Debre Markos University

College of Social Science & Humanities

Department of Journalism and Communications

Radio Documentary Production (JoCo 3085)

Teaching Material

Prepared by: Dessalew Getnet

February 2019

Debre Markos, Ethiopia

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 Unit one

1. Introducing Documentary

Radio Documentary is one of radio programme genres with some unique attributes.
Thus, it is better to discuss about the radio programme and its characteristics.

1.1 Radio Programme

Activity One: Brainstorming

1. What does the term programme mean from media perspective?

2. What are the characteristics of the following programmes?

 Informative

 Educative

 Entertainment

What is radio programme?

A radio programme is complete production package ready to be broadcasted. Radio

programme is an audio presentation transmitted through radio that is used to inform,
educate and entertain. Programmes can be classified in many ways based on their
purposes and objectives. It is grouped as educational, informational and
entertainment. However, the classification does not imply that each programme has
only one definite purpose.

Educational Programme

In most cases, educational programmes oriented to:

 Make the audience aware

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  Transfer knowledge

 Arose interest

 To motivate to change behaviour

 Teach a skill, conceptual or physical

 Involve the audience, to encourage and support

 Persuade, directly or indirectly to act

 Instruct to behave in a certain way

 Stimulate the imagination and creativity

 Edutainment????

Informative programme

Informational programme helps people to:

 Listen to things they could never hear before otherwise

 Know other people that they can never meet

 Understand what is important and what is not important in life

 Be motivated to acquire something new

 Decide to take action

 Infotainment ??????????

Entertainment programme

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Entertainment programmes are programmes that stimulate pleasure, excitement and
curiosity in the minds of the audience. Entertainment programmes are important to
entertain is an important end by itself. The audience wants to relax themselves by
entertaining programmes, which are

 Give pleasure

 Relax tension, relieve tiredness

 Attract involvement

 Broaden experience, extend vocabulary

 Breakdown cultural barriers

 Provide a focal point of discussion

 Provide a common experience for community interaction

 Develop alertness and communication skill

 Substitute for other forms of entertainment

 Sharing culture of others

Characteristics of Radio Programme

Any radio programme has the following unique characteristics.

 A title of the programme

 A fixed date of transmission

 A fixed airtime of broadcasting

 A total duration of the time‘

 A unique theme or signature tune

 An identified producer

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  A typical format

Characteristics make good radio programme

All radio programmes cannot be good. To be good a certain programme must fulfill
some attributes. The following are the characteristics of good radio programme.

 Affects the life of your audience

 Has conflicts between people, idea, notion and nature

 Present interestingly

 Understandable to the audience

 Creates a concrete image

 Present by using different sounds

 Involves audience participation

Activity Two

1. Define radio programme?

2. What are the types of radio programme?
3. Classify the following programmes as informative, educative and entertainment
a. Radio drama
b. Radio news
c. Radio cooking and kitchen activities
d. Radio music choice
e. Radio tour and travel stories

1.2 Documentary

Activity Three

Sit in groups and discuss on the following questions

 What is Documentary?

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  What is the difference between documentary and feature programmes?

What is documentary?

The word, ―documentary‖ was first coined by John Grierson, popularly known
as the father of the British documentary. The word comes from a French
word ―documentaire‖, which is a term used by the French to refer to ―travel‖
(movie) pictures. John Grierson described documentary as the creative treatment of
actuality. Thus, basically speaking, documentary is a term that can be applied
to all non-acted narrations.

A documentary is a non-fiction programme, which suggests reality. Documentary is

a creative form, in which a single subject is treated, using any or all of techniques of
sound radio with the emphasis on real events, real sounds, real people, where
possible telling on their real experience. It is a field for an experienced producer with
journalistic talent.

Documentary can:

 Recreate an historical event

 Comment on social conditions

 Treat the biography of a person

 Mix different opinion on a subject

 Present a factual account of a topic

Documentary may use a variety of technical presentation that include narration,

interview, discussion, expert comment, vox-pop, eye witness account,
characterization, dramatic dialogue, music and sound effects. It could, however,
use dramas which provide fictional accounts of real events (docu-drama).
Docu-drama involves the dramatization of real events.

