Unit 4 Post Production

Unit 4, Lesson 1 Basics of Radio Programming & Production
Unit 4 BA (JMC) 203 L: 10

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Post Production and Evaluation

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Lesson 1 2
Editing and Mixing
Lesson 2 15
Adding Sound Effects and Music
Lesson 3 22
Audio Filters: Types, Need and Importance
Lesson 4 24
Evaluation: Process and Measurement Techniques
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Lesson 1
Editing and Mixing
Introduction
Editing an interview is an art and a craft. If you do it well no one will notice that the interview has
been edited. If you do it badly, a child of seven will spot that there’s something wrong. The art of
good editing is to end up with a piece of audio that sounds completely natural.
It is easier to edit an interview you have recorded yourself because you will remember its content
from when you did the recording. And, really, the editing process should start while you are
recording – in your head.
While you are recording, you should be making mental notes about all the things that you will later
edit out: repetition and weak or irrelevant answers. You should know by the end of the interview
whether you have one piece for your programmes or two pieces with different focuses.
Sound Editing
Sound editing is a process that requires both skill and instinct. Today, most sound editing is done
digitally using specialized software. It wasn’t always this way. Magnetic tape and tape recorders
were first invented in the late 1940s. Using magnetic tape for recording and editing sound was the
status quo until the mid-1990s when computers and digital software revolutionized the sound
editing process.
The editing process was slow, tedious, and sometimes unstable. To edit sound with magnetic
tape, the user had to find both points on the tape where the splice needed to occur, place the tape
in an “editing block” which provided a pre-cut splice area pinched at a 45 degree angle, place the
tape in the block, use a razor blade to cut the tape in the 45 degree angle groove, and then
physically join the magnetic tape back together with a specially designed editing tape.
And if you screwed up the splice, then you had to undo everything, use the editing tape to put the
magnetic tape back the way it was, and then try again. It was tedious and sometimes frustrating
work. The user had no visual of the recorded sound to refer to, either. It was all done by ear.
Now a computer user can own software which is as powerful as an older magnetic tape based 64-
track recording studio. It’s an amazing amount of power and a user can acquire many software
applications, may free or extremely low in cost.
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Editing is both a skill and an art. Yes, there are proven methods which allow an editor to create a
better product that anyone can learn but the proficient editor over time also acquires a sense for
eliminating, adding or accentuating audio for projects.
Why do we edit? Mainly for aesthetics but proper editing also keeps a listener’s attention. Long
audio pieces - or audio that has extraneous sound in it - tends to bore listeners. Shorter audio
accentuated by music, sound effects or sound punctuation keeps a listener’s attention and helps
you make your point.
Purpose of sound editing:
peech, music, sound and silence.
Types of sound editing

Mechanical/Linear Sound Editing
Before computers came into wide use for sound editing in the 1990s, everything was done with
magnetic tape. To make edits using magnetic tape, you literally had to cut the tape, remove the
piece of audio that you didn’t want and splice the tape back together again.
The machine of choice for mechanical audio editing was the reel-to-reel tape recorder. With this
piece of equipment, you could record and playback audio from circular reels of magnetic
audiotape. You also needed several pieces of specialized editing equipment: a razor blade, an
editing block and editing tape.
Here’s the basic cut-and-splice editing process using magnetic tape:

1. Find the initial edit point (or in point), which is the starting point on the tape for the section of
audio you want to remove. This is done through a process called scrubbing, where the sound
editor slowly rocks the reels back and forth to find the precise point to make the cut.
2. Using a grease pencil, make a mark on the tape directly over the tape recorders play head.
3. Play the tape until you reach the first sound you want to keep, called the out point. Also mark
that edit point with a grease pencil.
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4. Remove the tape from the reel-to-reel and place it in an editing block. The editing block contains
special grooves at 45 and 90 degree angles.
5. Line the first edit point up with the 45 degree groove, cut the tape along the groove with a razor
blade. Do the same with the second edit point.
6. Using special editing tape, tape the two loose ends of magnetic tape back together, leaving no
space in between.
7. Put the tape back on the reel-to-reel and test the edit. You may need to cut more off one of the
ends, or maybe you already cut too much!
When magnetic tape was invented in the late 1940s, one of its greatest advantages was that it
could hold multiple audio channels without creating a lot of excess noise.
This allowed for a process called overdubbing or multi-track recording.
Digital/Non- linear Sound Editing

Now almost all sound editors use computerized editing systems called digital audio workstations
(DAW). Digital audio workstations are multi-track systems that greatly simplify and enhance the
sound editing process for all types of professional audio production (film audio, studio recording,
DJs, et cetera).
Digital audio workstations vary greatly in size, price and complexity. The most basic systems are
simply software applications that can be loaded onto a standard personal computer. More
professional systems, like Digi Design’s Pro Tools, require a special sound card and are typically
used in conjunction with large digital mixing boards and are compatible with hundreds of effects
and virtual instrument plug-ins.
The advantage of all of these systems is that an editor can work with all kinds of audio files --
voices, Foley clips, analog and MIDI music -- from the same interface. In digital editing digital file
formats and increased computer processing speed, the total amount of tracks is limitless. Besides
multiple dialogue tracks, an editor can add dozens of background effects and layers and layers of
Foley and music. Multiple tracks can be cut, copied, pasted, trimmed and faded at once. And each
track comes with dozens of controls for volume, stereo panning and effects, which greatly
simplifies the mixing process.
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One of the big advantages of digital audio workstations is that they allow sound editors to work
with graphical representations of sound. With magnetic tape, everything was done by ear. Now
editors can look at the sound waves on the screen. They can see extraneous background noise
and remove it with a click of the mouse.
Some DAWs can automatically clean up audio, removing clicks, hisses and low-level background
noise that would have ruined a take in the old days. With graphical interfaces, sound effects
designers can study the waveform of a sound and easily bend and distort it to create something
completely new.
Sound Editor Functions

