BASICS OF RADIO

PROGRAMMING AND
PRODUCTION
Unit 2
 UNIT 2
PROGRAMME FORMATS

 RADIO PROGRAMMES FORMATS:

 Radio programmes may be classified into two broad groups:
 SPOKEN WORD PROGRAMMES.
 SPECIFIC AUDIENCE PROGRAMMES.
 SPOKEN WORD PROGRAMMES: It include news bulletins, talks discussions,
interviews, educational programmes for schools and colleges.
 SPECIFIC AUDIENCE PROGRAMMES: It directed at of English and the various
regional English and the various regional languages.
 The major bulletins are of 15 minutes duration, while others are of only 5 minutes
duration.
 They present summaries of news stories in order of importance and interest-value.
 National and international happenings get pride of place, while regional and local
news is read out if time permits.
 Human interest stories and sports
news generally round of the major
bulletins.
 AIR’s news bulletins are much too formal in language, structure and presentation,
suitable more for a lecture than a talk across the table which news reading really is.

 RADIO TALK:
 The radio talk is probably 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.
 It should be interesting and informative and not a boring lecture.
 Over the years, these long radio talks have become unpopular.
 Instead, today, shorter duration talks are broadcast.
 Of course, you can listen to these talks only on public service broadcasting stations.
 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 awkward
inversions.
 Care should be taken to keep close to the rhythm of ordinary speech when writing the
talk, and also when recording it.
 Talk is a straight delivery of words by a particular speaker.
 Talk can be an effective format to present an opinion on an issue or a problem.
 These are generally planned in advance; however, talks on important items or current
affairs are also arranged at a short notice.
 RADIO ANNOUNCEMENTS:
 These are specifically written clear messages to inform.
 They can be of different types.
 For example station/programme identification.
 These mention the station you are tuned into, the frequency, the time and the
programme/song you are going to listen to.
 These announcements have become informal and resemble ordinary conversation.
 There can be more than one presenter in some programmes like magazines.

 RADIO COMMERCIALS/JINGLES:
 A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and other commercial uses.
 The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product
being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans.
 Ad buyers use jingles in radio; they can also be used in non-advertising contexts to
establish or maintain a brand image.
 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.
 Plus, you have a limited amount of time to convey the message because the
advertisements are just fifteen, thirty or sixty seconds.

 TIPS FOR WRITING JINGLE:

 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.
 FORMULATE YOUR IDEA:
 Bounce some creative ideas off other writers or with the client.
 The commercial will be short, so pick one idea and stick to it.
 BEGIN YOUR FIRST DRAFT:
 Radio ads are fifteen, thirty or sixty seconds in length.
 Find out which, and then write the advertisement.
 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.
 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.
 Let the script sit for awhile, take a break, and then return to it with fresh eyes.
 Edit it as necessary, but remember to time it again once you are done, and then Present
the script to your editor or client for final approval.
 GREAT JINGLES SHOULD BE:
 Short.
 Easy to Understand.
 Recognizable.
 Memorable.
 Tell a true story.
 Use a single message.
 Understand and Praise the Audience.

 NOTE:
 The jingles are usually composed by professionals.
 Since jingles are important components of the ad campaign, a lot of care is taken to
ensure that only a very high quality advertising jingle is produced.
 Because they are so popular, and also given the wide reach of them, a lot of
established musicians also lend their talents to it.
 As a result, it is often seen that the advertising jingles are of superior quality.
 A radio jingle is a memorable slogan, set to an engaging melody.
 Always use a Strong Opening Statement in Your Radio Advertisement.
 Determine Your Radio Commercial Length.

 PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

 A public service announcement (PSA) or public service ad, is a message in the public
interest disseminated by the media without charge, with the objective of raising
awareness, changing public attitudes and behavior towards a social issue.
 The earliest public service announcements were made before and during the
Second
World War years in both the UK and the US.

 ADVANTAGES OF PSA’s:
 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.
 Most stations will allow you to include a telephone number for more information in
your PSA.
 PSA's can raise awareness of your issue.
 LIMITATIONS OF PSA'S:
 Because PSA's depend on donated time, you'll often find you're not able to get them run
on all the media outlets you'd like to, or you may find yourself at the mercy of station
staff members who may be overworked, arbitrary, or personally opposed to your
group's work.
 PSA's are often run as "filler" in the middle of the night or during other times when
only a few people are listening or watching.
 Stations may not track and report when your PSA's have been played, but they will do
this for paid advertising.
 WHEN SHOULD YOU CONSIDER USING PSA'S?
 When your group is a nonprofit organization.
 When you have a specific announcement to make (for example, the time and place of
a meeting or event).
 When you have a clear and easy-to-understand issue.
 When you're requesting a very specific action.
 When you have good contacts for getting your PSA on the air.
 When you have good writing and production skills.
 When you've previously used PSA's with success.
 When it's going to be part of a larger media campaign.