A documentary could also be described as a creative treatment of actuality or

creative interpretation of actuality. Documentary is all methods of recording any

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aspect of actuality interpreted either by factual recording or by sincere and
justifiable reconstruction so as to appeal either to reason or to emotion for the
purpose of stimulating the desire for and the widening of human knowledge,
and understanding and of truthfully posing problems and their solution in the
spheres of economic, culture and human relations.

Documentary must be a creative treatment of actuality or creative interpretation of

actuality. It is facts about how people or animals live in their various environments.
It revolves around plants, animals, human beings and how they interact with beings
or objects in their immediate environment. Documentaries can be informative,
educational and entertainment broadcast programme.

Documentary vs. Feature Programme

They are exciting and creative areas of radio and, because of the huge range that they
cover, it is important that the listener knows exactly what is being offered. The basic
distinctions of type are to do with the initial selection and treatment of the source
material. The distinctions are not always clear-cut and a contribution to the
confusion of terms is the existence of hybrids – the feature documentary, the semi-
documentary, the drama documentary, etc

A documentary programme is wholly fact, based on documentary evidence – written

records, attributable sources, contemporary interviews and the like; its purpose is
essentially to inform, to present a story or situation with a total regard for honest,
balanced reporting.

The feature programme need not be wholly true in the factual sense, it may include
folk song, poetry or fictional drama to help illustrate its theme. The feature is a very
free form where the emphasis is often on portraying rather more indefinable human
qualities, atmosphere or mood. It is often both necessary and desirable to produce
programmes that are not simply factual, but are ‗based on fact‘.

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There will certainly be times when, through lack of sufficient documentary evidence,
a scene in a true story will have to be invented – no actual transcript exists of the
conversations that took place during the past.

Types of Documentary

Documentaries are artistic productions made for the consumption of broadcast

audience. They are produced for the broadcast medium. Documentaries can be:

1. Naturalist,

2. Realist,

3. Newsreel,

4. Propagandist,

5. Informational,

6. Journalism,

7. Personal portrait

8. Eyewitness,

9. Historical , and

10. Sound pictures

1. Naturalist Documentary
These are the documentaries that make use of their natural surroundings and
everyday scenery including mountains, rivers, deserts, erosion gullies, sand dumes
and forests of all kinds so as to tap natural emotional values. The essence of
using these natural phenomena is simply to depict nature.
2. The Realist Documentary

Use to highlight contradictions of life in the cities and rural areas produced the realist
tradition in documentary making. The poor and the rich, clean and dirty
environments, as well as other points and counter-points which are prevalent in
urban and rural areas, to drag home a point.

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 3. The Newsreel Documentary

A documentary that presents the events of the day in a straight forward manner,
with little or no elaboration for effect, is in the newsreel tradition. A typical
newsreel documentary has no special viewpoint, an approach quite different from
that of most documentary producers who portray events for a special purpose.
Whereas newsreel reportage does not take much time and may be
accomplished without much thought, the documentary requires full contemplation.
The present day investigative or specialized reporting and the usual bare news
reporting are typical examples of documentary production in the newsreel
documentary. Newsreel documentary can be done with minimum time and
concentration.

4. The Propagandist Documentary

The use of documentary as a persuasive instrument to elicit a particular effect on an

audience is the key to the propagandist tradition. Propaganda refers to the
management of collective attitudes by the manipulation of significant symbols
such as clinched fist, elevated eye brow, sophisticated gestures, powerful words
and body movements. The propagandist uses various strategies including arguments
and persuasion.

5. Informational Documentary

This type of documentary aims to present facts on a certain issue. Thus, the producer
of this documentary main intent is to provide information in a clear and simply
understandable manner.

6. Journalism Documentary

Journalism documentary aims to investigate all aspects of a topic. It gives answers

for 5W‘s and H.

7. Personal portrait

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Personal portrait describes the life story or an episode from the life of a person. Such
type of documentary is important to treat personal biography of someone.

8. Eyewitness Documentary

Eyewitness documentary aims to tell a story from a personal view of human beings
in an abnormal situation.

9. Historical Documentary

Historical documentary aims to recreate a past event or historical figure in some

specific time and place. It requires a research to have relevant information.

10. Sound picture

Sound picture documentary describes a place, event or era with the story mood
coming through a pattern of actuality, sound and voices, usually without narration.
It appeals to the imagination.

