keep them from changing the channel or leaving the room or letting their attention
drift when your PSA comes on? A hook can be something funny, it can be catchy music, it can be
a shocking statistic.

Links

What do you say between items? One must get away from the ‘that was, this is’ approach. The
last item may need an explanatory back-announcement and the real question is whether there is a
logical progression between that and the next item. If not, because you are going into the weather
forecast, then it’s better not to try and contrive one. On the other hand, it helps the programme
flow if there is a natural and easy way of moving from one scene to the next. Do the items have
anything in common? Consider the function of mortar in building a house. Does it keep the bricks
apart or hold them together? It does both, of course, and so it is with the presenter. Rather than
make the programme seem jerky and disconnected, presenters do well to make such transitions
as smooth as possible – even by going into an ident or time check.

Some presenters do well to ad lib, to do everything off the cuff, but it has to be said that for most of
us the preparation of interesting, informative, humorous, provocative, friendly or insightful current
remarks or comments in the links takes thinking about. This is where the style of the programme
comes from. The links more than anything else give substance rather than waffle.

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Unit 2, Lesson 2 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Lesson 2
Radio Talk

Introduction
This format may appear to be very simple. But in practice. It is the most difficult format in radio.
The radio talk probably is the oldest format on radio. There has been a tradition in India and Britain
to invite experts or prominent persons to speak for 10 or 15 minutes on a specific topic. These
talks have to go through a process of being changed into radio’s spoken word style. Over the
years, these long radio talks have become unpopular. Instead, today, shorter duration i.e 5-6
minutes talks are broadcast. These talks only on public service broadcasting stations. Radio talks
are not public speeches; rather, they are chats with a friend who does not see you, but is
nevertheless close and attentive to you. Radio talks should give the impression to a listener that
the speaker is addressing him or her alone in an informal manner.

The words of a radio talk need to be kept simple and familiar, yet descriptive and powerful, and the
sentences short and without dependent clauses and uncomfortable inversions. Care should be
taken to keep close to the rhythm of ordinary speech when writing the talk, and also when
recording it. Radio talks have no definite structure. All that the listener expects from them is that
they should be interesting and informative.

Tips for Radio Talk

Target stations that have Radio talk in their format: It is pointless chasing after FM or music
based stations. Most talkback stations are on the AM band.

Find out what topics and subjects are current, newsworthy & topical: Scan the media for 'Hot
News Topics' that may fit your area of expertise. Remember the goal of radio talk is firstly to help
the station produce interesting and engaging radio for the listener and provide solutions to
listeners' problems.

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Unit 2, Lesson 2 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Be yourself: Your whole self, not just your expert self. Authenticity is as important as authority in
radio. Your voice will be most eloquent and unique if you speak from the core of your being,
blending your knowledge, experience and conviction.

Speak in a moderate tone: Your listeners will be more receptive to your message if it is delivered
in a relaxed and reasonable manner. If you are respectful of your listeners’ intelligence, they will
be more respectful of yours.

Make friends with your host: Even a host with an opposing point of view can be won over by a
genial guest and may end up defending your right to express an unpopular view against the
criticisms of more hostile callers.

Listen as carefully as you speak: Most people use the time when others are speaking to think
about what they want to say. In so doing, they miss the information they most need to know to
make an appropriate response.

Address your listening audience directly: Always keep in mind that your real conversation is
with your listeners, not with the host or callers. Visualize them in your mind's eye and turn inwardly
in their direction.

Keep your message simple and repeat it often: Unlike the print media, words spoken on the
radio vanish in the moment after they are uttered. Keep your message simple, clear, and concise.
Repeat it often enough for it to be remembered.

Speak from your heart as well as your mind: Reason alone is not sufficient to persuade most
listeners, particularly on AM radio. Make heart-to-heart contact with your audience.

Let your passion be felt in your voice: Passion carries well on the radio, which unlike television
is a warm medium. Return to the roots of your commitment to your work and speak from that
conviction.

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Avoid long pauses: Radio abhors silence. The pauses that punctuate a face to- face
conversation come across on the air as mere blank space in the absence of any visual clues.
Phrases like "Well..." and "You know..." can be used to buy time while you figure out what you
want to say.

Use anecdotes whenever possible to illustrate your points: Radio is an oral medium and
stories are an oral tradition. Use them to humanize your arguments and give abstract issues a
tangible form.

Avoid jargon and specialized language: Visualize your audience not as colleagues at a seminar
or Congresspersons at a hearing but as fellow passengers on the bus or in line at the checkout
counter. How would you communicate with them? Speak simply and straightforwardly but never
down to your audience.

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Unit 2, Lesson 3 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Lesson 3
Radio Interview and Discussion

Introduction
The aim of an interview is to provide, in the interviewee's own words, facts, reasons or opinions on
a particular topic so that the listener can form a conclusion as to the validity of what she/he is
saying. It follows from this definition that the opinions of the interviewer are not to be counted here
and that he should not get drawn into answering the question himself/herself.

Within the present definition, it is the interviewee who must come through in the programme and
not the interviewer. A good interviewer must necessarily be self-effacing. Spontaneity also adds to
credibility. A rehearsed interview will not only sound 'staged' but 'fixed', if not 'planted'. For this
reasons, though the topic may be discussed beforehand, the actual questions should not be
provided in advance. The interviewer acts on behalf of the listener in that she/he asks the
interviewee what the listeners want to know. Not just that, but also what the listener would ask if
she/ he knew as much about the interviewee as the interviewer knows. In this sense, most
significantly, the interviewer is several steps ahead of the listener. The interview is an ideal
opportunity to provide not only what the listener wants to know but what the listener needs to
know.

This format is to elicit cream from expert or knowledgeable personalities, public figures whose
views and actions affect societal behaviour or development. In a radio interview the important
thing is to encourage the person that you have chosen to interview to give interesting answers.
This means that you will have to be aware that a public radio interview is completely different from
researching or a private chat. A radio interview is always intended for a third party, i.e. the invisible
audience.

Types of Interview
Informational Interview
Obviously, the purpose of the informational interview is to impart information to the listener. The
sequence in which this is done becomes important if the details are to be clear. There may be
considerable discussion beforehand to clarify what information is required and to allow time for the
interviewee to recall or check any statistics.

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Topics for this kind of interview include: the action surrounding a military operation, the events and
decisions made at a union meeting, or the proposals contained in the city’s newly announced
development plan.

Interpretive Interview
The interpretive interview has the interviewer supplying the facts and asking the interviewee either
to comment on them or to explain them. The aim is to expose the reasoning behind decisions and
allow the listener to make a judgement on the implicit sense of values or priorities. Replies to
questions will almost certainly contain statements in justification of a particular course of action
which should themselves also be questioned. The interviewer must be well briefed, alert and
attentive to pick up and challenge the opinions expressed. Examples in this category would be a
government minister on the reasons for an already published economic policy, why the local
council has decided on a particular route for a new road, or views of the clergy on proposals to
amend the divorce laws. The essential point is that the interviewer is not asking for the facts of the
matter, since these will be generally known; rather he or she is investigating the interviewee’s
reaction to the facts. The discussion beforehand may be quite brief, the interviewer outlining the
purpose of the interview and the limits of the subject to be pursued. Since the content is reactive, it
should on no account be rehearsed in its detail.

Emotional Interview
The aim of the emotional interview is to provide an insight into the interviewee’s state of mind so
that the listener may better understand what is involved in human terms. Specific examples would
be the feelings of relatives of people trapped in the debris of an earthquake, the euphoria
surrounding the moment of supreme achievement for an athlete or successful entertainer, or the
anger felt by people involved in an industrial dispute. It is the strength of feeling present rather
than its rationality which is important and clearly the interviewer needs to be very sensitive in
handling such situations. There is praise and acclaim for asking the right question at the right time
in order to illuminate a matter of public interest, even when the event itself is tragic. But quick
criticism follows for being too intrusive into private grief. It is in this respect that the manner of
asking a question is as important as its content, possibly more so.

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Documentary Interview
These different categories of interview are likely to come together in preparing material for a
documentary or feature. First, the facts, background information or sequence of events; then, the
interpretation, meaning or implication of the facts; finally, their effect on people, a personal
reaction to the issue. The documentary interview with, for example, a retired politician will take
time but should be as absorbing for the interviewer as it will be for the listener. The process of
recalling history should surprise, it should throw new light on events and people, and reveal the
character of the person. Each interview is different but two principles remain for the interviewer –
listen hard and keep asking ‘why?’

Personality based Interview

Firstly, there are full-fledged interview programmes. The duration of these may vary from 10
minutes to 30 minutes or even 60 minutes depending up on the topic, and the person being
interviewed. Most of such interviews are personality based. These are long interviews with well-
known people in the field of public life, literature, science, sports, films etc.

Vox Pop
Vox pop’ which is a Latin phrase meaning ‘voice of people’. Here generally just one or two
questions are put across to ordinary people or people with knowledge on some current topic to
measure public opinion. Interviewee or people’s names and identity may not be asked. For
example when the general budget or the railway budget is presented in the parliament, people
representing radio go out and ask the general public about their opinion. You have to be very
inquisitive and hard working to be a radio interviewer with good general awareness and
communication skills.

Preparation before the Interview

Research: Research is crucial. The pertinence of your questions and your capacity to resist being
manipulated depends on how good your research has been.
Making contact beforehand: making contact with the person before the interview should give
your interviewee a better understanding of what is expected of him or her, and in what context the
interview will be used. It also means you can assess whether or not someone will make a good
interviewee.

