Radio Broadcast

From SPARK

Radio Broadcast should be looked at as a tool to accomplish goals, not an end in itself. Before investing time and money in the production of radio programs, one must think it through. Here are questions, principles, concepts, strategies, guidelines and evaluation tools to help you get started or at least determine if this is the right communication medium for you.

Considerations for Teams, Radio Producers, and Local Sponsors

Purpose/Aim

• Why do you want a radio program?
• What do you want it to do?

Goals/Objectives

1. What are the objectives?
2. Radio should be looked at as a tool to accomplish some language program goals, not an end in itself. Before investing time and money in the production of radio programs, one must think it through and ask questions.
   • Is it to inform, educate, entertain, or change attitudes?
   • Who is the target audience: adults, children, bilinguals, monolingual, Catholics, evangelicals, etc.?
   • What are the interests and felt needs of the target audience?
   • How do they live and think?

Strategy

1. How are you going to reach your goals/objectives?
2. Once you have decided what you want to accomplish, you need to formulate a radio strategy. You need to have short and long range plans. You need to investigate which kind of transmission is best to reach your intended audience; AM, SW, FM, what frequencies are best, and what radio stations in the area can service these. What will the cost be? What economic, material and human resources are in place and what more is needed?
3. You will also need to strategize on how you are going to “grab” your audience, and how to keep them listening.
4. A plan also needs to be set in place for how you can get feedback from them.

Programming

1. Which are the best presentations and formats to communicate the message most effectively?
2. If the aim is to raise the prestige of the language and culture, what kind of presentation will best accomplish that purpose? Spots might be one of the best ways to do this. For example, thirty-second “spots” ten times a day preceding your “once-a-week” program are an excellent way to advertise your program and gain an audience. (And spots are economical, too.)

Complementary Materials

What other materials do you need for follow-up to make your programs more effective, (books, literature, posters, spots, gifts, etc.)? If you are promoting literacy or have a “read-along” program segment, what printed materials are needed and how will people get them? Perhaps hymnbooks should be available so listeners could learn the songs that are used in the programs. Or perhaps the radio programs could be tied into video showings or video content.

Evaluation

If you want to be assured that your programs are achieving the set goals, you must develop some methods for evaluating their effectiveness. You need to have feedback! For example, who is listening to the program? How many? How would you evaluate their level of interest? What do they think about the topics? Are there changes they would like to have? Evaluation can be accomplished through village visits, visits to the radio station, correspondence, polls and/or the sale of materials. Remember that correspondence may not work among illiterates, especially if they do not have the opportunity or freedom to ask for help.

Considerations for Program Producers/Announcers

Communication Principles

• Know what you want to communicate. What results do you want to see accomplished among the listeners?
• Evaluate to determine if radio is the best medium to communicate the message.
• Choose what form of program format is the most appropriate to communicate the message.
• Consider the listeners. What is their cultural background? How do they feel about themselves and their culture? What do they know? What do they want to know? Are they open to receive information about their culture? Will they benefit from that information? What are their other interests and felt needs?
• Practice the virtues of good communication: Speak the truth. Be precise and clear.
• Eliminate from the program all barriers, differences, criticism, and prejudice that could cause divisions or be offensive, resulting in the loss of your audience. Be positive, not negative!
• Confirm the audience. Encourage and build them up with love.

Radio Broadcasting Concepts

• The listeners control the receiver. They can turn you on or off. That is why you need to not only get an audience but know how to maintain one.
• Radio is one-time communication. The message needs to be clear, simple and precise for a one-time hearing.
• Radio is one-way communication. There is no listener dialogue. Therefore, you need to consider the listeners and their thoughts and reactions and meet them where they are. Design your programs so that they feel that you understand them, are talking to them, and are aware that they are out there listening.
• Radio is audio only. It is not like TV or video. What stimulates the audience are the words that are used, the expression of the speakers, and the music or sound effects. Creating an image and stimulating the imagination validates the message.

Radio Broadcasting Principles

• The mind has a limit to the quantity of information it can receive at one time. You need to limit the details and the number of concepts presented in any given program. Be as brief and concise as the language discourse will allow. Do not overwhelm or overload the listeners with unnecessary details.
• No message can be absorbed faster then the mind can assimilate and understand it. Do not race through a program to save time. Speak naturally, as in a conversation.
• Tonal quality influences how the message is received and interpreted. You need to match the tonal quality to the intention, importance, and dynamics of the message.
• Speak to a person. Always keep the individual person in mind throughout the entire program, even when the designated target is a group.
• Eliminate anything that impedes the reception of the message. There is always the possibility of a distraction during the transmission or reception of a message. It can be a technical, mechanical, semantic or some interruption from outside over which you have no control.

Radio Scripting Principles

• People – Facts alone are boring. A program is interesting if it has an effect on the life of the listener (something about his culture, language, history, village, someone he knows, an activity that interests him), makes him/her feel a part of what is going on, and draws the listener into becoming involved. A list of figures, abstract facts, or theories almost guarantees that the listener will lose interest in this, and perhaps future, programs.
• Conflict – Challenge and struggle stimulates. A program is interesting if it includes conflicts between people, interests, ideas or concepts. It does not have to be violent or a case of life or death. It can be a contrast, a controversy or a struggle, a resolved problem, question or challenge.
• Enthusiasm – Enthusiasm generates enthusiasm, which generates lots of enthusiasm. A program is interesting if the speakers are enthusiastic. If the narrator, interviewer or actors are not involved in the program, you cannot expect the listener to feel involved, animated or enthused.
• Simplicity – Complexity causes confusion. The program material needs to be adapted to the comprehension level of the audience. The words, speed of the presentation, and the number of concepts needs to be adjusted to the reception level of the listener.
• Imagination – Make it live! A program is interesting if it is graphic, alive and sounds as if it is occurring even as you speak. Try to visualize the situation. This not only aids in the presentation but it also helps the comprehension of the listener. Imagine the situation and describe it.
• Variety – Change demands attention. A program is interesting if it has variety. Change keeps programs from becoming routine, boring and unattractive. A change in the format, presentation, speaker's voices, and the technology (sound effects, reverberation and equalization) assures that the mind continues to focus on the message.

Radio Reporting Dynamics

• Mobility – Go out to where the people are and where the action is.
• Reality – Capture the sounds that take the listener to where the event is happening.
• Timely – Be current. Express today’s events today.

Announcer Guidelines

• Attitude – Radio is to talk, to share and to speak person-to-person. Always be thinking of the listener, not just what you want to say.
• Animation – You are an actor. You need to act in order to compensate for the facts that there are no gestures, facial expressions or motions in the words you are speaking. Project your voice and use the appropriate intonation that fits the context of the message.
• Script Reading – Speak to the listener, do not just read information. Speak with authority to enhance credibility. Only sound like you are reading when the text allows reading, such as in Scriptures.
• Listening – Listen to yourself. Does your voice sound natural or artificial? Listen to the program. Does it keep the listener in mind? Compare your program with others. Does it maintain a high quality? Is the technical quality excellent? Analyze your answers to these questions and learn from your errors. Only by the art of critiquing yourself and your programs can you improve your broadcasts.
• Critique from others: Accept all kind of critiques and/or criticism from others because you learn even more from others than you can from self-evaluation. No one is perfect, but the ideal is to assume the role of learner. Some of what you hear will not be positive, but you can always learn something from it. However, remember, you will not please all the people all the time, so stay balanced when analyzing the critiques.