The Radio Handbook 4nbsped 9780367227371 9780367227388 9780429276637 - Compress

The Radio Handbook
Updated and revised, the fourth edition of The Radio Handbook is a comprehensive guide to
the medium of radio and the radio industry in the UK.
Featuring new chapters on social media and podcasting, this book offers a thorough
breakdown of the knowledge and skills needed to work within the contemporary radio
industry. Using examples, case studies and transcripts, it examines the various building
blocks that make radio, from music scheduling to news values and from phone-ins to sports
commentaries. The latest trends in contemporary audio practice are referenced throughout,
including the increased adoption of smartphone technology, further consolidation within
commercial radio, and the ongoing debate about the future funding of the BBC against the
backdrop of an accelerated move towards remote working, the rise in popularity of
podcasting and an ever more crowded media landscape.
Combining theory and practice, this textbook is ideally suited to students of radio, media,
communications and journalism. It equips readers with the skills they need to not only
produce good radio themselves, but to have the knowledge they need to become a critical
friend of the medium.
John Collins is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Broadcasting and Journalism at
Nottingham Trent University and a Visiting Lecturer at the Communication University of China
in Beijing. His radio career began as a broadcast journalist in commercial radio before moving
into the programming and management teams at Global Radio. After that he worked as a
news and sports journalist for the BBC at a local and national level. The Radio Handbook is
his first publication.
Arran Bee is a Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Derby. His career started as a
commercial radio newsreader and reporter in the Midlands. After joining the BBC, he worked
in news, sport and programming before moving into management: firstly at BBC Radio
Derby, then BBC Radio Northampton. He continues to work in radio on a freelance basis.
The Radio Handbook is his first publication.
Media Practice
Edited by James Curran, Goldsmiths College, University of London
The Media Practice handbooks are comprehensive resource books for students of
media and journalism, and for anyone planning a career as a media professional.
Each handbook combines a clear introduction to understanding how the media
work with practical information about the structure, processes and skills involved in
working in today’s media industries, providing not only a guide on ‘how to do it’ but
also a critical reflection on contemporary media practice.
The Newspapers Handbook

5th edition
Richard Keeble
The Photography Handbook

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Terence Wright
The Sound Handbook

Tim Crook
The New Television Handbook

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Patricia Holland
The Advertising Handbook

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Jonathan Hardy, Iain MacRury & Helen Powell
The Magazines Handbook

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Jenny McKay
The Public Relations Handbook

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The Radio Handbook

4th edition
John Collins and Arran Bee
For more information, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/Media-Practice/

book-series/SE0241
The Radio
Handbook
Fourth Edition
John Collins and Arran Bee

Fourth edition published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 John Collins and Arran Bee
The right of John Collins and Arran Bee to be identified as authors
of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or

registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 1994
Third edition published by Routledge 2010
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-22737-1 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-22738-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-27663-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Helvetica Neue and Avant Garde

by MPS Limited, Dehradun
John Collins:
For Eloise and Jazz
Sometimes you need little people to help you

understand the big things
Arran Bee:
For my children, Zara and Alex Bee.

Contents
List of illustrations ix
Acknowledgements x
Introduction xii
1 Radio style 1
by John Collins and Arran Bee
2 The voice of the station 24

by Arran Bee
3 The role of news 45

by John Collins
4 Station and programme formats 67

by Arran Bee
5 Radio sport 93
by Arran Bee
6 Bias and balance: accountability in radio journalism 118

by John Collins
7 The tools of broadcasting 135

by Arran Bee
8 Social media: a renaissance in radio 160

by John Collins
viii CONTENTS
9 Podcasting: an audio revolution 180

by Arran Bee
10 Catching a break: getting started in radio 213

by John Collins
Glossary 231
Index 239
List of illustrations
1.1 Gem at Breakfast presenters, Jo and Sparky 4

1.2 Communicorp commercial director, Caroline Parker 16
1.3 Voiceover artist, Jack Oddie 18
2.1 VP of Product and Talent for Canada’s Rogers Radio, Paul Kaye 26
2.2 Broadcast voice coach, Kate Lee 31
3.1 BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat’s Christian Hewgill 55
3.2 Free Radio newsreader, Polly Bayfield 64
4.1 BBC Radio Stoke reporter and preseter, Sophie Calvert 81
4.2 Reporter Pamela Gupta 86
4.3 Radio playwright, Amanda Whittington 87
5.1 talkSPORT executive producer, Sarah Collins 98
5.2 Football commentator, Joe Shennan 107
5.3 talkSPORT Head of Live Sport, Kathryn Anastasi 112
7.1 A radio studio 136
7.2 Close-up of a digital mixing desk 137
7.3 Omni-directional (left) and cardioid (right) microphone polar patterns 141
7.4 Hyper cardioid (left) and shotgun (right) microphone polar patterns 142
7.5 Multiplatform journalist, Laura Sanders 147
7.6 Laura Sanders demonstrates effective microphone technique 155
9.1 The most used potcast platforms in the UK (2020) 182
9.2 The age of podcast and radio listeners (Reuters Institute
Digital News Report, 2020) 186
9.3 Audioboom Head of UK Content Partnerships, Mike Newman 193
9.4 Independent podcast producer, Clare Freeman 197
10.1 Star Radio Cambridge breakfast presenter, Josh Lovatt 217
10.2 Freelance radio presenter, Jen Thomas 219
Acknowledgements
When we began work on this new edition of The Radio Handbook, little did we
know that we would be researching, writing and editing the work at one of the most
tumultuous times in radio’s history.
Business consolidation and increased networking have led to mergers,
takeovers and closures that have seen many talented people leave the
industry. Barely a month went by when the landscape of UK radio did not
change significantly.
Then, in March 2020, Covid-19 arrived and the industry was transformed again.
Reduced advertising spends led to tightening budgets in the commercial sector
while across the industry the move towards remote working and the adoption of
new technology was accelerated. These changes coming at a time when the
insight, reassurance, entertainment and companionship that radio offers were
perhaps needed more than ever.
Throughout all of this uncertainty, it has been a joy to reconnect with former
colleagues and chat with key industry figures about the medium that we have in
common. Their enthusiasm and love for radio has always shone through and has
reaffirmed our belief that radio is a dynamic and intimate medium employing
passionate, committed and engaging talent.
We would like to offer our thanks to everyone who has helped us compile this
edition of The Radio Handbook and, in particular, the following contributors:
Mike Newman from Audioboom, Iain Betson from AV Resilience, Polly Bayfield,
Mark Colerangle, Paul Iliffe, Jennie Longdon, Georgia Pinfold, Joanna Russell and
Katy White and from Bauer Media; Qasa Alom from BBC Asian Network; Gerald
Jackson from BBC Local Radio; Christian Hewgill from BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat; Jo
Hornby from BBC Radio 5 Live; Pamela Gupta formerly of BBC Radio Derby and
BBC Minute; Helen Grimes from BBC Radio Northamptonshire; Chris King from
BBC Radio Shropshire; Sophie Calvert and Matt Sandoz from BBC Radio Stoke;
Steve Hermon from BBC WM; Charlotte Foster from Charlotte Foster Productions;
Caroline Parker from Communicorp; Jeff Martin from Erewash Sound; Matt Deegan
from Folder Media; Jack Oddie from JOD Media; Kate Lee from Kate Lee
Communications; Paul Kaye from Rogers Radio; Laura Sanders, Dick Stone
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xi
from Jack Media, Clare Freeman from A Small Furry Bear Productions; Josh Lovatt
from Star Radio; Kathryn Anastasi, Sarah Collins and Joe Shennan from
talkSPORT; Jen Thomas from Virgin Radio; Amanda Whittington, Tom Hilton,
and Jonny Drake.
In addition, we would both like to thank our colleagues at the Centre for
Broadcasting and Journalism at Nottingham Trent University and those at Derby
University for their support, in particular, Mandy Ball and Alex Canner for their
considered contributions.
We offer our thanks to the author of the previous two editions of The Radio
Handbook, Carole Fleming. In an industry that changes so quickly, it is testament to
her expertise and foresight that the previous release remained such a useful
starting point for this edition.
Finally, the authors are very grateful for the support of their families (in particular,
Helena Bee, Janet Bee, Val Collins and Pete Collins) during the writing process and
throughout their years working in the radio industry.
Introduction
by John Collins
It has been more than a decade since the last edition of The Radio Handbook.
During that time the technological and social changes within the UK have
been vast.
In 2009, Digital Audio Broadcasting was still struggling to establish itself as a
platform. Just 12 months prior to that, only 25% of people in the UK listened to
digital radio and only 12% listened on their mobile phone (Ofcom 2008a, 282).
Fast-forward to the end of 2019 and 36 million adults (66% of the UK population)
were tuning in to the radio via a digital platform (RAJAR Q4, 2019). Radio stations
are now hugely active on social media feeds, which are often given precedence
over the station websites that were their digital focus a decade ago.
Against this backdrop of developing technology – and continuing economic and
financial pressures – Ofcom announced in October 2018 that the owners of
commercial radio stations could network their breakfast shows for the first time.
Their updated guidelines also reduced stations’ weekday commitment of having to
produce seven hours of locally made programmes between six in the morning and
seven at night. They would now only have to produce three hours and the breakfast
show would not have to be included within those hours as long as local news was
provided at least hourly throughout the same period. Shows ended, staff were
made redundant and the industry’s job pool contracted, but advertisers were now
able to buy more easily understood national advertising packages. The
restructuring that followed this latest deregulation was variously described as
”the biggest changes commercial radio has ever seen in terms of staffing numbers”
(Clarkson, 2019a), “the endgame in that phase of UK (commercial) radio” (Bowie,
2019) and “proud investment in polished brands” (Riley, 2019).
So the radio industry examined in this new edition of The Radio Handbook is
completely different: in 2009 the book was reflecting on the disappearance of the
Virgin Radio brand. Now, that brand is back and, in Chris Evans, it is fronted by
arguably the biggest name in UK radio. Global Radio – just two years old when this
work was last published – remains the biggest commercial radio group while the
German media group Bauer is its biggest competitor. Both companies have
consolidated their market position through acquisitions.
INTRODUCTION xiii
In June 2012, Global acquired the Guardian Media Group’s portfolio of radio
stations for a sum thought to be between 50 and 70 million pounds
(Competition Commission, 2013) and then, in September 2019, Quidem
announced that they had begun a brand licensing agreement with Global
which would see its six licenses in the West Midlands rebrand as Global brands
(Martin, 2019).
Bauer has completely restructured its existing radio operation but still found
the time to acquire Jazz FM in 2018 followed by the stations previously owned
by Celador, the Lincs FM group, the Wireless Group and UKRD in early 2019
(Clarkson, 2019b). This was less than three years after its purchase of Orion
Media (for a reported 40–50 million pounds) which saw it take control of the Free
Radio brands in the West Midlands and the Gem brand in the East (Sweney,
2016). This increased consolidation and networking creates a radio landscape
where the UK’s all-but 300 community radio stations (Ofcom, 2020) could step
in to the, some would say perceived, gap in local broadcasting. There were just
230 of them in five years ago (Ofcom, 2015) and their continued development
since becoming established as the third tier of UK radio through the Community
Radio Order of 2004 is another intriguing narrative that has developed over the
last decade.
While it is often overlooked that very close to half of all the radio consumed in
the UK is produced by the commercial sector, the BBC remains the biggest
player. It has faced a tumultuous decade, under fire for the high salaries paid to
its biggest stars, criticised from all sides of the political spectrum for bias,
scrutinised as to whether its schedules and staff reflected modern Britain and
operating in an uncertain financial climate as the UK government considered
whether the existing licence fee is the best way to fund a public-service
broadcaster. How the corporation behaves is now regulated by Ofcom, which
became the BBC’s first-ever external regulator in 2017. As part of this change,
the BBC Trust disappeared to be replaced by the BBC Board. BBC 6Music was
threatened with closure, before surviving, returning record listening figures and
becoming the UK’s biggest digital-only station (BBC, 2020). There was much
change first thing in the morning as, after a total of 28 years at the helm, the late
Terry Wogan left the Radio 2 Breakfast Show in the capable hands of Chris
Evans. He subsequently passed it on to its first-ever female host, Zoe Ball.
Breakfast on Radio 1 has moved from its longest-ever resident host Chris
Moyles through Nick Grimshaw to its present incumbent Greg James. John
Humphrys stepped down from hosting BBC Radio 4’s Today in 2019. James
Naughtie had done the same in 2015. Between them they had fronted the show
for a total of 53 years. Before they departed, Mishal Hussain arrived to become
the show’s first-ever Muslim presenter. As ever with radio, the only thing that
was constant was change.
xiv JOHN COLLINS
WHAT LIES AHEAD

With so many radio stations now available at the touch of a button – as well as the
turn of a dial – each strives to make itself distinctive and provide a unique offering to
a listener. Chapter 1 takes a look at the way a station achieves and maintains a
brand and attracts an audience. This is followed by a discussion of the role of music
on UK radio and an insight into how radio adverts are made. The chapter ends by
examining how competitions and off-air events are used to promote a station’s
brand.
Chapter 2 examines the ‘voice’ that a radio station projects. The crucial role of a
show’s host is discussed as are different styles of presentation. The chapter also
has tips for would-be (and existing) broadcasters on how to make the most of your
natural voice from respected industry vocal coach Kate Lee.
The role of news on the radio and how radio newsrooms operate are looked at in
Chapter 3. While the presentation and duration of news bulletins vary from station
to station according to their target audience, essentially the news is compiled in the
same way. For this reason, this chapter describes the various elements that make a
news bulletin and what criteria are applied to the selection of news.
In Chapter 4 there is a thorough discussion and analysis of different types of
radio programming. This includes an examination of phone-ins and how they work,
the coverage of elections and radio drama.
No discussion of UK radio would be complete without a look at the integral role
that is played by sports coverage. Chapter 5 looks at the way radio embraces sport
and examines its importance to particular stations. Sports reporters, producers,
editors and commentators discuss their jobs and provide tips on how to create
engaging content in one of the industry’s most competitive areas.
Recent developments in the regulation of UK radio are charted in Chapter 6. This
includes an overview of how radio is held to account by the law of the land and
regulatory bodies. The structure of Ofcom and the BBC Board’s replacing of the
BBC Trust are both discussed before relevant sections of the Ofcom Broadcasting
Code are detailed. The chapter ends with an examination of the subtle but
important differences between balance, impartiality and objectivity and how recent
political and social developments have seen greater scrutiny fall upon journalists’
relationship to each of them.
Chapter 7 covers the tools of broadcasting. Although far from an exhaustive
account of the technical equipment used in radio, the chapter explains how studios
and newsrooms work as well as looking at the mobile equipment that allows
modern radio reporters to operate remotely. It also looks at different types of
microphones and the roles they play within the industry before examining different
styles of interview and how broadcasters are able to make the most of them. The
aim of this chapter is not to provide a technical guide, but to demystify the
equipment that creates most radio content and show how and why different tools
and approaches are best suited to different situations.
INTRODUCTION xv
The impact of social media on the radio industry is the focus of Chapter 8. It
begins by analysing the characteristics that social media use shares with radio
consumption before discussing how social media may have played a role in a radio
‘renaissance’ by connecting radio stations to their listeners in a deeper way than
has ever previously been possible. It ends by looking at some of the ways in which
social media is used to deepen, broaden and promote radio stations’ output.
Also new is Chapter 9, which exclusively focuses on podcasting. Not only has
this area of audio production expanded to such an extent that there are now more
than a million different podcasts available to download, but big names in American
media such as Howard Stern and Joe Rogan have recently signed podcast deals
running into tens of millions of dollars.
Catching a break is the title of Chapter 10 which takes a much more in-depth
look at getting into radio than similar chapters have in previous versions of The
Radio Handbook. By speaking to those who hire, those who have been repeatedly
hired and those who have recently begun to make their way in the industry,
it intends to paint a realistic but hopeful picture of how best to begin a career in
radio.
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19

At the time of writing, the UK is continuing to deal with the impact of the Covid-19
virus and the impact it has had upon public health, established working practices
and the economy. It is clear that current students, recent graduates or those who
are looking to get into radio via other avenues will have concerns about the way in
which the industry has been affected by the initial pandemic, the remote working
enforced by lockdown and any redundancies brought about by likely downturns in
advertising spends and subsequent cost-cutting measures.
The impact of the pandemic upon radio listening would initially appear to be
twofold. The BBC revealed that the streaming of its stations had risen by nearly a
fifth in the week prior to the UK government enforcing social distancing measures in
March 2020. Global, the biggest player in UK commercial radio and the owners of
Heart, Capital and LBC suggested that during the second week of the same
month, the number of people listening to its services had gone up by 15% while the
total amount of time they were all listening for had risen by 9%. The second biggest
owner of commercial radio stations in the UK, Bauer, saw the total number of
people listening to its services, which include KISS and Absolute, rise by the same
percentage (IbisWorld, 2020).
Lockdown may have provided a spike in radio listening, but the simultaneous
economic downturn will have serious ramifications for radio’s commercial sector.
The UK’s economic output dropped by more than a fifth between the April and
June of 2020. That is the biggest quarterly slump since records began 65 years
ago. It means that the UK is in a recession which is deeper than any of the other
major global economies (CNN, 2020). Although many business experts advise the
xvi JOHN COLLINS
reverse, when companies face challenging financial circumstances, their

advertising budget is often one of the first to be cut. In the immediate aftermath
of the 2008 recession in the US, radio advertising spending dropped by 22%.
Overall ad spending dropped by 13%, which would also suggest that, as a
medium, radio is more susceptible to this loss of income than either television
(where ad spending in the US fell by just 5% following the last recession),
magazines (18%) and online (2%). Newspapers were the worst affected medium
with ad revenue at this time dropping by 27% (Forbes, 2019).
If you’re consuming this book as a lover of radio, you may well be reassured by
the fact that listeners have flocked back to the medium at a time of existential crisis.
If you rely on the industry for your job – or would like to in the future – you will,
rightly, have concerns about how an economic downturn – coupled with cost-
cutting measures at the BBC – could see the number of people the industry
employs contract yet further.
A FINAL WORD
With so much upheaval in the radio industry – and, indeed, society – within the last
12 months, it is inevitable that between the time during which this book was
researched and its publication, some details will have changed. Some stations will
have changed owners, others will have re-branded and some contributors may
have moved on to different jobs. Wherever possible, we have tried to take these
changes into account. In any event, everyone who was interviewed for this book
was talking about their own, and the industry, situation as they saw it at the time.
We trust that, despite any changes, their opinions remain valid but should be
viewed within the context of the continual changes that are a hallmark of the
modern radio industry.
While The Radio Handbook could never be an exhaustive analysis of how to
make good radio and how the industry operates within the UK, we hope that it
provides an insight into the key skills required by radio broadcasters, the key
aspects of the industry in which they work and the key challenges faced by their
employers. There are a very many publications which examine media theory, this is
not one of them.
The UK radio industry has consolidated to such an extent since the publication of
the previous edition of this book in 2009 that it is impossible to include every aspect
in one volume, but hopefully the main issues have been explored and explained in a
way that will inspire a passion for radio.
It may be the oldest of all the broadcasting media, but its ability to re-invent itself
keeps radio eternally fresh and exciting. This book attempts to show both why and
how it continues to be a relevant part of all our lives.
INTRODUCTION xvii
REFERENCES
Adgate, B., 2020. When a recession comes, don’t stop advertising. URL https://www.
forbes.com/sites/bradadgate/2019/09/05/when-a-recession-comes-dont-stop-
advertising/#673751d24608 (last accessed 20.08.2020).
BBC, 2020. BBC Radio 6 Music breaks its audience record as UK’s biggest digital-only
station URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2020/rajar-2020-q1#
:~:text=BBC%20Radio%206%20Music%20reached,according%20to%20the%20latest
%20Rajars (last accessed 22.08.2020).
Bowie, A., 2019. Where next for ILR? URL https://www.adambowie.com/blog/2019/02/

where-next-for-ilr/ (Last accessed 8 January 2020).
Clarkson, S., 2019a. Ofcom will now allow networked breakfast shows. URL https://radiotoday.co.
uk/2018/10/ofcom-will-now-allow-networked-breakfast-shows/ (Last accessed 05.01.2020).
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯, 2019b. Hold separate to end as Bauer takeovers approved. URL https://radiotoday.co.
uk/2020/03/hold-separate-to-end-as-bauer-takeovers-are-approved/ (Last accessed
20.08.2020).
Competition Commission, 2013. Global/GMG final report. URL http://www.competition-

commission.org.uk/media-centre/latest-news/2013/May/global-gmg-final-report (Last
accessed 21.08.2020).
Cridland, J., 2019. The most popular radio stations in the UK. URL https://media.info/radio/
data/the-most-popular-radio-stations-in-the-uk (Last accessed 20.08.2020).
Martin, R., 2019. Quidem enters brand licensing agreement with Global. URL https://
radiotoday.co.uk/2019/09/quidem-enters-brand-licensing-agreement-with-global/ (Last
accessed 20.08.2020).
Ofcom, 2008. The communications market 2008. URL https://webarchive.nationalarchives.

gov.uk/20160703014921/http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/
market-data/communications-market-reports/cmr08 (Last accessed 14.02.2020).
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯, 2015. Ten years of community radio in the UK. URL https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-
ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2015/ten-years-of-community-radio-in-the-uk.
Riley, P., 2019. What does success look like? URL https://radioriley.blogspot.com/2019/02/
what-does-success-look-like.html (Last accessed 8.01.2020).
Ofcom, 2020. Community Radio Stations. URL http://static.ofcom.org.uk/static/radiolicensing/

html/radio-stations/community/community-main.htm (Last accessed 7.09.2020).
Sweney, M., 2016. Bauer buys radio group Orion Media. The Guardian. URL https://www.
theguardian.com/media/2016/may/06/bauer-buys-radio-group-orion-media (Last ac-
cessed 21.08.2020).
Thompson, M., et al., 2020. UK crashes into deepest recession of any major economy.
URL https:/edition.cnn.com/2020/08/12/economy/uk-economy-gdp/index.html (Last
accessed 20.08.2020).
Winn, R., 2020. 2020 Podcast stats & facts. Podcast Insights. URL https://www.
podcastinsights.com/podcast-statistics/ (last accessed 9.07.2020).
CHAPTER 1
Radio style
by John Collins and Arran Bee
Nearly every decision that the management of a radio station makes is with a view
to carving out its own particular place in what is an ever more crowded market
place. Radio in the UK is now characterised by powerful brands and nationwide
networks, but the individual stations within those arrangements will still hope to
create a unique offering that makes them stand out from all of their competitors.
Musically, there will be a great deal of uniformity, particularly amongst stations that
operate under one of the big, national commercial brands such as Heart, Capital,
Smooth or Hits Radio. This will never be more obvious than within the tight confines
of the centrally issued music playlist. BBC Local Radio stations have more flexibility,
but they too begin with a playlist of songs that is issued to them from the top of the
organisation. Around these prescribed schedules of music, each station will at
tempt to forge its own identity through the use of particular presenters, its provision
of local news and information, its use of jingles, the competitions it runs, the pro
motions with which it is involved, the campaigns it organises and the events at
which it is present. Each of these aspects of how a radio station operates will be
looked at in more detail later in this chapter, but our analysis of radio style begins
from this observation that a radio station is much more than the sum of its output
with any measurement of its worth also resting upon the set of attitude and values
that make up its brand.
The growing importance of brands within the radio industry is testament to the way
in which radio has become a commodity. Beginning as a source of information and
entertainment, the introduction of commercial radio in the early 1970s ensured that
radio became a product which audiences would consume. Any station that wishes
2 JOHN COLLINS AND ARRAN BEE
to succeed has to find an audience, and that means meeting the basic require
ments of a critical mass of consumers.
When we choose with which airline we want to travel, our basic requirement is that
it must fly to our chosen destination. That same basic requirement for radio is that it
provides information and entertainment in which we’re already interested. Beyond
this basic requirement, our choice of brand says much about what is important to
us; someone who flies on Ryanair is more likely to be interested in how much they
paid for their ticket than someone who flies British Airways where the price point is
perhaps less important than the perceived quality of the service. Similarly, listeners
to talkSPORT are much more likely to be interested in the latest goings-on in the
world of sport than Scala Radio listeners who have a penchant for accessible
classical music. Just as airline customers can be won or lost by a series of features
which bear little relevance to a safe journey to your destination – reward points, leg-
room, lounge access – so too can listeners be gained or lost by details such as the
personality of a certain presenter or the frequency with which a station cuts to an
ad break.
Branding, then, is a way of achieving a consistent offering, a reassuring identity,

that runs through every aspect of a station’s programming. On an ever more
crowded dial, the importance of having a distinct and attractive brand becomes
ever more crucial to success. As recently as the late 1990s, the number of radio
stations easily available to most people in the UK was limited to a handful of na
tional stations and two or three local stations. Taking Birmingham as an example, in
1999, listeners in the city were able to pick up eight national stations and four
locals. The spread of DAB and the emergence of newer, internet-based platforms
had seen that figure rise to 52 national stations. That means that 54% of the total
radio listening options in the UK are available to listeners in a single city. (Cridland,
2020) This means that now, more than ever, it’s important to create an aspirational
brand in order to maintain a station everyone wants to be part of and ensure lis
tener loyalty.
Perhaps the importance of a brand image can be seen most clearly by looking at
how a station changes following a take-over. The Guardian Media Group (GMG)
has now been swallowed up by Global Radio, but when it purchased the Saga
radio stations in the spring of 2007, it quickly relaunched them under the name
Smooth radio. Saga was a well-established brand providing holidays, insurance
and other services to those over the age of 50. Initially, the Saga name was of
benefit to the radio stations with plenty of over-50s who already identified with the
brand delivering an instant audience. When GMG decided to pursue a target au
dience of those aged 40 plus, one of the first things they knew they had to do was
to change the name. This allowed them to put some distance between the image of
‘a Saga listener’ and allow them to attract ‘a Smooth listener’.
Later in this chapter we will see how all radio stations are aware of the importance
of their brand and look at the time and money they invest into market research to
RADIO STYLE 3
ensure that they get it right. Prior to this, it is crucial to consider the canvas upon
which all radio stations design their output – the radio day.
THE RADIO DAY: THE BREAKFAST SHOW

The most important programme on most radio stations is its breakfast show. This is
almost always the time when most people are listening. Research suggests “the
radio audience peaks in the morning between 7am and 9.30am, and steadily tails
off throughout the day before climbing again around drive-time (4pm to 6.00pm)”
(Ofcom, 2016). As the station’s flagship programme, the breakfast show is used for
a number of different purposes, the most obvious being to hook listeners into the
station, hopefully for the rest of the day. Former BBC Radio 1 controller, Andy
Parfitt,1 says the breakfast show formula is partly functional and partly about the
bond between listener and presenter:
Firstly, there’s this utility of helping people through the metronome of the clock
and delivering them to their destination; school, college, work. Secondly,
there’s this question of character or personality, which is, in one way, to
empathise and to reflect and mirror that you understand what people are going
through first-thing on a wet Wednesday morning in January – and secondly to
entertain or help people pause to reflect.
On the ‘functional’ side, breakfast shows have regular time checks as listeners get
ready to leave the house, travel updates to help them plan their journey plus regular
news and weather bulletins. All of these could be repeated in some form as
breakfast shows tend to be made on the basis that people listen for an average of
20 minutes at a time.
The functional elements of the breakfast show feed into what programmers call
‘sense of day’. An important part of a breakfast show, Virgin Radio’s Chris Evans
characterises it as a desire to “reflect the day … and the world”, adding “we wake
up, we turn on the radio, we immediately have a sense of the world that awaits us”
(Evans, 2019). ‘Sense of day’ involves the show, especially its presenters, reflecting
the shared thoughts, feelings and conversations of its audience, on the very
morning that the show is on air. News, sport and showbiz stories all feed into
‘sense of day’ but it could also include the big show on TV the night before, an
upcoming film or plans for the weekend.
Looking at the ‘personality’ element, mentioned by Andy Parfitt, breakfast shows

tend to feature a team of people, or ‘cast of characters’, on air. Whether music or
speech-based, each person has a distinctive personality and role within the show.
This is still true on a news programme. When Martha Kearney started on the Today
programme in 2018, her editor told her to “let your personality shine through”
(Hodges, 2018). Kearney adds “I’m very much aware that people are having their
FIGURE 1.1 Gem at breakfast presenters, Jo and Sparky
breakfast, so there should be a friendly tone to the programme as well”. BBC Radio
2 Breakfast Show presenter Zoe Ball has been called “chatty, chummy, self-
deprecating [and] inclusive” (Nicol, 2019).
Whether BBC or commercial and regardless of format, the breakfast show is the
station’s ‘shop window’. It establishes the station’s identity. This is done, not only
through the content of the show itself, but also by trailing programmes scheduled
for later in the day, which – it is hoped – listeners will sample. See ‘Jingles’ for more
on the function of trails.
Gem at breakfast with Jo and Sparky

Jo Russell and Mark ‘Sparky’ Colerangle present the breakfast show on Gem 106
in the East Midlands, alongside their producer, Paul Iliffe, and newsreader, Katy
White (Figure 1.1). The pair previously worked together at Free Radio West
Midlands. Other past stations include Absolute Radio and Trent FM for Jo and
Galaxy South Coast and Ocean FM for Sparky. Jo has won four Sony Radio
Awards and, in 2014, was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the
Radio Academy.
Jo2 says the show’s audience is primarily “fun-loving, easy-going, light-hearted,

‘entertain-me’ women”. Sparky3 adds that their listeners are “making changes in
their lives where they’re evolving from late 20s into 30s, settling down, getting a
RADIO STYLE 5
house – going down that route”. Jo says having a clear idea of the audience gives
the team a ‘filter’ to put ideas through:
Any content that we do, we’ve got to put it through that filter. We’ve got to
make sure that if they have got small kids, which we assume they have, that
we make sure that our content can be heard by those kids as well. Also, we’ve
got to really think about an age range. Reference points are a key thing. We’re
light-hearted, too. We never get too serious. Once you’ve put everything
through that filter, we’re good to go.
Jo and Sparky use what they judge to be big talking points for their audience as the
starting point for their links and wider story arcs. This could be as light and relatable
as the end of the Argos catalogue to the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. Jo says, in
that case, “it’s turning that into a bit of entertainment whilst not going over the line”.
Executive Producer Paul Iliffe4 says they took an angle on the Government’s
handwashing advice:
The handwashing one is a good one because you have to talk about what’s
going on in people’s lives. As soon as Boris Johnson says you’ve got to wash
your hands and sing ‘Happy Birthday’ twice, we’re like ‘woah – if you’ve got to
sing it twice, it’s the wrong song!’ So we had a debate about what is the
correct song to last 20 seconds. I think we came up with the chorus to ‘500
Miles’ by The Proclaimers.
With decades of breakfast radio experience between the four of them, what do they
think makes a great breakfast show? Paul Iliffe says creativity is vital:
It’s got to be pacy. You’ve got to have ‘too many’ ideas, almost. My favourite
kind of show is when it feels like we’ve got too much to get in the show. It’s like
we’re packing things in because we’ve got the next thing that we’re excited
about to move on to. I love to hear that. On TFI Friday, you used to hear them
talk about things that they didn’t have time to do – and I used to love that.
Ideas are the lifeblood of breakfast radio, especially for shows on five days a week.
Sparky says he has an online document that he constantly updates with ideas,
while the team have a WhatsApp group, too. He adds:
It is a pressure because what’s funny or entertaining is subjective. Trying to

appeal to everyone is hard. Keeping that filter that Jo described is our rule so
that we can keep inside the boundaries of where our show goes. The pressure
of coming up with stuff every day, which one of us might find funnier or more
entertaining than the other, that’s where the pressure comes from.
Jo Russell says it is crucial to get the team dynamic right:

Acknowledging that we’re all quite different [is important for a great breakfast
show]. There’s a real weirdness because you spend so much time together as
a team of people, there are times when you’re really tired and think ‘do we ever
agree?’ But that’s the point. If we always did agree then one of us is
redundant, essentially. I think appreciating that we’re all different is a good
thing, not a bad thing. I think not being precious about who gets the air time [is
also important], not being precious about who gets the laugh – at the end of
the day, the show gets the credit.
Sparky agrees, saying a breakfast show is like a university project where “you have
someone who writes, someone who comes up with the witty words” and that each
member of the team brings something that the others do not. He adds that “being
ready to change” is a big factor in the success of a show:
I woke up on the morning when Michael Jackson died and suddenly, it’s like
‘you’re doing a whole show where you’re just talking about Michael Jackson
and you’re just playing Michael Jackson songs’. You’ve got no time to think
about it, no time to stress, you just do it. Similarly, if a big news story breaks,
like when we went into ‘lockdown’, you need to be ready to change, knowing
that everyone’s on-side when you get in in the morning.
For Katy White,5 it is about “having strong personalities and not necessarily ones
that are typical”. She adds this:
I’ve always made it my mission not to be [a giggling female character, just there
to laugh at jokes]. If it’s patronising to women, it’s not something that I would
enjoy listening to. I used to love Jo’s breakfast show [with Andy Twigge on
Trent FM] when I was at university because she was the strong, female
character.
DAYTIME SHOWS
The direction taken by daytime programming varies hugely depending on the station
to which you are listening. Traditionally, many operated on the assumption that their
listeners at this time are more focused on the content than they are able to be during
the rushing around that characterises the early part of many people’s day.
To date, the radio career of Dick Stone6 has lasted more than three decades and
seen him run stations that have borne both the Heart, Capital and Smooth brands.
In December 2020, he was appointed as the Group Content Manager at the JACK
Radio Group. He outlined how the balance of output can change once a station’s
breakfast show comes off air.
RADIO STYLE 7
A contemporary hits or popular music station might have more speech or non-
music on breakfast which can impact pace, but then be very music intensive
during the daytime hours and so deliver a sense of increased pace. The more
‘frenetic’ multi-voiced breakfast shows, referred to as ‘zoo format’ in the 80s
and 90s and probably team shows today, can sound quite fast paced with a
lot going on and have elements which might not exist during daytime hours
(such as travel news etc), but whether these add to any sense of pace is
subjective and could equally be considered as a slowing of pace before getting
back to music. Daytime may tend to have slicker, faster song to song
transitions and more of them too adding to a sense of forward momentum.
The pace picks up again on most stations as the traditional working day comes to
an end. So-called drive-time shows serve the same function as breakfast shows
but in reverse. Their job is to provide information about traffic and travel to get
people home from work as well as news about what has happened during the day.
Just as breakfast shows look ahead to programmes later in the day, drive-time acts
as a bridge between daytime programmes and those on later in the evening.
EVENING AND OVERNIGHT SHOWS

The audience for radio after 7 pm is generally far smaller than earlier in the day.
Traditionally, this is the time when less mainstream programmes are aired. Often
these are specialist music shows and this trend is perhaps best evidenced by the
BBC Radio 2 schedule which currently has specific shows devoted to blues, jazz,
folk, and country and big band music within its regular weekday evening schedule.
For decades, overnight slots were used by programme controllers as a breeding

ground for new presenters and a testing ground for new formats or shows. Many
household names started their career in the affectionately named ‘graveyard’ slot
with John Peel establishing a cult following with his late-night alternative music
show. Alan Robson, Iain Lee, Annie Nightingale, James Whale, Graham Torrington
and Pete Price are other big names within the radio industry who have carved out a
niche for themselves by hosting shows late at night.
WEEKEND SHOWS
Weekend programmes reflect the fact that for most people the working week is
over and, as such, they take on a more relaxed character. Weekend shows can
sometimes offer a one-off ‘appointment to listen’ where big names or celebrities
are given a show with a view to bringing a new audience to a station. Comedians
Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand used to fulfil this role for BBC Radio 2 while
Frank Skinner currently does the same for Absolute. TV hosts will sometimes be
scheduled in the same way with Graham Norton and Rylan Clark-Neal having
regular weekend shows on Virgin Radio and Radio 2 respectively while Carol
Vorderman and The One Show’s Alex Jones do the same for BBC Radio Wales.
Sports coverage has long featured prominently on a Saturday afternoon but the
elongated fixture windows to suit the demands of television schedules mean that
sport can now be found on the radio right across the weekend.
As you might expect, stations like talkSPORT and BBC 5Live devote their entire
Saturday afternoon to live sport but many music-based stations also feature match
reports and goal updates during the football season. Saturday afternoons are also
a key time for local radio stations with their updates or commentary on local sides
providing them a different audience. Matt Sandoz7 is the main sports presenter at
BBC Radio Stoke. He stressed that even in an age of online streams, social media
and wall-to-wall television coverage, Saturday afternoon sport still forms a big part
of the station’s audience.
We still have a very high listenership on a Saturday afternoon, we’re still the
market leader within the BBC Radio Stoke area. 5Live’s coverage, ahead of
talkSPORT’s coverage … the local commercial station don’t touch us with
regards to our sports coverage so we still do very well.
You can find much more detail and background on sports programming in
Chapter 5.
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19

While the effect of the recent economic downturn on commercial radio revenues will
be examined later in this chapter, there are signs that the social distancing policies
and partial lockdowns that were brought in to try and stop the spread of the Covid-
19 virus have resulted in an increase in radio listening. A recent survey conducted for
Radiocentre – the industry body that represents commercial radio stations – showed
that nearly four in ten commercial radio listeners were, on average, tuning in for an
extra one hour and 45 minutes a week. (Radiocentre, 2020) What has also changed,
though, is when people are listening.
Dick Stone admits that the structure of the radio day may be up for discussion if the
working patterns developed during the social distancing measures enforced by
Covid-19 continue into the future.
For radio to be successful it needs to reflect back the listener lifestyle – and so
the answer will depend upon the long-lasting impact of the lifestyle of the
listening public. For example, if home working becomes a far more common
long-term thing, then you could argue that the concept of ‘drive-time’ or ‘rush
hour’ is diminished. How effective and important is travel news? And when do
RADIO STYLE 9
people wake up compared to when they had to commute into work? I think
there is a strong chance that at least in the short to medium term it will impact
how radio programs dayparts in that the demands required from each
individual daypart will change and so the language will alter to reflect that.
So, perhaps a little less emphasis on ‘driving you home’ and more on ‘the end
of the workday’.
The outgoing Chief Executive Officer of Radiocentre, Siobhan Kenny, has outlined how
the stations she represents face an uncertain future as the UK moves out of lockdown
and into a challenging economic climate. She’s called for continuing support from both
the UK government and Ofcom highlighting the ‘amazing job’ that commercial radio
has done ‘informing and entertaining people during a really difficult time’.
THE BBC BRAND

The BBC is the UK’s public service broadcaster and is funded by a licence fee
which is a flat rate fee paid by households across the country. The corporation
provides ten national television channels, regional TV programmes and a multi-
faceted website which is the only broadcaster’s website to have ever been in
the top-10 most-visited websites worldwide. The commercial arm of the or
ganisation is called BBC Studios. Beyond that, everything else it provides can
be defined as radio – 10 national stations, 40 local radio stations across the UK
and the BBC World Service, which now broadcasts globally in 40 different
languages.
The BBC describes its mission as “to act in the public interest, serving all audi
ences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and
services which inform, educate and entertain”. It does this while working in the
spirit of its vision which is to be “the most creative organisation in the world”
(BBC, 2020).
Although the BBC is publicly funded, branding is still important to it for two main
reasons. The first is that, like all broadcasters, the BBC needs to project an image
of itself that will inspire loyalty in listeners. The second is that a strong brand image
makes it easier for the corporation to sell its programmes abroad, earning money
that can be used to supplement the licence fee.
The BBC brand is recognised worldwide as quality broadcasting. It is intimately

linked to British society through its history and held up as an example of public
service broadcasting (PSB) that attracts large audiences, unlike other parts of the
world where PSB is often seen as ‘worthy but dull’. Commercial radio in the UK
also provides public service broadcasting, but because of its history the BBC is
regarded by many as synonymous with PSB and fair and impartial broadcasting, as
their Editorial Guidelines make clear:
The BBC is committed to achieving due impartiality in all its output. This
commitment is fundamental to our reputation, our values and the trust of
audiences.
(BBC Editorial Guidelines, 2019)
As hinted at above, BBC radio consists of a number of different brands all operating
under the BBC umbrella with each brand targeting a different, but at times over
lapping, audience. This makes it a formidable presence in the marketplace and has
led to much recent scrutiny about its use of the licence fee to pay the high salaries
commanded by the likes of Steve Wright, Zoe Ball and Nicky Campbell. While the
national BBC stations each have their own distinct character, BBC local radio is
different again and seeks to carve out an identity that inspires loyalty in its listeners.
Where the BBC does have a real advantage over commercial radio is in its
ability to cross-promote all of its services. Although the BBC does not carry
commercial advertisements, it does advertise its own products, with BBC tele
vision channels promoting different BBC radio stations, websites and digital
services. They also have pan-BBC initiatives where all services simultaneously
promote the same thing.
Whether or not you feel that the BBC holds an unfair advantage over its commercial
competitors, it undoubtedly has a very strong brand that has been built up over
nearly a century of broadcasting. The challenge facing its commercial rivals is to
devise and operate brands that are even more appealing.
THE COMMERCIAL RADIO BRAND

For a long time, commercial radio in the UK was regarded as the poor relation of
the BBC. This was driven in part by its association with local broadcasting which
many automatically regarded as less prestigious than national output. As recently
as 2007, Ofcom was still acknowledging that “traditional radio policy in the UK,
followed by successive legislation and regulators was for the BBC to be the focus
of national broadcasting and commercial radio to be the focus of local broad
casting” (Ofcom, 2007, p. 1.5).
In early 2019 the UK’s commercial radio sector underwent substantial changes.
These changes came about as a direct result of the deregulation announced by the
industry regulator Ofcom in the October of the previous year. In short, these
changes allowed owners of regional and local radio stations to network their
breakfast shows for the first time. The same guidelines reduced stations’ weekday
commitment of having to produce seven hours of locally made programmes be
tween six in the morning and seven at night. They would now only have to produce
three hours and the breakfast show need not be included within those hours as
long as local news is provided at least hourly throughout the same period.
RADIO STYLE 11
At a time when much of the debate about the UK’s media landscape is dominated
by the future of the BBC and particularly the way in which the corporation is funded,
it is often overlooked that 47% of all the radio listened to in the UK belongs to
commercial stations (RAJAR, Q4, 2019). The two dominant companies in this
sector are Global Radio and Bauer Radio and their restructuring following the latest
deregulation has variously been described as “the biggest changes commercial
radio has ever seen in terms of staffing numbers” (Clarkson, 2019), “the endgame
in that (commercial) phase of UK radio” (Bowie, 2019) and “proud investment in
polished brands” (Riley, 2019).
As evidenced by its recent consolidation of ownership and networking of pro

gramming, commercial radio has realised that it is at its strongest when it is local in
nature and identifies closely with the community to which it broadcasts while at the
same time banding together so that stations can benefit from being part of a
consistent brand, some aspects of the business can be centralised and big ad
vertisers can be offered a national proposition for their campaigns. The extent to
which Global and Bauer have now networked their output – and the subsequent
loss of many heritage stations or station names – has been the source of much
discussion and criticism amongst radio afficionados. Their success in retaining
existing and attracting new listeners – and the subsequent effect on their revenue
streams – will be the ultimate test of whether their strategy proves successful.
THE MUSIC
Most radio stations in Britain are music-based and the style of music each station
plays is a crucial aspect of the station’s identity. Music is not randomly selected by
individual presenters or producers but is governed by a policy that has been de
veloped to appeal to the station’s target audience. BBC Radio 2, the most popular
radio station in the UK with more than 14 million listeners (Sweney, 2020), de
scribes its policy as “timeless and melodic pop” (Sutherland, 2019). Head of Music,
Jeff Smith, says this:
Not only do we broadcast the biggest range of genres of any station

throughout the day but most of that music is only played on Radio 2.
Through our research we know that Radio 2 plays a wider variety of music
covering a wider range of genres, with significantly less repetition than
commercial radio.
(Smith, 2016)
Generally speaking, radio stations categorise the music they play in two ways: the
‘playlist’ (often broken down into ‘A List’, ‘B List’ and possibly ‘C List’) featuring
new releases that will be played for a few weeks at a time. ‘A List’ tracks will be on
higher rotation than those on the ‘B List’ and ‘C List’. The playlist also features a
‘recurrent’ category, for songs that have come off one of the playlists but are still
popular. As well as the playlist and its subdivisions, stations have a ‘core’ or ‘back
catalogue’. These are the popular, older tracks (how old is governed by the music
policy) that make up the mix of music heard on air. As an example, Radio 2’s core
contains 14,000 ‘classic’ songs (Smith, 2012). Around 25 new releases are split
between the ‘A List’, ‘B List’ and ‘C List’ (Smith, 2012). Radio 1 categorise their
music in a similar way with an ‘A list’, ‘B list’, ‘C list’ and BBC Introducing playlist,
alongside ‘Gold’, ‘Silver’ and ‘Recurrent’ categories containing older releases
which are still popular (BBC, 2018). Compared to Radios 1 and 2, commercial
stations, very focused on their target audience, tend to play fewer tracks with the
most popular being heard more often.
Music is added into programmes using music scheduling software, like GSelector
and Powergold. This allows the user, usually the station’s head of music, to de
termine the makeup of each hour and how many tracks from each category should
be added to the running order. Music programmers like to use a very high-scoring
song (see ‘music testing’, below) as an hour-opener, out of a news bulletin.
Schedulers are careful to avoid placing similar songs next to each other in the hour.
Depending on the format, this could mean ensuring a mix of eras and avoiding
three 80s songs back-to-back, for example. The same applies for genres. The hour
should ‘flow’, from start to finish. This, of course, means that presenters, in daytime
shows especially, do not have control over the music played in their show.
Specialist presenters, at evenings and weekends, may be allowed a certain number
of ‘free plays’ to fit the theme of the show – or be allowed to pick all of the music
themselves. Finally, music scheduling software allows every station an easy way to
log what music has been played without filling out logging sheets and copyright
returns. These details are sent to the Performing Rights Society (PRS), who then
charge royalties on behalf of performers.
Music schedules are decided by station and network heads of music. How songs
end up in the various categories is partly the result of music research and partly ‘gut
feel’ from the head of music or music committee. Using Radio 1 as an example, its
playlist team meets every Tuesday afternoon to discuss additions and subtractions
to the music heard on air (BBC, 2018). In addition to the head of music, there are
11 on the committee altogether, consisting of music producers and editors across
Radio 1 and 1Xtra alongside producers from daytime and specialist shows (BBC,
2018). The process of choosing which tracks stay or go starts with a pre-playlist
meeting, the day before:
We’ll discuss what’s really connecting with the audience, looking at various
metrics, for example streams, chart positions, increase in sales etc. This really
helps us to form an opinion of what should stay, what should go and what is
ready to discuss. So we sort of get a predetermined list of what we should
bring up in the Playlist meeting.
(BBC Radio 1 Playlist Team member, BBC, 2018)
RADIO STYLE 13
Music testing is utilised by most major networks in the UK. Some tie them
selves more tightly to the results than others but there is no doubt it is a major
factor in deciding what gets played and what does not. A typical approach
would see current releases tested weekly, with the back catalogue tested
much less often – every six months or more. Radio 1 does audience testing
every week (BBC, 2018). As well as indicating which songs are popular with
the audience, testing can suggest ‘burn out’ – where listeners are fed up of
songs that used to be their favourites. Gem 106 Executive Producer and
Content Controller, Paul Iliffe says testing “lets the listeners have a say” on
what they hear on air:
You’re not putting out there absolutely everything that’s out there. You
know, generally, how you want your station to sound. We want to play
mainstream pop music – so then put those songs to the listeners and let
them decide. There’s always some curation involved. Not by presenters. By
the head of music, the programming team. I think it works when it’s done
right.
There are two types of music testing: ‘auditorium testing’ and ‘online testing’.
Auditorium testing
Auditorium testing, as the same suggests, involves assembling a large group of
target listeners in a hall, playing the ‘hooks’ of songs and asking them to score
them. The result can be a list of potentially hundreds of songs, ranked in terms of
popularity. There are a number of drawbacks to this method of testing. Firstly, small
or poorly selected sample groups can give unrepresentative answers. And, sec
ondly, just on the number of people involved alone, auditorium tests are expensive
to organise.
Online testing
Music testing is increasingly moving online. The process is similar to the auditorium
test. Respondents listen to short sections of songs on their computer or mobile
phone, indicate their familiarity with them and give them a rating (sometimes an
swering other questions, too). An advantage with this method is that it can deliver
greater demographic information on who liked what compared to the auditorium
tests. Online tests also tend to be cheaper.
‘Teasing’ is a big part of music radio. This is where presenters sell the upcoming
songs in an intriguing way, without being too specific about what exactly the song
is, the idea being to maximise the time listeners spend with the station. See
Chapter 4 (“Station and programme formats”) for more.
JINGLES AND ADS

As well as playing a big role in defining the sound and feel of the station, music also
features heavily in jingles. Also known as station ‘imaging’, these are pieces of
audio production that appear between the items used in a programme. Just like
recorded music they have to blend with the overall sound of the station. Jingles in
particular play a vital branding function: they are an aural encapsulation of the
station’s image. As Wilby and Conroy observe, “jingles are regarded as vital in fixing
the station’s role and identity within the consciousness of the listening community”
(Wilby and Conroy, 1994, p. 55).
To ensure consistency, jingles are delivered to radio stations as part of a package,

containing a whole range of different audio ‘bits and pieces’. The package can
include an ‘hour opener’, used coming out of the news; some ‘stabs’, short bursts
of music that might only feature the station name; ‘idents’, which say the station
name and a key message (how it can be heard or a strap-line, for example)
‘sweepers’, which are slightly longer and contain more information (a contact
number, for example); a range of ‘beds’, instrumental music to be talked over by
the presenter and perhaps a ‘news build’, the piece of music that builds to a
crescendo before a bulletin. Jingle packages will likely also include different
sounding items for different dayparts. For example, production for a chilled-out
evening show will be slower in tempo than a breakfast show, which is designed to
help its audience get going in the morning.
Station Sound Manager for BBC Local Radio, Gerald Jackson,8 says the number
one priority for a jingle package is “memorability”:
It’s got to be something that you hear in your head and reminds you
immediately of the station. we know that’s the case because of all the radio
jingles that you’ve ever heard and adverts, as well. Like ‘Beanz Meanz Heinz’ –
three notes but we’ve never forgotten it. Exactly the same thing applies to radio
identification. You want something that is memorable and people sing in their
heads – even if there aren’t any words to go with it at the time. It might just be a
short ‘logo’ [a series of notes]. It’s got to be catchy. It does specify the sound
of your station so it has to have a sound that is reflected in all of the other
things that you do. There’s no point in having, for Classic FM, a rock band.
That obviously would not work. They have classical-style music. News stations
tend to have something with a percussive element to it because, for some
reason, we associate news with drums. You’ve got to have something that’s
appropriate for the style of programmes that you make.
To aid ‘memorability’, scripting in audio production employs the ‘rule of three’,

a marketing and teaching idea that short lists of three are best for ‘recall’
(Modic, 2016). This can be noticed in phrases like ‘stop, look and listen’. Apple
co-founder Steve Jobs is credited with using the rule of three in product launches,
RADIO STYLE 15
announcing the iPad 2 as “thinner, lighter, and faster” (Brownlee, 2012). In radio,
this can be heard when ways to listen are given in a piece of audio production, for
example, “on your radio, on Global Player and on your smart speaker” just before
the news on Classic FM.
To an extent, jingles are used as punctuation. They appear after a recorded ele
ment in a programme (song, advert or promo, for example) as a smooth transition
back to either a live link or into another recorded item. Every time they are used,
they add to the consistent sound and feel of the station.
As well as giving the station an audio ‘image’, jingles have a functional purpose, too.
They remind listeners of the station name. While this may be slightly repetitive for
people listening for a high number of hours per week, constant reminders help to
embed the name, and perhaps the strapline too, into the listeners’ consciousness. This
is particularly important for radio stations when a proportion of their listeners are asked
to fill out RAJAR diaries9 – they need to attribute their listening to the right station!
‘Trails’ or ‘promos’, that are essentially adverts for other programmes, are usually
produced in-house because they are short-lived by definition, but careful con
sideration is given to the style and music used in these as well. The idea of a trail is
usually to tempt people to listen at a time they would not normally do so. Gerald
Jackson says a good trail needs to have a clear “takeaway”:
What do you want people to go from hearing this to doing? You need a clear
message on what the ‘takeaway’ is. You also want to attract the audience to
listen too, so you can’t be boring. You’ve got to use something to make it
entertaining. Comedy, with a very small ‘c’, is used quite a lot, people saying
frivolous things. Clip-based trails are very popular, especially when you have
lots of contributions from people. You can take witty one-liners from people
and put them together. The point is, though, at the end of that trail, remember
what you want them to do. You want them to listen to your programme so say
it’s on at 10 o’clock tomorrow morning. That’s what the takeout is. If, on the
other hand you’re promoting a campaign of some nature, like the BBC’s ‘Make
a Difference’,10 to help people during the pandemic, then the takeout is quite
easy; ‘we’re here to help – here’s the phone number’. It’s as simple as that.
In the world of commercial radio, it is adverts showcasing the goods or services of

other businesses that pay the bills and allow investment in the content the stations
create. In 2018, commercial radio stations generated revenues totalling £713
million, the highest figure in its history. (Radiocentre, 2020) This figure fell to £703
million in 2019 and is predicted to fall to just £555 million in 2020 due to the impact
of the economic downturn created by lockdown measures brought in to stop the
spread of the Covid-19 virus.
The style of these adverts and the way in which they are scheduled have to be
FIGURE 1.2 Communicorp commercial director, Caroline Parker
carefully considered to ensure that listeners do not simply switch off or tune away.
There are also brand considerations.
Caroline Parker11 is a Commercial Director for Communicorp UK, the company that
owns XS Manchester and runs a total of eight Heart, Capital and Smooth stations
under licence from the owners of those brands Global Radio. She stresses the
importance of scheduling adverts so that they are effective for the client
(Figure 1.2).
Radio advertising works on a repetition or ‘frequency’ basis. Research has

proven that in order to take in enough information to be able to react to an
audio message, on average a person needed to hear it at least three times.
The theory was surprise, recall, react. First time you hear it, it’s totally new
information. If it’s irrelevant to you, none of it may sink in, for example if you’re a
student and this is an ad for garden furniture, it’s unlikely to be on your radar.
But if you are in the market for some new garden furniture, your ears will
probably prick up, especially if the advert is giving you a good reason to
consider their offering. By the second time you hear it, you could probably
recall some of the detail, maybe what the offer is or who the company is. On
the third hearing you should be aware of how to take action if you wanted to.
RADIO STYLE 17
This is also referred to as Opportunities To Hear or OTH when we are planning

a campaign or schedule of adverts.
What this means in reality is that if a client buys airtime for their adverts to sit in,
those slots will be spread out across the length of the campaign and across all
parts of a given day or week. An advert that runs at three in the morning will not
cost them as much as one that plays out during the peak hour of a breakfast show,
but it may fall upon a new pair of ears at that time. The cost of each individual
advert also varies depending on how much demand a station is currently experi
encing for a particular time slot.
Because listeners all have different listening habits, some dip in and dip out,
some have it on all day but not in the evening and the reverse, others only on
the commute, a typical campaign consists of a number of ads, running daily,
spread out across the whole 24-hour period, and are charged accordingly
depending on how many people are listening at that time and the demand on
the inventory. We have planning systems that we use to plan out a campaign
and that tell us how many people it will reach and how many times on average
they will hear it. Where possible, we aim to sell on the basis of a minimum of
3OTH per week (three ‘opportunities to hear’) and the station’s RAJAR
statistics dictate how many ads it requires on the stations per week to get
to that ideal.
Radio advertising is a mix of appealing to customers who are looking to make an

immediate purchase and ensuring that the name of your business remains at the
forefront of peoples’ minds.
Not every possible customer is what we call a ‘today customer’ i.e. in the
market to buy from you now. The buying cycle might mean there are products
or services that they’re in the market for immediately, but also those they might
consider in the near future or longer term. Which is why we recommend
continual repetition because you’re catching people at all different points in
their buying cycle all the time. Ideally your ad should appeal to those ready
now, with a compelling offer or a simple call to action – visit the website for
more details, come in to store, call us today … with a deadline you can prompt
action even more quickly – ‘sale ends this weekend’ might just make your
potential buyer build a visit to your store into their immediate plans. So, the key
message in your ad should ideally appeal to your possible ‘today’ customers.
This is where your sales staff and creative writers have to work together to get
a thorough brief from the client.
Jack Oddie12 has worked as a creative writer and consultant for some of the
biggest regional commercial radio stations including Metro Radio and Gem 106. He
is now a full-time voiceover artist after running his own business writing and
FIGURE 1.3 Voiceover artist, Jack Oddie
producing radio advertising campaigns. He takes us through the process of

creating a radio ad.
It’s so important to get the creative right because that’s what the listener
hears – no one ever said ‘Wow, remember that great radio schedule? I think
there must have been a great OTH!’, but everyone remembers good creative
work – people can recall loads of clever campaigns from radio (and TV) over
the years. Ultimately, we’re all looking to achieve brilliant campaigns that fit with
the radio stations that are playing them out. Right at the start of the whole
process is the brief. When I was a writer, I and many of my colleagues liked a
concise brief, others like more info like stats etc. But at the stations I worked,
there were three questions we wanted answers to: ‘Who are we targeting?’,
‘What do we want them to do?’ and ‘Why should they do it?’. Once I have an
idea of who I’m really targeting, I’ll be in a better position to hopefully craft a
successful campaign.
As well as developing an understanding of the product and its potential audience,

Jack stresses that it’s important to get to know the client whose business you are
hoping to secure (Figure 1.3).
You’ll be amazed at the vibes you can pick up when meeting someone and
chatting about their business over a cup of tea. Usually, after this, your writer
will have an idea of what’s going to make this client tick and work well
(presuming they have a good business or product that appeals to your
listeners) and they’ve probably begun writing the campaign in their head on
RADIO STYLE 19
their way back from the meeting. Once you’ve got your ideas, it’s back to the
client. Most radio groups would lead with the creative ideas rather than any
airtime schedule first. That way (hopefully) you have the client excited about the
ideas you and your team have pitched them and they’re going to want to get
that campaign on air. Naturally, this makes it much easier for the sales
executive to pitch the airtime and ask for the investment in the next part of the
meeting. On the rare occasion the creative pitch doesn’t sit well with the client,
you have to go back to the drawing board, start again. There is no point trying
to sell airtime for an idea your client doesn’t like. I’ll never forget a brief I was
given about a Norwegian company, with Norwegian values, Norwegian this,
that and the other. Once I pitched my Norwegian based ideas, the client
declared they were in fact Danish! Needless to say we were all extremely
embarrassed, especially the account manager who took the brief (obviously
this was an example where the creative team didn’t get to have a chat with the
client) … to their credit, they invited us back in a week later. Unsurprisingly
though, we didn’t get that business.
If a sales executive and a creative writer are successful in having a client sign-up for
a campaign, responsibility for the advert now passes into the hands of a com
mercial producer. For Jack, giving these producers enough time to perfect the
audio is crucial to a successful outcome.
A good producer can make a good ad sound great, a great ad sound brilliant,
a brill … you get the picture, but they have to have the time to do it. Different
radio groups and agencies will differ slightly in their process. Some radio
groups have producers on site where their writers are based, some have
more centralised hubs, whereas most agencies often hire an external studio
and an engineer/producer to produce their campaign and use it as a day to
schmooze their client in a fancy studio in somewhere like Soho. Whatever the
process, you’ll have someone who knows what they’re doing, directing
whoever is providing the voiceover. Up until the Covid-19 pandemic, most
radio groups would link up with their voice over artists in their home studios to
direct them via an ISDN line whereas for an agency session, the voice over
artists would travel to the hired studio. During the pandemic, many radio
group producers have worked from home with no access to an ISDN line and
are using VoIP products such as Cleanfeed and Source-Connect to reach
their voiceover’s studios, and the agency sessions, where the voice would
have to be there in-person, are also using these products. I’m sure things will
return to normal to an extent, but we’ll have to see. Either way, whether in
person or ‘down the line’, this is where the magic happens. It’s where the
creative vision turns to reality, where the voice you picked is married with the
music and that well written ad that’s been created starts sounding as good
as you’d planned or even better. If it’s done right, whether you’ve been
involved from the start or you’re the VO lucky enough to be cast and you’re
just involved in the session, it’s an absolute pleasure to be part of. Once the
ad is mixed down and the client has signed off, it gets distributed to the
stations the ad is broadcasting on. Then, there’s little time to put your feet up
because it’s on to the next one.
CONCERTS, CAMPAIGNS AND COMPETITIONS

Another way for radio to connect with its audience and reinforce its brands is
through the promotion or sponsorship of events, music stations, at both a national
and local level, will often sponsor concerts or festivals that reflect the music they
play. The Proms remain a highlight of BBC Radio 3’s year and a prestigious way for
the station to emphasise its commitment to classical music. Similarly, stations that
play mainstream chart music often sponsor the summer music festivals that feature
many of the acts that appear on their playlist. Radio station involvement with live
music doesn’t always take the form of a sponsorship or a promotion, in the case of
Radio 1’s One Big Weekend, Radio 2’s Party in the Park or Capital’s Jingle Bell and
Summertime Balls, the stations plan, arrange and deliver the event themselves.
These events not only provide stations with content, by broadcasting the event on-
air or streaming it online, but it also gives them the chance to reach new listeners
through the publicity afforded to the event by other media, or by exposing a fan of a
particular act or artist to a radio station brand that wouldn’t be part of their normal
listening habits.
Charity events and campaigns on the radio also help stations to keep a high profile
and connect to the communities to which they broadcast. Many local stations have
running campaigns to support local charities while the campaigns that are regularly
run by the big commercial operators, Bauer’s Cash for Kids or Global’s Make
Some Noise become powerful brands in their own right.
Competitions are a way for a station to interact with its audience while under
pinning the values of their brand. Stations will often position competitions so
that they have a positive impact on their listening figures. The offer of an ex
pensive or desirable prize may well attract new listeners to a station and thus
improve their reach. A competition mechanic which requires listeners to tune-in
at different times of the day or keep listening until they hear a particular song or
sound effect that triggers the next chance to win is not just an attempt to build
the level of excitement around the competition, its aim is to increase the average
amount of time that listeners tune-in, and therefore increase the station’s total
listening hours the next time the official figures are released. For Dick Stone,
successful concerts, attention-grabbing prizes and memorable prize winners all
serve to keep a successful radio station at the forefront of listeners’ minds,
which means that a station is more likely to record a successful set of listening
figures.
RADIO STYLE 21
Radio is measured by someone’s ability to remember they heard a station and

report the correct information when asked. Concerts (whether station events or
not), campaigns and competitions are aids to memory and help propel any
station from the background to the foreground, which has an attractive impact
on a person’s ability to remember they heard it. It also does more than that, it
helps set a tone and feeling about a station … knowing what a station stands
for, what it is about and what personality it demonstrates is part and parcel of
the decision to listen and become engaged with it, and so concerts,
campaigns and competitions help deliver those elements irrespective of their
ability to aid reporting of listening.
NOTES
1 All quotes from Andy Parfitt taken from the BBC Media Show podcast, December 2018,
available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0001r8d.
2 All quotes from Joanna Russell taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
3 All quotes from Mark Colerangle taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
4 All quotes from Paul Iliffe taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
5 All quotes from Katy White taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
6 All quotes from Dick Stone taken from interview with John Collins in August 2020.
7 All quotes from Matt Sandoz taken from interview with John Collins in June 2020.
8 All quotes from Gerald Jackson taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
9 The distribution and collection of RAJAR diaries was suspended in March 2020 due to
the lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
10 A campaign on all BBC Local Radio stations during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic,
sharing details of help and support.
11 All quotes from Caroline Parker taken from interview with John Collins in August
2020.
12 All quotes from Jack Oddie taken from interview with John Collins in August 2020.
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Document]. BBC. URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/
1jJsyK6Vt5x3JQgycD9xhdW/heres-how-your-favourite-music-makes-it-to-the-radio-1-
playlist (accessed 19.08.20).
BBC, 2020. What do I need to know about the BBC? [WWW Document]. URL https://
www.bbc.com/academy-guides/what-do-i-need-to-know-about-the-bbc (accessed
07.09.20).
Bowie, A., 2019, Where next for ILR? AdamBowie.com. [WWW Document]. URL https://
www.adambowie.com/blog2019/02/where-next-for-ilr (accessed 14.02.20).
Brownlee, J., 2012. Why Steve Jobs always announced things in threes. Cult of Mac. URL
https://www.cultofmac.com/176754/why-steve-jobs-always-announced-things-in-
threes/ (accessed 10.8.20).
Clarkson, S., 2019. UK commercial radio presenter numbers could drop by more than 250.
Radio Today. [WWW Document]. URL https://radiotoday.co.uk/2019/02/opinion-uk-
commercial-radio-presenter-numbers-could-drop-by-more-than-250 (accessed 10.1.20).
Cridland, J., 2020. URL https://twitter.com/JamesCridland/status/1297871535085150208