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Unit 2, Lesson 3 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Preparing the questions: how you prepare your questions will depend on two criteria:
a) Who am I interviewing? A politician, a colleague, the man in the street, an expert, a celebrity.
You will tailor your questions in quite a different way for each.
b) What is it for? A news bulletin, a current affairs programme, a general interest broadcast. The
format and the atmosphere should be adapted for the different types of programme.
Preparing your equipment: Make sure your recorder is working properly (microphone, cable,
tape, cassette, mini-disc, plug, batteries, etc) by doing a quick recording and listening back to it. If
the interview is to take place outdoors, take along a microphone wind-shield.

Interview Techniques
The non-directive interview: Begin with "Tell me about...” never use a question. This approach
leaves the interviewee free to say whatever he or she likes without limiting him or her to the
parameters of your own knowledge of the subject.
You can then go back over the most important points raised, "sum up" each along the lines of "you
were saying...” This method of interviewing is best for bringing out lots information, but it is the
most difficult to master.
The directed interview: Only use questions, more or less open ones. The interviewer knows
about what they are discussing, and sometimes even knows the answer he will get, but needs the
interviewee to confirm the information.
The semi-directed interview: Alternate the questions between those which guide the interview to
where you want to go and those which may invite interesting and enriching elaboration.

Main Types of Questions

Closed questions: Reply is either ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Eg. "Are you in favour of free speech?"
Multiple choice questions: The reply is induced.
Eg. "Are you in favour of the death penalty, or of life imprisonment?"
Semi-open questions: Replies are short and precise.
Eg. These questions in general start with ‘How many?’, ‘Who?’, ‘When?’ and ‘Where?’
Open questions: Detailed replies open to explanation and justification, etc.
Eg. "What do you think about free speech?"

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Tips for conducting an Interview

• The technical aspects must be constantly monitored.
• The aims of the interview must always be kept in mind.
• The supplementary question – it is vital that the interviewer is not so preoccupied with the
next question as to fail to listen to what the interviewee is saying.
• The timing of the interview must be strictly adhered to. This is true whether the interview is
to be of half an hour or two minutes.
• To obtain sufficient briefing and background information on the subject and the interviewee.
• To have a detailed knowledge of what the interview should achieve, and at what length.
• To know what the key questions are.
• By anticipating likely responses, to have ready a range of supplementary questions.
• Know the guest before his arrival and ensure the topic and area of interest
• Do not submit question in advance but discuss the area of question with the guest
• Make the guest feel at home
• Do not pre-interview the guest to keep intact spontaneity
• Never refer conversation held before recording
• Do not interrupt with meaningless comments
• Avoid questions that invite ‘yes’, ‘no’ answers

Radio Discussion
The radio discussion usually involves several participants and moderator. The discussions are
usually over issues and events that are of some importance to the common man. Radio
discussions could be on any subject: politics, medicine, science, sports, literature, polymer
engineering or any other topic. More specifically, it could be on:
 "Introducing new fertilizers"
 “The contemporary relevance of Jazz"
 “The use of computers in the railway system".
 "Public apathy to eve-teasing".
 "Big-money in Cricket"
 "Relevance of Media Autonomy", etc.

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Through a discussion we can find out a solution to problems. In any discussion there are more
than 2 or 3 people and then ideas can be pooled to come to some conclusion. In radio, this
technique is used to let people have different points of view on matters of public concern.
Radio discussions are produced when there are social or economic issues which may be
controversial. So when different experts meet and discuss such issues, people understand
various points of view.

Generally, these discussions on radio are of longer duration-say 15 to 30 minutes. Two or three
people who are known for their views and a well-informed senior person or journalist who acts as
a moderator take part and discuss a particular topic for about 30 minutes. The moderator
conducts the discussion, introduces the topic and the participants and ensures that everyone gets
enough time to speak and all issues are discussed. The topic for a broadcast debate should be a
matter in which there is genuine public interest or concern. The aim is for the listener to hear
argument and counter-argument expressed in conversational form by people actually holding
those views with conviction. The broadcaster can then remain independent.

Having taken up a specific subject, radio discussions can debate, interpret, explain or even
investigate a certain issue or event. A radio discussion cannot and should not be fully scripted.
This of course, does not mean that the programme should proceed any old way. It has to be very
carefully structured by the moderator. First, the participants have to be chosen with great care.
They should be well informed on whatever subject they are called upon to speak and should be
willing to be disciplined in their presentation under the direction of the moderator. Indiscipline
participants can ruin the whole discussion by projecting their point-of-view at the expense of
others. This is a common phenomenon when politicians are asked to speak.

Some party loyalists look upon a discussion as an opportunity to 'give the party line' and 'floor
opponents'. Usually these people end up cutting a very sorry figure. A good participant listens,
awaits his turn and chooses to debate instead of argue. Similarly, a moderator should be non-
partisan. She/he should not be partisan (at least in his/her role as a moderator) and ensure that
everyone has an equal chance to speak.

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She/he should refrain from weighing heavily onto any one side. "Well, I must say I agree with
you...” or "I disagree with you completely...” are not the kind of statements that should figure at all.
Nobody is interested in knowing whether the moderator agrees or not. Like the interviewer in the
interview, a moderator is only a catalyst. It's the participants of the discussion who are more
important.

Research plays an important role in organizing a discussion. The producer of a discussion has not
only to study the subject being discussed but make an intelligent choice of participants. The
participants need not be 'experts' in the formal sense of the word but should have some reason for
being on the panel. Some students of mine once did a programme on the impact of advertising
when they interviewed a famous painter. It was evident in the programme that the painter did not
have anything special to say on the subject. When asked why they chose to have the painter,
they replied: "Because he is famous". There is no rule that says that famous people know
everything about anything. If the discussion has to have credibility, the participants must be
chosen with great care.

Tips for conducting a Radio Discussion

• Introduce the topic briefly and comprehensively
• Clarify the focus of the discussion
• Introduce the participants and clarify why they are eligible to speak on the issue
• Present a question or statement
• Choose a participant to respond to it
• Go round the table to make sure that everybody gets a chance to speak
• Bring together differing points of view in interesting juxtapositions
• Encourage the participants to speak by being interested.
• The subject must be researched and the essential background information gathered and
checked.
• Accepting the existence of an opposite view and logically explaining why you believe it to
be wrong is one of the best ways of sounding convincing on radio
• The moderator should have everyone’s name, and his or her designation, written down so
as to be clearly visible – it is amazing how easy it is for one’s mind to go blank, even when
you know someone well.
• After having an opinion strongly expressed, that speaker should not be allowed to continue
for too long before another view of the matter is introduced.

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• The moderator must obtain clarification of any technical jargon or specialist language which
a contributor may use.
• The chairman has to watch for, and correct, alterations in the balance of voices that was
obtained before the programme began.
• It is rarely desirable for the chairman to attempt a summing-up.
• If a summary is required, it is often better to invite each speaker to have a ‘last word’.

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Unit 2, Lesson 4 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Lesson 4
Radio News

Introduction
The public, in any society, gets most of its information on current affairs through the various media
of mass communication - such as the newspapers, magazines, radio, television, documentary
films and occasionally even through motion pictures. But the effectiveness of any single medium
for the dissemination of information is related to certain inherent characteristics of the medium.
For example, print medium can be effective only if people are literate. They should also have the
money to buy the dailies and magazines which are priced high in a developing country like India.
In the countries with high illiteracy rates and with low average family incomes, the print medium
has not served well as a means of mass communication. In the case of Television, the cost factor
is prohibitively high for the majority of the rural poor to buy a T.V. unless rural community centres
are activated and galvanised to help the poor towards T.V. viewing, T.V. will remain the monopoly
of the urbans. Nevertheless both T V. and Radio score over the print medium.

First, with receiving sets in about 60% of Indian urban homes, radio and television can reach a
majority of the urban listeners. Secondly, because of the existence of national network, radio and
television cut across regional barriers. Thirdly, in broadcasting news and in the coverage of special
events, radio and television have a distinct time advantage over the print media. Broadcasting
stations can provide up to the minute-news, almost as it happens, while there is a delay of several
hours before a newspaper can bring a news item to its readers. Moreover, it is axiomatic that in a
democratic country - like ours - citizens who participate in the political process should be well
informed.

What is News?
The best short definition of news is ‘that which is new, interesting and true’. ‘New’ in that it is an
account of events that the listener has not heard before – or an update of a story previously
broadcast. ‘Interesting’ in the sense of the material being relevant, or directly affecting the
audience in some way. ‘True’, because the story as told is factually correct.

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News pertains to some recent event which is a matter of interest to readers or listeners. Also,
news implies new or the latest information. News relates to information from North, East, West and
South. There are many definitions of the term "News". These Scripting for News definitions can be
summed up thus:
"News is anything that is timely and significant to readers in respect of their personal
affairs or their relation to society, and the best news is that which possesses the greatest
degree of this interest and significance for the greatest number."

News should be
 Accurate
 Timely
 of interest to 'the public
 Significant in relation to matters of interest to the greatest number of people and
 Unbiased in its account or events or affairs.

Most of the definitions of "news" repeat that news is of interest to the public. The interest,
however, differs from person to person and place to place. The two important things about news
are its immediacy and authenticity.