 LENGTH OF PSA WITH DURATION:

 Length of PSA 10 seconds: 20-25 words.
 Length of PSA 15 seconds: 30-35 words.
 Length of PSA 20 seconds: 40-50 words.
 Length of PSA 30 seconds: 60-75 words.
 WHAT SHOULD INVOLVE IN SCRIPTS:
 Title, agency, Duration, Information about topic must be involved in the script.

 RADIO PHONE INS AND RADIO BRIDGE:

 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.
 In radio broadcasting, a phone-in or call-in is a programme format in which audience or
listeners are invited to air their live comments by telephone, usually in respect of a
specific topic selected for discussion on the day of the broadcast.
 On radio, it is common for an entire programme to be dedicated to a phone-in session.
 The main aim of a phone-in is to allow a democratic expression of view and to create
the possibility of community action.
 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.
 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 modernly
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.

 TECHNICAL REQUIREMENT FOR PHONE-IN:

 Off –air answering of calls.
 Acceptance of several calls- says four or five simultaneously.
 Holding a call until required, sending the caller a feed of cue programme.
 The ability to take two call simultaneously on the air.
 PROGRAMME CLASSIFICATION:
 The open line: Conversation with the studio presenter.
 The specific subject: expert advice on a chosen topic.
 Consumer affair: a series providing ‘action’ advice on detailed cases.
 Personal Counseling: problem discussed for the individual rather than the audience.

 GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTER:

 TO BE SINCERE: It means 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 TECHNICAL WORDS: Avoid ‘jargon’ and specialist or technical language.
 TO BE HELPFUL: It offer useful, constructive practical advice.
 TO APPEAR COMPETENT: It demonstrate and appreciation of the question and
ensure accuracy of answer.
 RADIO BRIDGE:
 Radio Bridge signifies the extension of Phone-in programmes.
 In a phone-in programme, listeners usually interact with the experts located in the
studio of a particular radio station.
 However, in a Radio Bridge programme four or more studios of different cities are
connected and experts called to discuss a given topic or issue.
 Thus, the listeners are able to listen to the opinions or views of different experts at one
time from different places and can also elicit clarification from the experts 'live'.

 RADIO DRAMA:
 APPROACHES TO WRITING FOR RADIO DRAMA:
 Radio drama is capable of capturing the imagination of the listener with very fine
strokes of sound, and much can be achieved with a subtle use of effects.
 Silence in radio drama can be as dramatic as the spoken word or a devastating sound
effect.
 Entire plays have been constructed without a single word of dialogue.
 Radio drama is referred to as ‘Theatre of the mind’.
 It presents word pictures.
 Dialogues, instruments and background sound effects keep a harmony to make
pictures in hearer’s mind.
 Simple dramatic situations, language and imagery are used in a radio drama.
 Tonal variations make impacts.
 Each words and sounds should provide exact pictures.
 Instead of actions and facial expressions words and sounds dominate in radio
dramas.
 Radio drama is a story told through sound alone.
 All the ingredients of the drama like the voices of characters, background or mood
effects, musical effects, atmospheric effects is conveying only through sound.
 So, when writing a script for radio drama, the script writer should be known to write
the entire visual picture through sounds i.e. the audio script should draw the visuals.
 NOTE: Radio drama can be either single, self contained plays or serial dramas
consisting of several episodes.
 Listeners can visualize everything by hearing the audio and Sound should create
facial expressions, body language, gestures, crisis, conflict, fight and the like.
 Generally they have not more than 3 or 4 characters whose voices must be sufficiently
distinguishable lest the listener gets confused.
 They must sound natural and speak true to character.
 DURATION: Average time duration is 30 to 60 minutes.

