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Writing For Radio

Radio news writing requires a conversational style using short, simple sentences with minimal adjectives and quotes. Stories must be brief to accommodate the shorter attention span of radio listeners. The most important news of the day leads the broadcast. Writers must decide which stories to include and reorder based on importance. Headlines and teasers are used to attract listeners. Actualities from the field add authenticity but are also kept short. Effective preparation and organization is needed to produce a polished newscast on deadline.

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Ashley Lindongan
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98 views

Writing For Radio

Radio news writing requires a conversational style using short, simple sentences with minimal adjectives and quotes. Stories must be brief to accommodate the shorter attention span of radio listeners. The most important news of the day leads the broadcast. Writers must decide which stories to include and reorder based on importance. Headlines and teasers are used to attract listeners. Actualities from the field add authenticity but are also kept short. Effective preparation and organization is needed to produce a polished newscast on deadline.

Uploaded by

Ashley Lindongan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Writing for Radio

Radio Journalism
• Similar to story telling;
• Conversational in style;
• The choice of words is similar to the listening audience’s
vocabulary;
• Sentences are short and uncomplicated;
• Use very few adjectives and stay away from quotes;
• Each sentence should flow to the next – so the listener is
not lost;
• Subtle repetition is just as necessary to keep the listener
following the story;
(ex. If you use Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in the first sentence, say the mayor in the next, instead of he )
Story Length
News written for other News written for radio;
media; •Written in a way that
•You can read it over like listeners can understand the
newspaper; story the first time it is read.

•Don’t have visual images

The longest story in the entire newscast will be only 45


seconds long. Therefore, most stories are very brief and
condensed. The ability to do this, with a great amount of
information, is a challenge.
Rules for Writing Copy
· double space all copy for easy reading
· type on one side of the page only
· one inch margins
· type in capitals
· exaggerate where the paragraph begins by
spacing
· round out all numbers
· no abbreviations
· proper pronunciation of difficult words in
brackets
· titles go before names
· do not over-punctuate
Marking copy

• To ensure easy reading –

Ex. underline words that needs emphasis, put


slash marks in sentences where pauses are
required.
Positioning of the Stories

1. 1st story is called “the lead” – and the most


important news item - The lead story signals listeners to pay
attention, so it has to be a read ear-opener. The audience will listen to the rest of
the broadcast if the first story is important and interesting.

2. “gate-keeping” – radio journalists must decide


which stories will be used and which wil be
thrown in the garbage.
Repetition of Stories
• Stories can be read 24 hours after they are released – you
have to remember, that regular listeners will tune you out if your stories are exactly
the same every hour.

• Try to change the wording a bit so the story still sounds


fresh. This is called “rewriting.”
• The number of times the story is read on air depends on its
news value.
Headlines

• They are only a few seconds long, and are placed at the top
of a newscast. A good headline will grab the listener's
attention and hold it.

• "teaser" is one or two sentences that grab the audience, but


it differs from a headline in that it can be read at any time
of the day.
Actualities

• Radio news needs some support, which will offer proof


of the stories. Ex. from the scene of an event by a
reporter with an interview of someone there;
• Actualities vary in length, but are not usually longer
than 30 seconds;
• The number of actualities used in a newscast varies as
well, from one to four per newscast;
The Newscast Final

For a typical newscast, this would be a typical schedule on


a typical day:
• one to two hours before the newscast, come in and write
the news
• check all earlier newscasts for the stories used
• 15 minutes before the broadcast, check the on-air booth
to make sure the mike is set up, and also inform the
technicians about the actualities you will be using in the
newscast
• 5 minutes before air time, go into the booth and sit and
relax. Read over your copy one last time.
End of part 1

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