Elements of News
News is built on some news values which you should know. These news values are the basis on
which journalists decide whether or not an event is news. There are millions of 'events' which take
place every day. Only those few events which have at least one of the following criteria can be
classified as news.

Impact: Events that affect people's live5 are classified as news. The event itself may involve only
a few people, but the consequence5 may be wide-ranging. For example, if the Parliament passes
a bill to raise taxes or if a researcher discovers a cure for a form of cancer, both are significant
events that have a wide ranging impact. Hence these events are to be classified as news.

Timeliness: Timeliness is a value common to almost all news stories. It refers to the recency of
an event. Without the elements of timeliness, most events cannot be considered news.
For example, a trial that occurred last year is not news; a trial that is going on presently is news.
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Unit 2, Lesson 4 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Prominence: Prominent people, sometimes even when they do trivial things, make news. The
actions and speeches of the Prime Minister of India are important to us in India. But they will not
be news in USA or U.K. Wherever the P.M. takes a trip - even for purely personal and private
reasons - his movements are covered in great detail by the news media of India. Anything he does
is likely to have an impact on the country, and people are very interested in his actions.
Movie stars, famous politicians, advocates of social causes, sports personalities all these people
make news simply because they are well known.

Proximity: Events that occur close to home are more likely to be news than the same events that
occurred elsewhere. For example, a car accident killing two persons that happens on a road in our
town is more likely to be reported in the local news media than the same kind of accident which
occurs 1,000 miles away. We are interested in the things that happen around us.

Conflict: When people disagree, when they fight, when they have arguments - that is news,
particularly if one of the other news values, such as prominence, is involved. This is more on the
nature of controversy such as Narmada Project where the environmentalists are up in arms
against the construction of the Tehri Dam or the Ram Janma Bhoomi-Babri Masjid controversy.

The bizarre or unusual: A rare event is sometimes considered news. Like the sighting of a new
star or planet or a new form of bloodless surgery with the help of laser technology or the birth of a
three headed baby.

Current: Issues that have current interest often have news value and events surrounding those
issues can sometimes be considered news. For example, a conference on medical technology will
be of interest to medical practitioners, but not to journalists, unless the discussion topic were "The
Morality of Abortion". Then the news value of the conference will change and there will be a
number of journalists covering it.

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Unit 2, Lesson 4 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Radio News
Among all the spoken word formats on radio, news is the most popular. News bulletins and news
programmes are broadcast every hour by radio stations. In India, only All India Radio is allowed to
broadcast news. Duration of news bulletins vary from 5 minute to 15 and 30 minutes. The longer
news bulletins have interviews, features, reviews and comments from experts. Events of global,
national, regional and local importance having general bearing on public interest are included in
the news bulletins broadcast at intervals. These are broadcast live. Since the time is limited, a
brief account of selected events/views is covered in the news. Radio news broadcasting can be a
challenge because it is format that has its own rules. First and for most, radio news scripts are
written for listeners, not readers or viewers.

Some other News Values

• Important – events and decisions that affect the world, the nation, the community, and
therefore me.
• Contentious – an election, war, court case, where the outcome is yet unknown.
• Dramatic – the size of the disaster, accident, earthquake, storm, robbery.
• Geographically near (Proximity) – the closer it is, the smaller it needs to be to affect me.
• Culturally relevant – I may feel connected to even a distant incident if I have something in
common with it.
• Immediate – events rather than trends.
• Novel – the unusual or coincidental as they affect people.

Presentation of Radio News

Presentation is radio’s packaging. It hardly matters how good a programme’s content, how well
written or how excellent its interviews, it comes to nothing if it is poorly presented. It is like taking a
beautiful perfume and marketing it in a medicine bottle.

Good presentation stems from an understanding of the medium and a basically caring attitude
towards the listener. The broadcaster at the microphone should consciously care whether or not
the listener can follow and understand what he or she is saying. If a newsreader or presenter is
prone to the destructive effect of studio nerves, it is best to ‘think outwards’, away from yourself.
This also helps to counter the complacency of overfamiliarity and is therefore more likely to
communicate meaning. Since it’s not possible to know the listener personally, adopt the
relationship of an acquaintance rather than that of a friend.
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Unit 2, Lesson 4 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

The news presenter is friendly, respectful, informative and helpful. You know you have something
to offer the listener, but this advantage is not used to exercise a knowledgeable superiority or by
assuming any special authority. The relationship is a horizontal one. We refer to ‘putting
something across’, not down or up. In informing the listener, we do not presume on the
relationship but work at it, always taking the trouble to make what is being said interesting – and
sound interesting – by ourselves being interested.

Of course, news reading tends to be more formal than a music programme, but there is room for a
variety of approaches. Whatever the overall style of the station, governed by its basic attitude to
the listener, it should be fairly consistent. While the sociologist may regard radio as a mass
medium, the person at the microphone sees it as an individual communication – talking to
someone. Thinking of the listener as one person, it’s better to say ‘If you’re travelling south today
…’ not ‘anyone travelling south …’ the presenter does not shout. If you are half a metre from the
microphone and the listener is a metre from the radio, the total distance between you is one and a
half metres. What is required is not volume but an ordinary clarity. Too much projection causes the
listener psychologically to ‘back off’ – it distances the relationship. Conversely, by dropping his or
her voice, the presenter adopts the confidential or intimate style more appropriate to the closeness
of late night listening.

The simplest way of getting the style, projection and speed right is to visualize the listener sitting in
the studio a little way beyond the microphone. The presenter is not alone reading, but is talking
with the listener.

The script must not come between the broadcaster and the listener. The listener should feel that
he or she is being spoken to – not read to. The script needs to be written for talking aloud and the
vocal inflections and stresses kept as natural as the broadcaster’s own speech.

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The seven Ps of News reading

Here are the recognized basics of good presentation:
1 Posture: Is the sitting position comfortable, to allow good breathing and movement? Cramped
or slouching posture does not generally make for an easy alertness.
2 Projection: Is the amount of vocal energy being used appropriate to the programme?
3 Pace: Is the delivery correct? Too high a word rate can impair intelligibility or cause errors.
4 Pitch: Is there sufficient rise and fall to make the overall sound interesting? Too monotonous a
note can quickly become very tiring to listen to. However, animation in the voice should be used to
convey natural meaning rather than achieve variety for its own sake. So, even if the pitch varies, is
it forming a predictable repetitive pattern?
5 Pause: Are suitable silences used intelligently to separate ideas and allow understanding to
take place?
6 Pronunciation: Can the reader cope adequately with worldwide names and places? If a
presenter is unfamiliar with people in the news, or musical terms in other languages, it may be
helpful to teach the basics of phonetic guidelines.
7 Personality: The sum total of all that communicates from microphone to loudspeaker, how
does the broadcaster come over? What is the visual image conjured up? Is it appropriate to the
programme?

Essentials of presenting Radio News

Vocal stressing: An important aspect of conveying meaning, about which a script generally gives
no clue at all, is that of stress – the degree of emphasis laid on a word. Take the phrase: ‘What do
you want me to do about that?’

With the stress on the ‘you’, it is a very direct question; on the ‘me’, it is more personal to the
questioner; on the ‘do’, it is a practical rather than a theoretical matter; on the ‘that’, it is different
again. It’s meaning changes with the emphasis. In reading news such subtleties can be crucial.

Listening to newsreaders it is possible to discern a widespread belief that there is a universal news
style, where speed and urgency have priority over meaning, where the emphasis is either on every
word or scattered in a random fashion, but always on the last word in every sentence. Does it
stem from the journalist’s need for clarity when dictating copy over the phone? The fact is that a
single misplaced emphasis will cloud the meaning, possibly alter it.

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The only way of achieving correct stressing is by fully understanding the implications as well as
the ‘face value’ of the material. This must be a conscious awareness during the preparatory read-
through. As has been rightly observed, ‘take care of the sense and the sounds will take care of
themselves’.

Quotation marks: Reading quotes is a minor art on its own. It is easy to sound as though the
comment is that of the newsreader, although the writing should avoid this construction.
Some examples: While an early bulletin described his condition as ‘comfortable’, by this afternoon
he was ‘weaker’. (This should be rewritten to attribute both quotes.)
The opposition leader described the statement as ‘a complete fabrication designed to mislead’.
He later argued that he had ‘never seen’ the witness.
To make someone else’s words stand out as separate from the newsreader’s own, there is a small
pause and a change in voice pitch and speed for the quote.

Lists and numbers: The reading of a list can create a problem. A table of sports results, stock
market shares or a shipping forecast – these can sound very dull. Again, the first job for the reader
is to understand the material, to take an interest in it, so as to communicate it. Second, the
inexperienced reader must listen to others, not to copy them, but to pick up the points in their style
that seem right to use. There are particular inflections in reading this material which reinforce the
information content. With football results, for example, the voice can indicate the result as it gives
the score. The overall style is not one of ‘reading’ – it is much more akin to ‘telling’.

Corrections: But what happens when a mistake is made? Continue and ignore it or go back and
correct it? When is an apology called for? It depends, of course, on the type of error. There is the
verbal slip which it is quite unnecessary to do anything about, a misplaced emphasis, a wrong
inflection, a word which comes out in an unintended way. The key question is: ‘Could the listener
have misconstrued my meaning?’ If so, it must be put right. If there is a persistent error, or a
refusal of a word to be pronounced at all, it is better to restart the whole sentence. Since ‘I’m sorry
I’ll read that again’ has become a cliché, something else might be preferred – ‘I’m sorry, I’ll repeat
that’ or ‘Let me take that again’. It is whatever comes most naturally to the unflustered reader. To
the broadcaster it can seem like the end of the world – it is not. Even if the listener has noticed it,
what is needed is simply a correction with as little fuss as possible.

