Radio Production: A Manual for broadcasting

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This classic book is a must-have for anyone involved in radio production, covering everything from operational techniques and producing different programme formats, to conducting interviews and writing for radio. The fifth edition features new and updated information on: * digital production, such as the computer editing process, digital recording and DAB * the internet and internet-only radio stations * automatic playout systems * ethics * storytelling, showing simple ways of creating different acoustics for drama * station management * scheduling * remote reporting This edition is further enhanced by a supporting CD-Rom, packed with examples, exercises and resources.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface to the fifth edition (p. xv)
• 1 Characteristics of the medium (p. 1)
• Radio makes pictures (p. 1)
• Radio speaks to millions (p. 2)
• Radio speaks to the individual (p. 3)
• The speed of radio (p. 3)
• Radio has no boundaries (p. 3)
• The transient nature of radio (p. 4)
• Radio on demand (p. 4)
• Radio as background (p. 5)
• Radio is selective (p. 5)
• Radio lacks space (p. 5)
• The personality of radio (p. 6)
• The simplicity of radio (p. 6)
• Radio is low cost (p. 7)
• Radio for the disadvantaged (p. 8)
• Radio teaches (p. 9)
• Radio has music (p. 9)
• Radio can surprise (p. 9)
• Radio can suffer from interference (p. 10)
• Radio for the individual (p. 10)
• Radio for society (p. 11)
• The public servant (p. 12)
• Types of radio station (p. 14)
• 'Outside' pressures (p. 15)
• Personal motivations (p. 16)
• 2 The radio studio (p. 18)
• Studio layout (p. 19)
• The studio desk, mixer, control panel, console or board (p. 19)
• Computers (p. 25)
• Digital compression (p. 26)
• Digital audio workstation (p. 27)
• Tape formats (p. 30)
• Editing principles (p. 31)
• Editing practice (p. 32)
• CDs, albums and other discs (p. 34)
• Microphones (p. 35)
• Stereo (p. 36)
• Equipment faults (p. 38)
• 3 Ethics (p. 39)
• Declarations of intent (p. 39)
• Objectivity, impartiality and fairness (p. 41)
• Watchdog (p. 42)
• Bad practice (p. 43)
• The status of the media (p. 44)
• 4 Writing for the ear (p. 46)
• Who are you talking to? (p. 46)
• What do you want to say? (p. 47)
• The storage of talk (p. 47)
• Words (p. 48)
• Structure and signposting (p. 48)
• Pictures and stories (p. 49)
• Double meanings (p. 50)
• The script (p. 51)
• 5 News - policy and practice (p. 53)
• Codes of Practice (p. 54)
• Objectivity (p. 54)
• Legality (p. 56)
• News values (p. 58)
• Investigative reporting (p. 60)
• Campaigning journalism (p. 62)
• The news reporting function (p. 63)
• Accuracy (p. 63)
• Intelligibility in the writing (p. 64)
• Being fair (p. 66)
• Giving offence (p. 67)
• Causing distress (p. 68)
• Civil disturbance and war reporting (p. 69)
• A summary (p. 70)
• The newsroom operation (p. 71)
• Style book (p. 74)
• Radio car, mobile phone (p. 75)
• Equipment in the field (p. 77)
• The news conference and press release (p. 78)
• 6 Interviewing (p. 80)
• The basic approach (p. 80)
• Types of interview (p. 81)
• Securing the interviewee (p. 83)
• What the interviewee should know (p. 83)
• Preparation before the interview (p. 84)
• The pre-interview discussion (p. 85)
• Question technique (p. 86)
• Question 'width' (p. 87)
• Devil's advocate (p. 88)
• Multiple questions (p. 89)
• Leading questions (p. 89)
• Non-questions (p. 90)