Compression: shows you how to perform the most important editing process —reducing your file
sizes for the Web. When working with sound files, there are two completely different types of
compression. One type decreases the size of the sound file and the other reduces the dynamic
range of a signal.
Cutting: describes how to delete unwanted sections of your sound file. One of the easiest ways to
reduce the size of your sound file and improve the general quality of sound is to simply delete
unwanted sections or random noise within your sound clip.
Equalizing: shows you how to obtain a proper ratio of treble to bass in your sound files. While
some people enjoy cranking up the bass on their home or car stereos, it isn't a good idea to do the
same with an audio file for the Web. Most computer speakers can't handle bass very well. In fact,
sound files that contain only bass or only treble frequencies rarely sound as good as a file that
contains both frequencies together.
Normalize: describes how to boost or tone down the levels of your audio file. Normalizing
increases the level of the entire sound file so that the loudest part of the sound is at the maximum
playback level before distortion; it then increases the rest of the sound proportionality.
Changing playback rate: describes how to alter how fast or slow your sound is. To create Alvin
and the Chipmunk-types of effects or turn your sound into a s-l-o-w motion sound, try speeding up
or slowing down your sound file with your audio editor.
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Editing principles
The purpose of editing can be summarized as:
1 To rearrange recorded material into a more logical sequence.
2 To remove the uninteresting, repetitive or technically unacceptable.
3 To reduce the running time.
4 For creative effect to produce new juxtapositions of speech, music, sound and silence.
Editing must not be used to alter the sense of what has been said – which would be regarded as
unethical – or to place the material within an unintended context. There are always two
considerations when editing, namely the editorial and the technical.
In the editorial sense it is important to leave intact, for example, the view of an interviewee, and
the reasons given for its support. It would be wrong to include a key statement but to omit an
essential qualification through lack of time. On the other hand, facts can often be edited out and
included more economically in the introductory cue material. It is often possible to remove some or
all of the interviewer’s questions, letting the interviewee continue.
If the interviewee has a stammer, or pauses for long periods, editing can obviously remove these
gaps. However, it would be unwise to remove them completely, as this may alter the nature of the
individual voice. It would be positively misleading to edit pauses out of an interview where they
indicate thought or hesitation. The most frequent fault in editing is the removal of the tiny breathing
pauses which occur naturally in speech. There is little point in increasing the pace while destroying
half the meaning – silence is not necessarily a negative quantity.
Computer editing: Once audio material has been transferred on to a hard disk, either in the
studio or from a portable recorder, it can be manipulated, cut, rearranged or treated in a variety of
ways depending on the software used. A general point of technique is almost always to cut on the
beginning of a word, rather than at the end of the preceding word. This makes for a much more
definite edit point. However, while it is tempting to edit visually using the waveform on the screen,
it is essential to listen carefully to the sounds, distinguishing between the end of sentence breath
and the mid-sentence breath. These are typically of different length and getting them right gives a
naturalness to the end result. An advantage of computer editing over other methods is that it
leaves the original recording intact – non-destructive editing. It is therefore possible to do the same
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edit several times, or to try alternatives, to get it absolutely right. This is a valuable facility for
editing both speech and music. Once edited, the finished recording can be saved to the hard disk
or written on to an individual CD or DVD.
Tips for editing

1. Setting: Settings for single track editing are mono (stereo takes up twice the memory), wav or
mp3 (depending on your station practice) and at 44100 Hz. Once you’ve done that don’t forget to
save your audio with a title
2. Finding focus. First look for the focus of your material, and rough cut your recording
accordingly; after this you can start fine-editing. Don’t waste your time fine-editing chunks of
interview, which you end up by throwing away.
3. Information in link or audio? Think about what information in the interview can go into the link.
This information can then be cut from the interview. The presenter’s link is always going to be
more concise than the person being interviewed. (See also section 15 Links and intros.)
4. Zoom in. Zoom in to make an edit.
5. Zoom out. Zoom out to check and listen back to an edit, as soon as you have made it. Zoom
out sufficiently so that you can hear the edit in the bigger context of what comes after it and before
it. If you can hear the edit, it’s a bad edit.
6. Listen, don’t look. Close your eyes when listening to the edit – don’t look at the screen. If you
are unsure whether the edit has been successful, ask a colleague to listen to the edit.
7. What to cut out. Cut out repetition and irrelevant or confusing remarks. The only exception
relating to repetition is if it has dramatic and rhetorical value – for example: “I loved that baby so
much; I really loved her; she’s in my heart."
8. Confusing words and ideas. Cut out confusion – if you don’t quite understand what the
interviewee is saying then neither will your listeners.
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9. Keep it loose. Don’t cut hard before or after words unless you have to. Any spare background
sound will help you mix.
10. Cutting into words. Don’t cut into the vowels or consonants within words. This can happen if
you have not zoomed in closely enough when editing.
11. Odd sounding edits. Don’t cut into the middle of a sentence so that it ends with an upward
voice inflection. The words may make sense if written down, but they won’t make sense as a piece
of audio. The listener will detect that the contributor was going to say something else but has been
stopped from continuing to speak.
12. Repairing edits. If you have cut too tightly, you can always copy and paste some atmosphere
from somewhere else in the programme. Don’t have dead air in your recording.
13. Be ruthless. There’s an old expression used by media practitioners: "You have to murder your
darlings." There may be four fantastic bits to your interview, but if there is only room for two then
you will have to lose two fantastic bits.
14. Noisy recordings. When editing noisy interviews, look for spare background sound effects
that can act as a bridge to help you disguise an edit or come out smoothly from an interview. You
should, of course, always record a minute of background sound to go with the interview.
15. Changing the original order of an interview: Be prepared to change the running order of
questions and answers in the original recording. For example, old people often "zigzag", when
telling stories – they may start talking about their childhood, then talk about their marriage, then go
back to their childhood. In this case you might want to bring the childhood bits together.
16. Pauses. Don’t automatically cut them out – they can convey all sorts of things: sadness,
pain and thoughtfulness. When you do cut a pause, make sure that you haven’t interfered with the
interview's pace.
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17. Change of mood and tone in an interviewee: Beware of editing from one part of the
interview to another such as, for example, cutting from one part where the contributor was close to
the mic to another part where he or she was far from the mic. Or, the change could come from
using a part of the interview in which the interviewee is cheerful and laughing and then moving to a
section where his or her tone is more serious. The same is true of editing from one piece of the
interview where the contributor is talking softly to where the contributor is talking loudly. If you cut
the two different pieces together it will not sound natural. Sometimes a pause or a breath can help.
You may need to "borrow" a breath from somewhere else in the interview (copying and pasting).
18. Orphan breaths: Don’t leave intakes of breath at the end of a piece of audio – it will always
sound as though the interviewee was going to say something and then was inexplicably stopped
from doing so.
19. Think of the whole programme: Don’t edit items in isolation; always edit one item in a
programme, taking into account what other items there are – their length and their theme. When
you put the programme together the sum total is bigger and more important than all the individual
parts.
20. Take a break: Take a break from the screen every 30 minutes – continuous staring at a
screen is not good for you so go for a quick walk.
21. Stuck? If you are really stuck and can’t edit an individual item or the programme down to size,
get a second opinion from a colleague. He or she will be able to listen with "clean ears" and will
give objective advice about what can go – either because it is boring, confusing, unnecessary or
not the best bit.
22. Think first before throwing away unedited recordings: Keep your raw recording until the
programme is signed off, then go back and see if there’s any part of it you want to put into another
programme.
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Mixing in the multi-track