Functions of Documentary

Documentary is important to:

 provide socially useful information or basically to inform the

audience.
 arouse human interest to take a remedial action, on the observed
lapses in the human environment.
 provide relevant information through compelling pictures of sound.
 persuade the audience to take remedial action and to inspire or
lift.
 convince people to accept a new idea or to develop a new opinion
or attitude.
 persuade the audience to carry out a specific course of action.

Why Journalists produce documentary?

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Documentary gives them a chance to use the broadcast media to explore the
significant issues in their immediate environments, rather than expanding their
resources on what may be frivolous and ephemeral. Documentary provides
opportunities for experimentation and the exercise of one‘s ingenuity not often
possible in such formula obsessed fields as drama and comedy. Documentary
allows broadcasters the opportunity to re-experience creativity, outside the
realm of typologies often associated with specific production formats.

Documentary allows the freedom to explore the various attributes of

performance, as a communication strategy, designed specifically for the
audiovisual medium. 5. Documentaries are specifically produced for the purposes
of informing and providing socially useful information, persuading the audience
to take remedial actions, to inspire, to lift and to convince people to adopt or
accept a new idea or to develop a new opinion or attitude. 6. They could be
produced for the purpose of reinforcing an existing opinion or attitude and to
help the audience carryout a specific course of action.

Principles to Documentary production

Important principles to follow in documentary programme production:

1. Keep the variety and contrast in content and technique

2. Keep the unity-one topic

3. Make the continuity lovely-smooth transition and flow

4. Make it entertaining-even a serious topic must be enjoyable

5. Involve the public-audience-oriented

6. Balance the actual inserts—don‘t use them all together

7. The opening should be catching

Reading Assignment I

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 Robert McLeish, Radio Production pp 264-276

Unit Two

2. Radio Documentary Production

Activity Four

1. What is radio documentary?

2. What makes radio documentary different from television?

3. Have you experience a documentary production that transmitted via radio? If

‗yes‘, what is its approach to the story (ies)?

What is Radio Documentary?

A radio documentary is a documentary programme devoted to covering a particular

topic in some depth, usually with a mixture of commentary and sound pictures.
Documentary is composed of music or other pieces of audio art, non-fictional in
subject matter, while others consist principally of more straightforward, journalistic-
type reporting – but at much greater length than found in an ordinary news report.

Radio Documentary

A very prominent feature of radio programs is the production of Radio Documentari

es. Usually radio documentaries consume 10 to 15 minutes; the producers who are
generally handling the current affairs programme are assigned the task of making
radio documentaries. But it is not a hard and fast rule, any producer who shows
interest in accomplishing such programmes may be asked to do it.

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 The Differences of radio documentary

Radio meets urgent interest in reality and the desire for a 'musical' expression. No
other medium can provide with more freedom of creation and investigation. In
radio the material is sound. And sound always surrounds people. Radio
Documentary provides the listeners an impression of reality- that is midway between
the experience of print, where the reader has to paint the picture all by himself; and
television, where reality is visually recreated for his eyes- making him/her passive
recipient of the reality.

Radio documentary provides the audience the slice of reality through real sound-
bites, dialogue, ambient sound and stops short of making the audience a passive one.
The audience has to make an effort to recreate the scene in his mind. He has to paint
the full picture with templates provided by radio. New technological advancements
make radio production simple and easily produced.

New Technological Advances in Radio

There have been spectacular technological advances in Radio, both in production

and delivery platform. Digital technology has almost replaced analogue, leading to
ease of production and to convergence on a wider scale and platform. Radio
programme now could be aired across several media. It could be made interactive.
There could be multimedia content- with bits of audio, print and visuals strung
together. One has to be aware of the advances in order to take advantages of the
features for better reach, access and listening pleasure of the audience.

Internet Radio

Radio could be broadcast through internet. One can listen to radio on PC and net-enabled
Mobile. The advantage of internet radio is the ease of use and multi-functionality.

Visual Radio

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In a normal radio station you can tune in to listen to the music. Whereas, when you
tune into the visual enabled radio station you can also interact with the radio station
while listening to the broadcasting songs. You will see a visual, interactive channel
with more information and opportunities to participate and give feedback. You can
see the information about the currently playing song, such as the artist name, title of
the song, biographies and pictures of the artist. You can even download the ringtone
of the currently playing song instantly.