• Non-answers (p. 91)
• Non-verbal communication (p. 91)
• During the interview (p. 92)
• Winding up (p. 93)
• After the interview (p. 93)
• Style (p. 94)
• Interviewing 'cold' (p. 95)
• Interviewing through a translator (p. 95)
• Location interviews (p. 96)
• The triangle of trust (p. 101)
• 7 Vox pop (p. 102)
• Phrasing the question (p. 103)
• Interviewing children (p. 104)
• Choosing the site (p. 105)
• The recorder (p. 105)
• Putting the question (p. 106)
• The editing (p. 107)
• 8 Cues and links (p. 109)
• Information for the broadcaster (p. 109)
• Information for the listener (p. 111)
• Links (p. 114)
• 9 Newsreading and presentation (p. 115)
• The seven Ps (p. 116)
• Newsreading (p. 117)
• Pronunciation (p. 118)
• Vocal stressing (p. 119)
• Inflection (p. 120)
• Quotation marks (p. 120)
• Alterations (p. 121)
• Corrections (p. 121)
• Lists and numbers (p. 121)
• Station style (p. 122)
• Continuity presentation (p. 123)
• Errors and emergencies (p. 124)
• Headphones (p. 125)
• Trails and promos (p. 125)
• 10 The discussion (p. 128)
• Format (p. 129)
• Selection of participants (p. 130)
• The chairperson (p. 130)
• Preparation (p. 131)
• Advice to contributors (p. 132)
• Contributor nerves (p. 132)
• Starting the programme (p. 132)
• Speaker control (p. 133)
• Subject control (p. 133)
• Technical control (p. 134)
• Ending the programme (p. 136)
• 11 Phone-ins (p. 137)
• Technical facilities (p. 137)
• Programme classification (p. 138)
• The open line (p. 138)
• Support staff (p. 138)
• Choosing the calls (p. 141)
• The role of the presenter (p. 141)
• Presenter style (p. 142)
• Reference material (p. 143)
• Studio operation (p. 143)
• Additional telephone facilities (p. 143)
• Use of 'delay' (p. 145)
• The specific subject (p. 145)
• 'Early lines' (p. 146)
• Consumer affairs (p. 147)
• The need to be fair (p. 148)
• Linking programmes together (p. 148)
• Personal counselling (p. 148)
• The presenter as listener (p. 149)
• Non-broadcasting effort (p. 150)
• Anonymity (p. 150)
• Phone-in checklist (p. 151)
• 12 Listener participation (p. 152)
• Letters and e-mails (p. 152)
• Programme follow-up (p. 153)
• Texting (p. 154)
• Helpline (p. 155)
• Visitors (p. 155)
• Special involvement (p. 155)
• Travelling roadshow (p. 156)
• Major events (p. 156)
• 13 Music programming (p. 158)
• Attitudes to music (p. 159)
• Clock format (p. 160)
• Computerized selection (p. 162)
• Requests and dedications (p. 162)
• Choosing music (p. 163)
• Item order (p. 164)
• Prefading to time (p. 164)
• Preparing letters and cards (p. 165)
• Programme technique (p. 166)
• Guest programmes (p. 168)
• DJ programmes (p. 168)
• 14 Sequences and magazines (p. 171)
• Programme title (p. 172)
• Signature tune (p. 172)
• Transmission time (p. 173)
• The presenter (p. 173)
• Linking style (p. 174)
• Information content (p. 174)
• Programme construction (p. 175)
• Programme variety (p. 175)
• Programme ideas (p. 176)
• Voice piece (p. 177)
• Interview (p. 178)
• Discussion (p. 178)
• Music (p. 178)
• Sound effects (p. 179)
• Listener participation (p. 179)
• Features (p. 180)
• Drama (p. 181)
• Item order (p. 181)
• Production method (p. 185)
• Responding to emergency (p. 187)
• 15 Making commercials (p. 188)
• Copy policy (p. 188)
• The target audience (p. 190)
• The product or service 'premise' (p. 190)
• Writing copy (p. 191)
• Voicing and treatment (p. 195)
• Music and effects (p. 198)
• Stereo (p. 200)
• Humour in advertising (p. 201)
• 16 Outside broadcasts (remotes) (p. 204)
