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1. Characteristics of Radio
- Radio Makes Pictures Radio is a sightless or a viewless medium. In radio, either the performer or listener cannot see each other. Therefore it is called blind medium. Since it is a blind or sightless medium, the performer as well as listener has to creatively imagine each other. So that as soon as voice comes out of the loudspeaker, the listener attempts to visualize what he hears and to imagine the owner of the voice.
- Radio speaks to individual/ an intimate medium Unlike TV, where viewer is observing something coming out of the box over there, the sight and sound of radio are created within us, and can have greater impact and involvement. To the listener, it seems that as if the broadcaster is broadcasting for each listener individually.
- Radio speaks to millions/ A Mass Medium It is a much cheaper and easily available medium. It cost much less to set up a radio station as compared to a TV station. The very term broadcasting indicates a widescattering of the output covering every home, village, town, city and country within the range of transmitter. Also it is totally free to air.
- The speed of radio/ medium of immediacy It can report the event almost instantly, as they are happening. So it is the medium of the "here and now". Even for TV, it is more difficult to take the camera immediately to events as they are happening. But the radio is an enormously flexible medium and is often at its best in the totally immediate live situation.
- Radio is a mobile medium Radio can accompany and entertain anywhere. One can have it at home, at picnic resort, while driving or at any other occasion.
- Radio has no boundaries
Radio signals has no territorial limits. Its signal can clear mountain barriers and may cross ocean deeps.
- Simple language and reach of Illiterates Especially in developing countries, with its language being simple, live and direct, it can reach illiterate and semi- literate people.
- The Transient nature of radio Broadcasting imposes a strict discipline of having to be there at the right time. The transitory nature also mean, besides hearing, listener also understand it at the time of broadcast.
- Radio as background Radio is a less demanding medium in that it permits to do other things also at the same time.
- Radio is selective Radio is a linear medium. The selection process takes place in the studio and the listener is presented with a single thread of material.
- Radio lacks space Radio has boundation of time and lack of space. It can allow less space to advertisement and personal announcements than paper.
- The personality of radio The great advantage of the aural medium over print lies in the sound of human voice. A voice is capable of conveying much more than a reporter's speech.
- Radio teaches As a medium of education, it excels with concept as well as facts. However it lacks the ability to demonstrate and show (charts & graphs), but proved helpful for villagers.
- Radio has music
● Cycle, interval The five main characteristics of sound waves include wavelength, amplitude, frequency, time period and velocity.
● Wavelength: The most important characteristic of sound waves may be the
wavelength. Sound consists of a longitudinal wave that includes compressions and rarefactions as they travel through a given medium. The distance that one wave travels before it repeats itself is the wavelength. It is the combined length of a compression and the adjacent rarefaction, or the distance between the centers of two consecutive rarefactions or compressions.
● Amplitude: The amplitude is the size of a given wave.
The amplitude of a sound wave can be defined as the loudness or the amount of maximum displacement of vibrating particles of the medium from their mean position when the sound is produced.
● Frequency: The frequency refers to the number of sound waves a sound
produces per second. A low-frequency sound has fewer waves, while a high-frequency sound has more. Sound frequency is measured in hertz (HZ) and is not dependent upon the medium the sound is passing through.
● Time Period – The time period is almost the opposite of the frequency. It is
the time required to produce a single complete wave, or cycle.
● Velocity - finally, the velocity of the wave, sometimes referred to as the
speed, is the amount of distance in meters per second that a wave travels in one second.
3. Radio News (elements, audience, source, formats, constraints and legal
aspects)
Radio News is a new piece of information about a significant and recent event that effects the listeners and is of interest to them".
Elements
- Proximity Location, location, location: If an event is happening nearby, it will impact the audience more than if it were happening somewhere else that doesn't affect them as much, such as in another state or country. For example, if the local high school football team is going to the state championship, or if a music star is coming to town to perform, residents will want to know about it.
- Prominence A well-known person, place, or event has a stronger news angle than something the audience isn’t familiar with. A guest speaker visiting your local elementary school to take over story time doesn't resonate with many people... unless that speaker is Oprah.
- Timeliness Current news has more impact than something that happened yesterday or last week. The news media loses interest quickly, and past events become stale when there's always fresh news somewhere. No one cares that a mild tropical storm passed last month, but a hurricane on the horizon… that’s a different story.
- Oddity If something is unusual, shocking, or bizarre, the strangeness alone could make it newsworthy. A Florida man threw a gator through the Wendy’s drive-thru window? You don’t hear that often.
- Consequence The subject of a story has an impact on how people live their lives.. A
News gathering is a specialized job which needs lot of skill to reach the news room mostly in four ways, through staff response, monitoring of foreign broadcasts, through news agencies or press releases, hand outs etc. News falls into the news room from all the sources and at all the time and used then and there because there are plenty of news bulletins as against newspapers which are printed once each day. The staff reporter is not only responsible to collect his own stories but also generally asked to confirm doubtful stories led by news agencies and to elaborate the message contained in press releases or handouts The information wings of the Federal and provincial governments work as pubic relations departments of the government and their ministers. Every day these agencies issue a bunch of hand outs containing official news. This include reports of cabinet meetings, statements of the government functionaries, stories of development work and so on. In special cases and unusual situation press notes are issued to explain official position or point of view. The editor uses his own discretion and professional skill in using them on the basis of actual news value. These materials are not office orders but only information messages from official quarters and should be treated as such purely on merit. The press notes are to be taken more seriously and cautiously because they are issued in special cases and generally contain serious information. These too should also be properly edited and summarized according to the available space. Audience Not all listeners are alike. Their interests, including hobbies, music, beliefs, and more, are different which means that one of your stations might not appeal to your entire audience. For this simple reason, it is important for radio station owners to define their target audience for their station, to better serve their audience. Targeting enables broadcasters to customize content for a specific audience, resulting in better engagement. Additionally, knowing what content your audience wants to listen will
also helps you understand the consumption behaviours of your listeners such as the time and devices your target audience is listening from, helping you further increase your reach.