 FEATURES THAT MAKE A RADIO PLAY STAND OUT ARE:

 QUALITY OF CHARACTERIZATION:
 Can the listener imagine the experience of the character through the script?
 Is the character immediate to the listener and can they empathize with her or him?
 Do the characters undergo some significant change through the course of the drama
and does that change encompass conflict?
 QUALITY AND ORIGINALITY OF SOUND DESIGN:
 Is your script uniquely suited to the radio medium?
 Have you created a sound atmosphere and set' that enhances
'sound
complements the mood of the writing, the characters and theand
plot?
 Is sound used symbolically, ironically, surrealistically, or satirically and does it form
part of the texture and artistic fabric of the play?

 QUALITY AND ORIGINALITY OF DIALOGUE:

 Are the characters created by the idiom and speech rhythms of their lines?
 Are characters developed by effective and revelatory dialogue?
 Is there a sense of reality in the speeches?
 If you are writing about real people do they sound like them?
 QUALITY AND ORIGINALITY OF THE PLOT:
 Are you able to keep the listener on tenterhooks?
 Do you leave the listener determined to hear the play to the very end?
 How logical and believable is the story?
 Is the listener sure of what is happening in each of the developing scenes?

 ELEMENTS OF RADIO DRAMA:

 The elements of radio drama are the same as those of stage drama:
 ROLE: Characters in the play.
 TIME: When the action takes place.
 PLACE: Where the action takes place.
 ACTION: What happens in the drama.
 TENSION: Conflict within and between characters and their environment.
 FOCUS: The ideas, feelings, or characters that the play righter wants us
to
concentrate on in a particular moment.

 CHARACTERS' IN DRAMA:
 A radio play generally has fewer characters than a staged play.
 This partly because it is easy for an audience to forget who characters are if they do
not speak frequently as they cannot be seen on stage, and partly because it can difficult
for an audience to distinguish between a number of characters by voice alone.
 The audience learns about the characters through what they say and what others say
about them, and the sound of their voice.
 Characters have to have distinctive voices.
 DIALOGUES IN DRAMA:
 Dialogue is essential to define sounds heard in a radio play.
 A listener might interpret a sound in a number of different ways, unless there is
dialogue from the characters to set the scene.
 The words need to sound the way people speak.
 For this reason it is a good idea to say the words as you write them so that you can
hear what they sound like.
 The words that a character uses will tell the listener about the character‘s
background.
 ACTION IN DRAMA:
 Characters need to describe what they are doing, or to describe what they can see
others doing.
 Whether in a radio play or stage play, action is still about what happens.
 It is about what happens to characters, what they do in response, and how it all ends
up.
 TENSION IN DRAMA:
 Tension can be developed by using silence, changing the length of scenes, locations,
and the use of music as well as the events in the play.
 Dialogue can be faster or slower.
 Most radio drama is very badly written.

 RADIO COMMENTARIES:
 Running commentary is one of the popular formats of radio.
 In sharp contrast with television, in which visuals unfold an event, a Radio
listener
'sees' the event through the word picture given by the commentator.
 Radio commentary is faster than television, as the radio commentator has to give the
details, which the TV camera provides.
 A commentator would give you all the details of the match such as the number of
players, the score, position of the players in the field etc.
 A radio commentator has to mention whether the sky is clear or overcast, what is the
colour of the dresses of the teams playing the match or if a batsman in a cricket match
is wearing a helmet or not and so on.
 So by listening to the running commentary, you get a feeling of being in the stadium and
watching the match.
 The 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 of national leaders etc.

 RADIO MAGAZINE PROGRAMS:

 A radio magazine is a variety programme which may consist of talk, interview, music,
poetry, short story etc.
 It is designed for a specific audience.
 These programmes should be linked together by an anchor
with interesting comments, announcements and narration.
 Emphasis goes on to content.
 They are tightly structured.
 Magazine titles reflect the core theme of the program or the taste of the target
audience.
 The title will be very realistic rather than abstract ones.
 Magazines appear regularly in a regular time.
 Periodicity of a magazine is important as it is in print magazines.
 This programme always tries to transmit more than one format or item in a
magazine.
 Usually in a half an hour magazine, more than fifteen minutes will not be spent for a
single item including the presenter’s explanation.
 Relevance of the topic, trends, innovation and novelty are factors promoting the
value of magazine programs.
 An example is Yuvavani programme in AIR.
 A radio magazine includes a variety of items such as an informative talk, an
interview with the expert in the field, poetry, a quiz etc.
 All these items are presented with suitable linkages.
 In spite of the variety in content, the items of the programme follow a set pattern and
are usually presented in the next edition in a similar order.
 Radio magazine could be thematic like a science magazine, sports magazine, literary
magazine or cultural magazine programme.

