Resources for broadcasters

Budget broadcasters need quality content. But where to find it? Try these for starters and let me know of any I have missed.

Syndicated shows

Public Radio Exchange: This service might cost you a few bob, but if you are serious about news, features and speech content then it might be worth a whirl.

CBI: College Broadcasters Inc has a page full of shows, short and long, that may interest you. Click the CBI link and scroll down.

Syndicast: This organization offers lots of high-quality free radio programmes from the cream of the electronic music scene, that are ready to play on your radio station. Lovely job.

Just Jazz: One hour weekly; free pre-recorded show. See website for demo and sign-up form.

Want your syndicated show listed here? Send me your show description and contact details (ideally a website).

Podcasts: Like a podcast and want to broadcast it on your station? Plenty do, but you must ask permission first. So search your favourite podcast library and see what fits your station. There’s everything from news, technology shows and radio theatre. Then contact the podcaster asking for permission to broadcast their show.

Music providers

Play MPE: Play MPE is the trusted service used by all major labels and thousands of independents to showcase their latest music. Free for approved DJs and broadcasters.

I Pluggers: A broad selection for free music, including new releases, to approved broadcasters and DJs.

AirPlay Direct: Free broadcast-quality music from established and emerging artists – rock, AC, country, jazz, folk and R&B.

Promo Only: The latest top 40 and dance music supplied to qualifying radio presenters and DJs (paid service).

IDJ Pool: Huge back catalogue covering all genres; country to club music. Supplied to qualifying radio presenters and DJs (paid service).

Free Music Archive: The Free Music Archive is a library of high-quality, legal audio downloads (lots of unsigned artists looking for exposure).

Website Pop-Up Player

Having a pop-up audio player is, in my opinion, essential for any radio station or podcast website. The reason? With audio being played from a pop-up window, the visitor can click away to other pages or sites leaving the audio player untouched.

News and features

Air News Media: Air News Media produces hourly bulletins for community and major broadcasters in Australia.

Radio4All: Formed in 1996 by grassroots broadcasters, this site offers free shows featuring news and specialist music programmes.

Democracy Now!: a daily one-hour independent news show out of the US. Its TV show is offered as an MP3 download. The show is really radio with pictures, so will work fine for radio broadcast.

Making Contact: Produces stories from around the world, with a focus on the US.

Feature Story News: a paid-for news service delivering bulletins every hour. Good terms for not-for-profit broadcasters.

Radio News Hub: Providing news, sport, showbiz and business bulletins to English speaking radio stations.

Got a show or resource you want to add to this list? Send me the details.

Jingles and apps

Chart Countdown jingles – Free from Steve Hart

LFM Audio – Custom radio jingles and commercials

WAV Source – Movie quotes

ZapSplat –  Free SFX and music

Wav List – Archive of movie related quotes and sounds

Sound Board – Random audio from TV shows and movies

Big Sound Bank – Royalty free sound library

Free Sound – Creative Commons licensed audio

Sound Bible – Free sound effects and clips

Software

Audio players

Try the free streaming audio player from Muses. Add your streaming URL, select a skin, copy the embed code and paste the HTML code anywhere on your website.

Streaming player for self-hosted WordPress – I use the free Ignite plugin.

Software for DJs

Virtual DJ – Designed for mobile and club DJs, this free app offers a lot and is ideal for broadcasters who don’t have any hardware – such as turntables, CDs or a mixer.

MIXXX – This app works on any platform and has ‘sample’ buttons that can be used to play your jingles and commercials.

Connection

BUTT – Broadcast Using This Tool is a free app that some people may need to connect their broadcast app to their streaming account. It supports Shoutcast and Icecast and runs on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. The main purpose of Butt is to stream live audio data from your computer’s Mic or Line input. Recording is also possible.

Broadcast apps and services

Sam Broadcaster – This is a popular app for use in broadcast studios (PC only).

Sam Cast. Try for free – SAM Cast lets you stream live audio content. With a microphone, line-in or sound card, you can encode real-time audio and broadcast it live.

Sam Radio DJ – SAM DJ features a built-in advanced audio processor which will make your station sound incredible. Drag & Drop your tracks where you need them.

Station Playlist – Budget but fully-featured radio automation app.

PlayIt Live – Free when premium modules/plugins are purchased. Manual and automated radio station playout system (Windows only). Ideal for live DJs and station automation.

RadioLogik – If you broadcast using an Apple Mac then this must be a contender for you. RadioLogik from MacInMind is as close to professional broadcast software as one can get. There’s a fully-functional free trial version with no expiry date. Gotta love those Macs.

Broadcast Radio – Myriad 5 Playout is a radio playout and automation system. Free trial.

MegaSeg – With its integrated music scheduling and programmed events, you can broadcast with MegaSeg with live assist or full automation. Broadcasters will need the Pro version.

Nextkast Internet Radio Automation Software is written and designed to give the user a professional sounding radio station without the learning curve of other automation software.

Music Master – MusicMaster music scheduling software.

Radio DJ – Free (that’s right) radio automation software.

BroadWave – This runs on any PC as a server to stream live audio.

DJ Soft – Radio automation software. Automatic volume leveling, timed announcements, block rotations, advertising volume enhancement and more.

MixTime – Radio automation donate-ware, make a donation based on your proposed use.

OBS Project – Open platform app for recording and live streaming audio and video.