• Planning (p. 205)
• Visiting the site (p. 205)
• Communications to base (p. 206)
• People (p. 207)
• Hazard assessment (p. 207)
• Equipment (p. 208)
• Safety (p. 208)
• Accommodation (p. 209)
• Programme research (p. 210)
• Liaison with the base studio (p. 211)
• Publicity (p. 211)
• Conflicts of approach (p. 211)
• Tidiness (p. 212)
• Gratuities (p. 212)
• 17 Commentary (p. 213)
• Attitude to the listener (p. 213)
• Preparation (p. 214)
• Working with the base studio (p. 215)
• Sport (p. 216)
• Communicating mood (p. 217)
• Coordinating the images (p. 217)
• Content and style (p. 217)
• News action (p. 219)
• Sports action (p. 219)
• Actuality and silence (p. 220)
• The ending (p. 221)
• An example (p. 221)
• Coping with disaster (p. 222)
• 18 Music recording (p. 225)
• Reproduction of internal balance (p. 227)
• Creation of a synthetic balance (p. 230)
• Studio layout (p. 230)
• Microphones for music (p. 233)
• Frequency control (p. 235)
• Dynamic control (p. 235)
• Echo (p. 236)
• Channel delay (p. 237)
• Mixing technique (p. 237)
• Recording technique (p. 239)
• Production points (p. 241)
• 19 Drama-principles (p. 242)
• Adapting for radio (p. 243)
• The idea (p. 244)
• Story construction (p. 245)
• The setting (p. 246)
• Characterization (p. 247)
• Dialogue (p. 248)
• Radio as story (p. 250)
• Get the evocative bits (p. 251)
• Rough the drama (p. 251)
• Prune and polish (p. 252)
• Truth vs drama (p. 253)
• Script layout (p. 254)
• The actors (p. 255)
• The acoustic (p. 257)
• Sound effects (p. 259)
• Music (p. 261)
• Production technique (p. 262)
• 20 Documentary and feature programmes (p. 264)
• The documentary (p. 265)
• Planning (p. 265)
• Research (p. 268)
• Structure (p. 268)
• Collecting the material (p. 268)
• Impression and truth (p. 269)
• Music (p. 270)
• Compilation (p. 271)
• Programme sequence (p. 272)
• The ending (p. 272)
• Contributors (p. 273)
• Programmes in real time (p. 273)
• The feature (p. 274)
• 21 The work of the producer (p. 276)
• Ideas (p. 276)
• The audience (p. 277)
• Resource planning (p. 277)
• Preparation of material (p. 278)
• The studio session (p. 279)
• Taste (p. 282)
• Ending the session (p. 282)
• Post-production (p. 283)
• Programme administration (p. 283)
• Technician, editor, administrator and manager (p. 284)
• 22 The executive producer (p. 286)
• Station management (p. 286)
• Staff development (p. 287)
• Scheduling (p. 288)
• Rescheduling (p. 289)
• Strategic planning (p. 290)
• Commissioning programmes (p. 291)
• Codes of Practice (p. 295)
• Complaints (p. 296)
• Website (p. 297)
• Archival policy (p. 298)
• 23 Programme evaluation (p. 300)
• Production evaluation (p. 300)
• Programme quality (p. 301)
• Audience evaluation (p. 303)
• Personal meters (p. 304)
• Research panels (p. 305)
• Questionnaires (p. 305)
• Letter response (p. 307)
• Cost evaluation (p. 308)
• 24 Training (p. 310)
• Triggers for training (p. 311)
• Learning objectives (p. 311)
• Course organization (p. 312)
• Stretching imagination (p. 314)
• Editorial selection (p. 314)
• News priorities (p. 314)
• News exercise (p. 315)
• Voicework (p. 315)
• Personal motivation (p. 316)
• Vox pop (p. 316)
• Commentary (p. 316)
• Drama (p. 316)
• New challenges for old producers (p. 317)
• Maintaining output (p. 317)
• Assessing quality (p. 317)
• Training evaluation (p. 318)
• 25 Back-announcement (p. 319)
• CD-ROM (p. 321)
• Websites (p. 323)
• Glossary (p. 325)
• Further reading-a selection (p. 338)
• Index (p. 345)