(accessed 27.8.20).
Evans, C., 2019. Why Chris Evans adores being on the radio. Mail Online. [WWW Document].
URL https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-6577495/Chris-Evans-reveals-ten-
important-things-hes-learned-career-radio.html (accessed 19.8.20).
Hodges, M., 2018. “John Humphrys would be a hard act to follow”: Martha Kearney on
joining Radio 4’s today. Radio Times. [WWW Document]. URL https://www.radiotimes.
com/news/2018-06-04/john-humphrys-hard-act-to-follow-martha-kearney-on-hosting-
today/ (accessed 19.8.20).
James, J., 2018. Ofcom will now allow networked breakfast shows. Radio Today. [WWW
Document]. URL https://radiotoday.co.uk/2018/10/ofcom-will-now-allow-networked-
breakfast-shows (accessed 10.7.20).
Modic, M.B., 2016. The golden rule of three. J. Nurses Prof. Dev. 32, 110–111. Available
from: https://doi.org/10.1097/NND.0000000000000244.
Nicol, P., 2019. Radio review: The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show; Heart breakfast with Jamie and
Amanda; More music breakfast. The Sunday Times. [WWW Document]. URL https://
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/radio-review-the-zoe-ball-breakfast-show-heart-breakfast-
with-jamie-and-amanda-more-music-breakfast-wj8rvrfxt (accessed 19.8.20).
Ofcom, 2007. The communications market report 2007 [WWW Document] (accessed
19.8.20).
Ofcom, 2016. The communications market report 2016. [WWW Document]. URL
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/multi-sector-research/cmr/cmr16 (accessed
19.8.20).
Radiocentre, 2020. Ad revenues and forecasts. [WWW Document]. URL https://www.

radiocentre.org/the-audio-market/ad-revenues-and-forecasts/ (accessed 02.09.20).
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Riley, P., 2019. What does success look like? [WWW Document]. URL https://radioriley.
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Smith, J., 2012. Who chooses the Radio 2 playlist? BBC. [WWW Document]. URL https://
www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio/entries/6dc42e38-7c5f-3729-be7c-53f324fb7f09
(accessed 19.8.20).
Smith, J., 2016. BBC radio 2: Musically more to it. BBC. [WWW Document]. URL https://
www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/12675ae5-aa5e-47b2-918b-1cbbe66fde26
(accessed 19.8.20).
RADIO STYLE 23
Sutherland, M., 2019. “Radio 2 reimagined”: Head of music Jeff Smith on the new music
policy at Britain’s No.1 station. Music Week. [WWW Document]. URL https://www.
musicweek.com/media/read/radio-2-reimagined-head-of-music-jeff-smith-on-the-new-
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Sweney, M., 2020. Zoe Ball’s BBC Radio 2 show loses a million listeners. The Guardian.
[WWW Document]. URL http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/may/14/zoe-
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Wilby, P., Conroy, A., 1994. The Radio Handbook, first ed. Routledge.
CHAPTER 2
The voice of the station

by Arran Bee
Whether music- or speech-based, radio relies on the human voice to connect with
its audience. As Andrew Crisell points out, radio is a “‘live’, predominantly personal
medium” (Crisell, 1994, p. 65). It is the voices of presenters, reporters and news
readers that we most respond to. They are the personification of radio providing a
personality with which we identify and connect.
To start at the end, radio stations do not try to appeal to anyone and everyone.
They have a target audience. This can be defined by age, gender or background.
Radio 1 targets 15–29 year-olds (BBC, 2015). Bauer Media’s Magic Radio primarily
targets 35- to 55-year-old women (Akam, 2020). BBC Asian Network targets
British Asians under 35, adding that “the station should also appeal to anyone with
an interest in British Asian issues, music and culture” (BBC, 2016). Why is it so
important to be this specific? Radio consultant and strategist, Matt Deegan1 says
the answer lines in making sure listeners keep coming back and, for commercial
stations, being able to deliver particular demographics for advertisers:
As a listener, think about all of the media choices you have every day. On your
phone, on your TV, on your radio, iPad, computer – all of these different
devices. They’re all vying for your attention and when you select that thing, you
want it to be delivering the thing you expect it to. If you went onto the Vogue
website, and they were doing a gardening feature, you’d think ‘it wasn’t
entirely what I expected from Vogue’ and that it might stop you going back to it
later on. Same as if you turned to Capital FM and they were playing classical
music, you’d be like, ‘really’? You knew what you wanted. A bit like a tap you
turn it on and you expect it to come out.
THE VOICE OF THE STATION 25
When you’re creating the other end, when you’re creating that product, you’ve
got to think ‘who’s going to tune in?’ And ‘what do they want to hear?’ Also,
‘how is it being paid for’? Advertisers want to reach certain audiences. I could
bring a product that is aimed towards that group. It doesn’t stop other people
from listening. 95 year-olds can listen to Capital because they like the music
but Capital is still targeted at 15–34 year-olds, or people who think like them.
Finally, a target audience gives you another filter to think about your content –
would this group like it?
As Matt Deegan suggests, having a specific target audience does not mean that
stations are closed to those from outside of it. Radio programmer David Lloyd says,
when a station is successful in attracting a certain group of people “the shoulders of
that audience are built too, with secondary audiences, without compromising the
integrity of the primary audience. Heart targets women with vigour – and attracts
men along the way for the tastes they share with the target” (Lloyd, 2019).
Everything a station does is focused toward the target audience: music, pro
gramme content, news stories, competitions and how the adverts are produced, to
name just five. The presenter and what they do on air is the most important. The
presenter reinforces the brand identity, while establishing a relationship with the
audience. There are many different types of presenter. Chapter 4 (“Station and
programme formats”) and Chapter 5 (“Radio sport”) contain more detail on pre
senting within particular formats. This chapter looks at the fundamentals of what
makes a great presenter – and how they go about making a connection with the
audience.
A GREAT PRESENTER
There is a paradox in being a radio presenter. On the one hand you need to be
completely natural in front of a microphone. On the other, you need to be a per
former, holding the attention of the audience for hours at a time. The reality is that
great presenters work hard at being the ‘best’ version of themselves when they are
on air. Advice from the former head of the BBC’s Radio Training Unit, Elwyn Evans,
still applies: “don’t put on any sort of act; your ordinary way of speaking is perfectly
all right: if it weren’t you wouldn’t have been asked to broadcast” (1977, p. 20).
David Lloyd concurs that an ‘act’ is not necessary, saying “today’s exceptional
personality radio occurs when presenters stop presenting and simply become
themselves” (2015). So, what makes a great presenter? VP of Product and Talent
for Rogers Radio in Canada, and formerly the youngest programme director in the
UK, Paul Kaye,2 says “a great sense of individuality” is the number one requirement
(Figure 2.1):
26 ARRAN BEE
FIGURE 2.1 VP of Product and Talent for Canada’s Rogers Radio, Paul Kaye
This idea of ‘I know who I am and who I have to be and I’m going to portray
that. I’m not going to be something else’. Radio is the most intimate medium.
It’s based on a bedrock of authenticity. You can’t have an intimate relationship
with someone if they don’t know who you are or they don’t believe you’re
showing up as yourself.
Matt Deegan agrees:
Great presenters are authentic presenters. If all you do is deliver a product, there
are lots of people who can deliver that. If the main thing you’re delivering is
yourself then, the listeners might not like it or they might like it a lot, but that’s
your unique thing that you’re able to do. People listen longer to authentic people.
Being a great presenter does not necessarily mean being an extrovert. In fact,
many presenters are natural introverts who ‘come alive’ in front of a microphone.
Are there certain characteristics, though, that programmers look for? Paul Kaye
wants “an amazing curiosity about life and about the audience”:
People who are really fixated on ‘I wonder what the audience are going to be
interested in, I wonder what the audience thinks about this’. And being curious
in conversations that you’re having on the air. Sharing your thoughts, your
opinions, your perspectives – but from that position of curiosity.
Mike Newman,3 Head of UK Content Partnerships for Audioboom and former radio
programmer, says great presenters have an ‘x-factor’:
It’s one of those things that’s the hardest thing to describe but you know it
when you see it and you know it when you encounter it. If I can describe it, it is
charisma, it’s finding somebody who I am drawn to and I can see other people
are drawn to. It’s finding someone with a self-awareness and self-confidence.
For Helen Grimes,4 Managing Editor of BBC Radio Northampton, great presenters
are people the audience feel like they know:
It’s about building a connection with the listener. You build that connection by
having a character that I can quite easily and quite quickly identify and
understand. When I put the radio on, I very quickly know who John Humphries
is by everything he says and by the way that he sounds and the way that he
speaks. Likewise, within a minute of putting on someone like Chris Moyles, I
know how he’s different and why he’s different.
When it comes to developing that easily identifiable character, Helen says pre
senters should choose to share parts of their lives:
Some presenters who the audience think they know a huge amount about,
actually, probably know maybe, five things about them. That’s probably
enough, actually. They might go ‘yeah, that bloke on the radio – he’s got a
dog, his mother says these funny things and he’s got the builders in’. You think
you know their whole lives but you don’t. You know a curated version of that.
It’s like meeting a new friend or chatting with someone down the pub – your
brain needs some of those things that let you know very, very quickly who that
person is.
There is a type of pressure that comes with being a radio presenter. The success or
failure of each show rests upon you more than anyone else involved, or at least
feels like it. Paul Kaye says great presenters have “the right kind of ego”, adding
“we don’t want bad ego but we do want a bit of good ego. You’ve got to be willing
to perform and put yourself out there”. Paul says that being willing to work hard is
vital, too:
I think you’re looking for someone who’s determined to win. Broadcasters and
talent in the creative industries live in a really interesting, insecure world, where
you’re judged by how good you are at performing your job in the eyes of
someone else. Your boss doesn’t, ultimately, make the decision – the
audience do. Much like actors don’t start out hoping their movie is going to
be bad, sometimes it is and it doesn’t connect, so you’ve got to have that drive
to win, to keep getting up and keep fighting.
Virgin Radio Chilled presenter, Jen Thomas,5 is a winner of six Student Radio
28 ARRAN BEE
Awards, including Gold for Best Female Presenter and Best Specialist Presenter.
She advises new talent to keep everything in perspective:
One of the main things that I’ve learned and one of the key phrases that other
presenters say to each other is ‘IOR’ – ‘It’s Only Radio’. It’s about accepting
that sometimes things will go wrong. An ad might crash into your link, as
happened to me on one memorable occasion when I’d just started on Heart.
And you realise that, actually, no one’s going to be injured, your pride might be
a little bit wounded but the thing now, that I’ve learned with experience, is that
you just laugh it off so you can make a joke about it, while furiously – and
quietly – trying to fix a problem. But chances are it’ll be the listener’s favourite
bit of the show – the bit where it went wrong.
Jen adds that presenters trying to get into the industry are “always sending out
demos because everyone gets feedback from everyone else and it’s the best way
to improve”. Paul Kaye says the best talent never stop seeking advice:
Then I think the most important trait is really about learning. And being open to
learning. One thing has been constant in broadcast and that is change.
Change is always going to come. I think people who have that growth mindset,
who are open to learn, who are open to ideas and feedback and prompts and
nudges – those people tend to really, really excel. All the greats, whether that’s
Chris Evans or Howard Stern – all of them will say that someone has given
them a piece of feedback or an idea that has taken them to the next level. And
they’ve remained open to keeping an eye on where the changes are taking
broadcast media.
Some presenters spend a lot of time working on the technical aspects of the job,
getting better at ‘hitting the vocal’ perfectly or mixing one track into another. These
are undoubtedly useful and important but Helen Grimes says having a life outside
of radio can be the most effective way to build a stronger connection with the
audience:
We need a diversity of personality, of people, of different life experience. Some

of the best presenters, they’ve got good stories to tell because they’ve lived
different lives. People whose only experience of life is being a radio presenter
can sometimes be a bit boring, actually. You need to do something else as well
because you need to connect and relate to people who aren’t radio presenters
– so get out of the studio, live a real life … and make radio sound more
interesting.
Finally, in the same way that new authors are encouraged to read as much as
possible, new presenters are encouraged to study how their peers operate on air.
Former Radio 1 Breakfast Show presenter, Chris Moyles, wrote “I have learnt how
to do great radio from listening to great radio” (2007).
THE SHOW
Great radio presenters make it sound easy. They give the impression of telling
stories or asking questions straight off the top of their head. The reality is that, in
any type of radio, pre-show preparation is essential. In a music-based format, this
involves being familiar with the upcoming tracks and thinking about how to tease
them. For personality-based shows, it is about having plenty to say. This might
include observations, stories or a take on something in the papers. Many pre
senters make notes on their phone throughout the day – knowing that everything in
life is a potential link. Jo Russell,6 from Gem 106 in the East Midlands, says she’s
always making notes:
It can be exhausting because – even when you’re not at work – everything you
do, your brain goes ‘how will this sound if I talk about it on air’? You can’t even
watch TV like a normal human being. You’re trying to look for content all
the time.
In a news format, presenters need to understand their stories and work out how to
go about their interviews. On a BBC local or national radio news show, they will
receive a brief containing the latest on the story, background notes and suggested
areas of questioning, potential counter-arguments and any responses to be used
as a right of reply. Digesting and understanding several stories in a short space of
time is a real skill that comes with experience.
Speech-heavy programmes and those on larger commercial stations are run by a

producer. The person in this role takes responsibility for the planning, execution
and direction of the show. Exact tasks vary significantly from station-to-station but
can include coming up with the running order (or plan) for each show, booking
guests, planning features, operating technology, keeping the show to time and
generally being an encouraging and positive presence. Paul Iliffe,7 executive pro
ducer of Gem at Breakfast with Jo & Sparky on Gem 106, says the job is about
bringing in skills that others in the team might lack:
You’ve got to fill the gaps. Do what’s necessary for the show. I’ve produced a
show where I was the main content generator for the show and I came in with
five ideas a day. Working with Jo and Sparky, who come in with a notepad full
of ideas every day, we’ve got more ideas than we’ll ever need. I soon became
aware that they don’t need me for ideas so you have to fill in in other ways.
What I do now is I filter the ideas before they get on air. You’ve got to plug
gaps. You’ve got to do what’s necessary. A ‘producer’ is such a weird word in
30 ARRAN BEE
radio. I’ve been a producer since I was 15, when I answered phones on a
football phone-in. Now I’m a producer and I run what’s on air.
Depending on the requirements of the programme, several other people can be

involved too. News shows will have set-up producers, preparing stories the day
before. While the programme is on air, broadcast assistants or assistant producers
may be answering phones and moving guests in and out of the studio. There will be
a news reader, possibly a live reporter, too.
Each programme has a designated editor or manager. This person may have some
oversight of the pre-show planning. They will almost certainly lead a post-show
debrief to talk about what went well and what could have been improved upon.
This meeting is where the planning starts for the following day’s show.
THE VOICE
The days of broadcasters having a typical ‘radio’ voice, or a ‘DJ’ voice, are long
gone. As is clear from this chapter already, audiences want real people. How can
you come across as authentic with a fake voice? The aim is not to find a new way of
speaking. Rather, the ambition for broadcasters who want to sound and feel more
confident on-air, and make sure they are understood by their audience, is to
maximise what they already have. This involves using the full extent of their natural
range. Head of UK Content Partnerships for Audioboom, Mike Newman says
broadcasters and podcasters need to learn how to use their voice to best effect:
A good voice is particularly key – however there are tonnes and tonnes of
caveats and tonnes and tonnes of examples of people who don’t have what
you might think of as a traditional ‘broadcast voice’. In fact, some of the best
people don’t have a traditional broadcast voice. It can be more distinctive that
it is clear and crisp and ‘RP’. I know that’s a very old way of looking at it but I
think some of the best broadcasters actually do have a unique, different style. I
think that if your voice isn’t a baritone, full Oxbridge-style accent, then actually,
that will probably stand you in good stead. But you’ve got to have clarity and
you’ve got to have a sense of direction and a sense of projection. Be able to
get your point across and use your voice as an instrument. Know when to put
passion into it, know the power of a pause and know the power of tone and
tonality.
Breathing techniques are a good place to start. Voice trainers spend a lot of time
teaching new broadcasters how to breathe deeply, using their diaphragm. This can
be useful for two reasons. Firstly, that breathing deeply and filling the lungs can
prevent nervousness being detected in the voice. Secondly, that it can lower the
‘starting’ tone and make the voice sound more authoritative. Sitting up straight is
important. Being hunched over a desk can lead to shallow breathing and a higher
pitch.
Another tip is to do a few mouth exercises before going on air to loosen the
muscles and help prevent tripping over words. It is also useful to relax your
shoulders so that there is no tension in your neck area that could constrict your
breathing and so affect your voice.
Kate Lee8 is a broadcast voice coach who works with radio stations across the
country (Figure 2.2). She explains:
If you’re a broadcaster or podcaster, you relate to your audience though your

voice: it’s your main communication tool. So, if you really want to engage your
audience, learn to play your voice instrument as best you can. What we do
know is that a listening audience will be more engaged by a voice used with
variety of pitch and tone, rather than a flat, monotone sound. Most people have
a big voice-range potential of a couple of octaves – but the average speaking
voice uses about 6 or seven notes … so there’s plenty more in there!
‘Finding’ their voice, on air, can be a long process for new presenters. It may be
that being faced with a microphone is inhibiting or that they are trying too hard to be
someone that they are not. To overcome this, voice trainers have a range of
techniques. They involve helping the presenter to recognise their natural pattern of
speech, enabling them to use a ‘polished’ version of this on the radio. In one ex
ercise, a presenter records themselves having a normal conversation, as they might
FIGURE 2.2 Broadcast voice coach, Kate Lee

32 ARRAN BEE
in a coffee shop or in the office with a colleague. That recording is then compared
to how they sound when presenting a show or reading a news bulletin. The desire
is to marry the two voices up, to end up with the ‘best’ version of their voice,
without it sounding forced. For example, for the more reserved individual using an
unnatural amount of energy on air, it may be the case that they need to ‘dial it
down’ on the radio to be truer to themselves. For someone with the opposite
problem, natural exuberance which is not coming across in front of a microphone,
projecting their voice more or using gesticulations could help (Table 2.1).
USING SCRIPTS
Especially for live speech radio, scripts are vital. They ‘sell’ stories to listeners,
ensure important information is put across correctly and provide a safety net for
presenters with a lot to remember. Good programme scripts should be so con
versationally written that the listener might not even realise that the presenter is
using a script at all. Parts of a show that are obviously scripted, or poorly delivered,
risk losing the connection with the audience. As Elwyn Evans stresses, “the listener
needs to feel that he is being spoken to personally” (Evans, 1977, p. 20). The aim is
to talk to the audience, not read to them. This section looks at scripting in pro
grammes. Chapter 3 goes into more detail on writing for news bulletins.
For programmes like Breakfast or Drive on 5 Live, scripted points include the hour
opener (the ‘menu’ following the news where the presenter tells the listener what is
coming up), the programme re-set (a mini-opener in the middle of the hour), a cue
for each item in the programme plus other points in the show where it is important
to transmit specific information (setting a phone-in topic or talking up another part
of the output, for example). Usually, all of the scripts will have been written by
producers before a presenter sees them. Occasionally, presenters may re-write
scripts to make them more in the style of their natural way of speaking which, in
turn, aids a more authentic delivery. 5 Live producer and newsreader, Jo Hornby,9
says scripts and briefs help a presenter negotiate a range of stories in a short
period of time:
I think the key things are the breadth of stories you are covering and therefore
how crucial it is to have all the facts to hand, in an accessible way – all the
counter arguments, any rights of reply – so the presenter is able to pinpoint
what they need to get out of an interview. It’s especially important when it
comes to breaking news – something that’s at the heart of what 5 Live does –
the presenter needs to feel confident in the facts and the very latest angles –
that’s what a good script should give them. Often the stories can also move on
from when they are initially selected for a programme and the scripts will be
updated, sometimes just minutes before the presenter reads them, to reflect
the very latest angle. They need to be accurate, concise, and up-to-date and
are a real team effort involving presenters, producers and editors.
Table 2.1 How to find your broadcast voice by Kate Lee
How to find your broadcast voice by Kate Lee

Your voice is essentially breath, so how you breathe influences your voice. Your most
natural-sounding broadcast voice will happen when your breathing is relaxed and
centred and the rest of your upper body is free of tension.
Exercise for centred breathing: how to strengthen your lower breathing

muscles.
• put one hand on your upper chest and one hand on the base of your ribs.
• breathe in slowly through your nose to the count of three, at the same time push out
your abdomen and don’t allow your shoulders to rise. You should feel your rib cage
swing out.
• breathe out to the count of six through a controlled blow through your mouth.
• eventually increase the out blow over 15 beats. This might take a week or so.
• you don’t have to breathe like this all the time but practising low breathing everyday
(in bed, watching TV, on the train, at the computer) will improve your breathing
equipment giving you better breath control.
Tip: Taking three low-breaths (in on three out over eight) is one of the best ways to calm
ourselves.
Speaking is a physical activity and our voice is affected by how we use the rest of our
body. To give your voice an open, relaxed quality learn to do the centred breathing
and get physical. Just as going to the gym can make a positive difference to our
physical fitness – a voice work-out can make a positive difference to your broadcast
voice. No gym membership needed and you can do a voice work out anywhere – in
the shower, walking around the house, even watching telly.
Loosen up
Devise yourself a daily routine to keep yourself loosened up, particularly around your
shoulders and neck area where tension likes to sit. Here’s mine:
• shake out arms and hands, feet and legs – just like primary school.
• with arms hanging loosely, swing to the right to look over your right shoulder then
swing to the left. Allow arms to do their own thing.
• with arms dangling loosely hunch shoulders up to ears, hold for five beats then drop
heavily.
• with arms hanging loosely, circle shoulders slowly – forwards then back. Feel the
tension being eased.
Stand and sit centred

Your voice works best when you feel balanced and secure. If you stand to broadcast, try
pressing your weight onto the balls of your feet. Loosen shoulders and breathe centred.
If you broadcast sitting, either sit half-way back on the chair or push the base of your
spine into the back of the chair. In either position your back should be relaxed. Keep
your feet flat on the floor. It’s surprising what a difference to the voice this makes.
Tip: Always keep your chin parallel with the floor. If your tuck your chin down your voice
will sound strangled. If you lift your chin up to the mic you strain your vocal chords and
this can seriously damage your voice.
(continued)
34 ARRAN BEE
Table 2.1 (Continued) How to find your broadcast voice by Kate Lee
Exercises for your broadcast voice

Voice range
An engaging speaker will use plenty of range in their voice. Here are a few simple
exercises that will help you extend your range.
The three ranges

Very simply our voice uses three main areas for resonance – the head, throat and chest.
Aim to speak through your ‘magic triangle’ range. Imagine drawing a triangle, the tip
on your nose-bridge, the flat bit across the top of your chest. This is the range your
voice should move through as you broadcast.
Here’s an exercise that will help. Choose a note anywhere in your full range. Hum the
note holding it on for six beats. Begin quietly, increase volume them back to quiet. Do
half a dozen each session. Feel where the sound is made.
Voice glide
On an ‘mmm’, glide your voice through your range like a siren. Top to bottom, bottom to
top. You may hear a croaky sound in the middle, this should eventually smooth. Do a
few times a day (in the shower is a good time).
Clarity
For me clarity is boss. No matter what accent you have or how you sound, let’s enjoy
hearing what you’re saying. Work those mouth muscles. Mumbling and gabbling are
the biggest culprits.
• loosen jaw: close mouth, circle jaw slowly in each direction as if chewing a big
toffee.
• stretch mouth/lips: EE-OO-EE-OO. Big mouth cat miaows, Do horse blows.
• sharpen up tongue-tip: ‘tippety-tap’ × 3 ‘pitter-patter’ × 3 ‘snaffle the apples’ × 3.
• tongue twisters (say three times): ‘around the ragged rock the ragged rascal ran’.
‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper’. ‘Rubber baby buggy bumpers’.
‘Unique, New York, New York’s Unique’.
Relaxing a high pitch voice

We all have a different optimum (natural) pitch, but tension easily pushes the voice up a
few notes. Raising the voice pitch is a quick fix to give the voice energy, but not
always a good one. If you think your voice is higher on air than your natural speaking
voice you need to find and ‘place’ your voice before broadcasting. Say ‘umm-
hummm’ as if in agreement. This will indicate where your natural voice pitch sits. Then
say ‘Hello Harry’ in the same voice pitch. Keep this note and speak on it to broadcast.
You’ll need to practise off-air and it will require more breath power from your
diaphragm muscle to replace the throat energy.
To brighten a flat, heavy voice

You need more vocal energy and brightness. You probably have too much chest
resonance – try lifting your pitch into your head range more. It might feel strange to
you, so record yourself because it may sound just right.
Tip: Devise yourself a two-minute warm up to do before going live on mic. Choose from
any of the above but include a few low, slow breaths, shake out shoulder tension,
mouth stretching and voice humming glides. It makes the world of difference.
The degree of scripting is decided by the requirements of the programme and the
abilities of the presenter. A busy, fast-moving programme that covers a lot of dif
ferent stories, some of which are added while it is on air, needs a high level of
scripting, just on the amount of detail that would need to be remembered alone! It is
fair to say, though, that some presenters work better with scripts than others.
Some deliver them brilliantly naturally. Others, despite practice, cannot. In this case,
especially on shows where the requirement to transmit information is lower, it can
be more beneficial for a presenter and producer to talk a link through in advance,
before doing it for real on air.
Switching between completely spontaneous and totally scripted is an art form,

which can expose an inexperienced broadcaster. This can be highlighted when
new newsreaders are asked an unexpected question by a presenter at the end of a
bulletin. If they are using a voice to read their scripts which is too far away from their
natural speaking voice, it will be clear for all to hear. As previously explained, using a
slightly more ‘polished’ version of your natural voice can make the transition be
tween script and no-script unnoticeable. This also helps commercial radio pre
senters with live reads.
For programme presenters, though, even more than newsreaders, the script has to
be written very conversationally – and also in the voice of the presenter. Here, if
scripts are put together by a producer, knowing the presenter well can help with
the writing. The more the pair work together, the more the producer should be able
to imagine how the presenter would, or would not, say something. Even with a
relationship like this though, there is no substitute for a presenter reading a script
through in advance. It might be emphasis in the wrong place or an uncertain tone in
the voice but listeners quickly realise when someone does not understand the
words they are saying.
Programme cues can get away with being longer than those for bulletins. Generally,
news stories will be written in three lines. The extra time available outside of bul
letins can allow for more of a personal, conversational touch, which is an approach
taken by BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine Show, as producer Tim Johns explains:
If you have time to craft just a few extra words, you can use the cue to give
excellent context to the discussion and to give it a sharp editorial angle. The
cue sets the scene for the many minutes which might follow. For complex
topics or ones which you want to put your own spin on, the introduction is vital.
It shapes the conversation.
So often a short cue is good. And concise is always better than ‘waffly’. But in
some instances, a slightly longer, well-crafted cue can be much better. You do,
however, need a good presenter to do justice to a longer cue.
(Johns, 2015)
36 ARRAN BEE
The final point is an important one. While a good script gives its recipient the
chance to be presented, rather than just simply read, the presenter themselves still
needs to do their bit to sound interested and ‘sell’ the script to the audience.
WRITING FOR RADIO