Restream – Broadcast across all social media platforms at the same time.

VoiceMeeter Banana – An advanced audio mixer application with virtual I/O to mix and manage any audio sources.

Audio Recording

OcenAudio – This is a cross-platform, easy-to-use, fast and functional audio editor. Available for all major operating systems.

Audacity – This runs on all platforms, is stable and free. It is ideal for recording shows, voice overs, jingles and commercials.

Reaper – [highly recommended] non-destructive audio editing on a multitrack platform. Perfect alternative to Adobe.

MP3 Normalizers

MP3 Normalizer – For Mac users…If you are uploading MP3s for auto-playout you will need to trim the silence off the start and end of each MP3, level the sound so they are all the same volume (your listeners will thank you for it) and maybe change the bit rate to match your streaming package (128k for example).  This could take hours doing it manually, but this app does it all in a trice in batch mode.

MP3 Gain – This free app for the PC analyzes and adjusts the volume of MP3 files – just like MP3 Normalizer (but for the PC).

Why use a normaliser? Well…Some songs are louder than others. So your listeners don’t have to turn the volume up and down when a new song starts playing you can Normalise the volume of every MP3 before you upload it to Auto DJ or load into your station’s playout app. Normalising to minus 1 db is fine.

Nearly every MP3 song also has silence at the start and end of the file. This can really mess up crossfades when using an Auto DJ system. Most normalisers will have an option to delete these silent sections (check before you buy).

Meta Tag

Add meta data to a range of file types with MP3Tag or ID3 Editor.

Add artist and track name to your MP3s so the correct details, such as current song playing and artwork, are displayed correctly on your website and elsewhere.

Recording interviews

How does one put a caller to air? Here are a few budget options…

  1. Connect a mobile phone to the mixer. This involves using the headphone output of the phone to an input on your mixer. The caller hears the presenter via the phone’s microphone, but their response goes through the mixer.
  2. Modern mixers such as those from Rode feature Bluetooth connectivity to make phone interviews easier.
  3. Google Voice.  Get a dedicated phone number for use on a smartphone or desktop website.
  4. Skype.  Again, you can get a unique phone number or have people contact you via your Skype user account.
  5. If using Skype, use the Ecamm Call Recorder app to automatically record all calls. The Ecamm Call Recorder can output the interview as 2 files; one being your side of the conversation and the other being the interviewee – ideal for processing one side of the conversation and not the other.
  6. Skype TX. A pro solution for handling multiple callers.
  7. You can use a standard phone line, but typically the audio quality won’t match the digital options above. You’ll need a gadget to sit between the phone and the line to connect to your mixer. One of the better solutions is AudioTX which converts a standard landline into a higher quality ISDN line or search for a JK Audio Inline Patch on eBay.

For my money…If you are serious about recording high quality phone interviews with ease, then check out any mixer that offers Bluetooth phone connectivity.

Essential tips for broadcasters

Broadcasting your own choice of chat, music and programmes across the internet is great fun and can be very rewarding on many levels.

There is a whole community of online radio broadcasters to help you, and running a station that’s open to the community you live in can create a super resource for locals to share news, their favourite music, and important information.

There are few guidelines you might want to take on board if you are new to broadcasting – they are listed below, and further down the page is a list of apps you might need.

Volunteers

Draw up guidelines for any volunteers (on and off air). Station rules such as no offensive language on air, equal opportunities, no discrimination etc, you might have a music policy stating ‘clean’ versions of songs only; or only playing music of a particular genre or decade. Best to lay these ground rules out at the get-go.

You might also decide to police-check volunteers.

Hyper local

Think of where you live and market your station as the local community station. This may help you with selling commercial air time as well as ads on your station’s website. Yes, you can broadcast to the world, but listeners in foreign lands, or even in the next city may not benefit you or your station’s supporters.

Build relationships with local businesses, charitable organisations and support each other.

Website

You must have a professional website for your station. One that looks great on smartphones and has an audio player that works on every platform. Have a contact form for listeners and advertisers to contact you, social sharing buttons and local news if you can.

Remember though that the vast majority of your listeners may not hear your station by visiting your website, they will use services such as TuneIn and other digital radio listing services.

Jingles

Because of the above, you need to clearly ID your station name, the area it serves and your website using a station ID jingle. Keep jingles clear, short and punchy. Use the same piece of ID music for everything, to help build the brand and listener recognition.

Artwork

Study the logos of the stations you enjoy listening to and create a logo that is simple, legible, and can be scaled to be used at any size. Try and keep it to no more than two colours plus white or black. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Schedules

One thing I have noticed is lots of digital broadcasters use Auto DJ all week and then play out shows at weekends. It wouldn’t hurt to schedule your weekly shows to run every night of the week – i.e; a daily schedule that repeats for 7 days until newer shows are loaded. Not everyone listens all the time (worth a thought, eh).

Your pre-recorded shows are up in the cloud anyway, why not use them more? And you can schedule them to play out at different times on different days.

How to write and report a packaged radio news story

Writing

How to write a sentence for radio:  Keep it short and fast!

Every second counts.  Write short sentences with one basic idea in each.  We are trying to cram information into peoples’ ears, one short line at a time.  Long, complicated sentences full of big words don’t make you sound smart.  Say what you mean, throw away all unnecessary words, and try to maintain a conversational style.