How to produce good Radio Documentary?

Like in television, radio documentary can be made on practically any subject. From
current events to history, from scientific inventions to philosophy- you can make
documentaries on practically any subject. Creativity is the key. However, before
taking up a subject take the ‗so what‘ test. Think about the relevance of the subject
for the intended audience: how interested the audience will be in this subject. Have
some impact on the audience or/and policy makers/ government/ administration.
Make the audience sit up and notice something that they have not cared to notice till
date. Amuse and entertain the audience.

There can be different approaches to make a radio documentary ramrod straight-

journalistic type or like a meandering drama with the buildup, climax and resolution.
It could be made with a dash of humour or with all seriousness. It could be made
with lot of sound effects or with minimal effects. The trick is to see, if it helps in
achieving the objective of the documentary. The approach should depend on the
objective, mood and tenor of the documentary. Think about the execution. Think
about the resources (financial, human resource, logistical) you have or could get.
Make a realistic and pragmatic plan of action. Before you embark on any
documentary, conduct considerable research about the subject to have ample
materials on the subject. Write a working script before you start recording. You
should be clear about what you want to do. A written script gives a control over the
subject.

Tips to make good radio documentary

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Be creative.

 Think out of the box.

 Think of stories, which have not been told so far.

 Think of a different angle to tell a story told hundreds of times.

 Think a new way to approach an ‗old‘ idea?

 Tell engaging Stories.

 People like to hear good stories, well told.

Research

 When developing a documentary, especially on social awareness project,

doing the proper research is mandatory.

 The information dispersed by such a show must be accurate, reliable, and

current.

 Research can be accessed via the Internet, library, educational/research

institute.

 Doing research for the radio documentary may also involve finding people
who have something to contribute to the documentary, either by providing an
interview, a story, or any other bits of material that can give the show some
added substance.

 Provide need-based information

 Make your documentary intimate: Try to have direct access to the

people/events/storytellers- Real people, real accents. Second hand
information can dilute the subject matter, person or event.

 Create near real scenes through audio pictures: Places, scenes and imagery
bring stories to life. A scene can as simple as a kitchen, a field or a car. One of

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 the greatest gifts of radio is its ability to provide audio pictures of scenes, thus
allowing the listener into that space. Record out and about. What‘s happening
in the background can sometimes be as important as what‘s being said - i.e.
chirping of birds, laughter in a room, a tractor/machine, water/wind/fire etc

 Involve the audience. Take feedback. Act on the feedback.

 Listen to good documentaries made all over the world.

Some Good Documentaries from around the world

1. Ghetto Life 101 (Recorded in Chicago, Illionis, Premiered May 18, 1993 on
WBEZ Chicago)

2. Journey to the Ice Edge

3. BBC Radio 4 documentary: City Messengers

4. Ideas

1. Ghetto Life 101 (Recorded in Chicago, Illionis, Premiered May 18, 1993 on WBEZ Chicago)

In March, 1993, LeAlan Jones, thirteen, and Lloyd Newman, fourteen, collaborated with public
radio producer David Isay to create the radio documentary Ghetto Life 101, their audio diaries of
life on Chicago's South Side. The boys taped for ten days, walking listeners through their daily
lives: to school, to an overpass to throw rocks at cars, to a bus ride that takes them out of the ghetto,
and to friends and family members in the community.

The candor in Jones and Newman's diaries brought listeners face to face with a portrait of poverty
and danger and their effects on childhood in one of Chicago's worst housing projects. Like Vietnam
War veterans in the bodies of young boys, Jones and Newman described the bitter truth about the
sounds of machine guns at night and the effects of a thriving drug world on a community.

Ghetto Life 101 became one of the most acclaimed programs in public radio history, winning
almost all of the major awards in American broadcasting, including: the Sigma Delta Chi Award,
the Ohio State Award, the Livingston Award, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Awards for

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Excellence in Documentary Radio and Special Achievement in Radio Programming, and others.
Ghetto Life 101 was also awarded the Prix Italia, Europe's oldest and most prestigious
broadcasting award. It has been translated into a dozen languages and has been broadcast
worldwide

2. Journey to the Ice Edge

A ‘contemporary classic’, it is a beautiful and provocative documentary by the reclusive Danish

producer Niels Peter Juel Larsen. This program won the 1985 Prix Futura in Berlin, and stirred
considerable controversy when it was first broadcast. Ice Edge is an unblinking account of a
hunting expedition by dog-sledge from a trading station, Niaqornat, to the ice edge at the mouth of
the Ummannaq fiord in Greenland.