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Station style: Radio managers become paranoid over the matter of station style. They will regard
any misdemeanour on-air as a personal affront, especially if they instituted the rule that should
have been observed. It’s nevertheless true that a consistent station sound aids identification. It
calls for some discipline, particularly in relation to the frequently used phrases to do with time.
Is it 3.25 or 25 past 3? Is it 3.40 or 20 minutes to 4? Is it 1540? Dates: is it ‘May the eleventh’, ‘the
eleventh of May’ or ‘May eleven’? Frequencies, Find out the station policy and stick to it – even
when sending in an audition tape, use the form you hear on-air. A frequent rule of presentation is
‘never say goodbye’. It’s an invitation for the listener to respond and switch off. At the end of a
programme the presenter hands over to someone else – you (the station) never give the
impression of going away, even for a commercial break. Further, the presenter joins the listener,
not the other way round. ‘It’s good to be with you’ is a subtle form of service, whereas ‘Thank you
for joining me’ is more of an ego-trip for the presenter. The station should go to the bother of
reaching out to its listeners, not expect them to come to it.

Maintaining Continuity: Presenting a sequence of programmes, giving them continuity, acting as

the voice of the station, is very similar to being the host of a magazine programme responsible for
linking different items. The job is to provide a continuous thread of interest even though there are
contrasts of content and mood. The presenter makes the transition by picking up in the style of the
programme that is finishing, so that by the time he or she has done the back announcements and
given incidental information, station identification and time check, everything is ready to introduce
the next programme in perhaps quite a different manner. Naturally, to judge the mood correctly it’s
necessary to do some listening. It is no good coming into a studio with under a minute to go,
hoping to find the right piece of paper so as to get into the next programme, without sounding
detached from the whole proceedings.

A station like this might as well be automated. If there is time at programme breaks, trail an
upcoming programme – not the next one, since you are going to announce that in a moment. The
most usual style is to trail the ‘programme after next’, but do so in a compelling and attractive way
so as to retain the interest of the listener – perhaps by using an intriguing clip from the programme
If the trail is for something further ahead, then make this clear – ‘Now looking ahead to tomorrow
night …’. Continuity presentation requires a sensitivity to the way a programme ends, to leave just
the right pause, to continue with a smile in the voice or whatever is needed.

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Develop a precise sense of timing, the ability to talk rather than ‘waffle’, for exactly 15 seconds, or
a minute and a half. A good presenter knows it is not enough just to get the programmes on the
air, the primary concern is the person at the end of the system.

Tips for presenting Radio News

• Don’t eat sweets or chocolate beforehand – sugar thickens the saliva.

• Always have a pen or pencil with you for marking alterations, corrections, emphasis, etc.

• If you wear them, make sure you have your glasses.

• Don’t wear anything that could knock the table or rattle – bangles, cuff-links.

• Place a glass of water near at hand.

• Remove any staples or paper-clips from the script and separate the pages so that you can
deal with each page individually.

• Make sure you have the whole script, check that the pages are in the right order, the right
way up.

• Check the clock, cue light, headphones – for talkback and cue programme and the mic-cut
key if there is one.

• Check your voice level.

• News should be read at 160–200 words per minute but slower for short-wave transmission.

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Unit 2, Lesson 5 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Lesson 5
Radio Feature and Documentary
Radio Feature- An Introduction
Developmental themes, historical perspective, customs, rituals and events of archival value are
normally presented in the formats of documentary and features. While documentaries rely on
factual records, features rely on imagery and emotional creativity with dramatics. So a radio
documentary is a programme based on real sounds and real people and their views and
experiences. Radio documentaries are based on the facts presented in an attractive manner or
dramatically. Radio documentaries are radio’s own creative format. The producer of a
documentary needs to be very creative to use human voice, script, music and sound effects very
effectively. Radio documentaries are also called radio features. Radio has created this format for
itself and is perhaps the most intricate format compared to all other formats.

Among the various radio formats, the format of Features and Documentaries is one of the most
fascinating ones. Radio broadcasters, over the decades, have made imaginative use of this format
and its potential for extending the range of the medium. The term 'feature' is used to indicate both
studio-based features and documentaries. There is a very thin line of separation between a radio
feature and a documentary. The feature is a radio programme, in which emphasis is laid on
imaginative presentation of facts, while documentaries are based on actualities.

The idea of radio documentary is essentially a take-off from documentary films developed by John
Grierson who is considered to be the father of film documentary movement. With the widespread
use of portable tape recorders and later with the introduction of ultra-portable tape recorders
(UPTRs), the radio documentary emerged as a popular radio format. While 'documentation' or
'actuality' is the mainstay of a radio documentary, the radio feature writer can take a lot of creative
freedom. There is also a hybrid form of feature which combines studio material with actuality.
There is scope in a feature for imaginative treatment of facts or even abstract concepts, while a
documentary would confine itself to facts. For example, an imaginary conversation in heaven
between Mahatma Gandhi and Pt. Nehru on what is happening in India today could form the
subject matter of a feature. According to Robert McLeish, the feature need not be wholly true in
the factual sense- it may include folk songs, poetry or drama to help illustrate its theme.

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Whereas the documentary must distinguish carefully between fact and fiction and have a structure
which separates fact from opinion, the feature programme does not have the same formal
constraints. Here all possible radio forms meet: poetry, music, voices, sounds – the weird and the
wonderful. They combine in an attempt to inform, to move, to entertain or to inspire the listener.
The ingredients may be interview or vox pop, drama or discussion, and the sum total can be fact
or fantasy. A former Head of BBC Features Department, Laurence Gilliam, described the feature
programme as ‘a combination of the authenticity of the talk with the dramatic force of a play, but
unlike the play, whose business is to create dramatic illusion for its own sake, the business of the
feature is to convince the listener of the truth of what it is saying, even though it is saying it in
dramatic form’.

The possible subject material for the feature ranges more widely than the documentary, since it
embraces even the abstract: a programme on the development of language, a celebration of
St Valentine’s Day, the characters of Dickens, a voyage among the stars. Even when all the
source material is authentic and factually correct, the strength of the feature lies more in its impact
on the imagination than in its intellectual truth. Intercut interviews with people who served in the
Colonial Service in India mixed with the appropriate sounds can paint a vivid picture of life as it
was under the British Raj – not the whole truth, not a carefully rounded and balanced documentary
report, it is too wide and complicated a matter to do that in so short a time, but a version of the
truth, an impression. The feature deals not so much with issues but with events, and at its centre
is the ancient art of telling a story.

Types of Features
There are mainly two types of features: narrative features and dramatized features.

Narrative Feature: In Narrative Features, the thread of narration runs through the entire
programme in which dialogues are avoided. It includes extracts from a variety of sources including
books, memoirs, reports, dispatches, library recording etc. Biographical features belong to this
genre. A narrative feature is possible on any subject in which the producer can access material
recorded or printed and create a word picture, through appropriate use of the accessed material
and suitable narration.

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Dramatized Feature: It has the characteristics of drama but unlike plays which deal with fiction, it
aims at imaginative presentation of the facts. It is undertaken when OB recording is difficult to
obtain or is not found necessary. To quote Elwyin Evans, a well-known feature producer of the
BBC "Invented dialogues in the mouth of invented characters sometimes express the essence of a
human situation better than any words one can dig out of real people". A dramatized feature is not
merely a talk script read by three or four voices but there is emphasis on dialogues and
presentation by drama voices.

Steps involved in production of a Radio Feature

• statement of intent
• Planning
• Research
• Script
• Collection of material
• Assembly
• Final editing

Planning of Features
A radio feature, like any other radio programme, has to seize the attention of the audience. For
that, it is crucial that the feature has a strong introduction. The introduction would also depend on
the type of radio technique you adopt. Often sound and music, and not necessarily, the spoken-
word, that can make the beginning of a programme attractive and compelling. You have to use
your creativity and ingenuity to come out with very attractive openings of a radio feature.

Conceptualization is the first stage of planning.

Conceptualization: A radio person has to be on constant search for new ideas for
conceptualizing programmes. The same is true while planning radio features and documentaries.
The producer has to be very observant and look around for ideas for features and documentaries.
While talking to people, interacting with experts, travelling or walking in the streets, bright ideas
may flash across his/her mind which may be useful for developing programmes. Ideas are also
gathered while attending a lecture, watching a play or a sporting event or even while buying things
in the market. Some of the topics may be from your memory, others may stem from an experience
or something you strongly feel about.

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Unit 2, Lesson 5 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Research: At the stage of generating ideas and conceptualizing a programme, you as a producer
have to work on your own. You need to understand the subject and come to grips with it. Very
often, the information, data or document available may not be adequate; hence, research may be
required. Research helps you to cover the relevant and vital aspects or issues involved in their
entirety. It enables you to define the scope and sharpen the focus of the programme. Research
comprises both library research and field research. Library research is collecting material from
books, periodicals and report. Field research includes consulting persons connected with the
subject. In nanny cases, the producer has to double up as a researcher for collecting and collating
information from various sources.