Put the subject at the front of each sentence, using the formula:

(subject) + (verb) + (object) + (…all other stuff)

“The White House + denies + the charge.”

“Mrs. Williams + says + the police + (are lying about her son’s death).”

“Hamil Schlomo + sprints + the path to Jericho + (every morning, worried he might be shot by a sniper or run over  by a jeep).”

Long, newspaper-style sentences should be broken up into smaller sentences:

“For the fifth night in a row, denizens of the tunnels underneath Penn Station, the “Mole People”, are worrying that  the police might barge in and evict them for trespassing on City property.”

…is not a bad sentence, but it’s a mouthful to read and understand.  It should be broken up into smaller ones:

“The so-called “Mole People” under Penn Station are worried.  They say the police want to evict them from the  tunnels where they live.  Technically they’re trespassing on city property.”

Sentences should be written in the positive, as opposed to the negative sense, as often as possible.  Avoid using “not”, “no”, “don’t”, “doesn’t”, “won’t”, etc.

“The union leadership doesn’t accept that version of the story.”

…can be rewritten in the positive:

“The union leadership says the story is a lie.”

“Union leaders refuse to accept that version of the story.”

Write in the present tense, whenever possible:

“The White House denies the charge,” is easier for the listener to understand and faster to read than these  common alternatives:

“The White House is denying the charge.”

“The White House has been denying the charge.”

Writing suggestions

Write around your sound.  The actualities are the most important part of your story, so after you’ve chosen them, (see Choosing Actualities, below) transcribe them word-for-word onto the page. The rest of your writing task amounts simply bridging the gaps between your bites.

Start and end your story with a person, a personal story, an illustrative anecdote…something that the listener can understand and relate to immediately.

“Karen Conejo knows the names of most of the guards at Yamfee prison.  They’re old friends.  Her son Ellis has  been here since he was 16, and now he’s 23.”

This is an overused device in radio news, but it’s better than the way-too-often-heard alternative:

“The capital punishment rate has gone up in Nevada, from 9 executions last year to 19 this year.”

The latter is no way to invite the listener into a story that’s going to last 3 or 4 minutes. It sounds like the reporter  is reading a textbook.

Remind your listeners of the subject of your story as you go along, and again near the end.

If you are having a hard time coming up with a definitive general statement for the conclusion of your story, conclude by telling the listener what they can expect to happen next. 

Example: In a story about an ethics investigation into the conduct of Senate clerk Johnny Kelley, you could conclude with:

“The Senate ethics panel meets Thursday, where Mr. Kelley will have to prove his claims.  In DC, I’m Ricky Chalk for Free Speech Radio News”

When you are done with your script, make sure you have answered the “Five W’s”:

Who, What, Where, Why, When. 

It’s easy to forget one of these, and leave the listener wondering, “Who are they talking about?”, “What country is this story taking place in?”

Note:  The most important of the five Ws is “Why?”

Example:  If you report that Congress has approved a plan that would let chemical plants dump their waste in the sea, it’s important to tell the listener what some possible reasons might be.  Find some evidence.

“The chemical industry has contributed 15 million dollars to congressional campaigns in the last 5 election  cycles.”

“Chemical industry trade association director Michael Sludge formerly served as the head of the EPA, and he’s  now married to the president’s  daughter.”

If you want to talk about how people feel, put the feelings into the source’s words:

“He’s worried about his mother.”

Since you can’t read his mind, you can’t confirm this statement, so you shouldn’t use it. Instead you should say: “He says he’s worried about his mother.”

Note:  This may seem like a small matter, but in many instances, drawing this distinction can keep you from  buying into a spin effort, or unconsciously manufacturing consent. 

For example, when the president says: “‘I’m worried about this budget deficit.”

A typical newswire headline will read: “President Worries about Budget Deficit”

The headline basically repeats what he said, as a fact.  But isn’t it just possible that he’s not worried about the budget deficit? 

Purposely running up a massive deficit could be a strategic maneuver, a way to starve entitlement programs which the opposition are ideologically opposed to.  Since it’s possible the statement is simply designed to create a false impression, and since the reporter can never confirm what a person thinks, it’s more accurate to report that the President claimed or said he was worried about the budget deficit.

Words to avoid in radio writing, whenever possible:

All forms of the verb TO BE (is, am, are, were, will be, have been, being, will have been, etc.)

“Raines is asking the officer for his one phone call.”

…can be written with more color, without “is”:

“Raines pleads with the officer for his one phone call.”

“Get”. The most common word in spoken English is also one of the least interesting.  Use an action verb:

“Moreland tried to get the tiger in his net, but he couldn’t.”

“Moreland tried to snare the tiger in his net, but he couldn’t.”

“There is” / “There are”

“There is always a plainclothes officer posted out front of her house.”

…should also be rewritten with action verbs:

“Plainclothes officers patrol the front of her house around-the-clock.”

“Plainclothes officers case her house at all hours.”

Adverbs, those words that usually end in -LY.  (easily, happily, angrily, etc.).

Adverbs are usually unnecessary, they often convey information you cannot confirm, and they tend to betray the reporter’s allegiances to one side of the story.  (Note the last sentence contained two adverbs, sorry!)

“The White House hastily issued a denial.”

…would be better written,

“The White House issued a denial 15 minutes later.”

Note that “hastily” makes a value judgment for the listener – one that you cannot prove – while “15 minutes later”  allows the listener to make up her own mind.