Editing in the multi-track is where you put the whole programme together: music, sound effects,
presenters’ speech and speech from recorded interviews. It’s an exciting stage – you will now see
if the programme that you had in your head and sketched out on paper really works as a piece of
audio.
Good quality recordings and fantastic presentation can be ruined by poor multi track mixing. This
section will only give you the some basic tips. It is not a substitute for an Adobe Audition operation
manual, although it’s based on Adobe Audition multi track. Most of the basic tips here can be
applied to other systems, such as ERTA’s Radio Assist. But remember that getting good at multi
track mixing is about practice, practice and more practice.
Preparing material for mixing in multi-track

Don’t go into the multi-track until you have done the following:
1. Planned: You have properly planned your programme on paper, first with a running order and
then with a rough draft of a written script.
2. Edited in single track: You have edited all audio down to size and adjusted levels of each
piece of audio. Normally, the sound levels should be between -9 and -6 in Adobe Audition.
3. Kept audio long: Don’t cut music and sound too short – you never know how much you might
need until you start mixing.
4. Numbered: Number your audio clips and label with short descriptions, eg "01/SFX COWS", or
"04/INT/HEALTH WORKER YOUNG" Now you’re ready to import your individual audio clips into
the multi-track window.
Mixing tips
1. Save it: Set up your session and save it with a name, for example "Programme 05 – health
programme". Many producers have cursed themselves for not doing this. If you don’t save you
could lose the session in a power cut or PC failure and then you will have to start all over again.
2. Keep it loose: You must pace the individual clips of speech, music and sound effects
manually. Uncheck the "toggle snap" in Adobe Audition CS6 (it looks like a magnet Adobe
Audition CS6; you can find it in the edit tab in Adobe Audition 1.5) because this attaches two
pieces of audio to each other very tightly. An automatic snapping device creates a very tight
junction that doesn’t take mood and pace into account.
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3. Judging the junction between two pieces of sound: If you are using very sad music it
should be faded out slowly; if the music is fast in can be faded out quicker. If an interview ends on
a sad note, the back announcement needs to come in slowly; if the interview was faster and happy
then the back announcement can come in quicker.
4. Zoom in: Zoom in when you want to make any change on the multi-track (just like in the single
track).
5. Zoom out: Zoom out to check any change in the multi-track.
6. Fading in and fading out. This is the basic manoeuvre you will carry out in the multi-track. The
secret to good fades is creating a smooth and intelligible junction from one piece of audio to
another. Fades can be fast, (called steep) or slow (called shallow), depending on the audio's
texture and pace. Please do not use the pre-set fades for now. They can be useful sometimes but
they are very rigid. When making a fade you need to "feel" it.
Cross fades are when you overlap the "fade out" of one piece of audio with the "fade in" of the
next piece of audio.
It’s used to take the hard edge off
a bit of audio and may only cover the first word that is spoken.
you may lose, or slowly fade out, some speech. This is rare but can be a very graceful way of
leaving a person chatting about something when the main substance of the interview has been
covered.
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Below are some examples of multi-track sessions:

1. Multi-track session of 28 minute programme
2. Example of a cross fade
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3. Opening of a programme with signature tune woven round presenters' speech
4. Music faded out of one piece of audio and faded slowly under the next piece of audio
(Source: BBC Media Action Radio Production Manual – Ethiopia)
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Different Audio Formats

Wav - standard audio file format used mainly in Windows PCs. Commonly used for storing
uncompressed (PCM), CD-quality sound files, which means that they can be large in size - around
10MB per minute of music. It is less well known that wave files can also be encoded with a variety
of codecs to reduce the file size (for example the GSM or mp3 codecs).
mp3 - the MPEG Layer-3 format is the most popular format for downloading and storing music. By
eliminating portions of the audio file that are essentially inaudible, mp3 files are compressed to
roughly one-tenth the size of an equivalent PCM file while maintaining good audio quality.
aiff - the standard audio file format used by Apple. It is like a wav file for the Mac.
Wma - the popular Windows Media Audio format owned by Microsoft. Designed with Digital Rights
Management (DRM) abilities for copy protection
aac - the Advanced Audio Coding format is based on the MPEG4 audio standard owned by Dolby.
A copy-protected version of this format has been developed by Apple for use in music downloaded
from their iTunes Music Store.
Real Audio (.ra .ram .rm): Real Audio is a proprietary format, and is used for streaming audio that
enables you to play digital audio files in real-time. To use this type of file you must have
RealPlayer (for Windows or Mac), which you can download for free. Real Audio was developed by
Real Networks.
MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface (.mid): Short for musical instrument digital interface,
MIDI is a standard adopted by the electronic music industry for controlling devices, such as
synthesizers and sound cards, which emit music. At minimum, a MIDI representation of a sound
includes values for the note's pitch, length, and volume. It can also include additional
characteristics, such as attack and delay time.
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Lesson 2
Adding Sound Effects and Music
Introduction
Sound in radio is the same as what pictures are in television. Just as a television report would be
dull if we only saw people talk in a head-and-shoulders shot, so in radio voices alone, with no
sound, would also be also dull.
Eight points about the importance of sound in a programme