Defining the Scope: A radio programme, as you are aware, essentially seeks to cater to the
needs of the listeners. You should ensure that the topic chosen is not only be relevant to the target
audience but also be comprehensible to them. For this, it is imperative that you yourself have
clarity in ideas about the subject and the treatment you propose to give to the subject. This means
defining the objective and the scope of such programmes. The scope of the programme is not a
detailed write-up. It is a statement of the objectives of the programme. It may contain at the most
about 200 words. It starts with a working title which can be changed later if you come across a
better and a catchier one. If the producer is planning a programme on consumer protection which
is a vast subject, outline the scope of the programme after studying the available material. It helps
in focussing on the core issues, emphasis to be made, facts to be brought out, and persons to be
interviewed etc. Such a systematic approach helps in avoiding waste of efforts.

Plan of Action: After defining the objective of the programme and working on its scope, you have
to chalk out a plan for production process. For the smooth production of a radio feature
documentary, you have to do a lot of paper work. You have to intimate the organization or
individuals concerned about the date and time and schedule of recordings so that the persons are
available at the time of his/her visit. Even if you speak to someone personally or over the
telephone, it is always advisable to write and confirm the appointments so that there are no last
minute glitches.

In radio, deadlines are of great importance. A programme like a feature is generally prepared well
in advance. To beat the deadlines, various actions involved in the production of the programme
need to be drawn out. You must outline a checklist of all these activities, including the sound
effects to be recorded, the interviews to be conducted and the information to be collected.

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In the case of studio based features, you have to prepare the list of recordings available in the
library, material which is to be recorded in the studios, the artistes to be invited for voicing the
script, the date and time of recording etc. For O.B. recording you have to organize the O.B.
equipment, tapes, manpower and transport, dates of OBs, persons to be interviewed, dates of
recording of narration, editing etc.

Scripting of Features: The producer writes the script him/herself or engages an experienced
script writer to write it. The three cardinal principles of spoken-word namely simplicity, lucidity and
euphony are to be kept in view while writing the script. A feature is possible without a single OB
recording as 'inset'. If there is no recorded inset in the programme, the script has to be presented
by two or three drama voices. The script will then lay emphasis on dialogues. However, as we
have already mentioned, a feature script is not a talk script apportioned between two or three
voices to be read, each voice establishes a separate identity.

Production Techniques
The production techniques and sequence are the same as for a documentary – statement of
intent, planning, research, script, collection of material, assembly, final editing. In a documentary
the emphasis is on the collection of the factual material. Here, the work centres on the writing of
the script – a strong storyline, clear visual images, the unfolding of a sequence of events with the
skill of the dramatist, the handling of known facts but still with a feeling of suspense. Some of the
best programmes have come from the producer/writer who can hear the end result begin to come
together even while doing the research. Only through immersion in the subject comes the
qualification to present it to the rest of us. Once again, because of the multiplicity of treatment
possible and the indistinct definitions we use to describe them, an explanatory subtitle is often
desirable.
‘A personal account of …’
‘An examination of …’
‘The story of …’
‘Some aspects of …’
‘A composition for radio on …’

Thus, the purpose of the finished work is less likely to be misconstrued.

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Radio Documentary
A documentary programme is wholly fact, based on documentary evidence – written records,
attributable sources, contemporary interviews and the like. Its purpose is essentially to inform, to
present a story or situation with a total regard for honest, balanced reporting.

Very often, subjects for programmes present themselves as ideas which suddenly become
obvious. They are frequently to do with contemporary issues such as race relations, urban
development, pollution and the environment, or medical research. A programme might explore in
detail a single aspect of one of these subjects that broadly attempts to examine how society copes
with change. Other types of documentary deal with a single person, activity or event – the
discovery of radium, the building of the Concorde aeroplane, the life of a notable figure, or the
work of a particular factory, theatre group or school. Essentially these are all to do with people,
and while statistical and historical fact is important, the crucial element is the human one – to
underline motivation and help the listener understand the prevailing social climate, why certain
decisions were made and what makes people ‘tick’.

The main advantage of the documentary approach over that of the straightforward talk is that the
subject is made more interesting and brought alive by involving more people, more voices and a
greater range of treatment. It should entertain while it informs, and as it illuminates provoke further
thought and concern.

Types of Documentary
Radio Documentary is generally of two types; the informative and investigative.

Informative Documentary: It can be on any subject or theme, person, event, activity or institution
undertaken to widen the horizon of the listeners. It tries to involve the audience both emotionally
as well as intellectually by presenting a wide spectrum of information. The subject can be an
eminent freedom fighter, AIDS awareness, a research institute or the discovery of insulin etc.

Investigative Documentary: As the title itself suggests, Investigative Documentary investigates

some issues. It takes up special problems like street children, bride burning, drug addiction,
corruption in public life, bogus universities etc.

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Steps of making a Documentary

Planning
Following on the initial idea is the question of how long the programme should be. It may be that
the brief is to produce for a 30-minute or one-hour slot, in which case the problem is one of
selection, of finding the right amount of material. Given a subject that is too large for the time
available, a producer has the choice either of dealing with the whole area fairly superficially or
reducing the topic range and taking a particular aspect in greater depth.

Where no overall duration is specified, simply an intent to cover a given subject, the discipline is to
contain the material within a stated aim without letting it become diffuse, spreading into other
areas. For this reason, it is an excellent practice for the producer to write a programme brief in
answer to the questions ‘What am I trying to achieve?’ ‘What do I want to leave with the listener?’
Later on, when deciding whether or not a particular item should be included, a decision is easier in
the light of the producer’s own statement of intent. This is not to say that programmes cannot
change their shape as the production proceeds, but a positive aim helps to prevent this happening
without the producer’s conscious knowledge and consent.

A final point on planning. A producer’s statement of intent should remain fixed, but how that aim is
met may change. Initial plans to reach the goals in a certain way may be altered, if in the course of
production an unforeseen but crucial line of enquiry opens up. The programme material itself will
influence decisions on content.

Research
Having written the basic planning notes, the producer must then make the programme within the
allocated resources of time, money, people, etc. Now the decision is whether to call on a specialist
writer or to write one’s own script. Depending on this will rest the matter of further research –
perhaps it is possible to obtain the services of a research assistant or reference library. The
producer who is working to a well-defined brief knows what is wanted and in asking the right
questions will save both time and money. The principle with documentary work is always as far as
possible to go back to sources, the people involved, eyewitnesses, the original documents and so
on.

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Structure
The main structural decision is whether or not to use a narrator. A linking, explanatory narrative is
obviously useful in driving the programme forward in a logical, informative way. This can provide
most of the statistical fact and the context of the views expressed, and also the names of various
speakers. A narrator can help a programme to cover a lot of ground in a short space of time, but
this is part of the danger, and may give the overall impression of being too efficient, too ‘clipped’ or
‘cold’. The narrator should link and not interrupt, and there will almost certainly not be any need to
use a narrative voice between every contribution. There are styles of documentary programme
which make no use at all of links, but each item flows naturally from one to the next, pointing
forward in an intelligible juxtaposition. This is not easy to do but can often be more atmospheric.

Collecting the material

Much of the material will be gathered in the form of location interviews, if possible while at sea
during a fishing trip. If it has been decided that there will be no narrator, it is important to ensure
that the interviewees introduce themselves – ‘speaking as a trawler owner …’ or ‘I’ve been in this
business now for 30 years …’ they may also have to be asked to bring out certain statistical
information. This may be deleted in the editing, but it is wise to have it in the source material if
there is no obvious way of adding it in a linking script.

Impression and truth

The purpose of using actuality sounds is to help create the appropriate atmosphere. More than
this, for those listeners who are familiar with the subject, recognition of authentic backgrounds and
specific noises increases the programme’s authority. It may be possible to add atmosphere by
using material from sound effects discs. These should be used with great care, since a sound only
has to be identified as ‘not the genuine article’ for the programme’s whole credibility to suffer. The
professional broadcaster knows that many simulated sounds or specially recorded effects create a
more accurate impression than the real thing. The producer concerned not simply with truth but
with credibility may use non-authentic sounds only if they give an authentic impression.

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Music
The current practice is to make little use of music in documentary programmes, perhaps through a
concern that it can too easily generate an atmosphere, which should more properly be created by
real-life voices and situations. However, producers will quickly recognize those subjects that lend
themselves to special treatment. A line from a popular song will sometimes provide a suitably
perceptive comment, and appropriate music can certainly assist the creation of the correct
historical perspective.

Compilation
Having planned, researched and structured the programme, written the basic script and collected
material, the producer must assemble it so as to meet the original brief within the time allotted.
First, a good opening. The start of the programme can gain attention by a strong piece of sound
actuality, or by a controversial or personal statement carefully selected from material that is to be
heard within the programme. It opens ‘cold’ without music or formal introduction preceded only by
a time check and station identification. An opening narration can outline a situation in broad factual
terms or it can ask questions to which the listener will want the answers. The object is to create
interest, even suspense, and involve the listener in the programme at the earliest possible time.
The remainder of the material may consist of interviews, narrator’s links, actuality, vox pop,
discussion and music.

Programme sequence
There are few rules when it comes to deciding the programme sequence. What matters is that the
end result makes sense – not simply to the producer, who is thoroughly immersed in the subject
and knows every nuance of what was left out as well as what was included, but to the listener who
is hearing it all for the first time. The most consistent fault with documentaries is not with their
content but in their structure. Examples of such problems are insufficient ‘signposting’, the reuse of
a voice heard sometime earlier without repeating the identification, or a change in the convention
regarding the narrator or interviewer. For the producer who is close to the material it is easy to
overlook a simple matter which may present a severe obstacle to the listener. The programme
maker must always be able to stand back and take an objectively detached view of the work as its
shape emerges.