Radio scripts are made for the ear, not the eye. They are written to be spoken and
heard, not just read. This can be tricky to put into practice, especially for new
producers who are more familiar with the conventions of written English, drilled into
them over so many years. Above all, remember that the most important thing is that
the listener understands the story the script is telling or the point it is making. How it
looks on the page or how good an understanding the writer had of a story when
they wrote it are largely irrelevant.
Robert McLeish suggests that “the best script is a fairly crude and imperfect form of
storage” (2005, p. 47). His point is that, while words give information, they do not
always put across the full meaning. He continues that a script “gives no indication
of emphasis and inflection, which can be very important in communicating sense.
Neither does it say anything about speed or pause” (McLeish, 2005). For example,
the simple statement, ‘I am going out now’ can convey different meanings de
pending on the way it is said. ‘I am going out now’; ‘I am going out now’; ‘I am
going out now’ and so on. If you read these statements aloud you will hear how
each infers something different. Capitalising and underlining key words can make
the sense of the script clearer for the person reading it but, as McLeish concludes,
it is “much better to communicate meaning by first understanding it” (2005).
As should be clear by now, radio scripts are written in a conversational way. This
means using everyday language. What constitutes this will vary depending on the
target audience. Radio 4 scripts tend to be longer, with more complicated sentences
than Radio 1 scripts, for example. That being said, there are some universal features to
conversational, colloquial radio writing – on any station. These include the following:
contractions (‘hasn’t’ instead of ‘has not’), use of the active tense where possible
(‘Rashford scored the goal’, rather than ‘the goal was scored by Rashford) and use of
the present perfect tense where possible (‘a meeting has been held’, as opposed to ‘a
meeting was held’). To be avoided are these: journalese (‘blaze’, ‘row’), clichés (‘rubber
stamped’, ‘time will tell’) and jargon (any technical phrase not in common usage).
Picturing someone you know who fits the target audience can help to work out how
to pitch a story. Not only will this help to establish the level of formality or informality
to use, it will also be a good guide to the level of pre-existing knowledge a listener
might have – and which bits of a story need extra explanation to make clear why
they are significant. For example, when describing a film sequel you had seen
recently, you may give more background on what happened in the first film to a
parent, than to a friend of similar age.
Having a single listener in mind also helps to focus the mind on speaking directly to
one person, rather than addressing the audience as a group. While there are
successful radio presenters who do address the entire audience at once, the
prevailing school of thought is that radio is a one-to-one medium. Guy Starkey
points out, “the relative intimacy of radio – which is often listened to by individuals
working, travelling or otherwise occupied on their own – allows the broadcaster to
communicate with each one as if addressing them personally” (2014, p. 69). A
common way of doing this is to use the word ‘you’ when speaking to the audience.
‘You’re going to need your umbrella with you later’ engages directly with the lis
tener and builds a feeling of ‘closeness’. ‘Everyone’s going to need an umbrella
later’ does not have the same effect. Using ‘we’ and ‘us’ can be used to put the
presenter on the same level with the audience, too (i.e. ‘we’re going to be paying
more for our petrol from next week’). Be careful, though, of creating confusion
within a story. Is it clear who ‘we’ are or ‘us’ is?
Your first sentence is vitally important. This is the ‘hook’ that will grab the attention of
the listener. There is no need to ease into the topic gradually. The first sentence
should be intriguing but relevant and be backed up by a second sentence that gives
more detail about what you are talking about. Podcast and news presenter Katy
White10 says “what you write down is exactly what you say on air”, continuing that
scripts should be written “in a way that allows you to present it in your own way”.
Short, simple sentences are easier to read and easier for the listener to understand.
Long sentences often arise when the writer is trying to pack too much into a single
sentence. It is important to focus on only the key details, based upon the target
audience. The use of several commas in a sentence is usually a clue that it should
be broken up into two separate sentences. Similarly, sub-clauses can make sen
tences long and unnatural. For example, ‘Boyd Tunnock, the man who invented the
Tunnock’s teacake, has been given a knighthood by the Queen’ can be simplified
by using two sentences; ‘The man who invented the Tunnock’s teacake has been
given a knighthood by the Queen. 86 year-old Boyd Tunnock received the award
for his services to the confectionery business’.
Numbers can also make scripts unnecessarily complicated, especially when writing
for someone else. The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, made headlines in 2020 when
saying there had been “three hundred thousand and thirty four, nine hundred and
seventy four thousand” coronavirus tests carried out in the UK. The number she
was trying to say was 334,974. Generally speaking, give a rounded number (or
percentage), where possible. ‘Nearly 350,000’ or ‘just over 330,000’ is much easier
to digest. Writing out numbers can help, too. Both ‘nearly 350-thousand’ and ‘just
over three-hundred-and-thirty-thousand’ present less of a challenge to get right.
Be wary of overwhelming the listener with too much information. Too many num
bers, too much detail or too many questions can be impossible to follow for anyone
but those following the programme with a notebook and pen. The most important
or impressive number is often enough to make the required point. And, in the same
38 ARRAN BEE
way that a friend who asked you five unrelated questions inside five minutes would
be quite annoying, it is when a presenter does it on the radio too. Use numbers and
questions sparingly for them to be effective.
On detail, picking the right one can help the listener build a picture in their mind’s
eye. In her book Creating Powerful Radio, Valerie Geller says writing with “dazzling
detail” (Geller, 2007, p. 163) can make the listener “feel that he really is ‘seeing’ the
story”. This is to say that a simple, visual description can make a dull story much
more engaging. Geller gives the example of being uninterested in radio coverage of
the 2004 Olympic archery competition until hearing a reporter describe the task
facing the competitors as needing to “hit a black target the size of a grapefruit,
across three football fields” (Geller, 2007). In the same way that a well-chosen
description can help a listener ‘see it’, a short quote can help them ‘feel it’. For
example, “a young mum says she ‘couldn’t move for 45 minutes’ after matching six
numbers on the National Lottery” gives more of a sense of the story than “a woman
from Bristol has matched all six numbers on the National Lottery”.
Synonyms can be useful but also lead to scripts sounding unnatural and contrived,
especially outside of news bulletins. Producers writing radio scripts sometimes use
words of the same or similar meaning to avoid repeating a word they have already
used. Often this is fine. ‘Young people’ and ‘teenagers’ are relatively inter
changeable, for example. In some cases, though, it is much more natural to just
repeat the word as you would normally to avoid coming across as clearly reading
aloud. For example, a ‘fire’ is a ‘fire’. The sometimes-used synonym, ‘blaze’ is
journalese and not used in regular conversation. Similarly, a ‘hospital’ is a ‘hospital’,
not a ‘medical facility’ or something similar. If a script really is too repetitive, writers
should look to change the phrasing of the sentence completely instead of just trying
to swap a word.
Sometimes the pressure of live radio can lead to the best scripts, especially if
written during the programme. The key to writing a good programme script is to
avoid overthinking it and write it as you would say it. As previously mentioned, if it is
conversationally written and naturally delivered, it should not even sound like the
presenter is reading a script at all. A simple trick to refine a script quickly is to say it
aloud after writing it down. Does it read well? Did you stumble over any of it or run
out of breath? Edit it, if necessary.
Clear arrangement on the page is important. Although a nicely set-out script does
not help the listener understand a message or a story by itself, it does make it
easier for the presenter to deliver it to the best of their ability. Using a large font,
writing in proper sentences and leaving a space between each line can all make it
as easy as possible for someone to pick up and read.
Finally, if you have produced a script for someone else, do not be precious if they
want to change some of the wording. The idea is to concentrate on what the
listener will hear, understand and remember, rather than get bogged down in the
best way to write a cue. If a few changes to match a presenter’s normal way of
speaking will help with this, so be it. Obviously, changing the substance of the story
itself is a different matter.
TECHNOLOGY AND NEW AUDIENCES

Live radio remains very popular, with 89% of people aged 15+ listening at least
once a week (RAJAR, 2020). That being said, recent years have seen a gradual
growth in audio products made specifically for the digital world. A survey in
Ofcom’s Media Nations Report 2020 found a third (34%) of online adults had lis
tened to music streaming services, podcasts or audiobooks in the previous week,
with the figure rising to 55% for 16–34-year-old listeners (Ofcom, 2020).
With this in mind, traditional radio broadcasters and producers have started to
make more digital-first audio content, as opposed to re-purposing linear pro
grammes which have already been broadcast. For the BBC, for example, this has
meant commissioning podcasts such as That Peter Crouch Podcast and Tunnel 29
for BBC Sounds. The corporation says its strategy is to be “attractive to both
regular podcast listeners and also the majority of UK listeners who have never
listened or do not regularly listen to podcasts” (BBC, 2020). See Chapter 9 for more
on the rise of podcasting.
Smart speaker is another platform where broadcasters are experimenting with new
products. For example, many have made their own ‘skill’ for Amazon’s Alexa, by far
the largest player in the UK smart speaker market (YouGov, 2018). ‘Skills’ are like apps
for voice-activated devices, they allow users to play a range of content with a simple
command. For example, with Global Player (from Global) listeners can catch-up on
programmes from the last seven days on stations like Radio X, Classic FM and Heart.
In 2019, the BBC launched BBC Voice, a news service optimised for smart
speaker. Users who tell their device to ‘Give me BBC News’ can skip through
stories in a bulletin, as well as asking for more detail. BBC Voice executive editor,
Mukul Devichand says "smart speakers give us the chance to reimagine what
radio would be like if it were invented today, free from its technical limitations”
(BBC Media Centre, 2019).
REACHING AN AUDIENCE
Digitisation has meant that radio has become part of the wider world of ‘audio’.
With hundreds of analogue and digital stations available, plus one million pod
casts and a range of audio products made for smart speaker, knowing your
audience has never been more important. This section looks at how that audience
can be reached, using two case studies with a very clear idea of who they
are talking to.
40 ARRAN BEE
Fun Kids
Fun Kids is a children’s radio station, featuring “a mix of music, games and silliness
for 6 to 12 year olds” (Deegan, 2016). It is available UK-wide on DAB digital radio
and online. Manager Matt Deegan says that, while the station is very focused on its
main audience, he wants it to be listenable for younger children and parents, too:
The focus is 6–12s but we’re aware of two things; one, generally mum and dad
are along for the ride when they’re listening. We don’t think there are a huge
amount of kids listening alone in their bedrooms. Then also, there are younger
kids along for the ride. There are quite a few multi-children households so if a
four year-old is listening, it’s got to be acceptable for them too. At the core, we
think that 6 to 12 year-olds will influence the choice of radio station. They’re the
most passionate group of those three groups for Fun Kids so let’s make sure
we make something for them, that they want to listen to. The nicest comments
we get from parents are ‘I hate having to listen to Fun Kids but actually, it’s
quite good and we like some of the songs!’
Initially launching on DAB in the South East of England in 2005, Fun Kids moved
onto a national DAB multiplex in 2016. Although there are more than 100 digital
radio stations available in London alone, Matt says there is an audience for a
children’s format:
I always think that ‘kids’ is, in a world where everything is chopped up into
smaller groups, massively broad. Loads of people have them, they’re
constantly renewing, there are new ones all the time so, actually, it’s a great
format space to be in in the digital world.
Matt describes Fun Kids as “probably one of the most multi-platform radio stations
in the country”. He explains that the hundreds of podcast episodes, ten YouTube
channels, social media channels and website, all work alongside the radio station
to build brand awareness:
The radio is the ‘engine’. If you think of Fun Kids as a brand, what do you need
to do for brand establishment? The biggest challenge, for anything, is for people
to have heard of you. To even be aware that you exist. You’ve got a funnel:
‘awareness of existence’, ‘sample’, ‘regular listen’ then ‘one of your favourites’.
The job is to chuck people in the top of the funnel as much as you can.
Matt says that Fun Kids supplies content for other platforms. Interviews are re
purposed as short podcasts or used as clips on social media, for example.
The core issue is awareness. We don’t have a multi-million pound, above-the-

line marketing budget for Fun Kids. So, then you go, ok, how do people know
that we exist? Well, we’ve got content so can we put that in places where
people are and can they find us?
Clearly, Fun Kids as a radio station is intrinsically linked to its social media and
YouTube channels, along with its podcasts. Does Matt think it would be possible to
run his station without them?
I think yes. We could create a radio station and do all of those things. I think the
problem with only being radio is that you’re back to that funnel – we limit
inbound awareness-driving. We had a series called The Space Programme,
which was funded by ACF [the Audio Content Fund]. Really, its best medium is
podcast because it’s a serialised, 7-minute soap opera. ACF money pays for it
to be on the radio so, of course it’s on the radio and we want it to be on the
radio, so we make it an appointment to listen on the radio but the greater
population don’t have that much ‘appointment to listen’ stuff, so the podcast is
the right place. That’s probably going to stick around in the charts forever,
because it’s a really well made, 20-part drama series and that will feed people
back into Fun Kids. It will be the entry point for lots of people.
On the social side, I think it’s absolutely fine to only look at social for getting re-
tweets. Kids aren’t on Twitter, it’s not a platform that children are on. Families
and parents are on it. Tagging in guests or people that are on and having them
re-tweet stuff for the awareness driving, in the absence of any real money to
spend on marketing, is just efficient. I would feel that, if we weren’t doing
anything else, we’d be shouting into a void a little bit.
BBC Minute
BBC Minute is a global news update with a different sound to a traditional BBC
bulletin. Produced by BBC World Service and described as “60-second news
bursts aimed at younger audiences around the world” (BBC, 2017), it is updated
half-hourly, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It has a potential audience of
millions through dozens of partner radio stations in 30 different countries, mainly in
Africa and Asia. The mix of stories includes hard news, sport, technology, en
tertainment and ‘quirky’ items. BBC Minute is produced by a team made up of
diverse backgrounds, interests and experience who also make video and social
media content. Pamela Gupta11, who has been presenting the bulletin for four
years, says it has a distinct feel and approach:
It’s friendly. It’s conversational. There are usually two presenters. It’s as if we’re
talking with you rather than at you. We use our first names. It’s quite warm.
We don’t hold back on any news. We never think ‘we’re not going to tell our
audience about what’s going on in Hong Kong because they might not understand
42 ARRAN BEE
it. We don’t shy away from any story. In fact, we will tell you stories that a traditional
bulletin won’t but will work a bit harder to explain it and give it context.
Featuring stories that are not being widely covered in the mainstream media is
central to what BBC Minute does, as Pamela explains:
A big thing for us is what’s trending. Social media tracking tools like Dataminr,
Spredfast and Crowdtangle tell us what people are talking about around the
world. What’s the big conversation online? That’s not necessarily what the big
news story is, but for us, it’s important. … We’ll use what our audience is actually
talking about as a measure rather than what we think they should know about.
Pamela says, for the journalists working on BBC Minute, getting out of the ‘UK
mentality’ is essential:
Our audience know different things. When Kobe Bryant died – that’s a massive
story. However, for a UK audience, they don’t really know who he was. A
‘Minute’ audience, they already know who he is. We were going big on him in
2016 when he retired. Basketball – yes, it’s a big US sport, but it’s big in Africa,
it’s big in Asia. [BBC Minute listeners] will know about people that UK
audiences don’t, so you have to get out of that bubble and just thinking
‘what do the people around me know about?’
One of the reasons BBC Minute was launched was not only to reach new, younger
audiences but also those who may not be consuming BBC content already.
Pamela says the brief comes with challenges:
Young people aren’t listening to traditional radio in the same way as they were.
They’re not watching traditional TV in the same way. They’re getting news from
Instagram and TikTok. They’re savvy, young audiences. And they’re wary of
the media.
There was some research out recently – they want media that shares their
opinion but they also want to be challenged. They want the facts but they
aren’t just going to lap up everything that’s out there.
As well as appearing on partner commercial stations around the world, BBC Minute
is available to listen to as a podcast and via smart speaker as a flash briefing. Pam
says the bulletin’s ‘to the point’ style suits the digital world:
The thing is with a bulletin like ‘Minute’ is that it’s a bit different to radio. Radio’s
very much a tertiary medium, you’re doing something else and it’s on in the
background. Whereas, with a digital bulletin, it’s not in the background. You’re
asking for it, you’re demanding it. ‘On demand’ is ‘I want that news now".
There’s more of an onus on you to deliver. You’ve got no time to mess about
with a big opener and saying what’s coming up, you’ve got a minute and
you’ve got to use that minute wisely – because that’s all you’re going to get!
NOTES
1 All quotes from Matt Deegan taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
2 All quotes from Paul Kaye taken from interview with Arran Bee in September 2019.
3 All quotes from Mike Newman taken from interview with Arran Bee in September 2019.
4 All quotes from Helen Grimes taken from interview with Arran Bee in September 2019.
5 All quotes from Jen Thomas taken from interview with John Collins in June 2020.
8 All material from Kate Lee from email communication with Arran Bee in August 2020.
9 All quotes from Jo Hornby from email communication with Arran Bee in August 2020.
11 All quotes from Pamela Gupta taken from interview with Arran Bee in June 2020, further
information by email in August 2020. Pamela Gupta left the BBC in January 2021.
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Guardian. [WWW Document]. URL https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/
feb/04/magic-radio-indestructible-easy-listening-streaming (accessed 18.08.20).
BBC, 2015. BBC Trust Service Review: Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, 6 Music and Asian
Network. [WWW Document]. URL http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/
our_work/music_radio/performance_analysis.pdf (accessed 4.07.20).
BBC, 2016. Asian Network Service Licence. [WWW Document]. URL http://downloads.bbc.
co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/regulatory_framework/service_licences/radio/2016/
asian_network_apr16.pdf (accessed 12.08.20).
BBC, 2017. BBC World Service launches new video versions of BBC Minute and signs new
deals to be heard in Egypt and Jordan. Media Centre. [WWW Document]. URL https://
www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/bbc-world-video-bbc-minute (accessed
14.08.20).
BBC, 2020. BBC – annual plan – record-breaking performance but challenges ahead. Media
Centre. [WWW Document]. bbc.co.uk. URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/
latestnews/2020/annual-plan (accessed 17.08.20).
BBC Media Centre, 2019. BBC – BBC reinvents news for smart speakers with UK’s first
interactive voice news service. Media Centre. [WWW Document]. URL https://www.bbc.
co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/interactive-voice-news-service (accessed 17.08.20).
44 ARRAN BEE
Crisell, A., 1994. Understanding Radio, second ed., Studies in Culture and Communication.
Routledge, London; New York.
Deegan, M., 2016. Fun kids goes nationwide on DAB. Think Fun Kids. URL http://think.
funkidslive.com/2016/02/03/fun-kids-goes-nationwide-on-dab/ (accessed 14.08.20).
Evans, E., 1977. Radio: A Guide to Broadcasting Techniques. Barrie & Jenkins, London.
Geller, V., 2007. Creating Powerful Radio: Getting, Keeping, and Growing Audiences for
News, Talk, Information, and Personality. Focal, Amsterdam; Boston.
Johns, T., 2015. Five ways the Jeremy Vine Show breaks the ‘radio rules’. Tim Johns. URL
http://www.timjohns.org/2015/02/26/five-ways-the-jeremy-vine-show-breaks-the-radio
-rules/ (accessed 16.08.20).
Lloyd, D., 2015. How to Make Great Radio: Techniques and Tips for Today’s Broadcasters
and Producers. Biteback Publishing.
Lloyd, D., 2019. Radio moments: to target or not to target. Radio Moments. URL
http://davidlloyd-radio.blogspot.com/2019/01/to-target-or-not-to-target.html (accessed
18.08.20).
McLeish, R., 2005. Radio Production, fifth ed. Focal Press, Amsterdam; Boston.
Moyles, C., 2007. The Gospel According to Chris Moyles: The Story of a Man and His Mouth.
Ebury, London.
Ofcom, 2020. Media Nations 2020 [WWW Document]. URL https://www.ofcom.org.uk/

research-and-data/tv-radio-and-on-demand/media-nations-reports/media-nations-
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rajar.co.uk/docs/news/RAJAR_DataRelease_InfographicQ12020.pdf (accessed 2.08.20).
Starkey, G., 2014. Radio in Context, second ed. Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire [England].
YouGov, 2018. Smart speaker ownership doubles in six months. YouGov. [WWW
Document]. URL https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2018/04/19/smart-
speaker-ownership-doubles-six-months (accessed 17.08.20).
CHAPTER 3
The role of news

by John Collins
The rise of the internet, smartphones, social media and 24-hour rolling news channels
means that the news is more accessible than ever before. However, the immediacy of
radio means it is still well-suited to quickly delivering news to audiences.
News – in all its varied guises – from serious economic analysis to celebrity gossip –
is an important part of most stations, and the way it is used says a lot about a
station’s brand values. This chapter examines the way news is used by different
radio stations, how it is selected and what components make up news pro
grammes and bulletins. It ends with a brief analysis of how those news bulletins are
delivered to maximum effect.
In the modern radio landscape, different stations provide a different news ‘world’ to
match their target audience. One of those specific worlds is that of BBC Radio 1
NewsBeat, the brand for which Christian Hewgill1 works as a broadcast journalist.
The role of news on Radio 1 is the old Reithian vision, you’ve got to inform, you
have got to entertain, and you’ve got to explain the world. You’ve got to be
very aware that NewsBeat goes out across Radio 1, 1Xtra and the BBC Asian
Network so you’ve got a lot of young, diverse audiences there who might not
necessarily consume a lot of news, they might not watch the BBC News at Ten
in the evening, they might not be checking the BBC News website and app …
for a lot of our audience we’re the only news that they ever consume so you’ve
really got to explain the world to them, you’ve never got to patronise, but you
have to tell people why something is important, why it’s relevant to them, how
it impacts their lives. It’s got to sound like it belongs on that station … the way
you tell a story is as important as the story itself. You can have the best story,
46 JOHN COLLINS
the best journalism in the world, but if you don’t tell it in the right way, people
will flick over to the other side.
When we talk about news on the radio most people think about the traditional news
bulletin on the hour that lasts from between 60 seconds to 5 minutes. As well as
these there are long-running news magazine programmes like BBC Radio 4’s The
World at One and PM and BBC Radio 5 Live’s Morning Reports. But whether a
station is speech-based or music-based, the news – in its widest definition – is
crucial to its output. Tom Hilton,2 a former Bulletin Editor at Gem 106, Bauer
Radio’s commercial station in the East Midlands, says:
News is important, and in a day and age where the local nature of your
favourite radio stations is being steadily stripped back, it’s one of the aspects
that people can hold onto to strengthen their connection with the station. It’s
true to say you tune in largely for the music but that’s not the only reason. With
access to a million songs in your pocket with Spotify or wherever you get your
music fix from I think radio still has that feeling of being your company and
something you can relate to. You have to deliver the right balance to give your
listeners the information they need not only from your patch but from
elsewhere around the country and the world.
Stations will select news that is appropriate to their audience, but critics say this
reduces it to the level of entertainment. Matching news to a specific audience is a
practice long established in newspapers, and most people select what news they
want to know about by choosing a particular news product. Traditionally, those
who want in-depth information and analysis of national and international news
would go to BBC Radio 4 or 5 Live, while those who prefer brief but pertinent
headlines about events in their area would most likely choose their local or regional
commercial station. In recent years, LBC has developed itself to a point where it
could be considered for inclusion in that first category. The newly launched Times
Radio and slightly longer established talkRADIO will hope to be involved in that
discussion in the none-too-distant future.
For most of its history, radio has been the medium best-equipped to deliver
breaking news. It can be more easily interrupted for a news flash than television
while newspapers have always reported that which has already happened rather
than that which is happening now. Radio’s position as the go-to medium for
breaking news was challenged by the arrival of 24-hour rolling news channels,
challenged again by the arrival of news websites and challenged for a third time by
the subsequent arrival of social media and news apps.
Radio’s job … is to get information out quickly and succinctly. When you hear it
on the radio, it is news. When you read it in the paper, it is history.
(Geller, 2012, p. 265)
THE ROLE OF NEWS 47
However, as a news medium radio does not just have competition, it also has
limitations. As Robert McLeish points out, a ten-minute news bulletin is the
equivalent to one and a half columns of newsprint and most papers carry 30–40
columns of news copy (1994, p. 5) so the amount of information in a news bulletin
is considerably less than can be delivered by newspapers. For this reason, radio is
often regarded as a summariser of the news, particularly on music-based stations
where formal news output is confined to a couple of minutes at the top of the hour.
As Stephen Barnard comments, “all too often the analytical ground, the sense of
context, is conceded to other media” (2000, p. 148).
But even stations with very short news bulletins can counteract this limitation by
giving more information or analysis on their website and by linking to that content
via their own social media feeds. This is yet another way in which the rise of digital
media consumption is both an opportunity as well as a challenge to the radio in
dustry. Writing in her 2012 book Beyond Powerful Radio, the US radio consultant
Valerie Geller noted that research showed that listeners were becoming viewers
and readers by visiting radio station websites to get ‘the rest of the story’ or to ‘see’
photos or videos of what they had been hearing on the radio. (Geller 2012, p. 254)
The ubiquity of social media makes this point even more prescient eight years on.
THE SOUND OF THE STORY

Radio news gives us what Andrew Crisell calls an ‘indexical’ sense of the news
using actuality: background noises like sirens or birdsong, or the way the report is
delivered, that allow listeners to create the scene for themselves:
On the radio we hear the noises of the news, or at least the informed view or the
eyewitness account ‘straight from the horse’s mouth’ and often on location –
outdoors, over the telephone – that newspapers can only report in the bland
medium of print, a medium bereft of inflections, hesitations and emphases of the
living voice which contribute so largely to meaning, and also less able to evoke the
location in which the account was given (1986, p. 121).
Don’t overlook the sound that does not come in quotes: the street sounds of a
fire rescue story, the special acoustics of an art gallery or a museum. Don’t use
background sound for its own sake, but ask yourself, “Are there sounds that
can tell an aspect of this story more concisely than I can do in words?”
(Levinson in Geller, 2012, p. 227)
While Crisell is right to highlight the important role that the telephone has played in
the history of news reporting, technological developments – and the impact of
‘lockdown’ restrictions in response to the Covid-19 crisis of 2020 – have quickly
accelerated the importance and prevalence of video and audio conferencing apps
like Skype, Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
48 JOHN COLLINS
SELECTING THE NEWS

The news is an important way for stations to connect with their audience, parti
cularly for regional and local stations. Through story selection and a particular style
of delivery, news bulletins can reinforce the bond between a station and the
community where it broadcasts.
There is no question that local news and current events should be covered by
a local radio station. Our first and most important responsibility as broad
casters and communicators is to keep the public safe from harm. If there’s
something happening locally that affects the health, well-being or safety of our
audience – that needs to be covered.
(Geller, 2012, p. 41)
But what actually makes news ‘news-worthy’? Perhaps the simplest way of ana
lysing why certain stories make the news – and why some then dominate the news
cycle for some time – is to look at them using ‘The Four Is’.
The stories that are included within news bulletins tend to share several common
features. They are often about an incident. These are the types of stories that are the
absolute staple of news bulletins across the world. At a national and international
level, we are talking about terrorist attacks, natural disasters, elections, strikes and
murders. At a more local level it is fires, protests, crimes and accidents. These in
cidents do not have to be negative though. Sports fixtures, product launches, the
publication of exam results and charity events would all also constitute an incident.
Beyond these, there are issues. Topics that are frequently worthy of further coverage,
even if there have not necessarily been specific developments. Unemployment, wo
men’s rights, racism, abortion laws and the environment would all fall into this category,
as would many stories about education, healthcare, transport and nuclear weapons.
Then there are our icons. High-profile figures, institutions, landmarks and organisations
that are of such interest that what might appear to be a mundane occurrence is deemed
newsworthy by virtue of who or what is involved. For examples of this type of story, see
the minor traffic accident involving the Duke of Edinburgh in early 2019, Katie Price’s
broken feet in August 2020 and the refurbishment of Big Ben that began in 2017.
When a story ticks two of those boxes, it is likely to not just make a news bulletin
but to appear near the very top; the 2018 fire (incident) at Notre Dame Cathedral
(icon) would be a good example of such a story.
When all three boxes are ticked, you’re looking at a story with the potential to
dominate the news cycle for some time. The terrorist attacks of 9-11 are perhaps the
most obvious example of when huge incidents (hijackings and subsequent atrocities)
involving multiple issues (chiefly US foreign policy and Islamic fundamentalism) de
stroyed one icon (the World Trade Centre) and targeted others (New York City and
THE ROLE OF NEWS 49
the Pentagon). The 7-7 London bombings, the Oscar Pistorius trial, the sentencing
of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein following the #MeToo movement and
the death of Michael Jackson are other examples of other such stories which fit into
this mould. While that particular list has a negative slant to it, the opening ceremony
of the London Olympics would also fit the bill. The event itself is clearly an enormous
incident. But it involved the construction of a new icon (the Olympic Stadium), the
involvement of national icons like the Queen, David Beckham and James Bond,
while discussing issues around modern British history, the NHS, the invention of the
world wide web and industrialisation.
While the first three of ‘The Four Is’ are useful for deciding what is and what is not
news, the fourth I – impact – is useful for journalists who are writing news scripts.
Impact is what a good script or good audio will always provide for a listener.
Every day, the stories you choose should affect your audience in some way.
Pick items that connect listeners to what is happening in their community, what
is new, interesting or absurd. Give audiences talk-able topics and entertain
them with information.
(Geller, 2012, p. 219)
At a national or international level this might be by bringing home the human impact of
a natural disaster, explaining the economic impact of a switch in government policy or
outlining the social impact of a change in the law. At a local and regional level, it is often
about answering the unspoken question from the listener ‘What does this mean for
me?’ That means not just announcing that resurfacing works have begun on a par
ticular road, but outlining the likelihood and length of the ensuing delays; it means not
just reporting a reduction in central government funding for your local authority but
highlighting the potential of a rise in council tax to make up the shortfall. There was a
period where commercial radio newsrooms echoed to the sound of the rhyming ‘news
you can use’. It’s too blunt to be universally useful, but the phrase is not without merit.
Most listeners are interested in things that actually impact their lives: gas prices,
traffic, new movies, tech toys, subway fare increases, personal relationships,
romance and health. They do not care about government process unless you tell
them how it might affect them.
(Farley in Geller, 2012, p. 221)
One of the most important factors in deciding what news to use in a radio bulletin –
and how those stories impact upon the listener – is the target audience of the
station. This is not to say that some news stories will be ignored altogether, but it
might mean that they will be given less prominence on one station compared to
another. A radio journalist preparing a bulletin has to keep their audience in mind.
If you’re working for Capital and preparing a news bulletin for its 15–34-year-old
listeners, a story about interest rates going up is probably only of interest to a small
50 JOHN COLLINS
tranche of your audience. If you’re preparing a bulletin on the same day for Heart
listeners – which increases the age of the target listener to 25–44 – then that means
that you’re now much more likely to be talking to homeowners and this story
becomes bad news because it means many of them will see their monthly mort
gage payments go up. The very same story on Smooth radio – where the average
age of the target listener has risen again – might see this story scripted in such a
way that it is presented as positive news. A rise in interest rates means a bigger
return on savings and possible increases to some pension payments. If that is not
complicated enough, factor in that Capital, Heart and Smooth are all owned by
Global Radio. It’s entirely plausible that the same journalist, in the same newsroom,
may have to write that story in three different ways for three different audiences.
MAKING THE NEWS

While stations use news throughout their programming on an everyday basis, most
local or regional stations do not provide 24-hour news bulletins, mainly because
news is expensive to run. Most BBC stations provide hourly bulletins from 6 am to 7
pm, then provide news on a regional basis until midnight when they switch to 5Live
output. Most commercial stations follow the same pattern of locally or regionally
provided news until early evening when news from Sky/IRN is taken overnight.
No matter what size the station, most radio bulletins are a combination of local,
regional, national and international news and covering that amount of news from a
local radio newsroom can be a challenge. In the commercial world, Global and
Bauer’s stations try to get around this by operating on a group level. They take their
international and most national news from Independent Radio News (IRN). Global
has a team of journalists in London based at its Leicester Square headquarters who
tailor national news stories to specific Global stations. For example, when covering
the latest developments on the HS2 high-speed rail project, the impact and im
portance of that story differs depending upon where along the route your listeners
are based. While listeners in Birmingham may well be excited by the investment in
their region, the creation of new jobs and faster journey times to the capital, a
listener in an Oxfordshire village that sits right next to the new line – but nowhere
near a new station – is likely to have very different views.
If a Global reporter in London can produce several different reports with a different,
regional focus to each one, audiences across the group receive a localised or
regionalised version of the event. The upshot of such a service means that local
newsrooms can concentrate on local stories rather than spending time re-working
national stories so that they have a local angle.
This network also operates in reverse, with Global journalists up and down the
country feeding information and audio on important stories into the national hub so
that they can then be sent out to all of the group’s stations.
THE ROLE OF NEWS 51
The challenge of making stories relevant to the audience is even greater for regional
radio stations. If we take the East Midlands as an example, every time a journalist at
a regional station looks at a ‘local’ story – that word ‘local’ could mean anywhere in
the East Midlands. Let’s take a Derby story – the loss of jobs at the huge Rolls
Royce factories that are so important to the city. A journalist at Capital East
Midlands or Gem 106 needs to consider not just how to write their script to make it
appeal to those who live in Derby, but also how to write it so that it appeals to the
rest of the region as well. From a news point of view, on a regional station, there is
such a thing as too local.
Tom Hilton is of the opinion that news stories should be judged on their impact to
the audience rather than where they originate from.
For me it’s not vital to put a local story first, although that has been the policy
when I’ve worked at stations previously. During one of my first one to ones at
Gem, our then regional editor Vicky Breakwell3 gave me three points to live by
when it comes to prioritising stories. They were ‘what are people going to be
talking about at the school gate, how many people are affected, and why should
they care?’ As a family-centric radio station they gave me the tools I needed to
know how to prioritise stories and know where they should go in a bulletin.
BBC local radio has an older target audience than commercial stations. In the main
they target people over the age of 50. While there has been a move in recent years
for BBC local radio stations to be driven more by music and entertainment, news
remains an integral part of what they do. They are still speech-based, which en
sures that news continues to feed into programming: while daytime shows and
phone-ins are often based around events and issues of importance to the local
community. Most BBC local radio stations have a speech-based breakfast show,
and many still have a strong skew towards local news.
Any radio station is going to look to get a mix of stories on air: a balance of light and
shade, things you’d want to tell your friends down the pub, things you’d want to
know about your local area. At a local level, a sign of a strong radio newsroom will
be that – like its newspaper equivalent – they will provide local news which you
might not hear, see or read elsewhere.
NEWS SOURCES
News comes from a variety of sources depending on how it is being used, but for
journalists one of the most important sources of news is their own contacts built up
over time. Almost everyone a journalist meets is a contact who might be able to
comment on a story or put them in touch with someone who can. For that reason,
one of the most precious possessions a journalist has is their contacts book, which
should be backed up regularly to avoid disaster if it gets lost.
52 JOHN COLLINS
But news is not as random and unpredictable as journalistic myth would have us
believe. Many events are known about in advance and a note kept on them in the
newsroom diary. This will include a note of standard events like the Christmas lights
switch on or St Patrick’s Day parades, as well as reminders about the start or end
of important court cases, or public inquiries and events like royal visits or MPs
opening new schools.
Newsrooms are also fed information through news releases sent to them – most
often by email – from a wide variety of people and organisations. While the majority
of these are either already known about or not of interest, it is often worth noting the
contact name, telephone number and email address of the organisation for future
reference. It is much easier to access information through a named individual than
trying to get it by asking for an anonymous press officer.
As well as the station’s own news diary, the Press Association publishes a daily
prospects list which shows all of the major stories they are covering that day, and
on local stations this is supplemented with a prospects list from national news
suppliers like IRN and Sky for commercial radio stations, or GNS (General News
Service) at the BBC.
Throughout the day local stations are fed audio and text from their national pro
viders. In most cases national and international news on local radio is provided by
either GNS, IRN or Sky. The BBC’s GNS is serviced by correspondents all over the
world as well as through the BBC network of local stations throughout Britain who
keep it supplied with audio and text, which is then sent on a ‘circuit’ to BBC re
gional and local stations through the system known as Open Media. As part of the
restructuring and job losses that the BBC announced in July 2020, GNS will be
replaced by a new Central News Service and journalists involved in its production
will be based in Salford rather than London (RadioToday, 2020).
Commercial radio news providers work in a similar way. IRN is owned by Global
Radio and Bauer with ITN having a minority share. Until October 2008, IRN had
access to all ITN material, and ITN reporters supplied audio versions of their stories.
These were then sent in the same way as at the BBC, via satellite or sometimes the
internet to newsroom computer systems or other automatic recording points. But
in 2008 IRN dropped ITN in favour of being supplied by Sky News giving Sky a
“virtual monopoly in the commercial radio news market” (Plunkett, 2008) because
any stations that do not take IRN are supplied by Sky News.
Another important source of news is the emergency services. The social media
feeds of police, fire and ambulance services are usually checked routinely to make
sure any incidents they are attending are discovered as soon as possible.
Similarly, the courts and councils are a regular source of news, although it is no
longer common for radio reporters to attend their proceedings. Recording for
broadcast in courts and at council meetings is forbidden, although under section
nine of the 1981 Contempt of Court Act some courts will allow a recording to be
THE ROLE OF NEWS 53
made so long as it is surrendered to the court at the end of the day’s business.
Generally, the actual sittings are covered by freelance ‘stringers’ who send their
copy to the station where it is turned in to copy or a voice piece to be included in
bulletins. However, if the council is making an important decision, for example,
pushing through plans for housing development against the wishes of the com
munity, a reporter may be sent to the meeting to hear the decision, then get in
terviews with councillors and protestors. Similarly, if there is a major court case
involving a particularly high profile murder, a case involving child sexual abuse or
cases brought following widespread public disorder, reporters may be sent to
cover proceedings and then try to interview the victim’s family or get reaction from
those who were affected by the crimes. These interviews have to be done outside
the court buildings.
Like all journalists, radio news reporters also use other media to keep track of what
is going on both locally and nationally. Most stations monitor the output of other
stations in their area, as well as local television and the press. But no matter where
a story comes from it is important for reporters to check the facts for themselves
before writing it up for broadcast.
Websites, blogs and social media feeds are another valuable resource for any
journalist, but like any tool they must be used carefully. While they can all be used to
check breaking news stories, the journalist’s pursuit of facts means that, ideally,
anything from the internet should be cross-checked before it is broadcast. Where
the internet is perhaps of most use is as an archive to give background to running
stories or provide information about someone a reporter is going to interview. That
said, not all sites are equal, and reporters need to use reputable sites to do
background searches.
There is immense value for radio journalists in learning how to use social media
management sites such as Tweetdeck and Hootsuite. Setting up searches for par
ticular place names or the names of specific sporting, political and business organi
sations can prove invaluable to the newsgathering process. Adding the social media
accounts of colleagues and rival journalists to a list will allow you to quickly see what
other journalists are reporting while keeping a close eye on posts from a particular
location can be an invaluable way of seeking out eyewitnesses and case studies.
There is much more on how radio stations use social media in Chapter 8 of this book.
WRITING FOR THE EAR