Formats
From bulletins to 24 hour broadcast
Constraints
● Self censorship ● Defamation
Radio lacks personal contact.
● Communication becomes impersonal.
● Absence of proximity to the audience
● High risk of ambiguity and misunderstanding
● Feedback is sporadic and not immediate.
Radio lacks permanence.
● Radio cannot repeat a message at will.
● Listeners have only one chance to hear a message.
Radio has no visuals.
● Listeners cannot be offered any visible or lasting message because there is
no image or text in radio.
● Radio codes - speech, music, sound, and silence - are purely auditory.
Radio does not hold listeners' full attention.
● Listeners are free to perform other activities while listening.
● Some messages can then be missed, ignored, or misunderstood.
Radio can suffer from interference.
● You must write tightly. Scripts are short. Commercial radio network newscasts are brutal, with stories ranging from 10 to 30 seconds. This demands that you winnow out the excess material and include only what is necessary to tell the story. Noncommercial newscasts are longer, but are often also formatted into tight patterns. ● You can write with more style. Your vocal presentation must be gracious and authoritative, and your personal warmth must come through in your reports.
- Clarity remains on simplicity, so use simple words, keep the sentences short. Tell the audience what you’re going to say, say it; then tell them what you’ve said.
5. Production Script
Duration Narration script Direction
00:00: 00:03: Segment 1: Why is 15th October celebrated as World Students’ Day. What comes to your mind when you hear the name A.P.J. Abdul Kalam? People’s President? Missile Man? But why today? Why is he remembered as the man who inspired many to dream? Artist : (name) BGM: Slow music along with the lines being spoken. BGM transitioned from the slow music to a hopeful music.
6. Oral Writing
● Sound punctuations
● Time sequence
● Contrast of words
● Sound language: bring stress/ mood in the script, using bilingual
● Speed of words: on average 180 words per minute
● Pronunciation
● Sense pause
● Matching the tone with theme
7. Interview
- Aims to provide the interviewees own words, facts, reasons or opinions on a topic
- Helps listener to form a conclusion/opinion/validation about what is said.
- Not a confrontation/battle
- Not to be aggressive
- Its not a discussion interviewer should not answer a question put forth by interviewee
- Job is simply ask appropriate questions, requires
- Its essentially a spontaneous event, if rehearsed it damages the interviewees credibility.
- Topic can be discussed, questions should not be exposed
- Keep listening and keep asking why?
3 types
Informative
Interpretative
Emotional
How do we go about it?
Before Interview
● Secure a consent for interview- telephonic/conversation ● Tell them what is it about, when, where, duration of recording ● Inform about broadcast and its context
● Public Announcement systems ● Audio recorders
Types
Dynamic microphone Condenser microphone Dynamic microphone
- In dynamic microphones a physical cone acts like a lens to concentrate the incoming sound waves.
- The concentrated energy of these sound waves moves the cons and its coil of wire back and forth inside a magnetic field.
- The magnetic field induces electricity to flow through the wire to produce an electrical signal which is the microphones output.
Condenser: rather than a vibrating wire coil, condenser microphone have a thin
diaphragm and solid back plate which make up an electronic component known as a capacitor. As the diaphragm vibrates, the distance from the back plate to the diaphragm varies accordingly. This is known as fluctuating capacitance. It is the fluctuation that produces an electrical current, resulting in the signal output. Used: for quieter, more complex sounds with a greater range of frequencies Pros: sensitive, accurate Cons: more expensive more delicate.
Directional patterns
- Omnidirectional Mics: These pick up sound equally from all directions. They are good for recording orchestras or live studio performances where you want to pick up the crowd and the noise of the room.
- Uni directional Mics: picks sound predominantly from one direction. Includes cardioid and hypercardioid microphones
● Cardioid Mics: These microphones have a heart-shaped polar pattern and
only pick up sounds from the front. This is great for studio recordings of vocals or speech to avoid feedback loops or unwanted second-party noise. Handheld mics are usually cardiod.
● Hyper cardioid mics: this is a exaggerated version of the cardiod pattern. It
eliminates most sound from the sides and rear due to the long thin design of hyper cardiods.
- Bi-Directional Mics: These mics pick up sound well from the front and the rear, but not from the sides. These can be useful for interviews and certain types of studio recordings. Used for interviews
Varieties of microphones
- Crystal Microphone
- Microelectromechanical Microphone
- Condensor Microphone
- Laser Microphone
- Ribbon Microphone
- Electret Microphone
- Dynamic Microphone
- Fiber Optic Microphone
- Carbon Microphone 10.Liquid Microphone