“That” and “Which”

“The dog that came in was covered in blood.”

…means the same thing as:

“The dog came in covered in blood.”

“Grimes walked into the hearing to find the same lawyer that he was granted in the first trial…”

…has the same meaning if you omit “that”. 

Plus it’s faster to read: “Grimes walked into the hearing to find the same lawyer he was granted in the first trial.”

Avoid common cliches in your writing, overused phrases and sentence constructions:

“…in the wake of September 11…”

“This, as police announced…”

“..against the backdrop of clan violence…”

These are often referred to as “groaners”, because they make many radio listeners groan to hear them.  A groaner can’t be easily defined, and some cannot always be avoided.  Many lists of these terms can be found on the web.

Choosing Actualities

Let the sources give the examples, and (if possible) draw the conclusions.  The reporter should state the general fact/trend/phenomenon, then the source should  illustrate:

[Reporter]

“…funding has been slashed nationwide, but Clampett says Nevada prisons are worse than most.”

[Clampett]

“The other day I saw an inmate eating spiders, calling himself “Spiderman”.  We need a mental health  professional out here, like we used to have.”

No matter how important a source’s point, if it’s not well articulated, don’t use it.  Explain it yourself, and next time get better actuality.

Make sure the background sound doesn’t overpower your actuality.

Once you have chosen a bite you want to use, avoid editing within that bite, especially if it’s full of background sound that would be interrupted with your edits.

Note:  Digitial editing makes it possible for you to build soundbites using several different comments that may have been spoken minutes apart.  You can really make people say anything you want them to say.

This is of course immoral, inaccurate, and probably illegal.  A good rule of thumb when cutting and pasting various statements into a soundbite is to ask yourself, “Would this person approve of the edits I have made?  Does it accurately express what they were trying to say?”  If the answer is no, then don’t use it.

Working with an editor

First of all, remember that everyone gets an edit.  Everyone.  Many rookies (and some of the more prideful old-timers) feel somehow insulted by the idea of someone else reading and changing their work before it goes on the air. This is nonsense. No matter how good you think you are, you will always make stupid mistakes. Take some of the blame off of yourself. Get an edit.

Show up to your edit with an almost-finished product.  If you have been asked to come up with a 3-minute story, don’t send your editor five pages of text. Your editor is just as overworked and stressed-out as you are, if not more.

Don’t go into the editing process with the attitude that you’re defending your script from a butcher.  Understand that this person reads scripts all day long, and (s)he probably knows more about how to make good radio than you do.

If your editor asks you to get more material or make another phone call, do it.  You might be sick and tired of the story by this point, but when it’s done, you will almost always notice your editor’s suggestion made the story stronger.

Interviewing

Before you enter the office or job site or house or other location you’ll be conducting the interview, press record on your machine and leave it running until after you leave. 

You can’t air any comments recorded while the person thought the machine was off, but this technique will allow you to get the sounds of phones ringing, machines grinding, and people introducing themselves to you. 

And if you don’t turn your machine off right after the end of the interview questions, you won’t miss the best part of the interview, which starts at the moment the person thinks it’s over. 

Again, before you use this post-interview recording, you’ll have to ask permission, but at least you’ll have it, in case they say yes.

Don’t be afraid to explain what you’re going to do in the interview, before you start asking the questions:

“I won’t be saying much while you’re talking, because I want to get a clean recording of your voice. But that  doesn’t mean I am not listening.”

“I might ask you some of these questions more than once, just to expand on answers you’ve already given.”

“This interview will be edited, so don’t worry if you mess up and want to start over.”

Before you ask any questions, make sure your source identifies herself on the microphone, with her full name and whatever title she wants you to use. 

One useful technique in a crowd situation is to ask for ID and information at the same time: “What’s your name and title, what do you think about the president’s tax cut plan, and why?”

This way you’ll have an actuality and ID all in one:  “I’m Ronnie Fong, I’m a pipe fitter, and I think the tax cut is a terrible idea!  The billionaires are rich enough already!”

Be careful not to say, “Uh huh”, “Mmm Hmm” when the person is talking, as we all do naturally in conversation.  Just nod your head to show you are listening.

If you have time, ask a few throwaway questions at the top of the interview, just to get them used to the situation.  “How long have you been doing this kind of work?”  “How did you get into it?”  “Where did you get that tie?”

If what you really want is the answer to the question, “Did you embezzle $10,000 from city government?”, you might want to start with some softballs which make the source feel good:

“How has the first year of your term been going Mr.Mayor?  What achievements are you most proud of?”

If you’re not sure what to ask, remember that your ignorance can often be an asset.  Start with a really general question, such as “What is happening here?”, “What are you doing here?”, “What’s your problem with capital punishment?” 

If you run out of questions, veteran Pacifica reporter Larry Bensky says to ask, “What’s the next step?”

Once the interview is about over, you should always give the source another chance to divulge something useful. Try something like, “Is there anything else you think the world should know about this topic?”

Recording

Use headphones when recording. You’ll get a better result, every time.  Headphones will help you correct the most common sound problems: popping P’s, overloaded microphones, room echoes, hand noise, and crackling cables.

Keep the microphone out of the person’s face, so that they can’t really see it.  The psychological effect of having a big metal rod in their face tends to make people clam up and get nervous. 