1. It engages the listener, creating mental pictures of people and places in the programme.
2. It adds to listeners’ understanding of the people you are interviewing and what they do.
3. It can entertain the listener – sound can be amusing and entertaining, because of its rhythm or
the way it connects to what people are saying.
4. Sound can be used as part of an action-based interview. It gives the interview a dynamic feel.
For example, while interviewing a farmer ask him to show you the quality of his soil by picking it up
and crumbling it in his hand. Then walk around with him, picking up the sound of your feet on
different types of ground (stony, wet, grassy, etc.)
5. Sound can be used for masking jerky edits. For example, if you interview someone at a noisy
festival and then make some cuts in the interview, you may find some nasty jerks. This is because
as you cut the interviewee’s voice, you will, at the same time, cut sound in the background. So,
you can use your soundscape recording (see example highlighted below) to make a smooth
transition out of an audio clip as well as to mask the edit.
6. It can provide a link from one part of a package to the next: for example, you can link footsteps
or atmospheric sound from the location of one recording to the atmospheric sound in another
location. (See below for information on how sound can be scripted for an on-location package,
with instructions for mixing it in capital letters.)
7. Sound can be used in the presenter’s link to take the listener to the next item. (See below for a
scripted example of how sound can be used in a link. Mixing instructions are given in capital
letters.)
8. Finally, always try to imagine how you will use your sound in the programme and how it will
connect with speech. For example, if you interview a woman about housework, you should also
get some sound to go with the interview – housework is, after all, quite a noisy business.
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Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes
used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation,
video games, music, or other media. In motion picture and television production, a sound effect is
a sound recorded and presented to make a specific storytelling or creative point without the use of
dialogue or music.
The term often refers to a process applied to a recording, without necessarily referring to the
recording itself. In professional motion picture and television production, dialogue, music, and
sound effects recordings are treated as separate elements. Dialogue and music recordings are
never referred to as sound effects, even though the processes applied to them, such as
reverberation or flanging effects, often are called "sound effects".
Sound Effects
The most realistic sound effects originate from original sources; the closest sound to machine-gun
fire that we can replay is an original recording of actual machine guns. In music and film/television
production, typical effects used in recording and amplified performances are:
Diegetic - Sound whose source is present on the scene or whose source is implied to be present
by the action. For eg. Voices of characters, sounds made by objects in the story, music
represented as coming from instruments in the story space
Non diegetic - Sound whose source is neither in the story nor has been implied to be present in
the action. For e.g. Narrator’s commentary, sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect,
mood music
Echo - to simulate the effect of reverberation in a large hall or cavern, one or several delayed
signals are added to the original signal. To be perceived as echo, the delay has to be of order 50
milliseconds or above. Short of actually playing a sound in the desired environment, the effect of
echo can be implemented using either digital or analog methods. Analog echo effects are
implemented using tape delays and/or spring reverbs.
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Flanger - to create an unusual sound, a delayed signal is added to the original signal with a
continuously-variable delay (usually smaller than 10 ms). This effect is now done electronically
using DSP, but originally the effect was created by playing the same recording on two
synchronized tape players, and then mixing the signals together.
Phaser - another way of creating an unusual sound; the signal is split, a portion is filtered with an
all-pass filter to produce a phase-shift, and then the unfiltered and filtered signals are mixed. The
phaser effect was originally a simpler implementation of the flanger effect since delays were
difficult to implement with analog equipment. Phaser are often used to give a "synthesized" or
electronic effect to natural sounds, such as human speech.
Chorus - a delayed signal is added to the original signal with a constant delay. The delay has to
be short in order not to be perceived as echo. If the delay is too short, it will destructively interfere
with the un-delayed signal and create a flanging effect. Often, the delayed signals will be slightly
pitch shifted to more realistically convey the effect of multiple voices.
Equalization - different frequency bands are attenuated or boosted to produce desired spectral
characteristics. Moderate use of equalization (often abbreviated as "EQ") can be used to "fine-
tune" the tone quality of a recording; extreme use of equalization, such as heavily cutting a certain
frequency can create more unusual effects.
Filtering - In the general sense, frequency ranges can be emphasized or attenuated using low-
pass, high-pass, band-pass or band-stop filters. Band-pass filtering of voice can simulate the
effect of a telephone because telephones use band-pass filters.
Overdrive: effects such as the use of a fuzz box can be used to produce distorted sounds, such
as for imitating robotic voices or to simulate distorted radiotelephone.
Pitch shift - similar to pitch correction, this effect shifts a signal up or down in pitch. For example,
a signal may be shifted an octave up or down. This is usually applied to the entire signal and not to
each note separately.
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Time stretching - the opposite of pitch shift, that is, the process of changing the speed of an
audio signal without affecting its pitch.
Resonators - emphasize harmonic frequency content on specified frequencies. Robotic voice

effects are used to make an actor's voice sound like a synthesized human voice.
Synthesizer - generate artificially almost any sound by either imitating natural sounds or creating
completely new sounds.
3D audio effects - place sounds outside the stereo basis
Reverse echo - a swelling effect created by reversing an audio signal and recording echo and/or
delay whilst the signal runs in reverse. When played back forward the last echoes are heard
before the effected sound creating a rush like swell preceding and during playback.
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch (which
governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and
articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture.
Elements of music
Pitch: Pitch represents the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. It is one of the four major
auditory attributes of sounds along with loudness, timbre and sound source location. Pitch allows
the construction of melodies; pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower", and are quantified as
frequencies (cycles per second, or hertz), corresponding very nearly to the repetition rate of sound
waves. However, pitch is not an objective physical property, but a subjective psychophysical
attribute of sound
Rhythm: Rhythm a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements,
or of opposite or different conditions." While rhythm most commonly applies to sound, such as
music and spoken language, it may also refer to visual presentation, as "timed movement through
space." (And its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation),
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Dynamics: In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also
refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic (staccato, legato etc.) or
functional (velocity). The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to
indicate dynamics.
Dynamics do not indicate specific volume levels, but are meant to be played with reference to the
ensemble as a whole. Dynamic indications are derived= from Italian words.
Timbre: In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes
different types of sound production, such as voices or musical instruments. The physical
characteristics of sound that mediate the perception of timbre include spectrum and envelope.
Timbre is also known in psychoacoustics as tone quality or tone colour the sonic
Texture: In music, texture is the way the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined
in a composition determining the overall quality of sound of a piece. Texture is often described in
regards to the density, or thickness, and range, or width between lowest and highest pitches, in
relative terms as well as more specifically distinguished according to the number of voices, or
parts, and the relationship between these voices.
Types of Music
Music: When we say radio, the first thing that comes to our mind is music. So music is the main
stay in radio. There is no radio without music. Music is used in different ways on radio. There are
programmes of music and music is also used in different programmes. These include signature
tunes, music used as effects in radio plays and features. India has a great heritage of music and
radio in India reflects that. Let us understand the different types of music.
Classical Music
There are 3 types of classical music in India. They are:-
 Hindustani classical
 Carnatic classical
 Western classical
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There are also vocal and instrumental music forms. There are also light classical music forms like,
Thumri and Dadra. Instrumental music forms include string (sitar, sarod etc.) wind (like flutes,
shehnai) and percussion (drum) instruments. You might have heard such music on radio.
You may know of a large variety of devotional and folk music in your area and across the country.
Which are broadcast on radio. But which is the most popular form of music? You would most
probably say ‘film music.’ While there are film songs in different languages, the one with a national
appeal and popularity is Hindi film songs.
On most radio stations, be it public service or commercial, Hindi films songs are heard
everywhere. Light western and pop music are also popular among some groups of listeners and
There is a large section of young people listening to western pop music.
The development of music among humans must have taken place against the backdrop of natural
sounds such as birdsong and the sounds other animals use to communicate. Prehistoric music is
the name which is given to all music produced in preliterate cultures.
There are many kinds of music. Here is a list of some different styles of music:
Rap: Rap is a fast singing rhyming kind of music. It is the latest kind of music.
Country: Not a lot of kids listen to country music. It’s a typical old kind of music
Rock: Rock is a kind of music that you will usually use drums, keyboards, and electric guitars.
Rock singers sing very loud.
Disco: A lot of kids liked this music years ago. People take disco and mix it with rap.
Pop: Pop is like a regular kind of music. Kids listen to it. Sometimes when you listen to pop, you
can hear two of every kind of instrument from each family of instruments
Families of Musical Instruments:

1) String: instruments are instruments that have strings. All you have to do is pluck the strings.
They are made of different materials. Examples of string instruments: Harp, Guitar, Cello, Viola,
Violin, Mandolin.
2) Woodwinds: instruments are instruments that you blow in and they make music. Each
instrument has a lot of different holes on top to hold so you can make music.
20
Examples of WOODWIND instruments: Flute, Clarinet, Brass Clarinet, Bassoon, Saxophone,

English horn, Piccolo, Recorder
3) Brass: instruments are instruments that are made from brass. Most of them are long. They
make different tones. They have buttons of slides to make noises. You have to blow in them.
Examples of BRASS instruments: Trumpet, Tuba, Bugle, Trombone, French horn, Cornet,
Sousaphone, Flugel Horn, Bariton Horn
4) Percussion: instruments are instruments that you have to hit to make different music.
Percussion instruments are like a drum and piano. Some Indians use drums and drums are
percussion instruments.
Examples of PERCUSSION instruments: Drums, Piano, Kettledrum, Chimes, Snare Drums,
Vibraphone, Gong, Sleigh Bell, Cymbals, Triangle.
21
Lesson 3
Audio Filters: Types, Need and Importance
Audio Filter
An audio filter is a circuit, working in the audio frequency range that processes sound signals.
Many types of filters exist for applications including graphic equalizers, synthesizers, sound
effects, CD players and virtual reality systems.
In its simplest form, an audio filter is typically designed to pass some frequency regions through
attenuated while significantly attenuating others. High-Pass Filter, or HPF, is a filter that passes
high frequencies well but attenuates (i.e., reduces the amplitude of) frequencies lower than the
filter's cut-off frequency. The actual amount of attenuation for each frequency is a design
parameter of the filter. It is sometimes called a low-cut filter or bass-cut filter.
Types of filter
Low-Pass Filter is a filter that passes low-frequency signals but attenuates (reduces the
amplitude of) signals with frequencies higher than the cut-off frequency. The actual amount of
attenuation for each frequency varies from filter to filter. It is sometimes called a high-cut filter, or
treble cut filter when used in audio applications. A low-pass filter is the opposite of a high-pass
filter, and a band-pass filter is a combination of a low-pass and a high-pass.
Low-pass filters exist in many different forms, including electronic circuits (such as a hiss filter
used in audio), digital filters for smoothing sets of data, acoustic barriers, blurring of images, and
so on. The moving average operation used in fields such as finance is a particular kind of low-pass
filter, and can be analysed with the same signal processing techniques as are used for other low-
pass filters. Low-pass filters provide a smoother form of a signal, removing the short-term
fluctuations, and leaving the longer-term trend.
22
Band-Pass Filter is a device that passes frequencies within a certain range and rejects
(attenuates) frequencies outside that range. An example of an analogue electronic band-pass filter
is an RLC circuit (a resistor–inductor–capacitor circuit). These filters can also be created by
combining a low-pass filter with a high-pass filter
Linear Filter applies a linear operator to a time-varying input signal. Linear filters are very
common in electronics and digital signal processing (see the article on electronic filters), but they
can also be found in mechanical engineering and other technologies.
They are often used to eliminate unwanted frequencies from an input signal or to select a desired
frequency among many others. There are a wide range of types of filters and filter technologies, of
which this article will present an overview. Regardless of whether they are electronic, electrical, or
mechanical, or what frequency ranges or timescales they work on, the mathematical theory of
linear filters is universal.
Equalization (Eq) Filter is a filter, usually adjustable, designed to compensate for the unequal
frequency response of some other signal processing circuit or system. In audio engineering, the
EQ filter is more often used creatively to alter the frequency response characteristics of a musical
source or a sound mix.
An EQ filter typically allows the user to adjust one or more parameters that determine the overall
shape of the filter's transfer function. It is generally used to improve the fidelity of sound, to
emphasize certain instruments, to remove undesired noises, or to create completely new and
different timbres.
Equalizers may be designed with peaking filters, shelving filters, band pass filters, or high-pass
and low-pass filters. Dynamic range circuitry can be linked with an EQ filter to make timbre
changes only after a signal passes an amplitude threshold, or to dynamically increase or reduce
amplitude based on the level of a frequency band. Such circuitry is involved in de-essing and in
pop-filtering.
23
Lesson 4
Evaluation: Process and Measurement Techniques
Introduction
A crucial activity for any producer is the regular evaluation of what he or she is doing. Programmes
have to be justified. Other people may want the resources or the airtime. Station owners,
advertisers, sponsors and accountants will want to know what programmes cost and whether they
are worth it. Above all, conscientious producers striving for better and more effective
communication will want to know how to improve their work and achieve greater results.
Broadcasters talk a great deal about quality and excellence, and rightly so, but these are more
than abstract concepts, they are founded on the down-to-earth practicalities of continuous
evaluation.
Programmes can be assessed from several viewpoints. We shall concentrate on three:

 Production and quality evaluation
 Audience evaluation
 Cost evaluation
Production Evaluation
Programme evaluation carried out among professionals is the first of the evaluative methods and
should be applied automatically to all parts of the output. However, it is more than simply a
discussion of individual opinion, for a programme should always be evaluated against previously
agreed criteria.
First, the basic essential of the proper technical and operational standard. This means there is
no audible distortion, that intelligibility is total, that the sound quality, balance and levels are
correct, the fades properly done, the pauses just right and the edits unnoticeable.
Second, what is the programme for – what does it set out to do? A statement of purpose should
be formulated for every programme so that it has a specific direction and aim. Without such an
aim, any programme can be held to be successful. So, what is the ‘target audience’? What is the
programme intending to do for that audience? How well does it set about doing it? (Whether it
actually succeeds in this is an issue for audience evaluation.)
24
Third, a professional evaluation of content and format. Were the interviews up to standard?
The items in the best order? The script lucid and the presenter communicative? These questions
are best discussed at a regular meeting of producers run by the senior editorial figure. It is
important at these meetings that everyone has heard the programme under review – either off-air
or played at the start of the meeting. It is good to have some positive feedback first. What did we
like about it? In what ways did we feel it appealed to the target audience? What could be
improved? Is there a follow up?
Everyone should be encouraged to take part in this evaluation, including of course the
programme’s producer. The focus of the discussion should be on constructive improvement rather
than finding fault. When producers are first involved in playback and discussion sessions, they are
bound to show some initial defensiveness and sensitivity over their work. This has to be
understood. It is best minimized by focusing the discussion on the programme, not on the
programme maker. The process is essentially about problem solving and creatively seeking new
ideas in pursuit of the programme aim.
Programme Quality
Quality is a much overused word in programme making. Is it only something about which people
say ‘I know it when I see it or hear it, but I wouldn’t like to say what it is’? If so, it must be difficult to
justify the judges’ decisions at an awards ceremony. Of course, there will be a subjective element
– a programme will appeal to an individual when it causes a personal resonance because of
experience, preference or expectation. But there must also be some agreed professional criteria
for the evaluation of programme excellence – quality will mean that at least some of the following
eight components will be in evidence.
First, appropriateness. Irrespective of the size of the audience gained, did the programme
actually meet the needs of those for whom it was intended? Was it a well-crafted piece of
communication which was totally appropriate to its target listeners, having regard to their
educational, social or cultural background? Programme quality here is not about being lavish or
expensive, it is about being in touch with a particular audience, in order exactly to serve it,
providing with precision the requirements of the listener.
25
Second, creativity. Did the programme contain those sparks of newness, difference and
originality that are genuinely creative, so that it combined the science and logic of communication
with the art of delight and surprise?
This leaves a more lasting impression, differentiating the memorable from the dull, bland or
predictable.
Third, accuracy. Was it truthful and honest, not only in the facts it presented and in their portrayal
and balance within the programme, but also in the sense of being fair to people with different
views? It is in this way that programmes are seen as being authoritative and reliable – essential of
course for news, but necessary also for documentary programmes, magazines and, in its own
way, for drama.
Fourth, eminence. Quality acknowledges known standards of ability in other walks of life. A quality
programme is likely to include first-rate performers – actors or musicians. It will make use of the
best writers and involve people eminent in their own sphere. This, of course, extends to senior
politicians, industrial leaders, scientists, sportsmen and women – known achievers of all kinds.
Their presence gives authority and stature to the programme. It is true that the unknown can also
produce marvels of performance, but quality output cannot rely on this and will recognize
established talent and professional ability.
Fifth, holistic. A programme of quality will certainly communicate intellectually in that it is

understandable to the sense of reason, but it should appeal to other senses as well – the pictorial,
imaginative or nostalgic. It will arouse emotions at a deeper and richer level, touching us as
human beings responsive to feelings of awe, love, compassion, sadness, excitement – or even the
anger of injustice. A quality programme makes contact with more of the whole person – it will
surely move me.
Sixth, technical advance. An aspect of quality lies in its technical innovation, its daring – either in
the production methods or the way in which the audience is involved. Technically ambitious
programmes, especially when ‘live’, still have a special impact for the audience.
26
Seventh, personal enhancement. Was the overall effect of the programme to enrich the
experience of the listener, to add to it in some way rather than to leave it untouched – or worse to
degrade or diminish it? The end result may have been to give pleasure, to increase knowledge, to
provoke or to challenge. An idea of ‘desirable quality’ should have some effect which gives, or at
least lends, a desirable quality to its recipient. It will have a ‘Wow’ factor.
Eighth, personal rapport. As the result of a quality experience, or perhaps during it, the listener
will feel a sense of rapport – of closeness – with the programme makers. One intuitively
appreciates a programme that is perceived as well researched, pays attention to detail, achieves
diversity or depth, or has personal impact – in short, is distinctive. The listener identifies not only
with the programme and its people, but also with the station. Programmes which take the trouble
to reach out to the audience earn a reciprocal benefit of loyalty and sense of ownership.
Combining accuracy with appropriateness, for example, means providing truthful and relevant
news in a manner that is totally understandable to the intended audience at the desired time and
for the right duration.
Quality news will also introduce creative ways of fairly describing difficult issues, so leaving the
listener feeling enriched in his or her understanding of the world. Programme quality requires
several talents. It takes time to think through and is less likely to blossom if the station’s primary
requirement is quantity rather than excellence. It cannot be demanded in every programme, for
creativity requires experiment and development. It needs the freedom to take risks and therefore
occasionally to make mistakes. Qualitative aspects of production are not easy to measure, and it
may be that this is why an experienced programme maker determines them intuitively rather than
by logic alone. Nevertheless, they have to be present in any station that has quality on the agenda
or aspires to be a leading broadcaster.
Quality allied to programming as a whole – especially which thought of as public service – takes
us back to criteria described. Quality in this sense will mean a diversity of output, meeting a whole
range of needs within the population served. It will reflect widely differing views and activities, with
the intention of creating a greater understanding between different sections of the community. Its
aim is to promote tolerance in society by bringing people together – surely always the hallmark of
quality communication.
27
The cynic will say that this is too idealistic and that broadcasting is for self-serving commercial or
even propagandist ends – to earn a living and provide music to ease the strain of life for listeners.
If this is the case, then simply evaluate the activity by these criteria. The many motivations for
making programmes and the values implicit in the work are outlined. What is not in doubt is the
need to evaluate the results of what we do against our reason for doing it.
Audience Evaluation
Formal audience research is designed to tell the broadcaster specific facts about the audience
size and reaction to a particular station or to individual programmes. The measurement of
audiences and the discovery of who is listening at what times and to which stations is of great
interest not only to programme makers and station managers, but also to advertisers or sponsors
who buy time on different stations. Audience measurement is the most common form of audience
research, largely because of the importance attached to obtaining this information by the
commercial world.
Several methods of measurement are used and, in each, people are selected at random from a
specific category to represent the target population:
1 People are interviewed face to face, generally at home.
2 Interviews are conducted by phone.
3 Respondents complete a listening diary.
4 A selected sample wear a small personal meter.
The more detailed the information required – the number of people who heard part or all of a given
programme on a particular day, and what they thought of it – the more research will cost. This is
because the sample will need to be larger, requiring more interviews (or more diaries) and
because the research has to be done exclusively for radio. If the information required is fairly basic
– how many people tuned to Radio Mirchi for any programme last month and their overall opinion
of the station – the cost will be much less, since suitable short questions can be included in a
general market survey of a range of other products and services.
It should be said that constructing a properly representative sample of interviewees is a process

requiring some precision and care. For example, we know that the unemployed are likely to be
heavy users of the media generally, yet as a category they are especially difficult to represent.
28
Nevertheless, a correct sample should cover all demographic groups and categories in terms of
age, gender, social or occupational status, ethnic culture, language and lifestyle, e.g. urban and
rural. It should reflect in the proper proportions any marked regional or other differences in the
area surveyed. This pre-survey work ensures, for example, that the views of Hindi-speaking
students, male and female, are sought in the same ratio to the over-65s living in rural areas as
these two categories exist in the population as a whole. Only when the questioning is put to a
correctly constructed sample of the potential audience will the answers make real sense.
Methods and Techniques of Programme Evaluation