On the radio, you only get one chance to get the story across, so scripts need to be
written for the ear and that means writing as we speak. News stories should be told in
a way that people can comprehend, using easy to understand, everyday words and
phrases. It’s not about being overly complicated or clever; it’s about ensuring that the
scripts you produce are understood by the largest number of listeners possible.
54 JOHN COLLINS
It’s not simply a case of structuring these stories in a conversational way, this style
also extends to the words that you choose to use. A good radio script will use
everyday language; words that crop up in regular conversation. We don’t talk of
‘multi-agency partnerships’. We don’t regale our friends with stories of ‘cash
boosts’, ‘last-ditch attempts’ and tributes which are ‘pouring in’. Rarely do we chat
about ‘police probes’ into someone being ‘gunned down’. Avoiding clichés and
writing in clear, everyday English is a surefire way to produce simple, solid scripts.
This is particularly relevant if you are rewriting information from emergency services
or government bodies and means that it is never a ‘vehicle’, it is always a car, a
bus, a lorry or a van. (I would go as far as to wager that if you do not know which of
those vehicles was involved in the incident, you do not yet have enough information
to safely write and broadcast the story).
Similarly, a ‘cash boost’ is much more accurately described as an ‘investment’ or

just ‘extra funding’. Rarely is an incident attended by the fire brigade worthy of the
name ‘blaze’. ‘Fire’ will suffice, which is why firefighters from that fire brigade leave
a fire station in a fire engine to go and fight the fire with a firehose.
Keeping your language as accessible as possible is key. If you can use fewer
words, do just that. If you can use simpler words, do that too. Good journalistic
copy is not dumbed-down and nor is it full of slang. It should be credible, but a
listener should never need to consult a dictionary to understand it.
The first line of a script – also known as the top line – needs to get the main point of
the story across and hook listeners into it. There is no time for a preamble leading
into the story, but at the same time you do not want to cram the top line with
details. BBC Radio 1 NewsBeat’s Christian Hewgill (Figure 3.1) explains how a
simple, affecting top-line allowed him to bring home the sheer scale of the Covid-19
pandemic:
One of my headlines recently was ‘A quarter of the world is now in

lockdown’. That’s a historic headline to read on a radio station that has
ten million listeners.
This is a perfect example of how the best written copy stories start with a statement
that encapsulates the story. Context and background can then be added as the
script progresses.
You need to spread the available facts and information so that listeners are not
bombarded with detail. So if you are writing for a Birmingham-based station it
would be better to start with ‘A Birmingham gym instructor’s celebrating winning
the £65 million Euromillions jackpot’ then later adding which particular area of
Birmingham the gym instructor comes from, rather than starting with ‘A Selly Oak
gym instructor’s celebrating …’. By putting Selly Oak in the top line there’s a
THE ROLE OF NEWS 55
FIGURE 3.1 BBC Radio 1 NewsBeat’s Christian Hewgill
danger that anyone from other areas might mentally switch-off, but keeping the top
line open by using Birmingham keeps more listeners more interested.
When you’re writing a news script, you will have locations, ages, times, names and
a timeline of things that have already happened, things that are ongoing and things
that are yet to happen. Here is an example of how you can spread the facts through
a simple script.
1. A woman’s seriously ill in hospital after being stabbed in Nottingham.

2. The 23 year old was attacked in Radford last night.
3. A man’s been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder – he’s due in
court later this morning.
This is a script that you would routinely hear on a local radio station. It is simple and
succinct, yet if you analyse the details it contains, you will see the sheer weight of
information passed on to the listener.
A woman’s (individual) seriously ill in hospital (something happening now) after

being stabbed (something that has already happened) in Nottingham (location).
The 23 year old (age) was attacked (something that has already happened) in
Radford (location) last night.(time)
56 JOHN COLLINS
A man’s (second individual) been arrested (something that has already happened)
and charged with attempted murder (something else that has already happened) –
he’s due in court later this morning (something that is yet to happen).
While we are discussing techniques for how best to engage an audience, it is best
to avoid starting stories with the names of official organisations like city or county
councils, health authorities or police forces. Apart from the fact that these official
bodies are a turn-off for most of the audience, the point of the story should be how
it affects your audience rather than who is behind the story. In short, try to focus on
the ‘what’ and not the ‘who’.
The radio consultant David Lloyd argues that starting scripts with the names of
individuals is a potential source of confusion and, for him, exasperation.
It frustrates me to hear details of a named individual at the start of a bulletin,

and not knowing whether I’m about to be told they have died or won an Oscar.
(Lloyd, 2015, p.134)
While I would maintain that focusing on the ‘what’ as opposed to the ‘who’ is the
correct way to approach the writing of a news story, sports and showbiz stories
can be exceptions to this rule, especially when in the hands of a skilled newsreader.
A good proportion of listeners are surely waiting to hear the name of their preferred
sports team or prick up their ears at the mention of their most favourite celebrity. In
that context, I think it would be perfectly valid to begin a script with ‘Aston Villa have
announced record season ticket sales’ or ‘Billie Eilish will headline this year’s
Glastonbury Festival’.
Keep punctuation to a minimum. It is very difficult to vocally interpret just about any
punctuation beyond a full stop. We don’t talk in carefully constructed sentences
with multiple clauses, we tend to talk in phrases, so write that way. Often, and
particularly at the start of your career, you’ll write scripts that will be read by
someone else. Keeping them as simple as possible gives them the very best
chance of being delivered how you intended. This austere use of punctuation is not
solely about easing the task of the newsreader. If you are writing in short, engaging,
punchy sentences you should find that commas, colons, semi-colons etc. are not
really needed. As and when you do need to indicate a pause or a natural break
within a sentence, use a dash or an ellipsis as opposed to a comma – they’re easier
for the newsreader to see and much easier for them to interpret with their voice. For
example:
The man – who witnesses say was beaten for several minutes – is now recovering
in City Hospital.
It’s also less confusing for the audience if you round numbers up or down rather
than making them exact, especially in top lines. So, it would be ‘nearly 40%’ rather
than 38.5%’ or ‘just over 80%’ rather than ‘81.2%’
THE ROLE OF NEWS 57
It is also easier for newsreaders if numbers under 10 and over a thousand are
written out in full. It is very easy to stumble when faced with a row of endless zeros.
Two hundred and eighty-four thousand pounds is easier to read in a script than
£284,000.
As well as an intimate medium, radio is also an immediate one, so wherever

possible use the present tense and the active form of the verb to make copy lively
and current. So, it would be
‘Joe Biden says he’s planning on stopping Chinese students attending US uni
versities’ story, the first two or three words are theand not ‘Joe Biden said he
planned to stop Chinese students attending US universities’.
Perhaps the most important piece of advice is to read your writing out loud before it
is broadcast. A piece of copy read in your head will likely sound perfect. Only by
reading the words out loud can you spot any awkward words or a phrase that jars.
Great broadcasters talk to themselves. The only way of testing whether or not
a script works is to read it out loud before broadcast. No matter how many
times it has been read on the page, the errors will only become apparent when
you deliver it aloud. It is for the same reason that one is annoyingly blind to
blatant errors on a page until ‘print’ is pressed.
(Lloyd, 2015, pp. 134–135)
Most stations have a template for writing copy, cues and scripts. This will contain
information about who has written the story, which bulletin it was prepared for, and
a ‘slug’ or ‘title’ to identify the story. All this information is important to whoever is
compiling the bulletin. They need to know the author in case there is a query, and
when it was written in case it needs to be updated. Ideally, copy should be re
written for every bulletin, even if nothing has changed, to make it sound fresh for
listeners. Another important detail that needs to be included on all copy, cues and
scripts, is the duration of the piece so that the total duration of the bulletin can be
worked out. On most systems this is done automatically. The industry standard is
to assume that three words of a script takes a newsreader one second to deliver.
So, a 30-word piece of copy would have a duration of ten seconds.
News bulletins on the radio are made from the basic building blocks outlined below.
COPY
Copy is a news story written for broadcast. A scripted piece of copy can vary in
duration from eight to around 35 seconds but, in every case, it has to tell the whole
story in as much detail as possible. Obviously, a short copy line will be no more
than an extended headline, but it still needs to be able to tell the basic story of what
has happened. Short copy lines are often used in 60-second roundups used by
58 JOHN COLLINS
some stations on the half-hour during breakfast and drive time shows. The im
portant thing is that the story is clear and interesting, as Christian Hewgill of BBC
Radio 1 Newsbeat explains:
There’s huge power in a really well-written bit of copy and there’s also real
power in one human voice telling a story … if a solid 15–20[-second] piece of
copy is all a story needs, that is all a story needs. Sometimes the right
treatment of a story is just letting one person talk.
Regardless of its duration, copy should be written in a direct style, abbreviating the
verbs wherever possible to help the piece to flow and sound more natural when
read aloud. So, write ‘it’s’ not ‘it is’ and ‘they’ll’ not ‘they will’. There is an argument
that readers will abbreviate verbs as they read, but it makes the newsreader’s job
easier if verbs are already abbreviated where they should be and left whole when
emphasis is needed or if you are confirming a fact or event which had previously
been contested, for example, to confirm a decision, as in ‘Boris Johnson is
standing for the leadership of the Conservative party’.
CUE AND CLIPS
Cues
Every piece of audio played on radio must have a cue. The cue introduces the
audio, whether it is the voice of an interviewee or a report from a journalist. It is
important for cues not to repeat what is going to be heard in the audio because a
listener will always hear the two things together. Instead, a cue needs to explain the
story and make listeners want to hear what comes next. To make cues effective
and relevant to their audience, journalists at a local or regional station will routinely
rewrite the cues sent up from their national news provider.
When you are selling a story, the first two or three words are the most important. It
boils down to looking at scripts and saying ‘where’s the story and how does this
affect people?’ Once you have answered those two questions, you will have a
much better idea of how to write the script. In the top line you explain the impact, in
the middle line you give the backdrop to the story and then you lead into the clip. As
mentioned previously, the key is to focus on the ‘what’ and not the ‘who’.
There is no strict rule about the duration of cues: they need to be long enough to
explain the story but short enough to keep the listeners’ interest. As with copy,
they need to be headed with the author’s name, bulletin time and a slug that is
the same as the one used to label the audio. Along with these details there
should be a duration for the cue, duration for the audio, the total duration of the
piece (that is, cue plus audio) and the ‘out words’ – the last two to three words of
the audio clip.
THE ROLE OF NEWS 59
Clips
You will also hear clips referred to as either ‘cuts’ or ‘soundbites’. Alongside
cues, they are one of the simplest forms of news presentation. These are short
bursts of an interview that illustrate, deepen or explain a story. Sometimes they
can be as short as five seconds, but 12–20 seconds is the most common
duration. Commercial radio tends to keep clips under 15 seconds, while the
BBC tends to prefer slightly longer clips of up to 25 seconds. There is no hard
rule and the length of a clip should be determined by what is being said within it.
For example, the mother of an abducted child might not add any new in
formation to the story, but the emotion she displays will convey her distress
more effectively than any number of words spoken by a journalist. For a run-of-
the-mill story, the audio is unlikely to justify a duration of any more than 16
seconds, but if the audio is really powerful, the duration becomes less im
portant. If the content is going to keep people hooked, a good news editor will
allow it to be longer. Just as important as how you edit and introduce the audio,
is who you choose to speak to in the first place. A point highlighted by Tom
Hilton:
It’s easy to chase a guy in a suit about a new breastfeeding campaign that’s
being rolled out by the council, but a more personal and impactful quote would
come from a woman who has perhaps been discriminated against for
breastfeeding in public. It is those little details that turn a good story into a
powerful, relatable piece.
The best clips move the story along either by providing new information, or through
conveying emotion or context.
VOICE PIECES
A voice piece is a report voiced by a reporter either live or pre-recorded. They
consist of two parts: the cue, which is read by the newsreader, which sets up the
report and introduces the reporter, and the script, which is the actual report voiced
by the reporter. Generally, they are used when the story requires more explanation
than a piece of copy could convey. A good example would be at the end of a long
criminal trial when it is necessary to remind listeners about the background of the
case. They are perhaps at their most effective when they are voiced at the scene of
the story when background noise adds atmosphere to the report.
Studio-based voice pieces also work because they add colour to the bulletin – it’s
not the same voice reading what might end up becoming a long piece of copy. A
straight read from the newsreader that might take 30–40 seconds may have the
listener losing interest. A voice piece can liven the story up with the use of a second
voice that aids explanation and adds colour.
60 JOHN COLLINS
The use of voice pieces varies from station to station. Some stations never use
them arguing that a tightly written copy line is more effective than a voice piece,
while others like them because they add a variety of voices to the bulletin. Similarly,
some stations like their reporters to use a standard out cue at the end of a report,
such as ‘Saqlain Iqbal, IRN, Central London’ while others feel the reporter being
introduced at the beginning of the report is enough. This standard out cue is often
referred to as an SOC.
VOX POPS
Vox pops – from the Latin vox populi – ‘voice of the people’ – are created by a reporter
going out on the street and recording the opinions of people on a particular issue. The
reporter then edits the best replies together in a continuous anonymous stream. Vox
pops can be an effective way to convey the general feeling about an issue, but they
should not be presented as a representative sample. The reporter needs to select the
most lively or best-expressed comments without distorting the general trend and
should aim for a diverse mix of voices unless the topic dictates otherwise.
Getting the right question for a vox pop is crucial to its success. It needs to be brief,
easy to understand and an open question – that is to say that it is phrased so that a
simple yes or no is not possible for a reply. So if the topic is about government
plans to raise taxes on alcohol to stop teenage binge drinking, the question should
be ‘what do you think about government plans to raise taxes on alcohol to stop
binge drinking?’ rather than ‘do you think the government should raise taxes on
alcohol to stop binge drinking?’. It is important that the topic is one that everyone
knows about and has a ready response to. If people have to have the issue ex
plained to them, or have to think too deeply before responding, it is likely they will
not bother. Vox pops can be a good way to make a national issue more local by
getting local responses to it, but they can be overused.
The best vox pops feature a series of very short responses, rather than a few pon
derous replies, and that takes careful editing. Unlike straightforward interviews when
the pauses and stutters in a reply can reveal as much as the actual words being said,
vox pops need to be tightly edited with the best response used first and the second
best one used last so that listeners hook into the responses and are left with a positive
image of it. Generally, the reporter’s voice should not feature in the finished product at
all, so the question that has been asked needs to be worked into the cue.
Reporters need to be careful where they chose to record their vox pops.
Interviewing people next to a busy road might add colour to the piece if it is about
traffic congestion, but you need to be careful that the sound of the traffic does not
drown out what is being said. It is also important to get permission to record on
private property. This includes bus and train stations, shopping centres and pubs. It
is often easier to stand on the street outside and stop people coming and going.
THE ROLE OF NEWS 61
Bus stops are an ideal place to head for. The background noise will be consistent,
there is likely to be a number of people for you to speak to and, crucially, they
cannot really escape your attention – they’re not likely to walk off as they are in the
exact place where their bus will shortly arrive.
PACKAGES
Most news stories have at least two sides to them and a package is a way to
present more than one side of a story in a concise way. Generally, a package will
have clips from two or more interviews linked by a script that is voiced by the
reporter.
The best packages use sound effects and music to bring the piece alive but care
needs to be taken not to overuse them: music randomly stuck behind links and
interviews is meaningless, and if the track chosen has lyrics the words of the song
can end up in competition with what is being said in the report. Well-chosen music
can evoke atmosphere, and sound effects are a good way to provide a sense of
location in a package. Tightly scripted, creative and fast-paced packages are a
cornerstone of the output Christian Hewgill creates for BBC Radio 1 NewsBeat.
Strong audio at the start, strong audio at the end, a variety of good voices, a
variety of voices that are relevant to the audience. I don’t want to hear from
a councillor or an MP just for the sake of it. Relevant voices are key. I believe a
package has got to have some pace to it, using sound is absolutely essential …
using things to lift it, using things to grab the audience’s attention. Strong voices,
good pace, creativity with the music and effects that you use, the scripting is
vital, don’t bore me with 30–40” long chunks of script, break it up a bit.
In effect, the ingredients of a good package are the ingredients of any good news
story, the story needs to be told well, it needs to be brought to life and – where
possible - it needs to take people on a journey through sound.
Pamela Gupta,4 a Broadcast Journalist at BBC Radio Derby, says this:
The start (of a package) is really key … you’ve got to get them in … but try not
to get them in with something obvious like a kettle boiling or a knock at the
door, think outside the box. The finished product should not sound like just a
long vox pop, you’ve got to turn those people you meet into characters.
2-WAYS
A 2-way is a specific way of telling a story that involves a reporter being interviewed
by a presenter or a newsreader. The reporter tells the story they have been working
62 JOHN COLLINS
on via a series of questions from their colleague. This is the key difference between
a 2-way and a regular interview; it is a journalist speaking to another journalist. They
tend to be the preserve of a newsroom’s strongest operators as their successful
delivery is arguably the hardest radio skill to perfect. They are popular within news
programmes as they allow complicated stories to be fully explained. Also, due to
them having more than one voice within them, they are likely to pique, and then
keep, the interest of listeners. The use of a loose question and answer structure
allows the story to develop in a natural way and they are effective as a way of
summarising or explaining complex events like the budget, a court case or the
release of a government report.
What makes them so difficult to master is that you not only need to be completely
across the details of your story, but you need to be able to relay all of this in
formation to the listeners in a relaxed and conversational style; the listener should
feel as if they are overhearing a conversation. This means that the 2-way must
achieve a balance between the forensic and the familiar; it needs to be the perfect
combination of the informed and the informal.
2-ways fall into two main types: those that are delivered at the scene of a story and
those that are delivered in the studio. Ideally the reporter will write a cue for the
presenter as well as a list of suggested questions. While it is clearly possible to
script a response to each of those questions, 2-ways almost always sound better if
the reporter delivers their responses from a series of bullet points or notes. To do
this – whilst sounding chatty – means having full trust in your understanding and
knowledge of the story.
Chris King5 is the News Editor at BBC Radio Shropshire. For many years he was
intrinsically linked with the corporation’s coverage of what became known as the
Stafford Hospital scandal.
The problems uncovered at that hospital are thought to be one of the worst failures
in the 75-year history of the NHS. Hundreds of patients died sooner than they
would have been expected to within a climate of abuse and neglect. The health
regulator outlined what were described as “appalling” levels of care at the Mid
Staffordshire NHS Trust and concluded that there had been no fewer than 400
more deaths than expected from 2005 to 2008. This happened at a time when
there was a shortage of both doctors and nurses, and receptionists without
medical training were assessing patients and many staff were under huge pres
sures to meet performance targets (BBC, 2019).
Working at BBC Radio Stoke, Chris was the station’s Stafford reporter throughout
the time this situation was ongoing. It was a hugely complicated story that involved
formal inquiries, inquests, many different organisations and a timeline of traumatic
events strung out over a long period. Often the best way of updating listeners on
this story was via a 2-way. Below, Chris shares what he describes as his ‘Seven
Golden Rules’ for making the most of this particular treatment:
THE ROLE OF NEWS 63
• don’t be boring – it’s a performance! Use language which people can

understand and when you’re reading the answers out try to put a bit of life
into it, don’t be afraid to add some of your own personality;
• the text of each answer should be no longer than around 30 seconds
(that’s not including clips);
• clips should be no longer than 25 seconds, and even then it should be a
bloody good clip;
• try to avoid technical terms – and if you can’t avoid them explain them as if
you were speaking to somebody down the pub;
• don’t assume knowledge – don’t be afraid to explain the background to a
story every time you report on it;
• when court reporting, resist the urge to regurgitate every exchange –
choose a few choice quotes and paraphrase the rest;
• don’t go on for longer than you need to – if you can only get 90 seconds
out of it only do 90 seconds.
BUILDING A BULLETIN
Radio news bulletins vary from 60 seconds on some commercial stations to 10 or
even 15 minutes on some BBC stations. Unlike longer news magazine pro
grammes, their function is to summarise events and bring the audience up to date
with the latest stories. Most feature a mixture of local, national and international
news covering politics, crime, social issues, entertainment and sport.
On most stations the news is compiled and put into a running order by the newsreader,
usually to an agreed format. Some stations, for example, like to end their bulletins on a
lighter note with showbiz news or an ‘and finally’ story. Others insist that the lead story
should always have audio – either a voice piece or actuality – to stress its importance.
Generally, the item deemed to be of most importance to the audience of the station
is read first, but after that other factors influence the running order. These include
the need for a variety of topics with a mix of local, national and international items; a
variety of sounds with a mix of voice pieces and actuality along with the news
reader’s voice and whether the duration of an item fits into the rest of the bulletin.
Polly Bayfield6 (Figure 3.2) was 2020’s winner of IRN’s Newsreader of the Year
Award (for stations with an audience of 1.5 million or less). She has been ac
knowledged by her peers as being amongst the very best newsreaders within
commercial radio newsrooms. When it comes to building a balanced bulletin, Polly
feels that the start point should always be remembering exactly who is listening.
First and foremost it’s always important to think about your target audience
and to bear in mind who you’re aiming your bulletin at. What could be really
64 JOHN COLLINS
FIGURE 3.2 Free Radio newsreader, Polly Bayfield
important for one station’s demographic could be completely irrelevant to

another’s. With that in mind I then start to think about the impact of a story or
how many people’s lives will be affected by what I’m about to say. More often
than not your top story is going to be something that will be of interest to the
majority of the public and that will then change as you work your way down the
bulletin where it’s more tailored to your listenership. Finally I always think about
what’s going to get people talking for most of the day. When people wake up
and listen to the breakfast news what is it that they’ll still be talking about at the
end of the day to their friends, family, in the pub, round the dinner table?
When Polly talks of working her way down a running order of stories, she’s also starting
to contemplate the overall balance of the bulletin. Here, we are referring not to jour
nalistic balance but an attempt to ensure that the selection of news stories is not too
negative and that a variety of subjects and topics are present. Establishing a balance
between stories that are traditionally ‘good’ news and those which are traditionally
viewed as ‘bad’ news is often referred to as attempting to achieve ‘light and shade’.
There’s this view that most of the time broadcasters only report doom and
gloom news and so building a bulletin with light and shade gives you the
opportunity to show that it’s not always the case. Your bulletin should take the
listener on a journey of the day’s news which features the main talking points
THE ROLE OF NEWS 65
but, just as importantly, includes stories which resonate with them as well so
they come away feeling informed and understood. There are days though
where you can’t finish on a light ‘and finally …’ story about a celebrity
pregnancy. If the news agenda is heavier than usual, then sometimes you can’t
get away from that. What you can do though is use your writing skills and voice
to make it more digestible and easier to listen to. The scripts are obviously very
important because they have to be impactful and informative for the listener
but also for whoever’s reading them. With any script I’m given though, I always
rewrite it slightly to fit how I speak and read so once there’s a strong story, it is
written well, it is understandable and tailored to me, then my voice and delivery
is the next step. Communication is key because the listener can’t see you, so
they’re relying on the level of authority in your voice, your diction, tone and your
personality to tell them what they need to know and help them understand it.
Tom Hilton agrees that the way in which a script is delivered is just as important as
the way in which a script is written.
Tone and pace of delivery are crucial when it comes to delivering a news
bulletin. Control of that comes from fully knowing and understanding every
word you’ve put into the bulletin. Once that is done then you can focus on how
best to deliver it. I always say to people that you need to find the right feel of
stories and deliver it in that way, if you sound the same and talk at the same
pace for every story it will inevitably sound like you don’t care about what
you’re reading. If you don’t care, then why should the listener?
The importance Tom places on tone, pace and the manner of delivery do not
necessarily extend to the injection of a reader’s ‘personality’ into the news bulletin.
The most important thing is telling someone who needs to know, something
they need to know. It’s not the fact that YOU are telling someone something that
they need to know. The journalist shouldn’t be the focus of the news, the focus
should be the story you are telling. You shouldn’t really know too much about
the person who is delivering your news beyond that you know that they do it in a
way that is informative … for 99 stories out of a 100, we’re not interested in the
journalist who’s delivering it, we’re interested in how well the story is delivered
and presented. We’re not interested in you, it’s about the story.
While almost all bulletins within the BBC are presented live, there has been a growing
trend in commercial radio for bulletins to be pre-recorded. At certain times of the day,
a regional newsroom in Birmingham may well be producing bespoke bulletins for
services in Coventry, Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Wolverhampton and Worcester
as well as Birmingham. The number of available journalists means that they simply
cannot all be delivered live. What happens instead is that the bulletins are recorded
‘as-live’ and then digitally dispatched to remote play-out systems ahead of the time
66 JOHN COLLINS
they are scheduled to be broadcast. The pre-recording of bulletins has some obvious
advantages, but comes with its own drawbacks too as Polly explains
Your ability to react to breaking news is limited slightly as you need to give
yourself time to record your bulletin and for it to be loaded properly. So if
something happens after that and there’s not enough time to record a new
bulletin then you have to wait until your next one. However, the joys of a pre-
recorded bulletin mean you can edit out any mistakes that you make so that it
goes out without a hitch. A live bulletin means there’s also the freedom of
interaction between the newsreader and presenter if there needs to be.
NOTES
1 All quotes from Christian Hewgill taken from interview with John Collins in July 2020.
2 All quotes from Tom Hilton taken from interview with John Collins in August 2020. Tom left
his position as the Bulletin Editor at Gem 106 in September 2020. He is now training to be
a secondary school teacher.
3 Vicky Breakwell moved from commercial radio to the BBC in 2017. She is now a
Broadcast Journalist at BBC Hereford & Worcester where she presents the news on the
station’s breakfast show.
4 All quotes from Pamela Gupta taken from interview with Arran Bee in June 2020. Pamela
Gupta left the BBC in January 2021.
5 All quotes from Chris King taken from interview with John Collins in July 2020.
6 All quotes from Polly Bayfield taken from interview with John Collins in August 2020.
REFERENCES
Barnard, S., 2000. Studying Radio. Arnold, London.
BBC, 2019. Stafford Hospital scandal: the real story behind Channel 4’s The Cure. BBC
News Online. [WWW Document]. URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-
staffordshire-50836324 (last accessed 22.07.20).
Clarkson, S., Martin, R., 2020. BBC local radio to cut 139 jobs in England. Radio Today.
[WWW Document]. radiotoday.co.uk. URL https://radiotoday.co.uk/2020/07/bbc-local-
radio-to-cut-139-jobs-in-england (last accessed 08.08.2020).
Crisell, A., 1986. Understanding Radio. Methuen, London.
Geller, V., 2000. The Powerful Radio Workbook. M Street Publication, Nashville, TN.
Geller, V., 2012. Beyond Powerful Radio. Focal Press, Burlington, MA.
Lloyd, D., 2015. How to Make Great Radio. Biteback, London.
Plunkett, J., 2008. IRN drops ITN for Sky News. The Guardian. [WWW Document]. URL https://
www.theguardian.com/media/2008/oct/15/irn-itn-sky-news (last accessed 19.08.20).
RadioToday, 2020. BBC Local Radio to cut 139 jobs in England. https://radiotoday.co.uk/
2020/07/bbc-local-radio-to-cut-139-jobs-in-england/.
CHAPTER 4
Station and
programme formats
by Arran Bee
As more and more radio stations launch across various listening platforms, they are
increasingly focused on who they are talking to and how they go about it. This chapter
is concerned with the characteristics of common station and programme formats. VP
of Product and Talent for Rogers Radio in Canada, Paul Kaye,1 says “formats are the
answer to the question; how are we going to serve the audience?”
In the pre-digital age, specific formats emerged as a result of the way that radio
stations were licenced. The regulator (now Ofcom, previously the Radio Authority
and the Independent Broadcasting Authority) awarded FM and AM licences on a
‘beauty parade’ basis, where the most interesting-looking proposal, which broa
dened listener choice in a specific locality, was awarded the available licence. For
example, proposals might have included a pop station, a classic hits station, a
youth station and a news station. Whichever was chosen would be bound to stick
to the proposed format, as it existed to ensure listeners were well served across the
dial. Space on the FM or AM spectrum was a scarce public resource, with few
‘slots’ for new stations. Therefore, stations faced limited competition.
The introduction of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) in the mid-to-late 1990s, the
upgraded DAB+ in 2007, the increase in internet-only radio streaming and the
continued growth of podcasts have meant that FM and AM spectrum space is less
valuable than it used to be. As the medium of ‘radio’ becomes one that could more
broadly be termed ‘audio’, there are more ways to broadcast than ever before. In
fact, the late 2010s saw the launch or relaunch of a number of stations, featuring
big name personalities, with little to no FM or AM coverage (LBC across the UK,
Radio X across the UK, Virgin Radio and Times Radio to name four). In the summer
of 2020, there were more than 500 UK radio stations listed on the online listening
68 ARRAN BEE
platform, Radioplayer (Radioplayer UK, n.d.). With so much choice, and the rise of
consolidated national brands, formats are now determined by perceived oppor
tunities in the marketplace rather than by a regulator prescribing how a station
should sound. In 2014, Global argued the following to Ofcom:
This explosion in choice not only renders music format regulation of local
analogue commercial radio stations unnecessary, it also makes it more
important for stations to be free to adapt to changing audience demands, to
be able to innovate and experiment, rather than being tied down to
anachronistic written descriptions of their output. Local commercial radio
stations must compete for listeners’ attention with services such as Spotify,
Deezer and Rdio as well as Youtube and iTunes Radio, due to launch soon in
the UK, not to mention the almost limitless choice of radio stations available on
services such as TuneIn Radio.
(Ofcom, 2014)
Many large radio groups have a range of services to capture potential listeners
(Absolute 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, for example) or establish stations to be a partial
competitor to an existing service with a large audience (talkSPORT to 5 Live or
Times Radio to Radio 4, for example). In 2017, the UK Government announced that
commercial stations will no longer have to apply to Ofcom to change their music
policies, however minimum requirements for news, travel and weather information
will remain (DCMS, 2017). Managing Editor of BBC Radio Northampton, and
former commercial radio programmer, Helen Grimes,2 says that formats have
become more important in the digital world:
Formats exist to make it easy for our customers. In commercial radio, our
customers are advertisers. You might run a commercial radio station which
targets affluent people over 40, because there are lots and lots of companies
that want to target their products there. [Understanding] advertisers as
customers in commercial radio is very, very important. That’s how the stations
exist. In the BBC, there’s a duty to serve all of the licence fee payers, so the
customers there are the licence fee payers. We have to make sure that we
provide some radio to suit everybody.
Radio stations have distinctive formats. Whether niche or broad, not all formats
explicitly mention their intended audience. Most, though, are designed to deliver a
specific listenership (defined by a mixture of gender, age and social background).
EXAMPLES OF RADIO STATION FORMATS