If they are standing up, look the person in the eye and point the mic upward, parallel with their body, under the chin, so they can’t see it.  If they are sitting down, keep it off to the side and pointed at their chin.

Make sure your source is talking across the top of the microphone, not directly into it.  Otherwise, the wind from their mouth will make a popping sound when they pronounce their P’s.

The connections between your microphone and your machine are delicate and expensive to repair.  Make sure your cords are not putting too much pressure on the jacks coming in or out of your machine.  Don’t touch the metal plugs on your cords with your fingers; the contacts will get oily and start to crackle when you record.

Even if you’re in a quiet office, record a minute or two of the sound of the interview location with nobody talking.  This “room tone” can come in handy when you’re mixing.  You or the engineer can use it to smooth the transition between your narration and the source’s voice.

If you’re looking for a rugged interview microphone to carry in your backpack, you can’t go wrong with the Electro Voice RE-50 or the Beyer M-58.

How to make a good story better

Include lots of ambience!  It’s almost an afterthought to most reporters busy finding sources on deadline, but a few seconds of interesting sound can make all the difference.

If you are recording people outside on the street, let your mic run for a minute or two without anyone talking, until you get something interesting.  A car honk, a group of kids walking by, whatever!  If you are at the docks, record the foghorn, or a bell, or a ship coming in.

If you are in an office, get the sound of the phone ringing and the receptionist answering, “Human Rights Watch, how may I connect your call?”  Then when you file your story, include some of this ambience for the person mixing. It allows them to break up the script a little, it sets the scene, and it takes some of the fatigue off the listener’s ear.

Whenever possible, avoid using telephone interviews.  Phone tape — no matter how good — is hard on the ear, and makes people want to change the channel.  Don’t be lazy!  Taking an hour to visit a source in her office can make the difference between a story that’s interesting, and a story that’s difficult to listen to.

Vary your format a little.  If all your sources are identified in the script before they start talking, try letting one of them start talking with no ID, and insert their ID after their first sentence.  Or run the tape of one of your sources identifying himself.

If your script follows a standard ax-trax-ax-trax format, try butting two cuts together and identifying the sources after they’ve spoken.  If appropriate, run the tape of yourself asking the question, just so the listener hears that you were there.  Or try to ad-lib part of your script while you are on the scene.  Or record yourself describing the scene of the action while you’re still there. 

Or soc out from the scene of the story and edit that sound into the mix when you’re done.  Move things around!  Spice it up!  If you can keep your listeners guessing a little without confusing them, you’re making good radio!

Most importantly, listen to the radio all the time!  You are practising a craft, so you might as well study what others in the field are doing.  Networks like CBC, NPR, MPR, PRI, BBC, Deutche Welle, Interworld, CNN, and even AM commercial stations have interesting radio news shows.  Billions of hours of independent audio productions are available online. 

We can learn a lot from these people!  Listening also helps you avoid common cliches.  (If you listen to All Things Considered enough times, you’ll notice that the last sentence of too many of their feature stories starts with the word “Meanwhile..”)

Time-saving tips

Take notes when you’re recording, whenever possible.  When someone says something you might use in your story, make a note of what they said and where it is on your tape.

When you find yourself with writer’s block, or intimidated by the subject you’re reporting on, walk away from the computer for a minute and explain aloud to yourself what’s happening in the story, as if you were talking to a friend, or a child.  Then transcribe those comments into your script, verbatim.  (Don’t panic: a news story is basically a list of sentences; statements which you know to be true. Get enough of them onto the page, and you’ve got a script!)

Read your script aloud before you send it on for an edit.  You’ll inevitably find you’ve written sentences that are hard to read aloud, and you should change them to make it easier on yourself.  Veteran radio reporters often read each sentence aloud as they type, to save time.

Take the pen and paper out of your writing process altogether.  Many reporters like to start with a handwritten script, but since you ultimately have to type your script for editing, you might as well skip a step and write it on the computer.

At a press conference, pull your sources aside for interviews before the action starts.  Explain that you are in a hurry and don’t have time to stay.

Before an interview, think about what kind of tape you can get from a source that’s not related to today’s story, but that you might be able to use later in another story.

Save every phone number and email address you come by, especially mobile phone numbers!

Label your tapes/discs/files diligently, with date, name, and location. Veteran Democracy Now! engineer Anthony Sloan says label your tapes before you start recording.

Bring your reporter’s kit with you everywhere, even when you think you’re not working. The time you don’t have it is the time you’ll need it.

If you’re having trouble locating opposing viewpoints for your story, ask your sources who their enemies are, and call them.

Telephone tips

To locate a telephone number, put the name and area code of the person you’re trying to find into a search engine.  A working [published] phone number should come up within the first few hits.

The receptionist is an obstacle, but (s)he should always be treated as an ally.  If you can make the receptionist start to like you, (s)he will go the extra mile to get the source to call you back.

Explain what you are trying to do. 

“I want to put Dr. Grady on the radio tonight, on 60 radio stations from coast to coast, and I only have an hour left.  It’s not a live interview or anything.  It should take just five minutes.”

No matter how much time you have left on your deadline, tell the receptionist you only have an hour.

If you are trying to land a difficult interview with a hostile source, play to their ego: “People are saying some pretty nasty things about you, and I think it’s only fair you get a chance to defend yourself.”