Personal Meters
Many methods of radio audience measurement depend on listeners’ memories and on whether
they actually know what radio stations they have been listening to. There are electronic methods
that get round these problems.
For example, a selected number of people agree to wear a small personal programme meter that
records what stations the wearer has been in the audible presence of during his or her waking
hours. This might be a small pager-sized meter that relies on all radio and TV stations having an
embedded but inaudible identity code that it can recognize and record. Another system involves
wearing a watch that records and compresses four seconds of sound during every minute that the
watch is worn. These compressed digital clips are then compared with all output of all radio and
TV stations during the period being measured. At the end of a period – daily or weekly – the data
contained in the device is sent to a computer via a telephone line for analysis. Such systems are in
regular use and can be expected to grow over the next few years. One major advantage is that
they provide comparable data for both radio and TV from the same source. The main
disadvantage is the higher cost involved. A major question for researchers, station directors and
advertisers is whether a radio station that is merely heard, perhaps unintentionally, is the same
thing as one that is deliberately tuned to.
Research Panels
Another method of research is through listening panels scattered throughout the coverage area.
Such groups can, by means of a questionnaire, be asked to provide qualitative feedback on
programmes. Panel members will be in touch with their own community and therefore may be
chosen to be broadly representative of local opinion.
29
Once a panel has been established, its members can be asked to respond to a range of
programme enquiries, which over time may usefully indicate changes in listening patterns.
Such panels are also appropriate where the programme is designed for a specific minority, such
as farmers, the under-fives, the unemployed, hospital patients, adult learners, or a particular ethnic
or language group. Here, the panel may meet together to discuss a programme and provide a
group response. Visited by programme makers from time to time, a panel can sustain its interest
by undertaking responsible research for the station. But beware any such sounding-board which is
too much on the producer’s side.
Too close an affiliation creates a desire to please, whereas programme makers must hear bad
news as well as good. Indeed, one of the key survey questions is always to find out why someone
did not listen to my programme.
Questionnaires
In designing a research questionnaire ensure that the concepts, words and format are appropriate
to the person who will be asked to complete it. A trained researcher filling in the form while
undertaking an interview can cover greater complications and variables than a form to be
completed by an individual listener on their own. Before large-scale use, any draft questionnaire
should be tested with a pilot group to reveal ambiguities or misunderstandings. Here are some
design criteria:
 Decide exactly what information you need, and how you will use it.
 Do not ask for information you don’t need – redundant questions only complicate things.
 Write the introduction to indicate who wants the information, and why, and what will be
done with it. Establish the level of confidentiality.
 Number each question for reference.
 The layout should be in lines rather than boxes or columns. This enables it to be completed
either by typing or longhand.
 The information you may want is in three categories:
– Facts: name, age, family, address, job, newspapers read.
– Experience: listening habits, reception difficulties, use of TV/videos.
– Opinion: views of programmes, presenters, of competitor stations.
30
 Questions here come in four categories:

– Where the answer is either yes or no: Are you able to receive Radio XYZ? Yes/No
– Where you offer a multiple-choice question: How difficult is it to tune your radio to
Radio XYZ? Very difficult/Moderately difficult/ Fairly easy/Very easy
– Where you provide a numerical scale for possible answers: On a scale of 0–5, how
difficult is it to tune your radio to Radio XYZ? Very difficult 0 … 1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … 5
Very easy where you invite a reply in prose: What difficulties have you had in
receiving Radio XYZ?
 Yes/No, tick box, multiple-choice and numerical scale questions take up little space and can
be given number values, and so are useful in producing statistics.
 Add ‘other’ to appropriate multiple-choice questions to allow for responses you have not
thought of.
 Prose answers can be difficult to decipher but give good insights and usable quotes.
 Avoid imprecise terms – ‘often’, ‘generally’, ‘useful’ – other than in a multiple-choice
sequence.
 Avoid questions that appear to have a right or preferred answer.
 Keep the questionnaire simple and as short as possible.
Letter Response
Informal audience research – anecdotal evidence, press comment and immediate feedback –
often has an impact on the producer that is out of proportion to its true value. Probably the most
misleading of these – in relation to the listenership as a whole – is the letter response. Several
studies have shown that there is no direct correlation between the numbers of letters received and
the size or nature of the audience. News is often the most listened-to part of the output, yet the
newsroom receives comparatively few letters.
Letters will indicate something about the individuals who are motivated to write – where they live,
their interests perhaps, what triggered them to pick up a pen, or what they want in return. But it is
wrong to think that each writer represents a thousand others – they may do, but you don’t know
that and cannot assume it. There may be more letters from women than from men – does that
indicate that there are more women listeners than men? Not necessarily – it may be that women
have more time, are more literate, are more motivated, or have the stamps!
31
Broadcasting to ‘closed’ countries, or where mail is subject to interference, frequently results in a

