[Imc-radio] Call 4 Radio News on MISSING ELECTION ISSUES (fwd)

Sat Feb 14 11:04:17 CST 2004

FYI:

Here's another opportunity for sydicating stories produced by the UCIMC.

It would be great to send our work to Sprouts as well as FSRN.

--Sascha

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 23:04:01 -0800 (PST)
From: KCSB News Department <news at kcsb.org>
To: affpac at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Call 4 Radio News on MISSING ELECTION ISSUES

Hi All,

We want to feature *your* grassroots radio reports
on a nationally distributed program played on over
a dozen community radio stations.  We are
producing a half-hour newsmagazine focusing on
election issues that aren't making it into the
primaries, mainstream media, or party platforms
(Sometimes not even Dennis Kucinich's or Al
Sharpton's campaigns).

Gay marriage is on the agenda, but what about
violence against gays, lesbians, intersex and
genderqueer people?  Who in the race for the
presidency is talking about the prison industrial
complex?  The voices of youth, women, the
desperately poor and homeless, communities of
color, immigrants, and the mentally ill are all
being left out of the national "debate" being
constructed by the commercial media and the
campaign staff of the candidates. Take some time
this week to look into an under-reported issue for
the presidential campaign and then pitch your
story to Sprouts by Feb. 20th.

Sprouts is a collaborative weekly program
syndicated on and produced by a number of
community/grassroots radio stations featuring the
best of volunteer-driven, community news and
feature reporting.  See sample shows at
http://sproutsradio.org.  We love to work with new
producers and can provide a lot of technical and
training support - though we cannot offer money.

Here's how to contribute (please read all
instructions and production guidelines): (1) Reply
to us with a brief description of your proposed
segment by Friday, Feb 20th, at noon Pacific time
zone. (2) After hearing back from us, submit your
script, including all elements listed below, by
Monday, Feb 23rd, at noon Pacific. (3) After
receiving an edited version from us, submit your
finished story by Tuesday, Feb 24th, noon Pacific.

"Sprouts," runs on Pacifica's KU Right satellite
channel each Wednesday at 11 AM PST. It is free to
non-commercial stations.  Sprouts is also
available Wednesday mornings as a
broadcast-quality MP3 at http://hccrc.org/ (ask me
for downloading instructions).

Full details below!

Thanks,
Keith
KCSB, Santa Barbara

-----------------------
Contributing to Sprouts
-----------------------

Propose your segment to the week's producer by
e-mailing a brief description.

After hearing back from the week's producer,
submit your script for editing before voicing the
story. Why? One reason is accessibility and
training for reporters of all skill levels:
Working with an editor is the best way to improve
our ability to, for example, write clearly and
concisely for the ear. Everyone needs an editor to
make the most of a story, and such detailed
feedback almost never comes after the segment has
aired. Another reason is respect for the
reporter's time: It's not fair to ask anyone to
produce a story "on spec" (on speculation, not
knowing for sure that it's running). We don't ever
want to reject a produced segment because there's
a script problem (libel, for example) and no time
for the reporter to revoice and remix it.

Make sure your script includes: (1) Your segment's
approximate length (minutes and seconds). (2) Your
e-mail address and phone number(s). (3) A
suggested introduction (a.k.a. "lede") for the
host. (4) The complete text of the reporter's
voice. (5) At least the first and last few words
of every actuality. (6) An outcue that includes
your name, your home station (if you have one),
and the place where most of the reporting
occurred. (This place, usually a city, is not
necessarily the location of your studio.)

After the week's producer has edited your script,
then voice the segment, mix the audio and submit
it all as a single MP3 file in mono (not stereo),
encoded at 96kbps or higher.

Name your file with the production date (YYYYMMDD
format), followed by your station, followed by a
brief title (e.g. 20030523_kgnu_kidsprotest.mp3).
Use only lowercase characters. Use underscores (_)
instead of spaces. Don't use quotes, apostrophes
or slashes.

Upload it through the High Country Community Radio
Coalition site: (1) Go to
http://www.hccrc.org/secure/transfer. (2) Key in
the username: (we'll provide it after receiving
your script). (3) Key in the password: (we'll
provide it after receiving your script). (4)
Follow the prompts.

E-mail the producer, announcing that the file is
available for her/him to download. In this
message, include (1) the name of the MP3 file and
(2) your final script.

---------------------------
PRODUCING A SEGMENT (STORY)
---------------------------

If you'd appreciate any help producing your
segment, We'll connect you with Free Speech Radio
News co-producer Randi Zimmerman, based at Tampa's
WMNF. She and I are both happy to provide any
coaching or troubleshooting on your segment's
conception, research, audio gathering, scripting,
voicing, mixing, MP3 uploading and so on.

See what you can learn from Free Speech Radio News guidelines:

http://www.fsrn.org/guidelines/Basic_Technical_Guidelines.html
http://www.fsrn.org/guidelines/Voice_techniques.html
http://www.fsrn.org/guidelines/mic_techniques.html

Record everything in mono (not stereo, which
doubles the file size). Mono is how the show airs
ultimately anyway.

Include no verb tenses or time references
("today," "last week," "Sunday," etc.) that will
render the segment out-of-date within two weeks of
the deadline.  The show airs on different days
(and even weeks) around the country.

Collect ambient sounds for use throughout the
segment, especially the beginning. This is radio,
not print. Use the medium creatively.

For actualities, try to include the voices of at
least three people.

Seek actualities to represent more than one side
of a story. We don't earn credibility or captivate
listeners by providing just one viewpoint. Airing
contrasts and conflicts is most interesting and
truthful.

Use telephone actualities only as a last resort.

Refer to all locations in a way that makes sense
to a national audience. For example, specify the
states of all but the largest U.S. cities (e.g.
say "Wisconsin" before or immediately following
the first reference to "Madison"). And describe
locations in relation to the nearest big city ("He
represents a suburb called Corcoran, a half-hour
west of Minneapolis").

Local stories are terrific, but explain the
national context and significance. Just a couple
lines, even a single phrase, may do.

While recording into a computer or minidisc unit,
use headphones to monitor the volume level. And
check the meter frequently to make sure the peaks
don't ever exceed -4 dB. This will avoid
"clipping" -- the scratchy sound when a peak
overloads a digital system.

Maintain volume consistency.

Try to cross-fade most transitions between your
voiceover, the actualities and the ambient sounds.
If you don't have confidence in your mixing
skills, feel free to separate your file into three
sections -- voiceover, actualities and ambiance.
Your script (see below) will enable us to do the
mixing in proper sequence.

Do not use time-compression software.

Insert at least 5 seconds of silence at the
beginning and end of your piece before encoding
it. MP3 conversions and Web uploading/downloading
often snip off a few seconds.

Aim for 5 minutes unless you've agreed with the
week's producer on another length.