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Unit 2, Lesson 5 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

The ending
To end, there are limitless alternatives. Here are some suggestions:
1. To allow the narrator to sum up – useful in some types of schools programme or where the
material is so complex or the argument so interwoven that some form of clarifying résumé is
desirable.
2 To repeat some of the key statements using the voices of the people who made them.
3 To repeat a single phrase which appears to encapsulate the situation.
4 To speculate on the future with further questions.
5 To end with the same voice and actuality sounds as those used at the opening.

6 To do nothing, leaving it to the listener to form an assessment of the subject. This is often a wise
course to adopt if moral judgements are involved.

Contributors
The producer has a responsibility to those asked to take part. It is first to tell them as much as
possible of what the programme is about. Provide them with the overall context in which their
contribution is to be used. Second, tell them, prior to transmission, if their contribution has had to
be severely edited or omitted altogether. Third, whenever possible, let contributors know in
advance the day and time of transmission. These are simple courtesies and the reason for them is
obvious enough. Whether they receive a fee or not, contributors to documentary programmes
generally take the process extremely seriously, often researching additional material to make sure
their facts are right. They frequently put their professional or personal reputation at risk in
expressing a view or making a prediction. The producer must keep faith with them in keeping them
up to date as to how they will appear in the final result.

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Unit 2, Lesson 6 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Lesson 6
Radio Commentary
Introduction
This format is very popular in radio because big sporting and non-sport events are covered live in
this format. This format enables listeners to see things through their ears. A running commentary
is a description of an event that is broadcast on radio while event is taking place. If you can’t go to
see a football or cricket match in a stadium, you may listen it on radio. But for that you have to be
at home or at some place where there is a television. But if you are travelling or outside, then you
may listen to radio for a running commentary of the match.

In commentary commentator would give you all the details of the match such as the number of
players, the score, and position of the players in the field etc. So by listening to the running
commentary, you get a feeling of being in the stadium and watching the match. Best commentator
needs good communication skills, a good voice and knowledge about what is going on. Running
commentaries on radio can be on various sports events or on ceremonial occasions like the
Republic Day Parade or events like festivals, melas, rath yatras, swearing in ceremony of
ministers, last journey (funeral procession) of national leaders etc. Today radio running
commentaries especially of cricket and other sports can be heard on your mobile phones.
Radio has a marvellous facility for creating pictures in the listener’s mind. It is more flexible than
television in that it is possible to isolate a tiny detail without waiting for the camera to ‘zoom in’ and
it can create a breadth of vision much larger than the dimensions of a glass screen. The listener
does more than simply eavesdrop on an event; radio, more easily than television or video, can
convey the impression of actual participation. The aim of the radio commentator is therefore to
recreate in the listener’s mind not simply a picture but a total impression of the occasion.

This is done in three distinct ways:

1 The words used will be visually descriptive of the scene.
2 The speed and style of their delivery will underline the emotional mood of the event.
3 Additional ‘effects’ microphones will reinforce the sounds of the action, or the public reaction to
it.

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In describing a scene the commentator should have in mind ‘a blind friend who couldn’t be there’.
It is important to remember the obvious fact that the listener cannot see. Without this, it is easy to
slip into the situation of simply chatting about the event to ‘someone beside you’.

The listener should be regarded as a friend because this implies a real concern to communicate
accurately and fully. The commentator must use more than his or her eyes and convey information
through all the senses, so as to heighten the feeling of participation by the listener. Thus, for
example, temperature, the proximity of people and things, or the sense of smell are important
factors in the overall impression. Smell is particularly evocative – the scent of newly mown grass,
smoke from a fire, the aroma inside a fruit market or the timeless mustiness of an old building.
Combine this with the appropriate style of delivery, and the sounds of the place itself, and you are
on the way to creating a powerful set of pictures.

Preparation
Not only must the commentator be certain of the field of vision and whether the sun is likely to be
in your eyes, but it is important to spend time obtaining essential facts about the event itself. For
example, in preparing for a ceremonial occasion, research:
1 The official programme of events with details of timing, etc.
2 The background of the people taking part, their titles, medals and decorations, position, relevant
history, military uniforms, regalia or other clothing, personal anecdotes – for the unseen as well as
the seen, e.g. organizers, bandmasters, security people, caretakers, etc.
3 The history of where it’s taking place, the buildings and streets, and their architectural detail.
4 The names of the flowers used for decoration, the trees, flags, badges, mottoes and symbols in
the area. The names of any horses or make of vehicles being used.
5 The titles of music to be played or sung, and any special association it may have with the people
and the place.

Working with the base studio

The commentator will need to know the precise handover details. This applies both from the studio
to the commentator and at the end for the return to the studio. These details are best written down,
for they easily slip the memory. There should also be clarity at both ends about the procedures to
be followed in the event of any kind of circuit failure – the back-up music to be played and who
makes the decision to restore the programme.

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It may be necessary to devise some system of hand signals or other means of communication with
technical staff, and on a large OB whether all commentators will get combined or individual
‘talkback’ on their headphones, etc. These matters are the ‘safety nets’ which enable the
commentators to fulfil their role with a proper degree of confidence. As with all outside broadcasts,
the base studio should ensure that the commentary output is recorded.

Sport
First and foremost, the sports commentator must know his or her sport and have detailed
knowledge of the particular event. What was the sequence that led up to this event? What is its
significance in the overall contest? Who are the participants and what is their history? The
possession of this background information is elementary, but what is not so obvious is how to use
it. The tendency is to give it all out at the beginning in the form of an encyclopaedic but fairly
indigestible introduction. Certainly, the basic facts must be provided at the outset, but a much
better way of using background detail is as the game, race or tournament itself proceeds, at an
appropriate moment or during a pause in the action. This way, the commentator sounds much
more as part of what is going on instead of being a rather superior observer.

Coordinating the images

It is all too easy to fall short of an overall picture but to end up instead with some accurately
described but separate pieces of jigsaw. The great art, and challenge, of commentary is to fit them
together, presenting them in a logically coordinated way which allows your ‘blind friend’ to place
the information accurately in their mind’s eye. The commentator must include not only the
information relating to the scene, but also something about how this information should be
integrated to build the appropriate framework of scale. Having provided the context, other items
can then be related to it. Early on, it should be mentioned where the commentator’s own position
is relative to the scene, also giving details of distance, up and down, size (big and small),
foreground and background, side to side, left and right, etc. Movement within a scene needs a
smooth, logical transition if the listener is not to become hopelessly disorientated.

Content and style

The commentator begins with a ‘scene-set’, saying first of all where the broadcast is coming from,
and why. This is best not given in advance by the continuity handover and duplication of this
information must be avoided. The listener should be helped to identify with the location,
particularly if it is likely to be familiar.

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The description continues from the general to the particular noting, as appropriate, the weather,
the overall impression of lighting, the mood of the crowd, the colour content of the scene and what
is about to happen.

Actuality and silence

It may be that, during the event, there are sounds to which the commentary should refer. The
difficulty here is that the noisier the environment, the closer on-microphone will be the
commentator, so that the background will be relatively reduced. It is essential to check that these
other sounds can be heard through separate microphones, otherwise references to ‘the roar of the
helicopters overhead’, ‘the colossal explosions going on around me’ or ‘the shouts of the crowd’
will be quite lost on the listener. It is important in these circumstances for the commentator to stop
talking and to let the event speak for itself.

The ending
Running to time is helped by having a stopwatch synchronized with the studio clock. This will
provide for an accurately timed hand back, but if open-ended, the cue back to the studio is simply
given at the conclusion of the event.

It is all too easy after the excitement of what has been happening to create a sense of anti-climax.
Even though the event is over and the crowds are filtering away, the commentary should maintain
the spirit of the event itself, perhaps with a brief summary or with a mention of the next similar
occasion.

Another technique is radio’s equivalent of the television wide-angle shot. The commentator ‘pulls
back’ from the detail of the scene, concluding as at the beginning with a general impression of the
whole picture before ending with a positive and previously agreed form of words which indicates a
return to the studio.

Tips for Radio Commentary

A commentator should describe the following things:
• Width: describe left to right
• Height: describe bottom to top
• Depth: describe near to far

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• Keep going if you can: A sense of shock is understandable, but don’t be so easily
deterred by something unusual that you hand back to the studio. Even if your commentary
is not broadcast ‘live’ it could be crucial for later news coverage.
 There’s no need to be ashamed of your own emotions. You are a human being too and
if you are horrified or frightened by what is happening, say so. Your own reaction will be
part of conveying that to your listener. It’s one thing to be professional, objective and
dispassionate at a planned event, it is quite another to remain so during a sudden
emergency.
 Don’t put your own life, or the lives of others, in unnecessary danger: You may from
the best of motives believe that ‘the show must go on’, but few organizations will thank you
for the kind of heroics which result in your death. If you are in a building which is on fire, say
so and leave. If the bullets are flying or riot gas is being used in a demonstration, take
cover. You can then say what’s happening and work out the best vantage point from which
to continue.`
 Don’t dwell on individual anguish or grief: Keep a reasonably ‘wide angle’ and put what
is happening in context. Remember the likelihood that people listening will have relatives or
friends at the event.
 Let the sounds speak for themselves: Don’t feel you have to keep talking, there is much
value in letting your listener hear the actuality – gunfire, explosions, crowd noise, shouts
and screams.
 Don’t jump too swiftly to conclusions as to causes and responsibility: Leave that to a
later perspective. Stick with observable events, relay the facts as you see them.
 Above all, arrive at a station policy for this sort of coverage well before any such event
takes place. Get the subject on the agenda in order to agree emergency procedures.