Station formats in the UK range from all-speech to music-based, with some a
mixture of the two. See below for examples of popular overarching station formats:
STATION AND PROGRAMME FORMATS 69
Speech
Full speech programmes are heavy on live interviews, often utilising listener calls,
both of which lead to original news stories. These stations may commission doc
umentaries. LBC, talkRADIO and Times Radio take this approach. Similarly,
talkSPORT use the same basic format but are purely focused on sport. BBC Radio
5 Live mix news and sport. BBC Radio 4’s format is described as “intelligent
speech” (BBC, n.d.) due to its unique range of programming (including news,
comedy, documentaries, drama and serialised book readings).
Speech/music mix
These stations have a range of different types of programming, often established to
serve a geographic location or particular demographic, with a variety of relevant
editorial content and music. Stations may be required to provide a certain level of
speech output. For example, BBC National and Local Radio must ensure that 60%
of output is speech, including peak listening time the breakfast show (Ofcom,
2019a, Sec. 2.71).
Examples: BBC National (e.g. BBC Radio Scotland) and Local Radio (e.g. BBC
Radio Leicester), BBC Asian Network, BBC World Service, various community
radio stations.
Music
Music programming has a range of sub-formats, depending on the genre and
breadth of songs which are played. ‘Contemporary’ (also known as CHR, CHR Pop
or Top 40) has a heavy focus on current chart hits and new music, angled towards a
young audience. Examples are BBC Radio 1 and Capital FM. ‘Adult Contemporary’
stations incorporate a broad range of music policies, aimed between young adults
and pensioners. Most focus on the 25–44 market. Examples here include Heart,
Magic and BBC Radio 2. Stations like Gold and Greatest Hits Radio could be
classified as ‘Classic Hits’, playing well-loved songs from the last 50 years (or more,
in some cases).
As the number of radio stations has increased, as has the number operating a wide
range of specialist music formats examples include Classic FM, Country Hits Radio,
Premier Christian Radio, Planet Rock, Absolute 80s and Sabras Radio.
PROGRAMME FORMATS AND FUNCTIONS

Even with a clear overall format, radio stations use different types of programming across
their schedules. The remainder of this chapter looks at some of the most popular.
70 ARRAN BEE
Music
Music programming is a huge part of most radio stations in the UK. With listeners
able to access more audio content than ever before, everything about the music
selection and style of presentation has to avoid turning off existing listeners and turn
casual listeners into more regular listeners:
I think that within 30 seconds of tuning across the dial and finding a radio
station, you should know ‘yeah – this is the sort of radio station I want to listen
to’, either by the music that they’re playing or what the presenters are talking
about.
(Helen Grimes, Managing Editor of BBC Radio Northampton)
Daytime music shows are designed to appeal to as much of the target audience as
possible. Especially in commercial radio, this tends to mean using a well-
researched playlist and keeping presenter links short, snappy and complementary
to the tracks being played. For stations with a narrow, young target audience this
can mean a high rotation of popular tracks, with fewer than 300 different songs
being played across a month (Mahoney, 2010). For broader, older stations, the
number of unique tracks being played in the daytime can be much higher
(Mahoney, 2010). BBC Radio 2, the most popular station in the UK with more than
14 million listeners (BBC, 2020b), plays 600 different songs in the daytime, per
week (Giger, 2017). Tracks are scheduled centrally by a head of music, for daytime
programming especially. Each hour begins with a very popular song which has
scored highly in listener testing. The arrangement of songs in the rest of the hour
should mix genres, tempos and eras to give a sense of variety. For more on music
scheduling, see Chapter 2.
Specialist music programmes generally appear in the off-peak hours. America’s

Greatest Hits with Paul Gambaccini on Greatest Hits Radio and Classic Rock Party
with Claire Sturgess on Absolute Radio are both scheduled for weekend evenings.
Depending on a station’s policy, a presenter may have more control over the music
played than their daytime colleagues, especially if they are seen as a specialist.
Audiences are much smaller than a breakfast show, for example, but may have a
strong connection with a programme that they feel they cannot get anywhere else.
Music radio presenters need to be enthusiastic sales people of the tracks they
play – and creative storytellers when it comes to the words they use. Veteran radio
programmer David Lloyd says “the art of daytime music radio is sounding as
though you are enjoying the most-played songs as much as your listeners are”
(Lloyd, 2015). With this in mind, ‘teasing’ upcoming tracks is important to en
courage listeners to stick around for longer. The best music radio presenters are
able to intrigue their audience about what is to come. They might use a personal
endorsement or story, a link to a news item or a piece of trivia to give a hint as to
what the track is. Whichever technique they use, they avoid simply naming the
song and saying it is on the way next. Equally, making the most of space for ‘links’
is a skill that is honed over time. Some highly formatted music stations may only
allow seconds at a time, while those with higher levels of speech content may allow
several minutes. Either way, links in a music radio show are a chance for a pre
senter to show personality and build a connection with the audience. This could be
through an anecdote, a ‘take’ on a trending story, listener calls or texts or a piece of
creative commercial content. All of the former benefit from some level of planning,
even if it is just knowing the ‘out’ – the line on which the link ends.
Phone-ins
The radio phone-in has had a number of reinventions over the years. In the UK,
BBC Radio Nottingham is credited with the first-ever phone-in, called ‘What Are
They Up to Now?’. In it, a man called up to complain about his local council.
Phone-in presenter Brian Hayes notes “at that early stage, they were novel but
mostly dull” (1994, p. 42). As phone-ins became a staple of radio programming,
Linda Gage explained “callers have come to understand the procedure and what is
expected of them. They have learnt to be callers” (1999, p. 75).
Crisell identified the intimate and confessional nature of the phone-in, character
ising the listener as an “eavesdropper … listening in on a crossed line”, who is
“overhearing words which are being addressed to someone else” (1994, p. 196).
For Qasa Alom,3 presenter of BBC Asian Network’s Big Debate, phone-ins are
made to deliver memorable moments:
There’s that element of spontaneity to it. If people are picking up the phones,
they’ve been triggered, effectively. I don’t mean in a negative way. There’s
something that they’ve heard or something that you’ve said that’s made them
want to talk about it. So instantly, they will be at a different level, a different
rhythm, to someone that you’ve tapped up to talk to from a contacts book.
There’s something personal to them, or something about what they’ve just
heard, that makes them want to come on. It’s more spontaneous. It’s live. You
can’t predict what they’re going to say, they haven’t been ‘prepping’, it’s just
something that is happening out of the blue. I know it’s a cliché but sparks fly
as a result of that because you’re just bouncing off each other.
These days, phone-ins are either in or out of fashion, depending on who you ask.
Phone-ins on local commercial radio have all but disappeared, perhaps as re
quirements for stations to provide a certain level of speech content have been
removed. People, in general, relying more on texts, emails and instant messaging
to communicate is doubtless a factor, too. Local and national BBC stations still
regularly feature their listeners’ voices but not always as part of a programme
explicitly set up as a phone-in. Certainly in much of their daytime output,
talkSPORT favour the use of pre-booked guests rather than relying entirely on
72 ARRAN BEE
callers. And when News UK’s Times Radio launched in May 2020, its programme
director, Tim Levell said that the station would avoid phone-ins: “what we don’t
want to do is have those pure phone-ins which can be sometimes a bit simplistic or
knee-jerk. So we’re not a phone-in station, but we absolutely want to harness the
expertise of our listeners” (Tobitt, 2020). This approach contrasts with LBC, the
station which has – in many ways – re-established what the radio phone-in is all
about. Under the ownership of Global Radio, it started using the slogan ‘London’s
Biggest Conversation’. After going national on DAB, this became ‘Leading Britain’s
Conversation’, with virtually the whole schedule utilising listener calls in some form.
In 2014, LBC’s strategy of securing high-profile politicians to take part in phone-ins,
leading to viral video clips and bulletin-leading stories, won them recognition at the
Radio Academy Awards. The teams behind Call Clegg (with then Deputy Prime
Minister, Nick Clegg) and Ask Boris (with then Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson)
won a special award “for the ‘transformational effect’ the programmes have had in
putting commercial radio at the heart of the news agenda” (Furness, 2014). The
BBC continues to use phone-ins, too. The schedules of its national networks
feature many long-running examples, across news and magazine programmes.
These include Your Call on 5 Live and as part of Woman’s Hour on Radio 4.
Sporting phone-ins have remained popular. 5 Live’s post-match 606 is still going
strong, having been launched in 1991. Excited and exasperated post-match callers
are a staple of talkSPORT’s coverage, too.
When a phone-in is poorly executed or simply does not tempt listeners to call in,
the audience can tell that it has not ‘worked’. When a phone-in does ‘work’,
though, it can be as gripping and engaging as radio gets. Helen Grimes, Managing
Editor of BBC Radio Northampton says getting it right can be tricky:
A great radio phone-in is a really, really simple thing and is really, really hard to
achieve. The thing that makes a great radio phone-in is great callers – great
people phoning in. It sounds terribly easy, doesn’t it? It’s really hard to get
right. You have to have enough listeners so you have enough interesting
people with good points to make. National stations – like LBC – have enough
people who, firstly, will pick up the phone and, secondly, will have something
interesting to say. It can be harder to run a really good phone-in at a smaller
station. That’s not to say that you can’t do it, there are some really successful
local radio phone-ins, but it can be difficult to sustain it on a daily basis. For
stations like LBC, 5 Live and Radio 2, who do phone-ins really well, being
national gives them a bigger pool.
While slightly more chaotic phone-ins can give the impression of being a ‘free for
all’, where anyone can end up on the radio, the reality is quite different. Phone-ins
are not a democracy. Firstly, the question being asked is chosen by a presenter or
producer (although possibly based on existing listener contributions). Secondly,
callers are screened before being put to air and brought ‘back on track’ if they
begin to talk about something other than the pre-decided topic. While phone-ins
need to be fair to the caller, they also need to be interesting and engaging for the
wider audience. With that in mind, the production of a phone-in is often a factor in
its success, certainly according to Helen Grimes:
Good phone-ins don’t actually happen organically. I think it’s very useful to
think before a phone-in about the strands that might come up, what people
might say, to think about how you might move a topic through.
When thinking about how to produce a great radio phone-in, deciding on a topic,
then the exact wording of the question, is the key decision. Obviously, the topic
needs to be relevant to the audience, either tapping into something that they are
likely thinking about already or in reaction to something engaging that they might
have just heard on the programme.
BBC Radio London’s Vanessa Feltz4 says a great subject “is a subject with a very clear
‘yes’ or a ‘no’; you can feel very strongly in favour and you can feel equally strongly
against – and people have had personal experience of it”. Helen Grimes agrees:
It needs to be the kind of question that everybody’s got an answer to. Ask your
average man in the street what should be done to resolve the political situation
in Syria and very few people have got an opinion but ask them what they think
about Brexit and everyone’s got an opinion! Talk about something that people
want to talk about.
When honing the question, it can help to work backwards, trying to imagine what
sort of contribution listeners might make. Are you looking for an opinion, suggestion
or personal story? Opinions or suggestions can lead to a higher volume of calls but,
sometimes, an emotional, humorous or dramatic listener tale can prove to be
‘golden’.
Having decided on the desired contribution, it is time to form the exact wording of
the question. While the fashion for ‘shock jocks’, who will seemingly say anything
just to get a reaction, has largely disappeared on mainstream UK radio, there is still,
according to talkSPORT Head of Live Sport Kathryn Anastasi,5 room for phone-in
questions to be deliberately provocative:
I think you can be. Provocative is different to downright antagonistic, which I

think the ‘shock jock’ stuff used to be. You can pose a question knowing that
there’s going to be people who are going to disagreeing with it and knowing
that that’s what you’re going to get in the callers. I think there are fewer
outrageous claims, these days. It’s more of an informed, grown-up debate.
Questions can be angled to speak to a large or relatively small number of people.

There are different schools of thought about which approach can be the most
74 ARRAN BEE
successful. A question like ‘is it time to abolish the monarchy?’, for example, is one
that anyone is able to answer and most people would have an opinion on. There
are likely to be a high number of calls, even if the content of them might be slightly
predictable. Conversely, ‘what happened when you met the Queen?’ is a question
very few people can answer but may bring out a fantastic story from the few
that can.
I think both of those things are valid. It depends on what the topic is.
Sometimes you go ‘we’ll just put this out there’ and you’ll get a tonne of
responses to it. Other things, we’ll aim for one or two but they’ll be really good.
There’s the third type too, where we know we’re going to get a load and 80%
of them are going to be unusable but we’ll cherry-pick a couple that are going
to be useful.
(Paul Iliffe,6 Content Controller, Gem 106)
Lastly, it can be worthwhile to test the proposed wording of a question on col

leagues – do they have an instinctive response to it? If they do not, it may be that it
requires too much prior knowledge. Also, think about how the word ‘you’ can be
used in the question. For example, a question like ‘would you report discrimination
in your workplace?’ forces the listener to engage with the question and potentially
draw upon their own experience, whereas ‘what should be done about dis
crimination in the workplace?’ is easier to ignore.
A high level of engagement from a presenter toward the subject can also have a big
influence on how well it is ‘sold’ to the audience. Gemma Stevenson,7 producer of
Vanessa Feltz on BBC Radio London, says a presenter being willing to talk about a
relevant personal experience can be the difference between success and failure:
Sometimes, there are some subjects that will only work because Vanessa
chose it and Vanessa is going to do it. Especially when we’re doing the
9 o’clock hour, which is all phone-in, she has to be the one to sell it. She has to
be the one to talk about it for an hour. If it’s something that she is really
passionate about then we know that it will work.
Different approaches are taken towards partiality within phone-ins. All broadcasters
are subject to Ofcom’s due impartiality rules. These are about more than providing
simple balance. Hartley (Hartley, 2003, p. 109) stated that impartial broadcasters
should “take account of (i) a full range of views and opinions; (ii) the relative weight
of opinion (this means that established or orthodox views get priority over chal
lenges to them); and (iii) changes that occur in the range and weight of opinion over
time”. The ‘due’ aspect of ‘due impartiality’ means that the most high-profile po
litical and industrial controversies are treated with the highest level of impartiality
(Brexit or a large-scale strike, example) and the most trivial stories are treated with
no impartiality at all (e.g. the outcome of a vote on the nation’s favourite biscuit).
The Ofcom Code sets out that “due impartiality may vary according to the nature of
the subject, the type of programme and channel, the likely expectation of the au
dience as to content, and the extent to which the content and approach is signalled
to the audience” (Ofcom, 2019b, Sec. 5.0). In practice, this means BBC journalists
and news presenters avoid giving their personal opinions on controversial news
stories. Some commercial radio stations, like LBC and talkRADIO, however, en
courage presenters to articulate their views, in what has described as “opinionated
news broadcasting” (Mosey, 2018). These stations achieve due impartiality using
other methods mentioned later. For BBC Radio Northampton Managing Editor,
Helen Grimes, “you shouldn’t be able to tell what the opinion is of a really good
phone-in presenter”. She adds:
Some of the best phone-in presenters I’ve heard can do this brilliant thing
where they’ll argue with a caller, they’ll challenge a caller. They’ll put an
opposing point-of-view and then the next caller will come on, who agrees with
the presenter, and the presenter will then completely flip their argument and
argue the other way. … If you listened to Nicky Campbell on 5 Live, I wouldn’t
know what his view is.
While that is true of presenters on the BBC, talkRADIO’s Julia Hartley-Brewer8

takes the opposite approach. She says her station provides “honest comment
where people can challenge and we’re being open about our views”:
I think it’s really refreshing that we’ve got choice for people on the radio. That
they’ve got different voices they can hear. People giving opinions but more
importantly, people being honest about giving their opinion.
For LBC, its more opinionated approach is certainly successful. Its number of weekly
listeners has doubled in five years, from 1.4 million at the start of 2015 to 2.8 million in the
first quarter of 2020 (RadioToday, n.d.). This approach is made possible by Ofcom
regulations that allow impartiality to be achieved “within a programme or over a series of
programmes taken as a whole” (Ofcom, 2019b:5.5) and the use of different points of
view within a programme. Ofcom’s Adam Baxter explains “you can say you feel the
government is pants on this policy, as long as there are alternative viewpoints”
(Waterson, 2020). Baxter adds that presenters “could have callers jousting with them;
they might be responding to emails; the presenter might summarise the alternative view,
or a political editor could set out the government’s view” (Waterson, 2020). Where al
ternative points are judged not to be adequately represented, broadcasters face reg
ulatory sanctions. In one case, talkRADIO was fined £75,000 for three shows in 2018 in
which presenter George Galloway9 discussed anti-Semitism in the Labour Party and the
Government’s response to the Salisbury poisoning (Ofcom, 2020).
Having come up with an engaging subject and a well-crafted question, what needs
to happen on-air to make the most of the phone-in? Helen Grimes explains:
76 ARRAN BEE
Lots of phone-ins start with a ‘kicker call’. A caller who’s going to say
something really good, really interesting. It might be someone who’s sent you a
text during the programme and you ring them back, have a chat with them and
realise ‘this person’s really good’. If you get a really, really good caller first, that
says something interesting, something that might make people agree or
disagree, it prompts other people to ring. Getting that first call right is really
important. It gives people something to respond to.
You don’t just put callers on in the order that they call, you might think ‘ok,
we’ve had three people make that point already’ so we won’t put that caller on.
You might also think ‘we’re missing this bit of this conversation’ and you’ll look
through the call log or the texts to see who’s making the point that you know
will move you into a different area. I used to do a spider diagram. I’d look at it
during the show and think ‘have we covered all of these things off?’ If you
know that no-one has said a bit that might make an interesting angle, you
might put it to the presenter to hone a broad question down into something
really specific. That might prompt someone to call to take you to an interesting
place or just conclude and balance the conversation you’ve been having.
Just because callers tend to be normal members of the public, rather than a po
litician or opinionated expert, does not mean that they cannot be challenged by the
presenter. Helen Grimes says this is done in different ways:
It’s important to challenge callers. Presenters know that politicians or guests

are there to be challenged and to be argued with. We should apply the same
thing to callers who ring up. It’s not just ‘come on and have your say,
unchallenged’. A really good presenter will challenge a view or argue with a
caller. One good way to challenge callers is to put a couple on with each other.
Providing you can control how much they talk over each other, it can be really
interesting for the presenter to sit back and let people have a conversation.
Obviously, phone-ins take different forms. Some are done around other content.
Some are very light hearted. Many of the points discussed in this section related to
phone-ins apply to news programming more generally.
News and current affairs

News is something that all radio stations deliver, mostly through top-of-the-hour
bulletins. Chapter 3 looks at the role of news on radio, in detail. When considering
full-length news programmes, there is now a range of listening options nationally
(5 Live, Radio 4, LBC, talkRADIO and Times Radio to name just five), with each
targeting slightly different audiences. This section outlines some of the common
factors of a successful news format.
In their book, Broadcast Journalism, Peter Stewart and Ray Alexander say that if a
news programme is to build loyalty from its audience, “it will have to establish a
clear identity and have a greater balance and variety of material than a bulletin”
(2016, p. 55). Managing Editor of BBC Radio Northampton Helen Grimes, concurs,
saying that “‘good stories, well told’ is the essence of a good news format, as much
as it’s the essence of lots of other formats”. On top of this, though, a news pro
gramme’s ‘identity’ may equally be formed by the non-news elements. While a
populist approach, an idiosyncratic presentation style, crafted ‘links’ between
stories, features and benchmarks can all help to make a news show more ap
pealing to a casual audience.
How a story is told is what the BBC calls its ‘treatment’. At its very simplest, it could
be a presenter reading a story out of a newspaper. More produced options include
a live interview, a package, a 2-way (either in the studio or on location), a discussion
between two or more contributors, using callers and texts or even some sort of
game. A variety of treatments within a programme can reduce its predictability and
show off more sides to the personality of a presenter. See Chapter 1 (“The role of
news”) for more on the treatment of news stories on radio.
The quality and profile of interviewees has an influence on how relevant a programme
is. Explaining talkSPORT’s success and growing reputation after being named Station
of the Year at the Sony Radio Academy Awards in 2012, then programme director,
Moz Dee, said “it is about content and – I’m not ashamed of using this word – jour
nalism. Let’s break a few stories. Let’s not talk about Harry Redknapp, let’s talk to
Harry Redknapp” (Bose, 2012). It is a point that has been illustrated for years by Radio
4’s Today and 5 Live Breakfast, which has been reinforced by LBC’s shareable video
clips of interviews on social media; speaking to people at the heart of a story generates
a new line and brings a certain kudos to the programme the interview took place on.
Talking about a story with people who are not directly related to it, while still relevant,
does not have the same effect.
It is certainly true that presenters on fast-paced, all-speech current affairs shows

have to have an excellent knowledge of the stories on the news agenda. Former
Today presenter, James Naughtie explained “to keep on top you need to know
what’s going on. It is a perpetual topping up of the tank and it’s vital … I watch and
listen to everything and follow the wires. I am a news junkie” (quoted in Trewin,
2013, pp. 142–143). Additionally, while some radio reporters might not explicitly set
out to show their personality, news presenters have more licence to. Like any
format, the main reason a listener keeps coming back every day can easily be that
they like the sound and style of the person speaking to them. Chapter 2 deals with
the makings of a great presenter.
Finally, news and current affairs programming needs to have high production va
lues, both technical and editorial. From a technical perspective, this means en
suring that studio contributors are clear and speaking at the same level. For remote
guests, a stable connection (phone, VoIP or otherwise) is essential. As Richard
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Berry notes, “speech radio requires greater concentration and a sustained in
tellectual or emotional response. This is hard if the connection repeatedly fails”
(Crisell, 2006, p. 294). From an editorial perspective, sticking too closely to the pre-
show plan may mean missing the chance to feature a breaking story. Executive
producer at talkSPORT, Sarah Collins,10 says live speech programming must have
“an ability to be flexible and fluid. To go with the story, to not stick to the running
order, to react, to engage”.
Elections and referendums

Radio stations vary in the way that they cover elections. Stations with a heavy
commitment to news may do live, all-night coverage of the results, both on-air and
on social media, especially for a general election. Smaller stations, or those with
smaller teams, might focus on gathering material for breakfast show bulletins and
social media posts in the morning. For those that do take the ‘as it happens’ ap
proach, successful election programming shares many similarities with sports
programming; it requires detailed preparation, concentration, being ready for the
big moments and rushing to gather post-declaration interviews. This section looks
at the common factors of election programming and how results are covered.
Most years will see some form of election to cover. These include polls for local
authorities, Police and Crime Commissioners, devolved administrations, regional
mayors or national government. The rules on covering all of these, and one-off
referendums, are set by Ofcom.
Broadcast media adhere to more stringent restrictions during the election period
than the print media. Newspapers are able to favour certain candidates over
others, campaign for a particular political party, and even run the results of an
opinion poll on the day of polling. But under the combined effect of the 1981 and
1990 Broadcasting Acts, the Representation of the People Acts 1983 and 2000,
and the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, television and radio
must provide fair and balanced election coverage, and keep records to prove that
they have done so. In particular, stations and their presenters must never endorse a
particular candidate or party on air. Phone-in host, James Whale, was sacked from
talkSPORT in May 2008 for encouraging his audience to vote for Boris Johnson in
the London Mayoral election. A complaint about his comments to Ofcom prompted
an investigation by the regulator, which fined the station £20,000 (Ofcom, 2008).
All coverage of elections and referendums by UK radio stations is subject to the

Ofcom Broadcasting Code. This includes the BBC, which became externally
regulated in 2017. The corporation also has its own Editorial Guidelines relating to
how elections should be covered (in line with Ofcom’s requirements). These rules
cover the period from the announcement of the election to the close of polls.
Ofcom sets out what constitutes the election period:
For a parliamentary general election, this period begins with the dissolution of
Parliament. For a parliamentary by-election, this period begins with the issuing
of a writ or on such earlier date as is notified in the London Gazette. For the
Scottish Parliament elections and National Assembly for Wales elections, the
period begins with the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament or the National
Assembly for Wales as appropriate or, in the case of a by-election, with the
date of the occurrence of a vacancy. For the Northern Ireland Assembly, the
London Assembly and for local government elections, it is the last date for
publication of notices of the election. … In all cases the period ends with the
close of the poll.
(Ofcom, 2019b: 6.1)
The rules aim to give impartial and balanced coverage to each political party over
the whole period. BBC guidelines point out:
Electoral support in the most recent equivalent elections (that is, the 2017 and
2015 General Elections) is the starting point for making those judgements.
However, other factors should be taken into account where appropriate,
including evidence of variation in levels of support in other sorts of elections,
changed political circumstances (e.g. new parties or party splits) as well as
other evidence of current support. The number of candidates a party is
standing may also be a factor.
(BBC Election Guidelines, 2019)
There are other factors to consider when deciding on what constitutes propor
tionate coverage, especially for national, regional and local broadcasters serving
areas where support for smaller parties may be higher than average. The guidelines
continue:
Parties which, in addition to standing candidates in one-sixth of the relevant

seats, can demonstrate some electoral support (for instance, in local council
seats), should receive – proportionate with the larger parties – more coverage
than those which cannot.
To ensure balance, broadcasters keep a log of how much coverage parties (or
specific candidates, if profiling a constituency or ward) have had across the whole
election period. As well as measuring the number of minutes that parties receive on
air, it is also important to balance the time slots in which coverage is broadcast. A
breakfast show, for example, is likely to have many more listeners than an after
noon show.
In the past, a candidate who refused to take part in a broadcast news item could
effectively veto the entire report but, under the Political Parties, Elections and
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Referendums Act 2000, this is no longer possible. The Ofcom Code makes clear
that “if a candidate refuses or is unable to participate, the item may nevertheless go
ahead” (Ofcom, 2019c, Sec. 6.9).
The ubiquity of radio station websites has also meant that having to list all candi
dates standing in an election area is no longer necessary because listeners can
simply be directed online.
Audience interactivity can make lively and interesting broadcasting during an

election period, but care has to be taken that balance is achieved throughout. For
phone-in programmes, for example, the BBC Guidelines say this:
Candidates may be encouraged to take part in phone-ins about the election or

election issues. However, callers must be checked to see if they are
candidates and it must be clear to the audience that they are speaking not
as ordinary members of the public but as contributors with a political agenda.
The use of texts and emails in programmes must also be carefully monitored to
make sure that there is balance in what is broadcast, rather than what is received
by the programme from contributors. The BBC Guidelines warn that programme
makers need to be alert to organised campaigns by parties or pressure groups that
might distort the balance. They state “if mass mailings or other organized lobbying
is suspected during the Election Period, contributors may be asked to provide
contact details for verification purposes (BBC Election Guidelines, 2019).
Opinion polls can be another fraught area during the election period. The
BBC Guidelines acknowledge that opinion polls are “part of the story” and audi
ences should be informed about them but they must be used carefully, and
audiences need to be made aware that they can be wrong:
There are real dangers in only reporting the most ‘newsworthy’ polls – i.e.
those which, on a one-off basis, show dramatic movement. For that reason,
we should not normally base a news story on a single voting intention poll,
unless its impact has caused a separately newsworthy story.
Polling day itself can be a bit of an anti-climax as it is an offence to broadcast

anything about the way that people have voted while the polls are open. Effectively,
this means restricting reporting to short mentions in news bulletins (saying little more
than an election is happening and that polls close at 10 pm). BBC Guidelines say that
reporting “will be restricted to factual accounts with nothing which could be con
strued as influencing the ballots” (BBC Election Guidelines, 2019). This does, how
ever, still allow for the reporting of genuine news events involving politicians, such as
the 2010 helicopter crash involving the then UKIP leader, Nigel Farage.
The real work for reporters begins in covering the election count. For BBC Radio
Stoke Political Reporter, Sophie Calvert,11 preparation begins well in advance,
producing a guide for her colleagues to every seat in her patch (Figure 4.1). She
says communication on the night is very important:
We’re very lucky to be able to send an on-air reporter to each count across the
patch. I tend to keep my ear across the output at all times, so even if I’m talking
to an MP I can hear what’s happening across the patch. We also use
WhatsApp groups.
Sophie also advises reporters to think about the practicalities of a long night:
Have you got the right batteries that you need? Have you got phone chargers
and power banks to make sure that you can keep going? I have two phones –
my personal one and my work phone. I have an iPad to go on air, if that’s the
way I’m doing it, or I’ve got an engineer with me with ISDN equipment and a
proper rig up. Again, you’re going to need batteries for your mic. I always take
some Lucozade with me. You’ll take food and you’ll take snacks but you won’t
get chance to eat them. I would take sweets because sometimes it draws the
politicians over to talk to you!
Music-based stations, or those with smaller news teams, will not attend every
single count in their patch. Katy White12 is News Centre Editor for Bauer Media’s
Gem 106, which covers the East Midlands:
FIGURE 4.1 BBC Radio Stoke reporter and preseter, Sophie Calvert
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We pick and choose which counts we go to so prep is really important. We

have to look at trends and what’s going to be exciting. For example, at the last
election, we had one count in Derby where the serving candidate had a very
small majority. There was also Bolsover [in Derbyshire] because Dennis
Skinner, who’d been a Labour MP forever – had a good chance of not
winning this time. It’s about picking what the headlines are going to be, coming
out of it. It’s not going to be relevant for all of your audience but doing it this
way gives you the big talking points.
Sophie Calvert says, although election night can be long, it is important for re
porters to make themselves known:
When you get to the count, have a chat with all your candidates, particularly
the incumbent MPs. … You don’t want to be hearing that somebody’s on Sky
News, or a local competitor, with a story that you could have found out by
speaking to someone yourself.
For Katy White, being part of Bauer’s UK-wide network of stations can mean her
reporters have a good chance of appearing across the group:
Having such a vast patch, there are lots of different stories to get from it and it
gives you the opportunity to feed it into the nationals to showcase the talent
you have at your radio station, within the group.
For radio reporters, election night is an exciting event. Whether on local or national
stations, commercial or BBC, reporters are largely doing the same job; speaking to
the runners and riders, finding out the gossip, using the detail of the night to bring it
alive on air, capturing the declaration, interviewing the winner and losers and then
trying to put it all in context for their audience – whoever that may be.
Referendums
UK-wide referendums were held in 2011 and 2016 (on the Alternative Vote system
and membership of the EU, respectively). Voters in Scotland were polled on in
dependence in 2014. Much of the previous section applies to referendums, as well
as elections, although it is useful to appreciate two key points. Firstly, on the re
ferendum period: section 6.3 of the Ofcom (2019c) notes that the Act of Parliament
under which a referendum is held will specify when the period begins. The period
ends “with the close of the poll” (Ofcom, 2019c). For the 2016 EU membership
referendum, the BBC enacted its referendum guidelines as soon as the date of the
vote was announced.
Secondly, it is important to remember that a referendum is a choice between options

rather than candidates. Campaign groups or political parties do not ‘win’ (in fact,
parties may be split on the issue). Referendum coverage should seek to balance
different arguments, subjecting them to the necessary level of scrutiny, rather than
giving equal coverage to various interested parties (not least because coverage
would be distorted if there were a greater number of campaign groups on one side of
the argument, compared to the other).
Balancing coverage in a referendum is a challenge. Balance is not achieved simply

by giving opposing candidates or spokespeople the same amount of time within
programmes. Coverage needs to remain journalistically robust. Following the 2016
EU referendum, the BBC’s then Director of News and Current Affairs, James
Harding, dismissed criticism that the corporation’s coverage of pro-Brexit argu
ments had influenced the outcome of the vote:
For the uninitiated: ‘false balance’ means thinking wrongly that you have to
give pro and anti, equal airtime, regardless of the facts, editorial judgment and
the expertise of the interviewee. The BBC’s rules are clear. We have to deliver
‘due impartiality’ and ‘broad balance’, terms designed to ensure that we are
free to make judgments on the validity of stories, that we challenge facts and
figures, that we acknowledge that different people speak with different levels of
authority on a subject.
(Harding, 2016)
Emergency situations and breaking news