When you end up talking to an answering machine, say your telephone number first, then leave your message.  That way when they rewind to write down your number, it’s right at the beginning of the message.  Receptionists love this.

If the receptionist sends you to voicemail, leave a message, hang up and call right back to ask for another number.  Cellphone, home phone, whatever. “I’m sorry to bug you so much, but I really need to talk to Dr. Grady, like right now.  Do you know where I might be able to get her on the phone at this moment?”  Dr. Grady went out to lunch?  “Do you happen to know where she’s eating?”  Whatever it takes.

Never trust that anyone will call you back by deadline. If you leave a message, wait half an hour, and call back.

Maintain a worried tone of voice, never an annoyed tone. You want them to feel sorry for you, not hate you.

Voicing

Voicing takes practice.  It’s a delicate balance between relaxation and hard work. A few minutes of preparation before you start makes all the difference.

Wear headphones.  Listen to yourself as you read.

Take a drink of water.  A dry mouth makes little smacking sounds on the microphone.

Relax. Before you start, pull your shoulders back, raise your arms, roll your head around on your neck, look up, look down, take a big breath and let it out slowly.

Prep your mouth.  Open up wide and hold it for a second.  Stick your lips out, stick out your tongue.  Run through the alphabet out loud.  Recite a tongue twister, like “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,” or “She sells sea shells by the sea shore.”

Read your script aloud before you record it.  Note those places where you may have to emphasize certain words to make your point.

Look up. Don’t look down at the page when you read.  Hold the script up to your head level and read upward. It opens up your chest cavity and improves the delivery of your voice.

Breathe. It’s easy to get through half a page and find yourself running out of air.  Take the time to breathe naturally as you read.  The sound of breathing is a natural part of speech.

Over enunciate.  Not a lot, but a little.  Pronounce your consonants crisply.  Underline several of the most important words in every sentence of your script, and emphasize them.  At first this will embarrass you and seem ridiculous, but when you hear it on the radio, it will sound natural.  If you don’t do it, you’ll sound mushy and timid.

Vary your tone, but keep your volume consistent.

When you make a mistake, start over at the beginning of the paragraph.

After you’ve filed your story, listen to yourself on the radio and note those places where you should have emphasized words differently.

Ethics

Reporters should challenge themselves to provoke thought, to inspire, and to motivate listeners, but our primary mission is to tell the truth.  If you cannot verify the truth of a statement, you have no right to make it.  Incomplete stories are always preferable to innacurate stories.  Speculation is not acceptable; leave that to your sources.

Any exchange of gifts, favors, or money between reporters and sources is wrong.  The content of the story is always more important than the relationship between the reporter and the source.  The cozier you become with your sources, the less likely you are to present your sources critically and accurately.

No person’s voice should be used on the air unless the person speaking was aware they were being recorded for possible broadcast.  Reporters should make every effort to identify their sources on the air, unless the source has asked not to be identified, in which case the reporter should say so.

Whenever possible, primary sources should be used to tell a story.  If you’re reporting on a judicial nominee accused of torturing small animals, call him and ask if it’s true!  He’s the only one who knows for sure.  Relying too much on pundits is lazy and unfair.

Synthesizing information you get from various sources is a normal part of journalism, but plaigarism is not acceptable.  Play it safe.  If you use information from other media outlets, give them credit:  “The Associated Press reports…”, etc.

A note on “access”: Access to government is the stock-in-trade of the corporate media.  Maintaining close contact with government sources allows the corporate media to know sooner when newsworthy decisions are made.  This relationship with the government is essential to their survival in the media “market”. In this way, the corporate media are inherently compromised as journalists.  They must take care not to offend their sources, or they could lose their access.

Rookie Moves: Common beginner mistakes to avoid

Rookie Moves: Writing

Stating the obvious with a lazy cliche ID:

“…Janie Yoblonsky describes the situation.”

“…Janie Yoblonsky explains.”

“…Janie Yoblonsky tells us what that means.”

The reporter never, ever has any reason to tell the listener that the source is “talking about”/”describing”/”explaining” something.  Once the source starts talking, we know the source is talking.

You have at least nine hundred ways to identify someone, the most obvious being simply to state the name and title right before (s)he starts talking.  Another easy way to avoid the Janie-Yablonsky-describes cliche is by paraphrasing something the source said:

[Reporter]

“Union representative Janie Yablonsky says the time was right for a change.”

[Janie]

“We really thought the old regime was getting lazy and finding excuses not to confront the company.”

Introducing a cut with the same information that follows in the cut.  it shows the reporter hasn’t listened to the cuts she is using.  (this one is tied with #1 for most annoying radio news writing mistake):

[Reporter]

“Janie Yablonsky says the time was right for a change.”

[Janie]

“It was time for a change.  The old regime was doing things wrong.”

Ending a story with a cut, then immediately socking out:

[Source]

“…and we want the bad people to get out of our town!”

[Reporter]

“Jackie Slacky, Free Speech Radio News, Sandy, Arizona.”

Sometimes it works, but most of the time it’s just lazy.  Worse, it usually betrays the reporter’s allegiances to one source in the story.  Don’t be preachy.

Making statements which cannot be confirmed:

“Nobody thought Lambert was innocent, but some would have liked to see him get a lighter sentence.”