Things to remember before the event

• The official programme of events with details of timing, etc.
• The background of the people taking part, their titles, medals and decorations, position,
relevant history, military uniforms, other clothing, personal anecdotes – for the unseen as
well as the seen, e.g. organizers, bandmasters, security people, caretakers, etc.
• The history of where it’s taking place, the buildings and streets, and their architectural
detail.
• The names of the flowers used for decoration, the trees, flags, badges, mottoes and
symbols in the area.
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Unit 2, Lesson 6 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

• The names of any horses or make of vehicles being used.

• The titles of music to be played or sung, and any special association it may have with the
people and the place.

Commentator’s Microphone
• The lip microphone: The microphone has excellent noise-cancellation properties, which
makes it ideal for commentary situations.
• The mouth guard is held against the broadcaster’s lip while the microphone is in use.
• There is a bass cut in the handle to compensate for the bass lift that results from working
close to a ribbon microphone.

Lip microphone

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Unit 2, Lesson 7 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Lesson 7
Radio Play/Drama

Introduction
The radio medium has a long and distinguished history of turning thoughts, words and actions into
satisfying pictures within the listener’s mind by using the techniques of drama. But there is no
need for the producer to think only in terms of the Shakespeare play – the principles of radio
drama apply to the well-made commercial, a programme trail, dramatized reading, five-minute
serial or two-minute teaching point in a programme for schools. The size and scope of the pictures
created are limited only by the minds that devise and interpret them.

The aim with all dramatic writing is for the original ideas to be recreated in the listener’s mind and
since the end result occurs purely within the imagination, there are few limitations of size, reality,
place, mood, time or speed of transition. Unlike the visual arts, where the scenery is provided
directly, the listener to radio supplies personal mental images in response to the information given.
If the ‘signposts’ are too few or of the wrong kind, the listener becomes disorientated and cannot
follow what is happening. If there are too many, the result is likely to be obvious, ‘cheesy’ and
‘corny’. Neither will satisfy. The writer must therefore be especially sensitive to how the audience
is likely to react – and since the individual images may stem largely from personal experience, of
which the writer of course knows nothing, this is not easy. But it is the ageless art of the storyteller
– saying enough to allow listeners to follow the thread but not so much that they do not want to
know what is to happen next or cannot make their own contribution.

Drama is derived from the Greek word "dron", which means "to do": One of the important
constituents of drama is therefore action. Action in drama comprises both movement on stage
and movement of a story line from beginning to end. A Radio drama or a radio play is like any
other play staged in a theatre or a hall.

The only difference is that while a stage play has actors, stage, sets, curtains, properties
movement and live action. A radio play has only 3 components. They are the human voice, music
and sound effects. Radio of course uses its greatest strength for producing radio plays and that is
the power of imagination and suggestively. For example, if you want to have a scene in a radio
play of a north Indian marriage, you don’t have all physical arrangements made.

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All that you have to do is to use a bright tune on the shehnai and excited voices of people to
create in a listeners’ imagination- a wedding scene. The voice of the actors, music and sound
effects can create any situation in a radio play. Drama is about conflict and resolution,
relationships and feelings and people being motivated by them, both driving and driven by events.
The writer must have a thorough understanding of the medium and the production process, while
the producer needs a firm grasp of the writing requirements.

Adapting for radio

Rewriting an existing work for radio sets a special kind of challenge. Staying faithful to the original
so as not to upset those who already know and love the book or play, yet conveying it in this
different medium, and probably compressing it in time, requires a distinctive writing skill.
Translation from another language is generally easier than working in the same language since it’s
then necessary to use entirely new forms of speech, whereas a great question in adaptation
concerns the need to use the same words and phrases as the original. The adapting writer should
care for the original while analysing it, and preserve its essential features in the new medium. If
the work is still in copyright the original publisher will need to be consulted for permission to adapt,
and May well have views regarding a radio treatment.

Elements of Radio Drama

Idea
Before committing anything to paper, it is essential to think through the basic ideas of plot and
form – once these are decided, a great deal follows naturally. The first question is to do with the
material’s suitability for the target audience, the second with its technical feasibility.

Assuming that the writer is starting from scratch and not adapting an existing work, what is the
broad intention? Is it to make people laugh, to comment on or explain a contemporary situation, to
convey a message, to tell a story, to entertain? How can the writer best enable the listener to
‘connect’ with this intention? Is it by identifying with one of the characters? Should the basic
situation be one with which the listener can easily relate?

The second point at this initial stage is to know whether the play has to be written within certain
technical or cost limitations. To do something simple and well is preferable to failing with
something complicated.

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Story Construction: The simplest way of telling a story is to:

1 Explain the situation
2 Introduce ‘conflict’
3 Develop the action
4 Resolve the conflict

Of course, there may be intriguing complications, mystery and subplots, twists and surprises at
several levels. This an essential aspect of the multi-strand soap opera, where the listener is invited
to relate to several different characters. In an absorbing story there will be small personal
struggles to be resolved as well as the big issues. However, the essence of the thing is to find out
‘what happens in the end’. Who committed the crime? Were the lovers reunited? Did the cavalry
arrive in time? The element that tends to interest us most is the resolution of conflict and since this
comes towards the end, there should be no problem of maintaining interest once into the ‘rising
action’ of the play. And in the final scene it is not necessary to tie up all the loose ends – to dot
every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’ in a neat and tidy conclusion. Life seldom works that way. It is often
better to have something unsaid, leaving the listener still with a question, an issue or a motivation.

Plot: This is the story with lots of twists and turns. The more the merrier. Most listeners like good
exciting plots. Without a good plot you're eating a soufflé that has gone flat. You need plot, more
plots and more plot. Run at least two story lines. Two sub plots would be interesting. Keep the
plots linked logically within the same play. The best system is a major and a minor storyline linked
to one another. Get them to come together at the end.

Characterization: characterization is a key ingredient and many writes find it important to sketch
out a pen portrait of each character. This helps to stabilize them as people and it’s easier to give
convincing dialogue. Who is the hero or heroine? What does he or she want? And why should I
care?

Conflict: Conflict in drama doesn’t always have to be a struggle between two people
(melodrama). Conflict can consist of a person’s struggle to overcome a stomach ache as in radio
commercials (resolution is offered by the sponsor’s pain remedy).

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Action: Because radio is not a visual medium, action must be portrayed through sound. (ex.
Boxing match – dramatized on radio with the ringing of the bell, roar of the crowd, smacking of
gloves with a description of the fight provided by the dialogue).

Speech
Dialogue: Spoken words are very important in radio drama as it provides most of the information
and meaning in a scene and they describe most of the action. Limitations of radio dialogue are
action, multiple characters in a single scene.

Tone: vocal inflexion can show against the lexical meaning of the dialogue (satire, mockery) or
can emphasize it. Tone can also include

Paralinguistic: non-verbal utterances (“oh…er…umm...arrgh”) and the range of emotions they

can signify (surprise, hesitation, pleasure, pain etc.)

Sound Effects: When the curtain rises on a theatre stage the scenery is immediately obvious and
the audience is given all the contextual information it requires for the play to start. So it is with
radio, except that to achieve an unambiguous impact the sounds must be refined and simplified to
those few which really carry the message. The equivalent of the theatre’s ‘backdrop’ are those
sounds which run throughout a scene – for example, rain, conversation at a party, traffic noise or
the sounds of battle. These are most likely to be pre-recorded and reproduced from a CD. The
‘incidental furniture’ and ‘props’ are those effects which are specially placed to suit the action – for
instance, a ringing telephone, pouring a drink, closing a door or firing a gun. Such sounds are best
made in the studio at the time of the appropriate dialogue, if possible by the actors themselves –
for example, lighting a cigarette or taking a drink – but by someone else if hands are not free due
to their holding a script.
Some other sounds which have become immediately understood are:
1 Passage of time – clock ticking.
2 Night time – owl hooting.
3 On the coast – seagulls and seawash.
4 On board sailing ship – creaking of ropes.
5 Early morning – cock crowing.
6 Urban night time – distant clock chime, dog barking.
7 Out of doors, rural – birdsong.

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Music
An ally to the resourceful producer, music can add greatly to the radio play. However, if it is
overused or badly chosen, it becomes only an irritating distraction. Avoiding the obvious or
overfamiliar, the producer must decide in which of its various roles music is to be used:
1 As a ‘leitmotif’ to create an overall style: Opening and closing music plus its use within the
play as links between some of the scenes will provide thematic continuity. The extracts are likely
to be the same piece of music, or different passages from the same work, throughout.
2 Music chosen simply to create mood and establish the atmosphere of a scene. Whether it is
‘haunted house’ music or ‘a day at the races’, music should be chosen that is not so well known
that it arouses in the listener personally preconceived ideas and associations. In this respect it
pays the producer to cultivate an awareness of the more unfamiliar works in the various production
‘mood music’ libraries, some of which is non-copyright.
3 Reiterative or relentless music can be used to mark the passage of time, thus heightening the
sense of passing hours or seconds. Weariness or monotony is economically reinforced.