 RADIO REPORT:
 A Radio Report is based on outside recording (OB), including excerpts fro-m speeches,
eyewitness accounts with actuality, interviews, and statements by the local authorities
etc.
 Radio report uses a narrator in order to link up pieces of actuality sound pertaining
to an event.
 The presenter's job is to put this material into a coherent perspective, filling the gaps.
 The chronology of the event should not get distorted despite various parts being
presented in the report in a different order.
 The producer here resorts to the technique of "back and forth” in order to give
prominence to important segments of the event.

 RADIO DOCUMENTARY:
 Documentary is any feature or programme that is based on ‘documents’.
 It is a form directed forwards presenting a factual record about real people, things, and
events.
 It sets out not just to ‘entertain’ but to explore.
 However, documentary attempts to persuade and thus the social relevance of
documentary are immense.
 A radio documentary or feature is a radio documentary programme devoted to covering
a particular topic in some depth, usually with a mixture of commentary and sound
pictures.
 The documentary, since it usually has a specific message to communicate, must be
organized in order to be clear and effective.
 Structure, i.e. the sequence of presentation, is very important.
 The material should be organized in such a way that it indicates the various
relationships between facts and ideas of the programme.
 This pattern, linking facts and ideas, is the outline of the structure.
 It lists the ideas of the documentary and separates the major ideas from the
subordinate ones.
 This outline provides the structural foundation on which you base the programme
plan.
 The organizational plan of a documentary should have several qualities-simplicity,
logical connection and clarity.
 A major step to creating a plan with these qualities is to make sure that the script is
dominated by one overriding thought to which all the other ideas in the programme
are related.
 These supporting ideas, in turn, should be arranged to show their relationship to the main
thought and one another.

 DEVELOPING THE IDEA:

 The first step in outlining your material is to determine the basic purpose of your
script.
 We may want to arouse concern about a specific social problem or political issue:
convince people to accept an idea or develop a certain attitude; reinforce an existing
attitude or motivate your audience to carry out a specific course of action.
 The next step is to develop a preliminary statement of the central idea of the
programme.
 It should be a one-sentence expression of whatyour
programme wants to communicate.
 This statement may also include the basic purpose of the programme.
 Thus the purpose and central idea can be expressed as follows: to convince the
audience that capital punishment is wrong.
 Next, you should write down the main ideas and the supporting ideas and make their
relationship very clear.
 POINTS TO BE REMEBERED:
 A radio documentary is a programme based on real sounds and real people and their
views and experiences.
 Radio documentaries are based on 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.

 RELATION BETWEEN DOCUMNETARY AND FEATURE:

 The dividing line between a documentary and a feature is very thin.
 One of the largely accepted views is that if the producer provides a balanced and
truthful account of a place or a person, it is considered a documentary.
 However, if she gives greater rein to imagination and does not stick to the facts, even
though the source material is real-that is a feature.
 We should be careful to ensure that fact and fiction are not combined and their
boundaries are clearly demarcated, maintaining the essential difference between what
is real and what is not.
 Scripting and voicing are important requirements for both feature and documentary.
 While scripting, only the simplest possible terms are used.
 Language is kept in tune with the overall tone and tenor of the programme.
 Minimum words are used allowing the actuality of recordings to explain the subject.
 The narration should sound natural and clear to sustain as well as enhance the
listener's interest.
 Shouting, preaching or talking down needs to be avoided at all cost.

 RADIO FEATURE:
 There are various types of features.
 These programmes generally aim to entertain, inform and sometimes even influence
thought and action.
 In preparing features, you may encounter many of the problems faced in producing
documentaries and informational programmes.
 A sound structural plan is as important to feature writing as to other programmes
dealing with information.
 We should clearly define the general purpose and the central idea before you start
writing.
 A relevant and logical succession of supporting points should also be prepared.

 STRUCTURE OF FEATURE:
 The beginning and ending of a broadcast feature are particularly important.
 Your beginning should be able to ‘catch’ the listener’s attention.
 If your beginning fails to grip, chances are that you have lost your listeners.
 The conclusion is equally important because it leaves the audience with a last impression
which will ensure memorability, or guarantee that what you have written will not soon
be forgotten.
 The feature today uses a number of forms and techniques of broadcasting; and
producers have to know the potential of each form and technique, and the best way to
utilize them in a feature.

