Radio News Magazine

The most important factor for steering the magazine

A good broadcaster with good articulation who is able to take the listener consistently

SEQUENCE OF CONTENT

• Establish with an interesting and topical introduction

• Start with a solid and short opening to be followed by longer sequences

• Avoid repetitions of subject, format or ideas

• Reject anything long and dull

• Ask yourself: is this above the listener’s head or remote from their experience?

• Make deliberate contrasts for smooth flow

LINKING STYLE

• Be consistent, target friendly, chatty and humorous

• Find a theme, take a cue, make a link 

• Move on to hold the attention of the audience

MUSIC AND EFFECTS

• A major component: to evoke interest, to keep the sequence, to ensure smoothtransition

• Can follow or precede to break monotony or to separate a part of an item of themagazine

• It must be supportive to the theme

• Check your time to select items or music: delete, reduce and recast whenever itsounds dull

• Listen to the recording with associates to check time, content, accuracy or last minutechanges

• Preview and review

EVALUATING A RADIO PROGRAM:

What audience was the program aimed at?

What was the purpose of the program?

Was the broadcast time ideal?

What would have been the ideal time for broadcast?

ITEMS

Were the items suitable for the program?

Why were they included?

How was the treatment?

Was it the best way to treat the items?

INTERVIEWS, REPORTS AND OTHER FORMATS

Did they give the facts completely?

How were the questions in the interview?

Badly phrased?

Unnecessary?

Searching?

Arrogant sounding?

VOICE AND TECHNICAL QUALITYH

How was the technical quality?

Was the program well edited?

How was the program structured?

The beginning, the middle and the end?

NARRATION

Quality of writing:

Was it ideal for radio?

Was it accurate, clear and brief?

Vocal quality of the narrator: Pace, pause, tone, emphasis, conversational.

MUSIC SELECTION

Was it suitable to the program?

Was it suitable to the time of broadcast?

Were the individual items properly bridged through music?

PRESENTATION

Consider the theme: aptness and timing

Flow of the program and the links

Variety in lead ins and back announcements

Credits and titles

Overall program:

Did it have variety?

Was it interesting?

What impact did it have on the listeners?

TESTING SCRIPTS

After writing a script, read it aloud, preferably using a cassette recorder