Radio News Recap

What sets radio apart from other methods of broadcast is that it is immediate, intimate and personal.

·         Grab people’s attention immediately and focus on the main point of the story.

·         Think “Headlines”. Don’t use 10 words if 2 will do.

·         Avoid long fancy words and complicated sentences. Keep it as simple, clear and concise as you possibly can.

·         Avoid clichés and emotive language. Don’t make stories sound more dramatic than they need to be.

·         Check your grammar, check it again, and then check it one extra time because if you get it wrong it will completely alter the meaning of your story. This also applies to your sentence structure.

·         Remember your target audience. The audience we are aiming at are students at the University of Winchester, this means you can afford to be a little more informal with your choice of words and sentence structure.

·         Make sure your story can be carried by the words alone, as there is nothing else to fall back on in radio.

When producing radio it is important to keep in mind your target audience, this is organised in terms of social grade:
A (Upper Middle Class)
B (Middle Class)
C1 (Lower Middle Class)
C2 (Skilled Working Class)
D (Working Class)
E (Casual/Lowest Grade Workers)

Tips to a successful radio interview:

·         Ensure you are fully acquainted with the controls on the audio equipment and as simple as it may seem, make sure it is fully charged and is recording.

·         Microphones are sensitive so keep them still and avoid rustling paper around them. They should be held about six inches from the mouth so you shall have to forget about your love of personal space.

·         When recording don’t keep turning the equipment on and off, or pausing it, just keep it running, this will be far easier to edit.

·         At the end of the interview keep the equipment recording for a few extra seconds as this adds ambience and avoids an awkward, abrupt stop.

·          Avoid rooms with noticeable echo but also consider what sounds around you will add texture to your audio.

·         A good interview will sound like an unscripted chat, so rather than have a long list of set questions, just have a few and then have key points you want to focus on.

·         Avoid closed questions and do your research so you understand what your interviewee is saying.

Script Structure:
1 ½ line spacing.
One side of the page only (they will rustle if you turn them over)
Always typed, NEVER hand write your story or script.
Audio cuts must be written as:
NAME: Mr Blog
IN WORDS: I have always…
OUT WORDS: …can never happen
DURATION: 0’14’’


Our news bulletins will go out at 11.00am, 1.00pm, 3.00pm. They will be updated in between those hours as news comes in. We are aiming for the finished bulletin to be 90seconds long, but the absolute maximum will be 2minutes. There should be an audio cut in at least one story in the bulletin. Audio cuts can be of interviews, expert comment, press conferences etc. Or you can use vox pops, however they don’t always add much to a story so make sure they’re relevant and don’t depend on them.


We are aiming for at least 4 News stories per bulletin, 1 sports story, and a quick recap on weather.