You cannot prove that there is not one person in the world who thought Lambert was innocent.  Therefore as a journalist, you cannot report it as fact. This is a common mainstream media mistake which leads to the omission of minority viewpoints, and one we should avoid.  What if there’s a compelling case for Lambert’s innocence, but you just didn’t have time to talk to enough people with the right information?   Play it safe and report just what you know for sure.

Rookie Moves: Voicing

Taking a heroic or dramatic tone when reading. We’re not gods. We’re not actors. We’re reporters. The STORY is the star, NOT the source, and ESPECIALLY not the reporter.  Even when they manage to avoid taking a heroic or dramatic tone in their scripts, many reporters are overly dramatic in their outcues, sounding downright amateurish. Oddly placed pauses are the main culprit:

“For Fuh-ree Speech Ah-radiah Newzzzz, [long pause]… this…[pause]…is…[pause]…Jackie Slacky…in New Zealand.”

Flat reading.  Your story should sound like it’s something you think listeners need to hear. Too often we sound tired or bored. Underline several words in every sentence, and punch them!

[For men.] Reading in a lower-than-usual voice. When they get on the radio, some men seem to think they have to try to talk like Barry White. They’re not fooling anybody. Stick within your own natural vocal range.

Rookie Moves: Recording

Getting too much. If you go to an annual corporate conference, for example, don’t record the whole evening’s proceedings unless it’s for archive purposes.  Most often you won’t often have the luxury of a support staff that can go through all that for you. Try to limit yourself, or you’ll find yourself buried in hours of audio to wade through.

Recording from too far away. If your mic is not within a foot of a person’s mouth, it’s not worth recording.

Recording in a noisy environment. Often we don’t notice the noises around us, but the microphone does. Even in a quiet, carpeted office with the door closed, a simple desktop computer or air conditioner can ruin your tape.  Move away from the computer, or ask to have it turned off. Big, smooth surfaces like tables and walls will bounce these sounds into your mic and make them worse.

Rookie Moves: Digital Editing

Cutting out too many breaths, “um”‘s and “ah”‘s when people talk. Pauses are natural in speech, as are space-fillers like “um” and “ah”. To cut all of them out makes the source sound like a robot. It takes the listener’s ear away from the content, distracting them with unnatural patterns of speech.

Cutting in the middle of a breath.  When you make a cut on a digital editing program, make sure you aren’t cutting a breath in half. When you do, it leaves an audible artifact of your edit.

Cutting too close. Leave a half- or a quarter-second between yourself and your sources, at the beginning and end of all your cuts.  Then listen to the edits. Do they sound natural? Are the ideas coming at the listener at a speed that’s slow enough to take them all in?

Glossary

actuality, ax, cut, bite – a soundbite, a piece of sound of a person talking.  “Actualities” generally run longer than a common “soundbite”, but the terms are sometimes used interchangeably.

ambient sound, ambience, ambi – the natural sounds of the place you are reporting from: birds, waves crashing, phones ringing, crowd chanting, etc.

copy – the words in your script, the writing.

double ender, tape sync – the practice of sending someone to record one end of a telephone conversation with a microphone in person, while the source talks with a reporter over the phone in another town.  The person recording then uploads the clean sound via internet, or ships the tape/disc to the reporter through the mail.   Allows the reporter to the use of telephone tape on the air.

feature, feature story – a longer story, usually with ambient sound and multiple voices.

graf – paragraph

ID, announce – to identify a source in a story, name and title.  Usually done just before a person starts talking, or just after they’ve started talking and before they’re through.  (Also:  back-ID, back-announce – to identify a source in a story after they’re done talking.  Necessary after long actualities.)

lead (lede, leed) – the introduction to your story, which the host/anchor reads.  You will usually write your own lede long before the story is finished, with the idea in mind that it may be changed by someone else before deadline to include the latest news, or to make your story flow into the preceding story.  (It’s often purposely misspelled lede, leed to keep it from being pronounced like “led”, an age-old radio writing habit.)

manufacturing consent – a term made famous by linguist Noam Chomsky; the way most media outlets deliver the news, portraying the government as fundamentally benevolent and well-intentioned.  One of our primary responsibilities is to avoid using the words and phrases which make listeners automatically assume that all is somehow right in their world.  It is not our job to soothe the audience, but rather to inform people of realities which may, in fact, be harsh.

phoner – a telephone interview.  Also used to describe a story filed over the phone.

soc, sockout – the last line you read in your story. SOC stands for “Standard Out Cue”.

“Jackie Slacky, Free Speech Radio News, Whiskeytown, Pennsylvania”

source – any person in the story who is not the reporter, the people who provide the information being reported.

spin – information released in an effort to make reporters and media consumers believe one particular version of a story.

spot, spot story – a one-minute story, a headline story.

trax, tracks – the recording of the words you read into the story.

voicer, reader – a story with no actualities, just a reporter’s voice.

wrap, cut-and-copy – a one minute story (“spot”) with a soundbite in the middle.  The reporter’s script is “wrapped” around the bite.

With sincere thanks to FSRN

Where to list your station

Stream directory services

Here is a list of radio directories you can submit your stream to, and if you know of any others, then do let us know so we can keep this list updated.

Please let us know of any broken links.