Radio comes into its own when reacting to unexpected events. Whether globally
significant acts of terrorism, severe local flooding or a huge news story that the
entire audience will be talking about, the medium has a long history of both
transmitting information and journaling the accompanying human emotions.
Presenter of BBC Radio 5 Live’s Up All Night, Dotun Adebayo, was on air the night
of the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, where 23 people, many of them children,
died in a suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert. Writing in The Voice, he
said “I do not know how I got through that night of broadcasting. On reflection, the
hours that I spent on air anchoring my programme was like a nightmare” (Adebayo,
2017). He added that tragic news stories mean journalists “have to report the facts,
unemotionally, taking due care to wait for the grim details to emerge by way of
official confirmation rather than hearsay or speculation. Even when we know from
eyewitness accounts that this will be one of the saddest days of our lives”
(Adebayo, 2017).
Weather-related events tend to be the most common emergency situations cov

ered by radio news teams, particularly in local radio. The impact of heavy snow and
severe flooding are stories that are dealt with semi-regularly. Late in 2019, heavy
rain caused flooding across Yorkshire and the Midlands. In Derbyshire, a woman
died after being swept away by the River Derwent, which had risen to record levels.
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As some houses in the city centre were evacuated, and emergency services
considered a city-wide evacuation, BBC Radio Derby extended its programming
through the night. Reporter Pamela Gupta13 says, at times like this, local radio
becomes a vital service:
Absolutely essential. You want to know what’s happening on your street as

that’s what’s important to you. But you also care about what’s happening a
mile away because it’s still local to you.
We’re a public service broadcaster. [The audience] need that information and
they need those facts.
The internet and social media have had an impact on the role of local radio in a
crisis. Emergency services and other agencies transmit information independently,
meaning audiences follow a developing story using a variety of sources. Pamela
says radio still gives its listeners something that they cannot get elsewhere:
You’re not going to get the level of local news through social media. You’re not
going to get the investment. You’re not going to get the local voices, the
expertise, the knowledge, the depth of that story.
Local radio stations remain a very important part of emergency planning. Public
agencies in every part of the country have a formal outline of how they respond to
situations like large-scale fires and bomb threats. Managing Editor of BBC Radio
Northampton, Helen Grimes, agrees that local radio can be a “life-saver” during
major emergencies like flooding, but suggests that its role has changed in smaller-
scale situations:
A more common thing for local radio used to be if it snowed in the winter, we’ll
tell you whether your school is open and whether your local event is on, or not.
I think that technology is, in some ways, replacing local radio’s function for
those things. Lots of local radio stations no longer do ‘here’s a list of schools
that are closed’, because every school has a text alert system that they tell all
of the parents on. Some of that functional information is now served on the
internet and by other technology.
I think local radio has to think about what else it does in those emergency and
difficult situations. You might no longer need to switch us on to find out if your
school is open or closed but, actually, if you’ve got a sudden unexpected day
off with the kids because you’re snowed in, can local radio be the place that
shares that experience with you? That connects you with other people who are
snowed in their houses? Can local radio be the place that makes you feel good
about that or helps you get through the day with that?
Helen adds that, even if listeners have particular facts about a story already, they
are still likely to switch their local radio station on:
Even if you’ve got the information from Twitter, I think you’ll still want to put
your local radio station on as well because it joins you up with other people.
Local radio does still, and should, retain its role in these emergency situations –
but remembering that it’s not just about the functional information – it’s about
the community. It’s about holding your listener’s hand.
Radio treats breaking news stories in a similar way to emergencies. While they may
lack the ‘this could affect me’ aspect, they still generate huge interest amongst the
audience and other media. Whether a physical event, like a building collapse, or an
unexpected major announcement of some kind, these stories require a quick, and
accurate, response. Former BBC Director of Global News, Richard Sambrook (now
Director of the Centre for Journalism at Cardiff University), says the old adage that
“it’s better to be second and right than first and wrong” applies (Sambrook, 2013).
He also says that reporters should “assume nothing”, adding that saying what they
know, don’t know and where their information has come from is the “best way to
navigate the fog of a highly confusing situation” (Sambrook, 2013).
In 2012, Pamela Gupta reported on the deaths of six children in a house fire on
Victory Road in Derby (Figure 4.2). The father of five of the children – Mick Philpott –
and the mother of all six – Mairead Philpott – were later convicted of starting the fire
and jailed for manslaughter. Pamela says a story of this kind highlights the re
lationship between a local radio station and the community it serves:
For a story like that, national media descends, global media descends. It
becomes a big story. You’re still going to be there after the other media goes.
You’ve still got to have a relationship with those people. As a local broadcaster,
you have a different relationship and you have to protect that. Sometimes that
means people are more likely to talk to you, they might trust you more. But you
have a responsibility to that community in a way that sometimes national
broadcasters don’t. You’re going to be the one doing the follow-ups, you’ve
got to go back to those people, they’ve got to trust you.
The Philpott story was a national topic of conversation for weeks after the fire. It
remained front page news for months. Several TV documentaries were produced.
Reflecting on the story and its coverage, Pamela had previously met and interviewed
the family years beforehand and says the fire reminded her of the importance of
being out and about as much as possible, especially in more deprived areas:
It makes you realise how important it is to get to different communities, so that the
only time you’re going to them is not just for that breaking story. Unfortunately, a
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FIGURE 4.2 Reporter Pamela Gupta
lot of the time, that is the case; that you’re going there because something big and
bad has happened. It reinforces being across the patch and being in communities
that you’re not in as often.
Drama
What used to always be known as ‘radio drama’ is increasingly being referred to as
‘audio drama’. The growth of podcasting has provided a new outlet for writers and
producers, following decades where Radio 4 and, occasionally, Radio 3 were the
only places where plays could be heard. While many dramas are re-published as
podcasts after being broadcast on radio, the BBC have started to commission
plays as “digital-first or digital-only” (BBC, 2020a). Huge new digital producers are
entering the market, too. In 2017, Amazon’s Audible launched a $5 million fund to
create original drama for its subscription service (Barone, 2017). Even with that new
investment, Radio 4 remains a giant of ‘audio fiction’, producing at least six hours
of original drama a week (Naughton, 2017). Radio 4’s commissioning editor for
drama and fiction, Alison Hindell, says she welcomes “the advent of Audible and all
the other companies who are discovering the power and appeal of this genre”,
adding “the more writers and actors can practise their skills, and those skills are
very specific in audio, the better for all of us” (Morgan, 2020).
Radio drama has always had a loyal following, as the long-running soap opera on
Radio 4, The Archers, shows. The Archers began in the early 1950s and tells the
story of a group of farmers, farm workers and other people who live in the fictional
village of Ambridge. Its 13-minute episodes are broadcast every day except
Saturday. It has been one of the BBC’s most popular podcasts for many years.
So, how is radio drama created? Amanda Whittington14 has written plays for the
stage and also for the BBC Afternoon Play as well as serials for BBC Radio 4’s
Woman’s Hour (Figure 4.3). She won ‘Best Audio Drama (Series or Serial)’ at the
BBC Audio Drama Awards 2016 for D for Dexter. Amanda says that while radio can
present some challenges for a writer, she also thinks it can be liberating:
Obviously the stage is a visual medium but on radio you’re telling the story
verbally. In some cases radio actually opens your writing up because the stage
is a very practical medium: you have to think about getting actors physically on
and off, and sets on and off. But in radio you can go anywhere really and you
can have multiple locations. It’s a bigger kind of toy box to play with in a sense
so in a way it’s more free than the stage.
It still has to be focused and it has to be a story that makes sense: it’s not like
you can pinball around locations that don’t connect. You write shorter scenes
as well. A Woman’s Hour serial is 15 minutes and you might have 10 or 12
scenes within that whereas on the stage you can have one scene that lasts
15 or 20 minutes. So even though the story may be the same and the
characters may be the same, the way you structure the story is completely
different. And then you can have lots of stylistic differences. It’s often very
useful to have a character talking directly to the audience – a kind of a narrator
FIGURE 4.3 Radio playwright, Amanda Whittington

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– because in radio you really feel that you can get inside somebody’s head
whereas on stage that can feel a little bit odd. There’s lots of stylistic things you
can play with.
I find radio a fantastically creative medium to work in. I think you can get a bit
hung up on sound effects in radio because actually it’s best to keep it to the
essentials – less is more really so to have just vital sounds. If the sounds are a
part of telling the story and setting the location – things like if you’re in a kitchen
having the kettle boiling – something as simple as that can really set the
location – you don’t want five or six things going on at once. On stage, to set a
scene is an entirely different process.
I think what I’ve learned from working in radio is that it’s absolutely about story
and character, which is the same whether you’re writing a novel or a play or
anything. The medium is just a way of getting that story across – you don’t
want to be too bogged down by the medium itself.
Having written both longer plays for radio and serials Amanda has a lot of ex
perience of the medium, and she warns, as mentioned previously, that thinking
every aspect of a story has to be illustrated with sound is a mistake. She believes
the story and characters are the most important ingredients in a good radio drama,
along with actors who understand the medium. She adds that the relationship
between the writer, producer and actors is vital because there is not much time for
rehearsal:
What’s interesting about radio is you don’t get much time to rehearse. Writing
for Radio 4 you spend a long time on the script – maybe six months on the
script – and then you have three days to record it. The cast comes together
and at nine o’clock on day one – you’ll read it and then at half past ten you’ll be
in the studio recording it. It demands of you as a script writer that you get
everything exactly right. On a stage play you might have three or four weeks of
rehearsal to get everything right. On radio you have to make sure that the script
is really tight and really strong and then for the actors it’s an incredibly
demanding process in that sense because they perform it straight off. The
actors have to understand the medium but equally it can be quite freeing
because they have the scripts in their hands and they don’t have to worry
about their entrances and exits and their costumes and all that kind of stuff –
it’s just about character, voice, performance, story.
Some of the sound effects for a drama, like traffic noise or general background
atmosphere, are put in after the play has been recorded, but other effects, for
example, the slamming of a door, are done live. And although there is no formal
rehearsal, Amanda says each scene is usually done several times before the
producer is satisfied:
You do a scene and maybe do three or four takes of that scene and the
producer will kind of direct and change little things as you’re doing it so there’s
a sense of rehearsal going on as it’s being recorded. Then they might pick their
favourite take or splice a couple of takes together so the editing process is
quite clever. Often it’s hard to tell the difference between takes but the
producer will say ‘right, number three was brilliant that’s the one we’re using’.
Amanda’s advice for new writers is to spend time listening to the Radio 4 output
and to make a note of who has produced the work you like best, then directly
contact that producer. “Your way in to Radio 4 is through the producers”, she says.
There are BBC in-house producers and also independent producers who make
their pitch to commissioning editors to try to get the work they are interested in
commissioned and made. “The key thing is to build a good relationship with the
producer, then the producer will pitch your work and if it’s commissioned then
you’re guaranteed that it’s going to get broadcast”, she says. From a practical
perspective, radio dramatist Dirk Maggs15 says that aspiring writers and producers
should take advantage of the ease of creating content these days:
Get yourself a portable audio recorder, they’re cheap as anything these days.
You don’t need to go into a studio. Get some friends who can act reasonably,
get something you want to act together. Go on location; go in rooms, go out in
the forest, go to the seaside – wherever you want the background you need to
go. Record what you want to get. Get the editing software.
NOTES
1 All quotes from Paul Kaye taken from interview with Arran Bee in September 2019.
2 All quotes from Helen Grimes taken from interview with Arran Bee in September 2019.
3 All quotes from Qasa Alom taken from interview with John Collins in July 2020.
4 All quotes from Vanessa Feltz taken from the BBC Academy podcast September 2016
available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p049dtdv.
5 All quotes from Kathryn Anastasi taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
7 All quotes from Gemma Stevenson taken from the BBC Academy podcast September
2016 available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p049dtdv.
8 All quotes from Julia Hartley-Brewer taken from the RadioToday Programme podcast
April 2018 available at https://radiotoday.co.uk/2018/04/podcast-julia-hartley-brewer-
on-gender-pay/.
9 George Galloway was sacked by talkRADIO in June 2019.
10 All quotes from Sarah Collins taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
11 All quotes from Sophie Calvert taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
90 ARRAN BEE
14 All quotes from Amanda Whittington taken from interview with Carole Fleming in
November 2008.
15 All quotes from Dirk Maggs taken from the BBC Academy Podcast March 2017 available
at https://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/en/articles/art20130912141352217.
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CHAPTER 5
Radio sport
by Arran Bee
Sport works really well on radio, whether it is to debate the big issues, give the
latest results or to provide commentary on a live event. The agile and reactive
nature of the medium means it can quickly deliver not only what is happening, but
also the emotions that go with it. For national stations like BBC Radio 5 Live and
talkSPORT, sport is a core part of their output but it is also important to local radio
stations because by identifying with local teams they strengthen their links with the
community they broadcast to.
The first football match commentary broadcast in the UK was on a match between
Arsenal and Sheffield United on 22 January 1927 from “a wooden hut that largely
resembled a garden shed” (Adams, 2002) at Arsenal’s home ground, Highbury.
According to BBC Sport’s Audrey Adams, commentary would have started years
before then, but sporting bodies and newspaper owners thought the new medium
would hit attendance at the games and newspaper sales, so they vetoed it. But
when the BBC was granted its first Royal Charter in January 1927, it was also
granted the right to broadcast major sporting events. The commentator for this
historic broadcast was former Harlequins rugby player Henry Blythe Thornhill
Wakelam, aided by a representation of the pitch published in the Radio Times. As
Adams explains:
The producer at the time, Lance Sieveking, devised a plan of the pitch divided
into eight numbered squares, which was published in the Radio Times. The
idea was that the listener at home could follow the play from his armchair using
the grid on his lap. Many believe this is the origin of the phrase ‘Back to
Square One’.
94 ARRAN BEE
The broadcast was a huge success, with the Spectator commenting that “that type
of broadcasting has come to stay” (Adams, 2002), and by the end of the year a
whole range of commentaries had been broadcast including the Grand National,
the Boat Race, the FA Cup Final and Wimbledon.
Stations with a high level of sports coverage feature many different events but a
relatively small number of mainstream sports, like rugby, cricket and – of course –
football get the most attention. talkSPORT’s Head of Live Sport, Kathryn Anastasi,1
says coverage decisions come down to a mixture of popularity and scheduling:
Football is king for us. If there’s a clash, football wins, scheduling-wise. Cricket,
Rugby Union, Rugby League and Boxing are probably in the next tier down.
We do a lot of horse racing and a lot of golf too. Some of it comes down to
scheduling. Our golf is mainly American golf so we can play it out in the evening
and it doesn’t interrupt the weekday [schedule]. Horse racing is great for us on
a weekday afternoon. It’s a bit of a jigsaw puzzle. It’s a combination between
what rights we can get and how the sports fit into the schedule around football.
The more people listen to it, the more likely we are to do more of it.
These days, sports fans can follow more events than ever before through their
smartphone. Football matches are covered in live, ‘minute-by-minute’ format by
news websites, while social media provides a whole range of highlights and in
terview clips. Even against that backdrop, talkSPORT’s Head of Live Sport,
Kathryn Anastasi, says radio remains a natural home for sports coverage and
sports journalism:
Without the visuals, the excitement of sport comes across a lot more. When
you’ve got the soundscape of the stadium and cheering and the excitement of
the commentators, I think it intensifies the emotion. Sport is also a microcosm
of society, so all of the issues that you have in everyday life that you would
cover in current affairs, sport is a great vehicle for trying to deal with those –
sometimes very tricky – subjects. In and around the actual live sport, there’s
also so much that goes with it that you can do editorially.
Generally speaking, sports news stories will be covered on merit by most radio
stations, when a story is judged to be of interest to a station’s target audience.
Many stations have scheduled sports bulletins or, at least, a ‘sport’ section of their
news bulletin. Fewer stations feature regular live sports coverage and commentary,
with talkSPORT and BBC Radio 5 Live being the two biggest players in the UK
market. Both have spin-off, digital stations (talkSPORT2 and 5 Live Sports Extra)
allowing them to give extended coverage to more sporting events without dis
rupting their normal schedule, as well as covering additional minority sports. Test
Match Special, the long-running programme following the England cricket team, is
still broadcast on Radio 4 Long Wave, as well as various digital channels. BBC local
RADIO SPORT 95
and national radio cover live football, rugby and cricket (alongside other sports) for
their specific audiences. In the case of football, some commentaries can, especially
on local stations, be restricted to traditional broadcasting platforms (FM, AM and
DAB) and ‘blanked out’ on station websites. This is usually when a club chooses to
offer live audio commentary on every match to their digital subscribers. A handful of
commercial and community stations provide live football programming, with
Independent Radio News (IRN) providing goalflashes for commercial stations.
As in the TV world, the market for radio sports rights has become increasingly
competitive. In 2006, BBC Radio 5 Live had the rights to 192 live Premier League
commentaries a year, compared to 32 for talkSPORT (Plunkett, 2008). By 2019,
the split of 260 games between the two stations had become more even, with
talkSPORT acquiring three ‘packages’ of games, and 5 Live four ‘packages’
(Premier League, 2019). In 2018, talkSPORT secured rights to cover the England
cricket team’s tours of Sri Lanka and the West Indies – the first time since 2005 that
the BBC’s Test Match Special had lost the rights to cover an England overseas tour
(BBC News, 2018). Subsequently, talkSPORT claimed the Sri Lanka tour delivered
the biggest audience talkSPORT2 had ever had (RadioToday, 2019). While
talkSPORT has added more and more live events to its portfolio (including golf,
rugby league, darts and boxing), 5 Live retains an extensive collection of radio
rights. These include Rugby Union’s Six Nations, all four tennis Grand Slams (in
cluding Wimbledon), the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games.
The ever-increasing digitisation of sports coverage has created new audio-based

platforms, disrupting long-term listening habits. In terms of programming, pod
casting has hugely increased the number of audio shows aimed at sports fans.
With most podcasts available globally, producers are able to super-serve a niche
sporting interest and still build a significant audience. Podcasts can be focused
on a specific football club (a search for ‘Liverpool FC’ brings up 95 different
podcasts according to Listen Notes) or on a particular minority sport (‘lawn
bowls’ brings up six results on Listen Notes). While there has been an explosion
of available on-demand audio, radio stations which are used to creating long-
form programmes with high production values retain a significant advantage. As
well as competing for listening time, podcasts also provide an opportunity to re-
package radio content for a new, online audience. This, in turn, can bring new
listeners to existing radio programmes (Ofcom, 2019). For much more on pod
casting, see Chapter 9. Live radio commentaries also face a challenge from the
digital world. Live audio streaming has brought opportunities to football clubs at
the bottom, and top, of the pyramid. Small non-league clubs, who might struggle
to get any coverage at all from any radio station, can now stream their own live
commentary with little financial outlay. Jonny Drake2 commentates on games for
Nottingham’s Basford United, who play in the Northern Premier League Premier
Division. He says the live stream averages between 100 and 200 listeners. He
adds that it helps the club stay in touch with fans, as well as providing potential
extra revenue:
96 ARRAN BEE
At this level, it’s convenient for fans. You get the chance to improve your image
with fans. [For away games] we have one bus for the whole squad and fans,
staff et cetera. When doing our commentary, it gives the chance for people
who can’t make the trip the chance to listen in. The club are very ambitious and
want to progress up the leagues so it’s something to have set up in
preparation for the bigger leagues. For most clubs, it’s also about sponsorship
and the money you can get in from that.
Online commentary is used differently, the higher you go up the football pyramid.
For professional teams below the Premier League, it can be a steady additional
revenue stream. Fans pay a monthly fee to listen to commentary on every game.
For the majority of clubs at this level, this is a local radio station’s commentary
which is then streamed to a non-geographically restricted audience (under the
terms of the commentary rights deal). Richer, Premier League clubs tend to pro
duce their own audio commentary and give it away for free to registered users. This
serves as an incentive to encourage supporters to engage with more of their online
digital content. In terms of listener perception, when compared to independent
content focused on particular clubs, research by Mirer et al. (2018) suggests that
audiences “do not believe branded content acts impartially toward topics in which it
has an interest”.
In 2013, Phil Andrews noted that sport is “a major driver for users of websites and
social media platforms” (Andrews, 2013, p. 17). It is also true to say that social
media is a vital instrument in promoting sports audio content, bringing more lis
teners to the live product. Kathryn Anastasi says that, for talkSPORT, radio and
social content have a reciprocal relationship:
Social media is ‘hand-in-glove’ [with radio], now. I think it’s taken a little while
to perfect how radio uses social media but, across the industry, you don’t do
one without the other, these days. Whenever we’re going to live sport events,
we would think about how we’re going to do social media as part of that.
Instagram stories, for example. We do a lot of visualisation now, so you’re
filming the radio, clipping it and putting it out. Not so much around live sport
but definitely around programming. It’s a way of monetising what we do, too.
On digital and on social, there are adverts you can put ahead of video. It’s a
revenue stream that wasn’t there before. It’s also a great promotional tool for
marketing, letting people know what we’re doing and getting listeners into the
main channel.
Kathryn adds that, as well as promoting live output, social media content can
become part of live programming, too: “sometimes it goes the other way, so
we’ll have a social media post that we then talk about on air. They both feed
into each other”. For more detail on radio’s relationship with social media, see
Chapter 8.
RADIO SPORT 97
SPORTS PROGRAMMES
Sports programmes are demanding to work on. They are usually live and several
hours long, testing a presenter’s powers of concentration. They speak to an ex
acting, informed audience who expect a high level of subject knowledge from the
host. They invite interaction – both directly in the form of calls, text messages and
emails – and using social media. Not only do presenters and producers need to
meet this challenge, they also need to immerse themselves in the world of their
chosen sport or sports – always having a working knowledge of the big stories and
talking points.
Like all speech radio, producing a sports programme can involve a number of people
using a complicated technical setup. Using a match-day programme as an example,
you will hear a range of voices on air: a presenter, pundit and commentator to start
with. Possibly a pitch-side reporter too. And that can be just to cover one game.
There could be a number of reporters at other games, plus live interviewees and
callers too. These different sources pass through a mixing desk back in the studio,
which controls what the listener hears on the radio. Depending on the complication
of the programme, there will be at least one studio manager (usually called a ‘tech
op’ or ‘desk driver’ outside of the BBC) controlling the desk back at base. This
person also plays out audio and gives instructions to the presentation team at the
game via talkback. Programmes covering multiple games at the same time will have
a large team back at base. This can include a producer to control the content of the
show, a director to keep the show to time and to handle internal communications
plus any number of call handlers, social media producers and assistant producers
(who might edit audio or prepare scripts while the programme is in progress).
The live aspect of sports programming is often the element that leads to great
radio. Passionate commentary on a winning moment, a desperate post-match call
after a defeat or an emotional, even combative, interview all demonstrate why the
medium can deliver sport so well. It is about so much more than the simple facts of
the matter (i.e. who scored, how the goal was scored) but the feelings and emo
tions that come with those moments. The small details are important too: the little
bits of colour that contribute to the big picture. With all of this in mind, matchday
sports programmes, especially, can be a challenge to plan for. Presenters and
producers need to have an idea of the different ways a programme could go be
forehand, while also avoiding the temptation to stick too rigidly to a pre-made plan
and miss a big, developing story. Executive Producer at talkSPORT, Sarah Collins,3
works with new and emerging talent (Figure 5.1):
If you’re talking sport, you’re talking emotion. You’re talking engagement.

You’re talking livelihoods. And you’re talking passion. Sport programming has
to have all of those things. Your team is essential. Your production in advance
is essential and your confidence and strength in reacting and being fluid is
essential as well.
98 ARRAN BEE
FIGURE 5.1 talkSPORT executive producer, Sarah Collins
To use a real-life example, a football play-off final programme requires a mixture of

advance planning and reacting to the story as it unfolds. The pre-match material is
straightforward to plan. A range of interviews, packages and montages can tell the
story so far and build anticipation for what is to come. The commentary itself needs
to be over-prepared so the commentator is ready with facts and statistics as key
incidents happen in the game (see ‘Commentary’ section for more on preparation).
Once the full-time whistle goes, it is all about reacting to whatever has happened on
the pitch until the end of the show. A good producer will make quick decisions in
this scenario, communicating them clearly to the rest of the team, leaving them with
an understanding of what will happen on air and what should happen next. Post-
match reaction can take the form of live interviews, listener calls, social media
messages and fan vox pops.
Sports programming, like all speech radio, aims to reflect the conversations of its
listeners – and give them something new to talk about at the same time. Producers
and editors take a populist approach when deciding discussion points and plan
ning questions for interviewees. If the audience is talking about it, the programme
should be talking about it. When it comes to driving forward the conversations of
listeners, interviews and discussions should bring a new perspective to stories.
RADIO SPORT 99
The result is a relevant programme which draws from, and feeds into, the news
cycle – hopefully building a long-term connection with the audience.
Interactivity is another key feature of sports programming, linked to listener con

versations. It has changed significantly, too, since the emergence of the first
football phone-ins in the 1970s. In those days, communication was exclusively by
phone and letter. Now, social media has changed the way that sports fans com
municate (Ioakimidis, 2010). While phone calls are still a key feature of sports
programming, social media is a major tool used to bring instant listener reaction
into a programme.
Another way sports programming uses the conversations of its listeners is to take a
narrative approach to storytelling. This means – both within programmes and
commentaries – telling a clear story coming into a game and identifying the main
storylines coming out of it. This can begin in promotional trails, days before the
programme airs, and continue in the preview material (packages, interviews etc.)
before a game. Kathryn Anastasi is Head of Live Sport at talkSPORT:
Without the narrative, it’s just a game. Sometimes, on paper, you can have a
really boring game that’s one of your commentaries but, if you hit upon a
narrative around it, you can make it really exciting. That’s something that we do
in Game Day on talkSPORT. We have big meetings on a Monday and a Friday,
leading into Game Day on a Saturday. There are 20 people involved in these
meetings. That’s how we come up with how we’re going to sell the match;
how we’re going to describe the narrative. It could be about ‘Financial Fair
Play’, [if a team is close to an achievement] a ‘we’re nearly there’ narrative, a
relegation narrative, a nostalgia narrative. Before Liverpool had won [the
Premier League in 2020], but we were expecting them to win, we were
making programming around the ‘30 years’ narrative, using Kenny Dalglish as
part of the narrative, creating this ‘long wait’ story, leaning into Liverpool’s win.
Without that, sport still works, but with it, it’s just so much more engaging.
COMMON FORMATS OF SPORTS PROGRAMMES

Radio sports programming is produced in a number of different ways, the most
common are listed below. Some programmes can be a mix of different formats,
especially on stations which cover sport exclusively.
Debate
Either a phone-in (often with an ex-player as a presenter or co-presenter) or dis
cussion programme with multiple guests, holding different opinions. The host sets
out several topics for contributors to give their views on throughout the show.
100 ARRAN BEE
Examples. 606 (5 Live), The Monday Night Club (5 Live), The Full Time Phone-In
(talkSPORT), Sportscene Talk-In (BBC Radio Derby), Superscoreboard (Clyde 1)
Documentary
Specially commissioned feature programming, covering a sporting topic, story or
person in depth. Can be a single episode or part of a series. Usually highly pro
duced, consisting of interviews, commentary clips, music and sound effects.
Evergreen-nature means they often work well as a podcast.
Examples. Sporting Witness (BBC World Service), Sport and the British (BBC
Radio 4), My Sporting Life (talkSPORT)
Live commentary
A descriptive account of a sporting contest while it is in progress. In the case of
football, this usually involves a lead commentator ‘calling the action’, alongside a
co-commentator or summariser (an ex-player) providing reaction and analysis to
unfolding events. Short or fast-paced sports (e.g. horse racing, sprinting and
tennis) are usually described by the lead commentator with the co-commentator
brought in at the end or in natural breaks in play.
Examples. 5 Live Sport, GameDay Live (talkSPORT), Merseyside Sport (BBC

Radio Merseyside)
Live coverage
An ‘around the grounds’ show, featuring regular reports from several games, as
they happen. Either presented from a studio or from one of the live matches being
covered. Often featuring a host alongside one or more contributors. Short live or
recently recorded interviews with managers and players are used after full-time.
Examples. Rock N Roll Football (Absolute Radio), 5 Live and talkSPORT on a

weekend afternoon when they do not have a live commentary
Preview/review
A magazine-style show, mixing interviews, packages and discussions either looking
ahead, or looking back, at a round of results. Using the example of football, a
preview might take place on Friday evening or Saturday morning, while a review
show may be scheduled for a Saturday night or Monday evening.
Examples. The Friday Football Social (5 Live), Weekend Sport Preview (BBC
Radio York)
RADIO SPORT 101
Specialist
Another magazine-style show, focusing on a single, often minority, sport or having
a distinct angle on a mainstream sport. Again, mixing interviews, packages and
discussions.
Examples. Fair Play: The Women in Sport Show (BBC Radio Scotland), 5 Live
Boxing, Fisherman’s Blues (talkSPORT2)
Sports news
Can take the form of either an extended bulletin or a full programme containing a
mixture of treatments. Strong focus on the main sports stories of the day, big
topics of sporting conversation and the development of stories through original
interviews.
Examples. Sport Today (BBC World Service), talkSPORT Breakfast
BEING A SPORTS PRESENTER