3. BBC Radio 4 documentary: City Messengers

Documentary following the lives of two of London’s 400 cycle couriers, whose working day is spent
delivering packages across the city. The job is badly paid and the risk of serious injury is relatively
high, yet there is a thriving sub-culture of people who have chosen the freedom of the road above the
security of the office. It was aired on September 2, 2008

4. Ideas

It is a long running scholarly radio documentary show on CBC Radio One. Premiering in 1965
under the title The Best Ideas You’ll Hear Tonight, it is currently hosted by Paul Kennedy and is
on between 9:05 and 10:00 each weekday evening.

The show describes itself as a radio program on contemporary thought. The subject matter of the
shows varies, but music, philosophy, science, religion, and especially history are common topics.
The show has won many plaudits for its quality and depth.

The series is notable for soliciting programming proposals from people who are not professional
broadcasters, and having the successful applicants write and host their own documentaries (aided
in production by CBC staff producers). Many Ideas programs are multi-part, with two, three, four,
or more fifty-five minute programs devoted to a single topic. Transcripts and audio recordings of
many programs are made available, and sold directly by the CBC.

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 Radio Documentary Approaches

Based on the approaches in which documentaries are produced it can be categorized

as:

1. Narrative

2. Musical

3. Dramatized

4. Imagination

Narrative

Describe the subject matter with facts, figures and articulate the narration as
to create interest about the topic. Listeners would be keen in listening from
the place. It would be very interesting to find in the documentary what
language those people used to speak and if still there is anyone in any part of
the world who could understand that language.

Musical

A type of documentaries which explains the topic in

a script frequently, punctuated with
musical insertions. This is done when a documentary is required on a
personality closely linked with music. Your voice superimposed on musical
notes enhances the value of script and enthralls the listeners better than a dry
description for long spells of time.

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 Documentaries which are made about tourist resorts or fascinating places oth
erwise are frequently marked with musical notes to highlight the points
through words but by creating an atmosphere, which makes the listeners
understand about those places in a lighter way.

Dramatized

At times an impression of drama is essential to elaborate the theme of

a documentary, though this is done sparingly.

Some documentaries on historical wars may carry some impressions in words

or effects to create a sense of excitement and to make the audience understand
the historical facts close as they might have happened.
Over doing dramatic effects may remove some of the gloss of
a radio documentary.

Imagination

In documentary production, the producer has to show his/her imagination in giving

treatment to the subject matter. It is not as ordinary approach as writing down a
script and reading it to impart information on the subject.

But putting in imagination does not mean that a producer takes the documentary to
an extent where the elements of objectivity are over shadowed by the subjectivity.

In such a case a documentary may not be able to keep its essence as the
piece of broadcasting

Activity Five
1. Write down the four approaches of radio documentary production
2. Write at least four types of documentary
3. Categorize the following topics of documentary among documentary types
e.g. The Crisis of chat on Youth= Informational/ Newsreel/ Journalism
a. The Ethio-Eriterian war in line with the peace agreement
b. The Success of Genzebe Dibaba
c. The Survivals‘ story from the Earth Quick

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 d. The Republican Election Campaign
e. The Silent famine: school children without breakfast

Unit Three

3. Radio Documentary Production Steps

Activity six (brain Storming Questions)

 What are the steps of production? And their activities?
 Arrange the following activities as preproduction, production and
postproduction.
1. Creating ideas
2. Collecting materials
3. Finding sources
4. Researching over the issue
5. Conducting interview
6. Writing the script
7. Selecting talent
8. Selecting sounds
9. Rehearsal
10. Directing
11. Recording
12. Script voicing
13. Editing
14. Dubbing
15. Audience research
Presentation in your groups is mandatory

Radio Documentary Production

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If you are ready to create an actual radio documentary production, it means that you
are ready to perform practically the process of radio production. In the process of
programme production you will be asked to come up with an idea, write a script,
record, edit and broadcast the production. In all these activities you will find three
definable processes.