lack of response, which by no means necessarily indicates a small audience. Low literacy or a
genuine inability to pay the postage are other factors which complicate any real accuracy in
attempting audience evaluation through the correspondence received. It may give some useful
indicators and raise questions worthy of feeding back into programmes – for each individual letter
has to be taken most seriously – but letter writers are self-selecting along patterns which are likely
to have more to do with education, income, available time and personal motivation than with any
sense of the audience as a whole.
A method which partly overcomes the unknown and random nature of letter response is to send
with every reply to a correspondent a questionnaire (together with a stamped addressed return
envelope) designed to ask about the writer’s listening habits, to your own and to other services.
It also asks for information about the person. Over a period of several months it is possible to build
up some useful demographic data.
It still only relates to those who write, but it can be compared with official statistical data – available
from many public libraries – to discover how representative the people who write are.
Cost Evaluation
What does a programme cost? Like many simple questions in broadcasting this one has a myriad
possible answers, depending on what you mean. The simplest answer is to say that a programme
has a financial budget of ‘X’ – an amount to cover the ‘above the line’ expenses of travel,
contributors’ fees, copyright, technical facilities and so on. But then what is its cost in ‘people
time’? Are staff salaries involved – producer, technical staff, and secretarial time? Or office
overheads – telephone, postage, etc.? Is the programme cost to include studio time, and is that
costed by the hour to include its maintenance and depreciation? And what about transmission
costs – power bills, engineering effort, capital depreciation?
Total costing will include all the management costs and all the overheads, over which the
individual programme maker can have little or no control. One way of looking at this is to take a
station’s annual expenditure and divide it by the number of hours it produces, so arriving at a cost
per hour. But since this results in the same figure for all programmes, no comparisons can be
made.
32
More helpful is to allocate to programmes all cash resource costs which are directly attributable to
it, and then add a share of the general overheads – including both management and transmission
costs – in order to arrive at a true, or at least a truer, cost per hour figure which will bear
comparison with other programmes. Does news cost more than sport? How expensive is a well-
researched documentary or a piece of drama? How does a general magazine compare with a
phone-in or a music programme? How much does a ‘live’ concert really cost? Of course, it is not
simply the actual cost of a programme which matters – coverage of a live event may result in
several hours of output, which with recorded repeat capability could provide a low cost per hour.
Furthermore, given information about the size of the audience it is possible, by dividing the cost
per hour by the number of listeners, to arrive at a cost per listener hour. So is this the all-important
figure? No, it is an indicator among several by which a programme is evaluated. Relatively cheap
programmes which attract a substantial audience may or may not be what a station wants to
produce. It may also want to provide programmes that are more costly to make and designed for a
minority audience – programmes for the disabled, for a particular linguistic, religious or cultural
group, or for a specific educational purpose. These will have a higher cost per listener hour, but
will also give a channel its public service credibility.
It is important for each programme to be true to its purpose – to achieve results in those areas for
which it is designed. It is also important for each programme to contribute to the station’s purpose
– its Mission Statement.
After a full evaluation, happy is the producer who is able to say ‘My programme is professionally
made to a high technical standard, it meets precisely the needs of the whole audience for which it
is intended, its cost per listener hour is within acceptable limits for this format, and it contributes
substantially to the declared purpose of this station.’ Happy, too, is the station manager.
RAM (Radio Audience Measurement) - An Introduction

Radio broadcasting, because of its versatility, is considered an effective medium to provide
entertainment, information and education. Terrestrial radio coverage in India is available in
Frequency Modulation (FM) mode and Amplitude Modulation (AM) mode (Short Wave and
Medium Wave).
33
Radio broadcasting services are provided by the public broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) as well
as by private sector radio operators. AIR transmits programs both in AM and FM mode and has
415 radio stations (AM & FM) that cover almost 92% of the country by area and more than 99.19%
of the country’s population1. Private sector radio operators transmit programs in FM mode only.
At present, radio audience measurement in India is conducted by AIR and TAM Media Research.
AIR carries out periodical large scale radio audience surveys on various AIR channels only. TAM
Media Research conducts radio audience measurement on private FM Radio channels only
through an independent division, which is a joint service between IMRB International and Nielsen
Media Research. It uses the paper diary method to measure Radio listenership with a panel size
of 600 individuals each in Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Listenership data is provided on
a weekly basis. There is no integrated listenership data available either for AIR or private FM radio
channels. Thus the advertisers do not have any realistic data for making decisions relating to
placement of advertisements in various channels.
Radio rating services in India

AIR undertook the first Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) in the country in 1946 through its
'Listeners Research Wing'. Subsequently, Listeners Research Wing was renamed as ‘Audience
Research Unit’ with 38 branches across the country. However, AIR usually conducts listenership
survey for its own radio channels and for its own consumption.
Radio rating services on a commercial basis were provided by TAM Media Research for the first
time in 2007 through its own independent division, which is a joint service of IMRB international
and Nielsen Media Research. At present TAM conducts audience measurement in the cities of
Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata only.
As a first step towards audience measurement, TAM conducts an establishment survey in all the
four cities. It identifies 3000 individuals each aged more than 12 years and owning an FM radio
device through this survey. Such individuals are selected in each of the four cities using random
sampling. Face-to-face interviews are conducted using structured questionnaire to select 600
individuals out of the 3000 through systematic random sampling using the Kisch grid in each city.
These selected 480 individuals form the panel for the purpose of radio audience measurement.
TAM uses the diary method to measure listenership for providing listenership data on a weekly
basis. In diary method, the selected individuals are supposed to write the details of channels and
duration for which they listen to FM Radio channels on weekly basis.
34
TAM also conducted listenership surveys in 9 additional cities comprising of Ahmadabad,

Chennai, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Nagpur and Pune during May-August
2011 and Feb-March 2012. Surveys in these 9 cities were, however, not continued.
The first Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) has put Radio Mirchi as number one across various
parameters tracked by TAM Media Research. Radio Mirchi, however, has refused to acknowledge
the honour. According to Prashant Panday, CEO, Radio Mirchi, the figures are a joke. The station,
which was accredited with a 55-lakh audience base for Delhi, has been concerned about the
''diary methodology'' of the rating system, which according to it is way off the mark.
35

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Unit 4, Lesson 1 Basics of Radio Programming & Production

Unit 4 BA (JMC) 203 L: 10

Post Production and Evaluation

Purpose of sound editing:

peech, music, sound and silence.

Types of sound editing

Here’s the basic cut-and-splice editing process using magnetic tape:

Digital/Non- linear Sound Editing

Sound Editor Functions

Tips for editing

4. Zoom in. Zoom in to make an edit.

Mixing in the multi-track

Preparing material for mixing in multi-track

Below are some examples of multi-track sessions:

2. Example of a cross fade

3. Opening of a programme with signature tune woven round presenters' speech

(Source: BBC Media Action Radio Production Manual – Ethiopia)

Different Audio Formats

Eight points about the importance of sound in a programme

Resonators - emphasize harmonic frequency content on specified frequencies. Robotic voice

3D audio effects - place sounds outside the stereo basis

Families of Musical Instruments:

Examples of WOODWIND instruments: Flute, Clarinet, Brass Clarinet, Bassoon, Saxophone,

Programmes can be assessed from several viewpoints. We shall concentrate on three:

Fifth, holistic. A programme of quality will certainly communicate intellectually in that it is

It should be said that constructing a properly representative sample of interviewees is a process

Methods and Techniques of Programme Evaluation

 Questions here come in four categories:

Broadcasting to ‘closed’ countries, or where mail is subject to interference, frequently results in a

RAM (Radio Audience Measurement) - An Introduction

Radio rating services in India

TAM also conducted listenership surveys in 9 additional cities comprising of Ahmadabad,

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