  1. TuneIn – for broadcasters and podcasters
  2. Radio Player Live (Alexa)
  3. Radio Garden – Radio Garden submission form
  4. Streema
  5. My Tuner Radio
  6. Radio List
  7. Broadcasting World
  8. Reciva
  9. Stream Directory
  10. Filter Music
  11. Radio Shaker
  12. Music Goal
  13. Web Radio Central
  14. Radio Forest
  15. Pick Radio
  16. Clover FM
  17. Stream The net
  18. Radio Line
  19. Online Radio Streaming
  20. Blind Radio
  21. Surf Music
  22. Q 2 Radio
  23. Radio Guide
  24. Radio Tower
  25. Delicast
  26. Streamitter
  27. Radio List – (send your request to: submit [at] radiolist.net)
  28. Streaming the net
  29. Tuner Medias
  30. V Tuner
  31. Filter Music
  32. Fi Fm
  33. Web Radio Central
  34. Radio Directory
  35. Live Online Radio
  36. LA Radio FM
  37. Radio Sure
  38. Radio Station World
  39. Stream Finder
  40. Musical Goal

Please report any broken or out of date links. Thanks.

You need a license to broadcast music

If you are broadcasting commercial music, then you will need to pay the performers, songwriters and ‘record’ companies their fair share.

Here are some of the organizations you will need to know about. Ask  us about Geo Blocking your broadcast so it can only be heard in countries where you want it to be heard.

This is not an exhaustive list or music licensing authorities, nor can we take responsibility for helping to point you in the right direction, so please do your own checks to ensure you are broadcasting within the rules/laws.

However, if you are broadcasting just talk radio with royalty-free music, then you might not need a license, still – it is worth checking.

New Zealand: OneMusic and APRA (you need a license from each organization).

Australia: PPCA

USA: BMI and ASCAP and SoundExchange

UK: PPL and PRS

Germany: Gema and GVL

France: Secam

Netherlands: Bumastermra

Community Radio

America

Pacifica Network The Pacifica Affiliate network includes approximately 200 independent radio stations, primarily in the United States. Affiliates are also located in Canada, Europe, and Africa. The network includes community radio stations, internet stations, low-power stations, and college stations.

The Alliance for Community Media is committed to assuring everyone’s access to electronic media through grassroots organizing, coalition building, public education, and a progressive legislative and regulatory agenda .

AMARC is an international non-governmental organization serving the community radio movement, with almost 3,000 members and associates in 110 countries.

Bill of Rights Defense Committee helps people convert their concerns into meaningful action to restore protections guaranteed under the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution.

Free Press is a nonpartisan organization working to involve the public in media policymaking and to craft policies for more democratic media.

Grassroots Radio Coalition/Conference is a loose coalition of community media activists, organized as a reaction against increasing commercialization of public radio and lack of support for volunteer-based stations.

Intercollegiate Broadcasting System is a 66 year old not for profit association and foundation serving over 981, college radio, high school radio, stations, podcasting, webcasting, streaming, for nearly 1,000 IBS Members.

Media Education Foundation The Media Education Foundation produces and distributes video documentaries to encourage critical thinking and debate about the relationship between media ownership, commercial media content, and the democratic demand for free flows of information, diverse representations of ideas and people, and informed citizen participation.

National Federation of Community Broadcasters The NFCB is a national alliance of stations, producers, and others committed to community radio.

National Public Radio is a privately supported, not-for-profit membership organization that produces and distributes noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming.

Prometheus Radio Project Prometheus Radio Project is a collective of radio activists who conduct workshops, help build low power radio stations, and advocate for broader access to the airwaves.

Radio4all was formed in 1996 by grassroots broadcasters, free radio journalists and cyber-activists to provide means to share radio programs via the Internet and provides compressed audio files which can be downloaded to your computer and then converted to tape or added to a playlist for broadcast.

The National Lawyers Guild latest “Know Your Rights” guide is titled You Have the Right to Remain Silent. This 16-page booklet is designed for activists and others who are contacted by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security or local law enforcement. It also contains useful information for non-citizens and minors. We hope this publication will satisfy a demand created by the recent FBI raids.

Britain

Radio Today Industry trade publication.

Community Media Association a non-profit making organisation founded in 1983 to support community radio.

Music Licensing PPL exists to help ensure that those who invest their time, talent and money to make recorded music are fairly paid for their work.

Community Radio Toolkit resources for community radio stations to use, wherever they are, to improve what they do, to better serve their communities .

Forum Central (might be of interest…) ed.

Australia

Community Broadcasting Association of Australia

Grass roots radio

Social media, email, and podcasts have revolutionized the way we communicate. No longer do you have to convince a journalist to report on an issue that matters to you, or hope the local newspaper or radio station will support your campaign or organization.

Grassroots media is growing as people realize that they can be the media. They can broadcast their choice of music and talk shows.

Digital radio is open to anyone and it’s an ideal platform for single-issue and community groups to promote their view. To highlight matters of concern, promote their organization and cause, and connect with like-minded people and organisations.

Podcasts absolutely have their place when it comes to play-on-demand episodes. But digital radio allows people to broadcast live – be it from a meeting, a discussion panel, street protest, or one-on-one interview.

People from anywhere in the world can listen live. And this allows listeners to chip in with comments and questions in real time – the interviewer and interviewee can respond to questions and comments on the fly.

When you’re not broadcasting live you can place recorded shows and campaign messages on a loop or give access to other community groups with something to say. You can share the resource.

Ultimately; if the media isn’t helping then you replace them. Give yourself a voice, give your group a voice, and give your community a voice with digital radio.