Broadcast Journalism - Production Analysis Blog

 

Radio Unit

13th October 2009

 Practice - South Coast Radio News

The most important objective was establishing an understanding of our target audience which at a 45+ age range, we were not necessarily able to identify with. We ensured out story selection passed a number of requirements in being relatable to the audience and feedback helped us to establish their best running order for the second bulletin of the day.


20th October 2009 

Practice - Talbot FM

As on our first news day as we had prioritized audience understanding and story selection, we had chosen positions in the news team we felt comfortable in. For our final practice run I suggested we all experiment by choosing a role we were less familiar with. In doing so we were able to test our skills in other areas and ensure we had a good understanding of the whole process.  This lead to some positive results and in trying the production role I would feel more confident doing so in the future.

 

In a bid to make the assessed shows more individual to our group, we prepared our own sting beds for each station.

 

Assessed – South Coast Radio News – 16^th October 2009

We were able to use the previous weeks experience and feedback to choose roles in the team we felt worked best. I was pleased with our selection of stories and self generated material to accompany. We were able to pre record an interview to run with a sea monster story which as a final news piece gave far more character to the bulletin than straight forward copy.

In a bid to introduce some further self generated material for the afternoon bulletin I went to observe Bournemouth magistrates court to fulfill the court story requirement. Unfortunately on this occasion none of the cases I saw were usable for the afternoon show and as an important development in the Baby P case emerged that day, this was used instead. As well as giving me further experience in court reporting, it presented us with the dilemma of using a self generated local story, or an important national development. On this occasion we decided the latter would be of more interest to our listener.

 

Assessed – Talbot FM – 3^rd November 2009

We decided to have a reporter in town in the morning who would be able to collect voxpops on stories to be used in the afternoon show. Whilst this was a useful and worthwhile strategy, it did leave us one reporter short for the morning where we had to have the show ready for broadcast at 1200. On reflection this possibly left us a little rushed to produce a quality bulletin and meant some of the copy was a little flat as we were waiting for further material to arrive.

When we were able to use this in the afternoon it improved the bulletin a lot. We also worked on feedback to make each story relatable to our young, predominantly female audience and focused on presenting the most effective running order for a more successful bulletin with snappy presentation.

 

Radio Package – Dying for a tan? The effects of sun-bed use

I chose my subject matter after reading an article about a woman losing her sight following years of sun-bed use. I spoke to friends about the story to get an idea of how much interest it had in the type of audience I would be targeting for the Radio one style programme.

I was satisfied with the interviews I was able to secure for the package as it gave real depth to the report although due to audio quality and time restraints meant I was eventually only able to use the sun-bed user and Dermatologists interview. I was keen to present a balanced report and interviewed a Professor in the cancer field who had produced reports defending sun-bed use. I thought this was an interesting angle to present. In the interest of a balanced and responsible narrative structure, I finished the package advising against their use.

From a production aspect, I kept audio clips short and snappy and used a music bed throughput to present the piece in a modern and interesting way to appeal to a younger audience. I also recorded the sound of a coin operated sun-bed which added a sense of visualisation whilst neatly separating my piece into two halves where I could present the different arguments. I wanted the reality of sunbed use to be at the forefront of the listeners mind throughout so used Jordan’s real experience at the beginning of the package so that young girls could relate to the subject.

To illustrate the younger audience profile I was targeting in this piece I made sure language was kept modern and easy to understand when speaking to the experts. I listened to similar Radio One Newsbeat pieces and tried to emulate the style in my tone of voice and length of clips I used.