Silence: use of silence exemplifies the “invisibility” of radio - reinforces the “enigma code”,
creating suspense, ambiguity, tension, reflection.

Rhythm /Speed: both within the line, and within the dialogue as a whole - defining the pace of the
scene.

Unfolding of a Radio Drama

• Introduction: setting and context, characterization established;
• Conflict: Events resulting from characters in the situation;
• Rising action: complication and suspense
• Maximum Tension: crisis and climax
• Falling action: resolution
• Twist

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Unit 2, Lesson 8 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Lesson 8
Radio Ads (Social and Commercial)

Introduction
Radio commercials are an old but still popular mode of advertising. And the format hasn't changed
much since radio advertising's inception. The ads should first catch the listener's attention, and
then quickly list the benefits of the product. The modern market encourages entertaining
advertisements with funny bits between speakers. But often that detracts from the actual product,
and is rarely funny to a majority of people. As a beginner, start with a straightforward approach.

Radio commercial/advertisements vary in format, but one of the most common is a dialogue
between consumers sharing information about the product you are trying to sell. This is effective
because it creates the facade of word-of-mouth advertising, which is the one of the most effective
versions, and because it can be entertaining as well as informative.

Definition of Advertising
According to S.S. Dunn and A.M. Barban, “Advertising is defined as “Paid, non-personal
communication through various media by business firms, non-profit organizations and individuals
who are in some way identified in the advertising message and who hope to inform or persuade
members of a particular audience.”

Advertising is not restricted to products but encompasses services and ideas also. It is also
evident that the two basic functions of advertisement are to inform and to persuade. Thus
advertising leads to promotion of sales, change of attitude and arousal of awareness.

Advertising Campaign
There are many types of advertising campaign. But basically any campaign strategy has to
address itself to the following six questions:
 Who is advertising?
 For whom is the advertisement intended?
 What is being advertised?
 What is the purpose of the advertising campaign?
 Which geographic area does it cater to
 Which medium is to be used?
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The process also involves five important decisions to be made namely-

 Advertising objectives
 Estimation of the budget in the selection of the medium
 Creative strategy as to how to communicate the message
 Media strategy with reference to the delivery of the message and
 Evaluation of the effectiveness of the message

Radio Advertising
The purpose of an advertisement is to sell things. The radio advertiser must use a good deal of
skill in motivating a target audience to a specific action.
The effective advertisement will:
 interest
 inform
 involve
 motivate
 Direct.
Elements to be considered before making a commercial
 The target audience – for whom is this message primarily intended?
 The product or service – what is the specific quality to be promoted?
 The writing – what content and style will be appropriate?
 The voice or voices – who will best reinforce the style?
 The background – is music or sound effects needed?

Radio Spot
 Advertisements of 5 to 60 seconds at the beginning or end of a programme or between film
songs are known as "spots".
 Advertisements during fixed important programmes are known as "fixed spots".

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Sponsored Programmes

There are two kinds of sponsored programmes

 During sports commentaries or other programmes broadcast by the radio station,

advertisements can be made
 The advertiser can also sponsor a special programme like quiz or a play or film-based
songs or serials and the advertisements can be made during the period of broadcast of
these programmes.

Purpose of Advertising
 The basic purposes of advertising messages (commercial/PSA) are to inform, to persuade
and to remind.
 All advertising messages have one or two or all these elements embodied in them.
 The objectives of the message are to stimulate (demand (commercial product) and
awareness (PSA), to promote a brand/idea and to cause direct or indirect action to be
taken by the consumer (buy/motivate to act).

Advertising Appeal
Any strategy for advertising a product or an idea has to have
 Appeal strategy: Advertisement, if it has to have an appeal should engage the attention of the
consumer create interest in the idea or message promote his desire or awareness and motivate
him/to take action. For Instance-

Don't just practise, Preach". . . (Pause) "Tell someone who is less aware, less experienced,
less educated how simple it is to plan a family"
"Your daughter will never be as good as a son" (Pause). . . "Unless you give her a chance"
 Humour strategy: Humour as a strategy enhances audience's attention, at least when they
listen to the advertisement for the first few times. The advertiser who prefers humour as a
creative strategy should bear in mind the following points:
Humorous messages attract attention.
They may detrimentally affect comprehension
Humour increases persuasion
Humour tends to enhance source credibility
A humorous context may increase liking for the source and create a positive mood.

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 Comparison advertising: While in commercial advertisements, this strategy generates heated

controversy in respect of advertising ethics, in PSAs, this comparative strategy does enhance the
audience's attention.

In the family planning ads, the comparison between a planned family household to the
disadvantage of the latter is more effective than a slogan that says "a small family is a
happy, one".

Samples of Radio Advertisements

 "The tyre that never tires" (Modi tyres)
 "Utterly, butterly delicious – (Amul)“
 "Don't let litter spoil the glitter“
 "Keep your house clean, Keep your country green“
 "Woman is more than man's equal, If it weren't for her, he wouldn't be here"
 "Mango Frooti, Fresh and Juicy"

Writing for Radio ads/commercial

When you write a radio ad, the most important thing to remember is that you are writing for a
listener, not a reader or viewer. You have a limited amount of time to convey the message
because the advertisements are just fifteen thirty or sixty seconds. So before the writing few points
given below keep in mind.

1. Know your audience: Ask your client what sort of customer they want to target. Commercial
selling yachts will definitely be different than a commercial promoting special at the local sports
bar.
2. Formulate your idea: Bounce some creative ideas of other writers or with the client. The
commercial will be short, so pick one idea and stick to it.
3. Begin your first draft: Radio ads are fifteen, thirty or sixty seconds in length. Find out which,
and then write the advertisement.
4. Insert the business name into the draft: Do this twice for a fifteen second commercial, three
times for thirty second commercials and at least four times for a sixty second commercial.
5. Read the draft out loud with a stopwatch: Read at an even, realistic pace, and time how long
the script runs. Add or delete words to get the commercial to the right length. Do not try to read
faster, just read it as you would any script.

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6. Let the script sit for a while, take a break, and then return to it with fresh eyes: Edit it as
necessary, but remember to time it again once you arc done.

Radio Jingles
This format of short durations a market driver, to inform the listeners about a product or service. It
may be a public service or a commercial ad also. A radio jingle is a memorable slogan, set to an
engaging melody. Some tips for effective jingle writing:
Know the product: What are you trying to sell? A service? A product? A company? What does it
do, provide or offer? Familiarize yourself with its benefits, capabilities, and distinction. What makes
it superior to others of its kind?
Drill the name: The jingle must mention and repeat the specific name of the product or company
and what it does. You want to ensure that the consumer remembers the name in conjunction with
the type of product. If they repeat it, the’ are more likely to buy it. With a good jingle, the consumer
may actually begin to call all products of that type by the trade name.
Set your slogan to a tune: There is much evidence to show that we remember tunes better than
mere words. That’s why a jingle is generally much easier to remember than just a slogan.

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Unit 2, Lesson 9 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Lesson 9
Phone-in and Radio Bridge

Introduction
In this age of technological development, phone-in is the most important format. This is called
interactive programming where the listener and the presenter talk to each other. Their talk goes on
air instantly. The listener has the satisfaction that his voice is being listened to and replied
immediately. Other listeners also listen to him. Such presentations need advance publicity so that
the listeners get ready to air their grievances/queries or requests.

They dial up the announced telephone number at a stipulated time and get their problems
discussed with experts in the studio. Initially this format was introduced for playing the listeners’
request based film songs. Now it is being used for health related programmes, rural broadcasts,
complaints against the government/ administrative machinery etc.

Phone-In Programme
In phone programme the caller is connected via a telephone hybrid, which connects the telephone
line to the audio console through impedance matching, or more modern through digital signal
processing, which can improve the perceived audio quality of the call.

Telephone calls are often organized through a system which also provides broadcast automation,
with an administrative assistant answering calls and entering caller information on a personal
computer, which also displays on the radio presenter's screen.

Types of Phone-in
 The open line – conversation with the studio presenter.
 The specific subject – expert advice on a chosen topic.
 Consumer affairs – a series providing ‘action’ advice on detailed cases.
 Personal counselling – problems discussed for the individual rather than the audience.

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Technical requirement for phone-in

When inviting listeners to phone the programme, it is best to have a special number rather than
take the calls through the normal station telephone number; otherwise the programme can bring
the general telephone traffic to a halt. The technical means of taking calls have almost infinite
variation, but the facilities should include:
1. Off –air answering of calls
2. Acceptance of several calls- says four or five simultaneously.
3. Holding a call until required, sending the caller a feed of cue programme.
4. The ability to take two call simultaneously on the air.
5. Picking up a call by the answering position after its on-air use.

Tips for a Radio Presenter while taking calls

 To be sincere – say what you really feel and avoid acting.
 To be friendly – use an ordinary tone of voice and be capable of talking with an audible
smile. Avoid ‘jargon’ and specialist or technical language.
 To appear human – use normal conversational language. Admit when you do not know the
answer.
 To be considerate – demonstrate the capacity to understand views other than your own.
 To be helpful – offer useful, constructive practical advice.
 To appear competent – demonstrate an appreciation of the question and ensure accuracy
of answers. Avoid ‘waffle’ and ‘padding’.

Radio Bridge
 Radio Bridge means connecting different stations throughout the length and breadth of the
country.
 In this technique, for example, an expert sitting at Chennai can interact with the common
man in the studio in Delhi.
 This format was first used by All India Radio during elections.

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