1. Preproduction

2. Production

3. Postproduction

Preproduction Phase

The preproduction stage plays a decisive role for successful radio documentary
production. It is the time prior to the actual production takes place. During
preproduction period you are expected to seriously think and plan about the future
successful outcome, documentary. ―The better prepared you are, the better the final
work will be‖ (Adams and Massey). The preproduction phase involves different
activities.

i. Defining purpose

First, you must have to decide for what purpose you are going to produce the
intended documentary. At least you shall be able to clarify what you want to achieve
with the documentary production. You can easily visualize the goal and outcome of
the documentary production. In most cases a radio productions have one or two of
the educational, informational and entertainment functions. Understanding the
purpose of a documentary would help to formulate the message type, the way it will
be presented, the expected response of audience and the like. The purpose also sees
from the angle of your audience and your organizational capacity.

 Activity seven
Think about a production that you will produce at the end of the course;
 Indicate the reason why you are going to produce

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  Design the objectives of the radio programme
ii. Audience Analysis/Need Assessment

Assess the need of the audience to know the target audience characteristics. A
documentary producer should know the audience in which he/she intends to
broadcast or the target audience (the primary block of audiences). The important
characteristics of the audience to be studied include:

 Age  Religion

 Education  Culture

 Background  Economic status

 Language  Current affairs, etc

Why do documentary producer assess the characteristics of the audience?

 To make the production useful and relevant

 To broadcast the production at the right time

 To increase the chance of its being heard

 To decide the content and style of presentation

Note that

The more you know about you audiences characteristics, the better you are
able to serve them.

Activity Eight

 Determine your audience for your production and try to study their
characteristics?

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 iii. Planning and Budgeting

Planning is the management function that concerns with defining for future
organizational performance and deciding on the tasks and resources needed to be
used in order to attain the solid goals. Planning is an activity we perform before
taking action. It is expecting decision making i.e. the process of deciding what to do
and how to do it before action is required.

Planning has the following characteristics:

 It is anticipatory as to how and what to do next

 It is a system of decision to achieve

 It is focused on desired future of result to ensure the accomplishment of

objectives.

As a radio documentary producer, having a plan is crucial for effective and

productive production. What we are going to do must be clearly seen on the plan
because ―to fail to plan is to plan to fail‖. Planning a radio documentary production
involves:

1. Identify the production itself

 Know about the content and scope of the production

 Know what the production supposed to do

 Know for whom the production is intended

2. Identify the audience

 Who are the target audience?

 Which format is more appropriate to the intended production?

3. Deciding on clear objective (s)

4. Anticipating the sequence in which the final product is realized

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5. Assessing the resource needed

6. Communicating all this information to everyone involved

In planning your radio documentary resources you may require should consider the
following:

1. Information (about the subject, the people to be approached, the general

social and cultural environment)

2. People (technicians, freelancers, writers, actors, etc)

3. Equipment (transport, tape recorders, studio, mixer and other accessories)

4. Time to (plan the outline, do research, travel, write the script, rehearse,
record, edit and broadcast)

5. Budget (Human resource, material resource and financial resource)

Budget is an itemized summary of estimated or intended expenditures limit for a

given task. Preplanning must be made according to budget limitation or must come
with proposal for financing them. Budgets must be flexible enough to accommodate
change if problem occurs.

Activity Nine

Select a topic for a radio documentary and then do the following planning activities.

a. Identify the subject area

 Design clear objective for the production

 Identify the audience

 Decide the type of language

 Specify the time to be broadcasted

 Decide the type of format

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  Activity …..contd

b. Planning for the research

 Identify the source of information

 Describe the methods of gathering information

 Decide the contributors

 Identify the technical equipments

 Identify the need for transportation

 Decide the time and budget required to conduct the research

 Activity …..contd

c. Editing

 When, where and by whom

 Indicate the budget required

d. Preparing the production script

 When, where and by whom

 Indicate the budget required

e. Recording programme

 When and where

 Indicate the technical and talented personnel required

 Identify tapes, sound effects, music

 Activity …..contd

f. Editing the final production

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  When and Where

 Correcting the errors if any

g. Broadcasting the production

 When and by which channel

h. Finalizing

 Give the cost of the programme

iv. Selecting the format

Radio is a resourceful and multipurpose medium. It is acceptable to a wide range of

objectives. To satisfy the diverse interest of the audience and to meet the objectives it
uses many presentation techniques and arrangement of production inputs, which is
commonly known as formats. To increase the popularity of a radio station it is
advisable to use different formats in accordance with their appropriateness to the
topic. To make different formats means to satisfy audiences with different interests.
In creating production formats radio uses the production inputs--- voice, music,
sound effects, silence. Documentary always produced in complex radio format,
because it is a combination of many sound inputs such as narration, interview,
discussion, sound effects, music etc.