 FEATURE PRODUCTION:
 One of the richest and most rewarding sources to draw on for features is the world in
which we live.
 The outside Broadcasting Van and travelling microphone have, over the years
thoroughly exploited this field.
 Mobile recording techniques have frequently helped to garner exciting and priceless
sound for the feature producer, whose business is with reality-real men and women, in
their natural habitat-at home, at work, or at play.
 It is no longer necessary for the feature producer to imitate reality.
 He can now go direct to the sources-photographs in sound-edit and shape them.
 It s a capacity unique to the feature programme-the stuff of reality-shaped in a
disciplined way and patterned into a form, controlled by a single, creative mind.
 The feature programme marked the birth of creative broadcasting.
 Every feature calls for an idea, research and a script.
 Some features need actors, sound effects and music.
 Many call for extensive recording of sound and voices.
 All call for three main processes:
 Research.
 Writing.
 Production.

 NEWSREEL:
 Newsreels are typically featured as short subjects preceding the main subject.
 A newsreel is a form of short documentary radio programme regularly released
containing news stories and items of topical interest.
 It is a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of radio
listeners.
 Newsreels are considered significant documents, since they are often the only audio
record of cultural events.

 RADIO INTERVIEWS:
 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.
 There can be different types of interviews in terms of their duration, content and
purpose.
 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.
 You might have heard of long interviews with well known people in the field of public
life, literature, science, sports, films etc.
 Secondly, there are interviews which are used in various radio programmes like
documentaries.
 Here the interviews are short, questions specific and not many.
 The purpose is to get a very brief, to the point answer.
 Thirdly there are a lot of interviews or interview based programmes in news and
current affairs programmes.
 With phone-in-programmes becoming popular, you might have heard live interviews
with listeners.
 These interviews have been made interactive.
 There is another type of interview based programme.
 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.
 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.
 Their names and identity may not be asked.
 Such programmes are called ‘vox pop’ which is a Latin phrase meaning‘ voice of
people’.

 RADIO DISCUSSIONS:
 The radio discussion usually involves several participants and a 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, engineering, etc.
 A radio discussion cannot and should not be fully scripted.
 This 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 to discuss and they should be
willing to be disciplined in their own presentation under the direction of the
moderator.
 Undisciplined 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.
 A good participant listens, awaits his turn and chooses to debate instead of argue.
 A GOOD MODERATOR SHOULD:
 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.
 Ensure that everyone has a chance to speak.
 Persuade an evasive speaker to make a point.
 Encourage the participants to speak by being interested.
 Research plays an important role in organizing a discussion.

 NOTE:
 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.

 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 30 minutes.
 The longer news bulletins have interviews, features, reviews and comments from
experts.
 RADIO NEWS WRITING:
 News stories must be legible and intelligible.
 They should be designed for effortless reading.
 News stories must be well structured and organized.
 Five Ws should be incorporated into each story.
 News bulletins are broadcasted by AIR almost every hour of the day in English and
the various regional languages.
 The major bulletins are of 15 minutes duration, while others are of only five minutes
duration.
 News bulletins present summaries of news stories in order of importance and
interest-value.
 The major ingredients of news bulletins are the following:
 National news.
 International news.
 Regional news.
 Local news.
 Human interest stories.
 Sports news.
 For a news bulletin, the script writing should be in interesting, brief, clear, accurate
and well authenticated.
 The listener cannot re-read a sentence if he does not understand it.
 So the sentences for the script must be concise and clear.
 It dealt with the news of the day and carried interviews and the voice and sound of
important events and personalities round the world.
 In the west, the personal element began to dominate in its content and presentation
and was copied in other countries.
 Radio news reel was the fore runner of many later developments in radio news
broadcasting.
 News bulletins are usually of 10 minutes duration.
 About 1,500 words are needed to fill a 10 minute bulletin.
 Individual stories are considered long if they go much beyond 100 words lasting
about 40 seconds.
 CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING IN MIND WHEN WE WRITE A RADIO
SCRIPT:
 How long was the programme?
 Where are the headlines?
 Did the programme contain music?
 How many stories did the programme contain?
 How long was each of the report?
 What was the language like?
 Which sound and video clips were used?
 Is it interesting?
 To sum up follow the script closely with Clarity, Correctness and Conciseness.