v. Script Writing

In the process of radio documentary production Formulating/ Researching

idea and Identify the message that you want to convey to your audience is crucial.
The idea has to be timely, interesting and important. Writing well organized script is
crucial. Thus, in order to write well-organized script collecting relevant and adequate
materials and finding sources (Books, Interviews, Observations, Organizations,
selected materials) qualifies your production.

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 Tips to write a script

The radio talk (writing for the ear)

 It is one way communication

 Using spoken words

 The Structure of the Script

 The purpose of the script determines the structure it will have.

 Be clear about how the script will flow

 Imagine talking to a friend

 Draft a rough outline based on the talking to a friend

 Start with arresting sentence- called a ‗hook‘ at the beginning

 End the story by satisfying the listeners

 The script content

 The content of the script should bear these characteristics so as to suit the
radio medium and satisfy the audience‘s interest.

 A good script is the beginning of a good radio show.

 Write short sentences. But avoid a series of short sentences.

 Use simple sentences

 Make sentences direct and hard hitting

 Use only one idea per sentence

 Speech has rhythm

 Round of complicated numbers and write them in words

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  Paint pictures in words

 Write as if you are talking to only one person

vi. Selecting Talent and sounds

Selecting talent: a presenter is capable of presenting your script based on its content
type. Qualities expected from presenter‘s to present the script comfortably and
successfully are:

 Good communication skill

 Emotion

 Confidence

 Timing

 Characterization

 Experience

Selecting sounds

Music needs as ingredient to your script, to strength to the content of the message or
to create mood or to provide a background or to set a tempo, when it prepares
appropriately. Sound effects use to make the documentary production more natural.
However, the principles to select the appropriate sfx are:

 First listen to the sound effects in advance

 Decide its suitability for the content of your script

 If possible invite your colleagues to comment

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  Search for a better option.

Production Phase

This phase is the period between pre and post production, during which the actual
production or recording at the studio is taking place. The production process
involves rehearsing, directing, recording and script voicing.

Rehearsal:

 Practicing the script for perfect recording.

 It may be exercising in front of microphone or not

Directing:

 Guiding the overall production process

Recording:
 Transmitting sounds to audio outputs and mixing sounds
Script voicing

 Presenting the script

Some hints on voicing your script

 Know your own voice

 Increase the flexibility of your voice
 Understand your script
 Have short sentences
 Recognize what kind of voice the script requires
 Mark your script
 Inflection, variation of pace, pausing
 Adjust the speed of your speech
 Tone of voice
 Understand the effect of your position at microphone
 Understand and choose the best position for the microphone

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  Voicing a script without mistakes
 Use your own voice, don‘t imitate

Postproduction phase

The postproduction phase is the time after production, which involves:

 editing,

 dubbing, and

 broadcasting.

Editing

 Editing is the process by which you can add to or delete from previously
recorded material without having to re-record the entire project.

Purposes of editing are:

 To rearrange recorded segments in to a logical order

 To remove unwanted sounds and technically wrong outputs

 To fit the material within specific time

 To add effects and music

There are three methods of editing:

1. Manual editing

Manual editing refers to cut editing that requires physically cutting the tape
and connecting together after removing the unwanted part. Advantages of
manual editing is good for fine work, quicker, one machine is enough. On the
other hand manual editing has disadvantages like background changes are
more noticeable; tape can be stretched, needs experience of cutting

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 2. Electronic Editing

Electronic editing implies to dub editing. Here you make another copy or re-
recorded the part or the whole programme by omitting unnecessary sounds.
Advantages of electronic editing are saving cutting tapes, smoother fixing,
mixing additional effects is possible, sound levels can be adjusted. The
disadvantages are takes time, require two machines, and lose quality by
generation.

3. Computerized Editing

Computerized editing takes place by using computer technology. Once audio

materials have been recorded on to a computer hard disk, it can be cut or
rearrange upon your wish. The Advantages: no decreasing of sound quality,
the original source will be intact, provide valuable facility for editing both
speech and music, quality output. The Disadvantages: Requires
computerizing the studio, the user must be computer literate, needs
continuous training to deal with new programme.

Dubbing

Dubbing is the process of making copies or recording. Whenever you are dubbing the
original product loses its sound quality.

Airing the production for audience

Airing the production means conveying the documentary for your audience. The
audience is expected to get the message in your documentary production. Therefore,
your radio may transmit your documentary in a normal transmission frequency after
you have the last product. On air means the programme is already delivered.

Production Quality Rating and Audience Evaluation

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To appeal to the minds of the audiences production quality plays a decisive role.
Audience always remembers quality productions. Thus, the quality of a production
can be rate on the following points.

 Appropriateness: it should meet the needs for whom it is intended.

 Creativity: the creativity of the producer can be observed through the newness
and originality of the production.

 Accuracy: it must be truthful and honest not only in the facts it presents but
also in the sense of being fair for people with different view.

 Eminence: refers to a production‘s recognition or famousness by the audience

to increase the importance of the production.

 Holistic: Quality production appears to our sense organs. It arouses our

emotion; it communicates intellectually by being easily understandable.

 Technical Advance: Methods of production and technical application have

impacts on audiences by attracting their involvement.

 Personal Enhancement: The overall effect of quality production is to enrich the

experience of the listener. The end result must have been to give pleasure, to
increase knowledge, to provoke or to challenge.

 Personal rapport and link: Quality production creates closeness to people

particularly to the producer; listeners remember quality production with its
producer and the station.

Audience Evaluation

Since the production is for audience consumption, always conscious about their
reaction is important. The study of the audience started before the production is
broadcasted and continue during and after broadcast. In order to get information
about what they feel towards the production you can make audience research or use
different audience rating methods.

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 Why audience research at Different time?

The reasons to make audience research before broadcasting:

 To make the production useful and relevant

 To broadcast the production at the right time

 To increase its chance of being heard

 To decide the content and style of presentation

The reasons to make audience research during broadcasting

 To judge the acceptability of the item

 To test preferences, understanding and appeal

 To find out the number of audience (age, sex, status, etc)

 To increase the effectiveness of the final transmission

The reasons to conduct audience research after broadcasting

 To evaluate the effectiveness of the productions measured in accordance with

its objectives

 To provide guidelines for the coming productions

 To test preferences on the content and treatment

 To assess technical quality reception

 To rate cost effectiveness

Audience Research Methods

Audience research is possible to get the responds of the audiences using different
methods.

The following are some of the most common ones:

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  To count the number of receivers from census to get hint

 To count the number of comments in the listeners box, and telephone calls

 To provide participatory quiz (phone/letters)

 Vox-pop (gathering from the public)

 To make sample survey

Audience Research Approaches

According to McQuail (1994), audience can be researched in three main approaches.

1. Structural

2. Socio-cultural

3. Behavioral

Structural Approach

The main aim of this research is to describe the audience in terms of its composition
and social structure. The research measures or investigates who and where of the
audience; the demographic composition (sex, age, place, who….) of the audience.

Socio-Cultural Approach

The main features of this approach are 1) The media text has to be read through the
perception of its audience (must be contextualized); 2) Audiences are never passive
though their involvement differs individually; 3) The audiences performances,
opinions and responses to productions are observed. The useful method to conduct
socio-cultural approach is sample survey. The data collected are used to improve
productions, managerial activities and attract advertisement agencies.

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 Behavioral Research Approach

Behavioural research focuses on identifying the effects of media message on

individual behavior, opinion, attitude and values. Find out the selection pattern of
audiences to new media.

Summary of Approaches

Structural Behavioral Socio-cultural

Main aims Describes Explains and Understand meaning of

composition; predicts choices, comment received and use in
enumerate; relate to relations and context
society effects

Main Data Social, demographic Motives, acts of Perceptions of meaning, social

media and time use choice, reactions and cultural context

Main Survey and statistical Survey, Ethnography; quality

Method analysis experiment,
mental
measurement

Thank You!

End of the Course ….. Congratulations!

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