Being paid to watch and talk about sport is a very attractive job for a lot of
people. Veterans of the business can recall an impressive list of highlights
where they can say ‘I was there’. Generally speaking, presenters need to do
everything that great presenters do (see Chapter 2), while becoming particularly
confident in live situations and very knowledgeable about their chosen sport or
sports.
For talkSPORT Executive Producer Sarah Collins, credibility is a very

important attribute for a radio sports presenter. Sarah says this can come
from having played sport professionally – but can be developed in other
ways, too:
Credibility comes from doing your homework. From putting the miles in, getting
the air miles. I’d be gobsmacked if I saw a young journalist of 21-years-old with
that much credibility. It comes with time. It comes with work. It comes with
good networking. Credibility can come from playing the game. I’m working
with Darren Bent. If he talks about strikers, he’s got credibility because he’s in
the Premier League ‘100 Club’.
On the question of whether anyone can be a great sports presenter, Sarah adds
that is it very advantageous to have knowledge of more than one sport. She says
“you can’t work on sport radio if you don’t know sport. It is one of those areas that
you cannot blag. You have to have depth”.
102 ARRAN BEE
COMMENTARY
Commentary shows radio at its best; it is live and reactive, conveying not just what
is happening on the pitch but also the reactions of the crowd and the atmosphere
in the air. The listener at home shares the whole experience, as Phil Andrews notes:
Radio can transport listeners to the scene of the action by using the sounds
they would hear if they were there. Sound is all around us, and nowhere more
than at sporting events: the roar of the crowd, the referee’s whistle, the starting
gun, galloping hooves, racing car engines, oars splashing in water, the sound
of bat on ball, announcements over the public address system.
(Andrews, 2013, p. 109)
For talkSPORT commentator, Joe Shennan,4 delivering a good commentary

means doing plenty of preparation in advance (see Table 5.1 for an example of
Joe’s pre-match ‘prep’):
A couple of days or so before the game, I’ll start collating information. I like to
put everything on two sheets of paper. It’s a little bit like making revision
notes, to some extent. I will look up who is likely to play the game, in terms of
team news. I’ll look back on the last line up for both sides. I will make notes
on each individual player; any interesting facts about them, their age, how
many goals they’ve scored so far this season, how many games they’ve
played, so far, this season. I’ll put together an A4 sheet of every player that’s
likely to play for each of the two sides. That will start my preparation. Then I’ll
get some general facts about both clubs; positions in the league, home
record, away record, head-to-head records between the two clubs. Are there
any interesting facts about the ground? What’s the weather going to be like?
Who’s the referee? The reason you do preparation is because all of these
things add colour and make it an interesting experience for the listener. You
don’t go into a commentary preparing to use all of your prep, in fact often I
only use about a quarter or half of what I’ve prepared, but little nuggets of
information thrown in at the right time can add a good amount of colour to the
listener’s experience. Once you go beyond the basics of radio commentary,
it’s about giving people an interesting experience and giving them a real
sense of what’s going on on the field of play. And that all starts with
preparation.
Jim Proudfoot, also at talkSPORT, believes that working out the narrative around a
game and what the potential talking points might be is vital too. He says “I read as
much preview material as possible to try to find storylines. That’s how American
commentators do it, they’ll have production meetings and they’ll discuss the
storylines in specific games” (Flanagan, 2015).
RADIO SPORT 103
Table 5.1 Joe Shennan’s Commentary Notes

(Chelsea vs Wolves – 26/7/20)
CHELSEA 4TH 63pts from 37 games – W19 D6 L12 F67 A54 +13 | Level on pts
with Manchester United in 3rd – inferior GD – and 1pt above Leicester in 5th –
inferior GD | Chelsea will qualify for the Champions League if they avoid defeat
or if Man Utd beat Leicester – they only need a draw.
• L 5-3 A Liverpool Weds – Giroud, Abraham, Pulisic | W 3-1 Man Utd
FACSF Sun – Giroud, Mount, Maguire OG | W 1-0 H Norwich 14/07 – Giroud
• Chelsea have not been outside the top 4 since Oct 18
• Chelsea have conceded 54 PL goals this season – the worst defensive
record of any team higher than 12th – and 15 in 8 games since restart
• Scored 67 goals – only Liverpool (82) and Man City (97) have
scored more.
They have lost 12 Premier League fixtures in a season for only the second
time since Roman Abramovich became owner in 2003.
• Chelsea's eight defeats at Stamford Bridge in all competitions this
season is their most in a single campaign since 1985-86.
• Chelsea have not lost their final match of a Premier League season
when it was at Stamford Bridge since a 2002 defeat by Aston Villa
(W7, D3).
• H2H – Chelsea won 5-2 at Molineux on Sept 14 – including a Tammy
Abraham hattrick (he also scored an OG).
Echoes of the final day in 2003 – when a 2-1 H win v Liverpool – Lampard
started pre Abramovich era – sent Chelsea into the UCL.
• TO COME: FA Cup Final, v Arsenal @ Wembley, August 1 LIVE ON TS |
Bayern Munich A, UCLR16 2ng leg – August 7 (3-0 down on aggregate)
MANAGER: FRANK LAMPARD – 42, in his first season as manager – 2nd

youngest boss in PL, behind Arteta | Werner, Ziyech coming in summer
Chelsea’s record goalscorer, won 11 major trophies at the club, and 4th most
apps in the club’s history. Only previous managerial position was at Derby last
season – finished 6th but lost in P/O final ‘I’ve learned a lot to use from managers at
moments like this...defending this season has left something to be
desired...Pulisic huge for us’
STAMFORD BRIDGE 41,631 Fulham Road, SW6, impressive development since the
mid 1990s We’re in the three tiered East stand (dugouts at the front) | West
Stand – redeveloped at the start of this century opposite | Matthew Harding
End to the right | Shed End – where away fans would normally be) to the
left. Chelsea are one of only a few Clubs who have played at the same stadium since
they were formed – in 1905 in a pub in Fulham Road just across from what is now
Stamford Bridge.
1 Kepa ARRIZABALAGA 0/41 – 25 Sp 53% save percentage in PL this season –

lowest of any keeper who’s played 11 or more games
28 Cesar AZPILICUETA 4/47 – 30 Sp Best scoring season for Chelsea in all
comps – and also made 6 PL assists this season – his equal PL best
(Continued)
104 ARRAN BEE
Table 5.1 (Continued) Joe Shennan’s Commentary Notes
15 Kurt ZOUMA 1/40 – 25 Fr Only 1 PL goal for Chelsea – that was back in
September 2015.
2 Antonio RUDIGER 2/24 – 27 Ger Injury probs early on in season. Only goals this
season came in same game – 2-2 D @ Leicester Feb 1st
24 Reece JAMES 2/34 – 20 N.S a PL goal – last Chelsea goal was v Ajax in UCL
in November – 4-4 draw
5 JORGINHO 7/42 – 28 It this is his best goalscoring season since 2013/2014.
Last Chelsea goal was penalty v Arsenal in Jan
17 Mateo KOVACIC 2/44 – 26 Croat Last Chelsea goal and only PL goal was in 3-
1 defeat at Everton in December
3 Marcos ALONSO 4/27 – 29 Sp Last PL goals were 2 in the draw at Bournemouth in
late Feb.
10 WILLIAN 11/47 – 31 Braz 5 goals in 3 assists in last 9 PL apps. Contract
expires at the end of the season – been here since August 2013.
18 Olivier GIROUD 9/22 – 33 Fr Scored in last 3 apps – and each last 5 starts.
Avg PL goal every 96 mins since restart – only Antonio + Sterling better
19 Mason MOUNT 7/50 – 21 Scored in the reverse fixture in Sept – and more
recently in the FACSF win v Man Utd on July 19th.
13 Willy CABALLERO 0/11 – 38 Arg Made 4 successive PL starts in Feb – didn’t keep
a clean sheet. Oldest player to play in PL this season.
4 Andreas CHRISTENSEN 0/26 – 24 Den N.S for Chelsea – last club goal was for
Monchengladbach in March 2017
9 Tammy ABRAHAM 17/44 – 22 Top scorer. 6 goals in 3 career apps v Wolves –
including a hattrick in reverse fixture (also scored OG).
11 PEDRO 2/21 – 32 Sp Turns 33 in a couple of days. Will sign for Roma on a
free at the end of the season.
12 Ruben LOFTUS-CHEEK 0/8 – 24 Last goal for Chelsea was in May 2019. Had
achilles injury – featured in 8 of last 10 games all comps
20 Callum HUDSON-ODOI 3/30 – 19 set up Pulisic goal v Liverpool. Last goal
(and first in PL) was v Burnley H in Jan – 4th youngest scorer for Chelsea.
22 Christian PULISIC 10/32 – 21 USA scored and assisted as sub v Lpool. 4gls, 2
assists since restart. Best scoring season of career.
29 Fikayo TOMORI 2/22 – 22 Last PL app was on Feb 29 – muscle inj plus out of
favour. Only PL goal + 1st for CFC came in reverse fixture.
33 EMERSON 0/20 – 25 It N.S a PL goal – only Chelsea goal was in LC win at
Liverpool in September 2018.
7 N’golo KANTE 3/27 – 29 Fr Last Chelsea goal was in November. Missed last 5
games with a hamstring injury
8 Ross BARKLEY 5/28 – 26 Set for 50th PL app for Chelsea, and 200th PL app of
career – Missed Liverpool game through illness.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 6TH 59pts from 37 games – W15 D14 L8 F51

A38 +13 | Wolves are 1pt clear of Spurs in 7th – with a goal difference 1 worse
off – Spurs are away at Palace | Wolves need to match Tottenham’s result to
finish in the top 6 and guarantee a spot in the Europa League – so a win will
guarantee it | 7th would only be enough for EL if Chelsea win the FA Cup
• W 2-0 H Palace Mon – Podence, Jonny | D 1-1 Burnley A 15/07- Jimenez
(conc 90+6 pen) | W 3-0 H Everton 12/07 – Jimenez pen, Dendoncker, Jota
• Victory for Wolves would guarantee them a sixth-place finish, their
best in the top flight since 1979-80 (finished 7th last season)
• Wolves have 59 points and will finish the season with their highest tally in the
top division since that 1979-80 campaign – 66 when adjusted
(Continued)
RADIO SPORT 105
• Wolves’ season began a year ago yesterday – they beat Crusaders in a

EL qualifying tie on July 25th, 2019 – this is game number 57
• It’s taken them from Shanghai to Bratislava via Yerevan in Armenia –
and could finish in the EL final in Cologne on 21/08 – would be nearly
400 days
• Wolves have gained an unrivalled 21 points from a losing position this
season, and also surrendered the fewest points (4) when ahead.
• Used fewest players (20) and made 3rd-fewest changes to starting XI
(55) in PL this season.
• 5th best away record on the road – 7 wins this season, 4 defeats.
• PL-high 73% of goals have been scored in the second half (37 of 51).
• TO COME: Olympiacos H – ELR16 2nd leg on Thurs 6th Aug – 1-1 after
first leg, live on TS2.
HEAD COACH: NUNO ESPIRITO SANTO 46, Portuguese, appt May 2017 – signed 3
year new deal in 2018. First Wolves manager to lead club to successive top 7
finishes since Stan Cullis (9 in a row, 1953-61). Linked with job at Chelsea in
2019 before Frank Lampard was appointed.‘Immensely proud of my team...we’ll
approach this just as any other game...ON VAR – I choose not to say the first word
that comes into my mind’
REF: STUART ATWELL. 4th official: Gavin Ward. VAR: Simon HOOPER |
Weather: about 21 degrees TODAY ON GAMEDAY LIVE ACROSS THE
NETWORKRIGHT NOW – Leicester v Manchester United – Premier League –
talkSPORT EXCLUSIVEPlus – commentary of 5 other PL games on the
talkSPORT app18:30 Swansea v Brentford – Championship Playoff Semi-Final
First Leg – talkSPORT 2 EXCLUSIVE – Mark Saggers, Ian Danter, Chris Iwelumo
MONDAY 27th JULY19:45 Cardiff v Fulham – Championship Playoff Semi-Final
First Leg – talkSPORT EXCLUSIVE Commentary of every Championship playoff
game – including the final exclusively with us.Plus the FA Cup final live on
August 1 – and Europa League games that matter too.talkSPORT from 6 –
Simon Jordan’s final word – 08717 22 33 44
11 RUI PATRICIO 0/50 – 32 Port No keeper has kept more clean sheets in
Europe’s top 5 leagues since start of Feb – 10
32 Leander DENDONCKER 6/54 – 25 Bel Played in all 34 PL games this season.
2 goals in last 4 PL starts.
16 Conor COADY 0/54 – 27 Has never scored a PL goal – only Wolves league
goal was in 2018 in Ch’ship. Most apps under NES – 148.
15 Willy BOLY 1/32 – 29 Fr Wolves have best defensive record in PL since his
return on Feb 1 – conceded 6 in 13. He had fractured fibula.
2 Matt DOHERTY 7/47 – 28 Ire set to make 300th Wolves app – 35th player to
reach that landmark, first since Dave Edwards in 2017.
8 Ruben NEVES 4/51 – 23 Port 12 of his 15 goals for the club have been scored from
outside the box
28 JOAO MOUTINHO 1/54 – 33 Port 11 assists this season – only Adama Traore
has setup more for Wolves.
19 JONNY 2/46 – 26 Sp Goal in win v Palace was his first since October.
(Continued)
106 ARRAN BEE
37 Adama TRAORE 6/51 – 24 Sp Not scored in last 18 PL apps since December

27 win v Man City. 12 assists this season.
9 Raul JIMENEZ 26/52 – 29 Mex Most gls scored by a Wolves player in all comps
since Steve Bull got 27 in 90–91. 17 PL goals won 19pts – best in PL
10 Daniel PODENCE 1/11 – 24 Port 16.9m from Olympiacos in Jan – first goal v
Palace in midweek. Started last 3 PL games – 1st PL starts.
21 John RUDDY 0/6 – 33 all apps this season have been in the cup only PL app for
Wolves was in March 2019.
7 Pedro NETO 5/42 – 20 Port 2 goals in his last 6 PL started. 20 PL apps this season
as a sub – only joe Willock and Moise Kean have made more.
17 Morgan GIBBS-WHITE 1/16 – 20 Only scored 1 senior goal – in EL in August.
N.S a PL goal.
18 Diogo JOTA 16/45 – 23 Port 2nd top scorer – most recently as sub in win v
Everton 12/07. 10+ goals in all 3 seasons with Wolves.
27 Romain SAISS 3/46 – 30 Morrocan Last Wolves goal was in December. Morocco
teammate of future Chelsea signing Hakim Ziyech.
29 Ruben VINAGRE 2/30 – 21 Port Not scored a PL goal – only career league
goal was in the Championship. Ex monaco
49 Max KILMAN 0/11 – 23 Not started a PL game since December. N.S a goal for
wolves.
59 Oskar BUUR 0/2 – 22 Dane defender/midfielder. Not made PL debut. Only
senior goal was on only senior lg app for Wolves – April ‘18 in Ch’ship
6 Bruno JORDAO 1/3 – 21 Port Not made his Wolves PL debut – has scored a
goal in LC for the club though. Ex Lazio.
On the day of the game, organisation helps to reduce stress. Checking kit the night
before, double-checking the route to a new venue, a last edit of any notes and
leaving more than enough time to get to the ground all make life easier. Upon
arrival, speaking to members of each club’s media team can sometimes provide
new information which may become useful in the commentary. At the commentary
position, it is a case of setting up and checking the kit (most commenters have their
own ISDN codec). If using a radio mic (a wire-free mic with a transmitter built into it),
testing it in the locations you are likely to use it can avoid problems later on. Once
everything is working, it is then time to connect to the production studio and speak
to the programme team at base. Let them know you are ready, find out what time
you are first due on and if they need anything extra for the broadcast. When the kit
is set up and ready, you should have time for a cup of tea!
When it comes to the actual commentary itself, there are plenty of different styles.
All commentators agree, however, that there are certain ‘commentary basics’ to
carry out, at the same time as trying to bring alive the sights, sounds and feel of a
game. Joe Shennan agrees that commentary needs to have particular ingredients
(Figure 5.2):
The fundamentals of any radio commentary are ‘where’s the ball?’ ‘What’s the
score?’ And ‘what’s the time?’ Those are the three things that you cannot tell
RADIO SPORT 107
FIGURE 5.2 Football commentator, Joe Shennan
the listener enough. ‘Where’s the ball?’ is self-explanatory. You cannot say the
score often enough. Not everyone is a loyal, 90-minute listener. You’ve got
people dipping in all of the time. I say it most minutes of the game. And on the
time – how long have we had in the football match? – This can vary in
importance in terms of how often you say it. If it’s a 3 o’clock kick-off, I think
people will look at their watches or their phones and have an idea of how long
has gone in their game but if it’s a mid-week game at 7:45, people may be less
familiar with exactly how long the game’s been going on. ‘10 minutes gone, nil-
nil the score, the ball is on the half-way line’ – those are the fundamentals of
football radio commentary because you are painting a picture. You are the
listeners’ eyes and ears.
While it is impossible to commentate without these functional elements, Joe says he is

always keen to use small details to help paint the picture of what is in front of him:
You start at the bottom of a pyramid with those three basics. I want to add
layers on top of that, that will make it a more interesting commentary for the
listeners. I’m going to weave in the name of the station they’re listening to. I
108 ARRAN BEE
want to add bits of ‘colour’. For example, if the player on the left wing has an
unusual hairstyle or he’s wearing blue boots, there are black clouds overhead
or the rain is starting to pour down or the spectators are holding blue-and-
white scarves. If the pitch is cutting up because it’s a wet and muddy day – say
it. All these are little nuggets of information. Say what you see is the
fundamental thing. I’ll throw in the stats that I’ve prepared at the appropriate
moment. If a team get a penalty and the taker has scored all three penalties
this season, it’s a perfect time to bring that up. I can bring in my co-
commentator, too. The basics are so important, but it’s about painting a
colourful picture, too.
So far, we have looked at what the commentator says about the game: the details
they use and description they give. Joe says that the style of delivery – including
showing some personality – is an equally important part of delivering a great
commentary, regardless of how exciting the action is:
It’s important to give a level of enthusiasm. We’re very lucky and privileged to
be going to these football matches and I always like to think that I always
sound interested in what’s going on in front of me. I love the game and – I like
to think – that that natural enthusiasm shines through. If a game is dull, we
shouldn’t necessarily shy away from the fact that it is. We have to remember
that we’re journalists and reporters and we should never make things up. Trust
in a football commentator is so important. You have to be accurate. But if a
game is dull, one of the things you can do is bring your summariser in more.
For example, ‘how can ‘X manager’ manage to change the game?’ You can
also do it with a bit of humour, as well. At one game I did, it was very cold,
there were two spectators that came back late for the second half who walked
in front of me and my summariser with armfuls of warm pies. You could smell
the pies and we joked on commentary about how we’d like to eat one. It gives
the game colour and allows you to branch away from a dull game and have a
bit of a lighter moment. Your preparation can be important, too. If a game is
dull, if not very much is happening on the field of play, you can pick out a
relevant stat which allows you to bring your co-commentator in and it can
develop a conversation.
talkSPORT Executive Producer, Sarah Collins, says radio commentators need to

have passion in their voice:
A former colleague left radio and went to work in TV. Because he was more
reserved, he suited TV commentary perfectly, because it’s not as fast and as
frantic and doesn’t paint as many pictures – because you can already see the
pictures. Whereas on radio, we need more emotion, colour, pictures – and
that’s where you need the passion as well.
RADIO SPORT 109
The way the voice is used is another way of shaping the tone of the commentary.
Joe Shennan says this can be improved with practice:
You develop that initial ‘broadcast voice’, the way you project and pitch your
voice, by listening to commentators. The projection of the voice is another
fundamentally important part of any radio football commentary. That is to say:
voice modulation. The listener should be able to tell, in my view, where the ball
is on the field of play by the modulation and projection of the voice. If the ball is
in the defensive third and the defenders are knocking it about, under no
pressure – your voice should reflect that. If the ball is in the penalty area in the
90th minute and someone smacks it in – then you can give it something. This
‘light and shade’ is a really great way of evoking colour and showing where the
ball is, just by using your voice. You don’t need to be shouting your head off all
the time, ration those moments.
Once the full-time whistle goes, commentators tend to sum up the game. Often, they
use notes made during the game on key incidents and after how many minutes each
one occurred. These notes can be very helpful with little or no thinking time. The
summariser may also give their reaction to the result. Once the commentary is done,
radio commentators can have only a small amount of time before carrying out a post-
match interview with one or both managers, and potentially players too.
POST-MATCH INTERVIEWS
Post-match interviews provide memorable moments on radio, usually for the right
reasons, sometimes for the wrong reasons. When successful, supporters get to hear
the manager of their team share their pride or frustration (depending on the result),
give a view on the key incidents, explain their decisions and sometimes provide an
update on any ongoing stories. Occasionally, they can be fruitless (where a manager
simply does not answer the questions, either avoiding them or giving very short an
swers) or banal (where the interviewee answers the questions but in a non-committal
or clichéd way). Even in the latter situation, listeners are at least able to draw their own
conclusions, so it is important to make the most of the short post-match window.
talkSPORT’s Joe Shennan says he has a general formula for approaching an in
terview after a match, offering the following advice:
Give them room and give them space to talk about the game. Don’t start
off with a closed question. Start with an open question, like ‘what did you
make of the game’, and allow them to give their thoughts. If you listen to their
answer then you’ll be able to ask your follow-up questions. That not only helps
with the lack of preparation time you have for the interview but starts the
interview off on an even keel and establishes an early rapport with whoever
110 ARRAN BEE
you’re talking to. Start with an open question then you can get into the
incidents of the game.
It can be necessary to ask a manager or player a difficult question. It may be about

their tactical decisions in a heavy defeat, their future at the club, a controversial
sending off or about a news story they have not previously been quoted on. Either
way, challenging questions can be necessary for a successful interview. Joe says
that it can be worth thinking about the phrasing of such a question in advance to
get the most out of an interviewee:
I still get nervous, that’s completely natural. Remember that, even in a worst-
case scenario of a manager getting frustrated, perhaps, it’s not necessarily
personal or directed at you. You can make the situation easier by asking the
question in the right manner. Equally, remember that it’s all part of the job. We
have to ask these questions. You’re doing your job by asking them. And,
actually, if you didn’t ask them, you wouldn’t be doing your job. Also, see it as
an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to get a good news line from a manager –
you might be the person that gets that story. Most managers I’ve worked with
have been very reasonable and understand, most of the time, that it is our job
to ask these questions.
RADIO SPORTS NEWS

Some stories suit a particular medium. Detailed financial stories work well in print
where you can re-read a paragraph to double-check you understand it. Sydney’s
New Year fireworks are bestfollowed from afar through TV and video. With that in
mind, what makes a great sports story on the radio? BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat’s
Christian Hewgill5 says it is all about sounds and people:
Sport’s great, isn’t it? There are bold personalities, there’s sound, there’s
action. The things that make a good news story also make a good sports
story. It’s the same things. Use the action to your advantage, let the audio do
the talking, let the characters flow through.
Not only is it a question of what story to cover, it can also be a question of how.
Listeners will have a different level of sports literacy, depending on the target au
dience for the station. Listeners to talkSPORT are likely to be very knowledgeable
and passionate about their sport, particularly football. They will already know a lot of
the background to ongoing stories. Listeners to Classic FM or LBC, to pick two
stations that do not routinely cover sport in detail, may not. For Christian, it is
important to keep this in mind at all times:
RADIO SPORT 111
A great sports news story needs an awareness of its audience. I was a sports
reporter for Notts TV and BBC East Midlands Today and, now, regularly do
sport on Newsbeat. For all three of those, you’ve got to be aware that you’re
not doing stuff for Sky Sports News. You’re not necessarily broadcasting to an
audience of sports fans. There’ll be sports fans within it but there’ll also be very
casual fans. If you’re on Sky Sports F1, you can talk about tyre compounds,
you can talk about pit-stop strategy, you can talk about Fernando Alonso’s
reputation – if you’re on Newsbeat you’ve got to explain what all of that means
or you’ll be losing people.
There is also the style of presentation to think about. Sports broadcasters have licence
to be slightly more informal and conversational than their news colleagues and this can
be used to their advantage when scripting a package or conducting an interview.
Christian Hewgill says it is important to know where to draw the line, though:
Of course, there’s an opportunity to show personality – one of my favourite

sports broadcasters in the world, Mark Chapman, has huge personality and
lets that shine through. But he’s also got an awareness that he’s not the story
and he’s not the reason the listener is tuning in. He makes it all about the sport.
A good sport story makes it about the sport; about the sports stars, about the
people, about the sport itself, rather than makes it about the reporter.
JOUNALIST PROFILE: KATHRYN ANASTASI

Kathryn Anastasi is Head of Live Sport at talkSPORT, a station she has worked for
since graduating from the MA Radio course at Goldsmiths, University of London, in
2007 (Figure 5.3). Describing her career path as “starting at the bottom and
working my way up”, she has produced a range of high-profile presenters, such as
Ian Collins, Richard Keys, Andy Gray and Colin Murray. Kathryn modestly says that
her current role involves “making sure that sport happens on the station”. Her mix
of responsibilities touch upon rights negotiation, editorial production, operational
production and the planning of large-scale broadcasting events.
At undergraduate level, Kathryn studied politics at the University of Sheffield. There,

she enjoyed working on student radio. Her post-graduate studies allowed her to
get involved with “everything from news days to writing radio dramas, making
documentaries, media law, writing a dissertation”, adding that “it was a really good
grounding for every skill that you could possibly want in radio”. While at Goldsmiths,
Kathryn did a month’s work experience at BBC Radio Manchester,finding a love of
production: “I did two weeks, on the road, doing reporting stuff. It’s not that I didn’t
enjoy it but I found it quite nerve-wracking. Then I did two weeks working with the
production team on the breakfast show and I was like ‘ok – this is where I’m
112 ARRAN BEE
FIGURE 5.3 talkSPORT Head of Live Sport, Kathryn Anastasi
comfortable!’ After that, I sent my CV literally everywhere – every radio station

going! talkSPORT rang me a couple of weeks later”.
On her early years at the station, Kathryn says:
I ended up doing ‘overnight set up’, booking guests for the overnight show,
for a couple of years and it progressed from there. That show was a current
affairs programme. Then I moved on to work on the late show, which was
10pm–1am with Ian Collins, for about 18 months. That was when I did my
first-ever ‘live production’ shift – the ‘you’re in charge of the control room’
sort of thing. I was terrified, really, because it’s live and you’re ultimately
responsible for what goes out. I really enjoyed it but it definitely took a lot of
nervous energy. I was quite exhausted afterwards. I had a really good
colleague called Laurie Palacio, who is actually the Deputy Head of
talkSPORT now, and I made him stay for the show and sit at the back of
the control room as a safety blanket!
It was during this period that Kathryn learned some key lessons about radio jour
nalism and production:
RADIO SPORT 113
Because it was current affairs – how important the guest is that you get on to talk
about a subject. A lot of Ofcom stuff too – being balanced, making sure that if
your presenter thinks one thing you’re challenging it with a guest. Giving a right to
reply. Making sure that, if someone is being criticised, you’re contacting them
and making sure that they’re given the opportunity to come on and rebuff that.
Also, about how to move a story on. I think that’s really important now that
every single show of ours is sport. If a show is covering a story in one way, the
next show needs to cover it in a different way – and how you can be creative
around that, using guests and different angles. Sometimes you can start with a
story and end up in a completely unrelated place but you’ve thought your way
through to that – so the creative, editorial process is really important.
Learning about features and furniture in a show and how you break up the
clock. How you keep momentum going. The late show was very silly so we
came up with some very silly ideas for features. Features and furniture really
give you ‘anchor points’. They give the listener a ‘touch point’ to know where
they are within the show.
How to get callers and how to create a debate is really important. I think we’ve
moved away from ‘shock jock’ kind of stuff these days but it’s about knowing
which question to ask on air to get a response and to choose which callers we
have on. You wouldn’t have two callers saying the same thing back-to-back,
you would curate the response that you’re getting in order to make it more
diverse in opinions.
After nearly four years working on the overnight and evening shows, Kathryn
moved on to the high-profile mid-morning programme. First working with Richard
Keys and Andy Gray, then Colin Murray and a cast of well-known co-presenters,
she says the show solidified her understanding of how to work with sports news
stories to make great radio:
Keys and Gray was where I learned a lot about journalism. They covered some
heavy topics like match-fixing, FIFA, Lance Armstrong and doping. I definitely
learned how to be more journalistic in our thinking on that programme. They
were great to work with, they weren’t afraid to open their contacts books
which I think is really important for a presenter ‘buying in’ to a show.
Colin Murray and Friends was similar but there was definitely more of an
element of friendship, bringing the listener in and making them feel like part of
the show. We had rolling co-presenters, every day we had two different co-
presenters and it was like a family. It was much more creative, in terms of the
furniture. Every person had a character and had a feature, it was very much a
‘bunch of friends’ feel. The six years I spent on mid-morning, I definitely learned
how to interpret news and how to use the stories to inform various features on
the programme. There was a lot of newspaper reading for six years, very early
in the morning!
114 ARRAN BEE
Kathryn says working on Colin Murray and Friends, in particular, was a very creative
experience:
We would have ‘Bob Mills Goes Postal’, which was just people writing letters
to Bob Mills because he refused to use the internet. It became so big, we had
letters every week and that was a whole section. It was creative and silly!
Being a radio producer demands creativity, regardless of the type of show. Often it is
how a story is told that sticks with the listener, rather than the content of the actual
story itself. Is creativity something you either have or do not have? Or can you learn it?
I think you can. As soon as you start thinking about ‘which bit of this show is
good’? ‘Why is it good?’ ‘Why is it entertaining?’ You can think it’s because
people like silliness, because people like being in on a joke, you can then start to
build on that. It’s the same with competitions. You can do a really dry ‘answer this
question win a competition’ but you can learn how to jazz up a competition so it
feels like it’s not advertising, it’s fun. Again, with Colin Murray and Friends there
was a summer with no big tournament so we did Six Weeks of Summer and
each week we’re going to concentrate on a different summer sport. One week
was cricket, one week was tennis, one week was snooker because it was around
the Masters. One week, we did a snooker competition where we wrote questions
which were red ball questions all the way to black ball questions, where they
increased in difficulty. You had to do a ‘red’ and then a ‘colour’, a ‘red’ then a
‘colour’ in order. Suddenly the competition is snooker – but it’s not, it’s still just
answering questions. You’ve just created something around it to jazz it up a bit. I
find that element of radio really fun. It’s a straightforward quiz but you’ve created
this world around it to make it more engaging.
Numerous initiatives have been set up to increase the variety of backgrounds of

people coming into sports journalism, something that Kathryn says is starting to
make a difference on air and off air:
One of the key themes in the last couple of years is diversity and inclusion.
We’re moving away from a white, male environment and that brings a diversity
of thought in itself, which will bring innovation.
It means that we have people talking from experience about subjects,
whereas before we wouldn’t have. That’s really important. The ‘Black Lives
Matter’ coverage has been hugely important in sport. Maybe, previously, we
wouldn’t have had people from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background
on the air to discuss it, now we do. That brings a whole different level of
coverage for us. People that have experienced these things, talking from
experience to a listenership who are diverse, makes it more credible and has
more integrity and we will think of ways of doing things that we wouldn’t
have before. It’s a sense check as well. Having people on the production
RADIO SPORT 115
staff from different backgrounds means that they might hear something and
go ‘oh – maybe not’, whereas someone who’s not from that background
would hear it and not think about it. There’s a layer of sense check and it’s
about people on air, talking from experience, rather than people trying to
guess that experience.
Kathryn’s job has taken her to major sporting events, across the world. She says
one highlight in particular sticks out over the rest:
The best one is probably 2013 in Sydney at the third Lions test, when the Lions
won. It was the first time I’d ever gone abroad on an OB [outside broadcast]. I was
a producer, I wasn’t running the show, but it was my first ‘yeah – this is pretty epic!’
I’d say that is definitely my highlight. And the Lions won! Maybe if the Lions had lost
it wouldn’t have been quite so much of a highlight! I’ve been really lucky to go to
loads of live sport. I’ve travelled the world; New Zealand versus Lions, six weeks in
Russia for the World Cup and going to the World Cup final, Sri Lanka, West Indies
and South Africa for cricket. I’d never been to an international test match before
and the first one I go to is England versus the West Indies at the Kensington Oval
and you think ‘people pay lots of money for these experiences in life and I’m getting
paid to be here!’ You can’t overestimate how grateful I am for those experiences
and I definitely wouldn’t have got them unless I’d come into this job.
While many sports fans dream of being paid to attend global events – like the World
Cup – as part of their job, the reality is that the trips involve a long period away from
home, very long hours and moments of intense pressure. So, with that in mind, is it
possible to enjoy each experience?
There are two types of enjoyment: type one enjoyment when you’re enjoying it at
the time and type two enjoyment when you look back and think ‘that was good’.
There’s quite a lot of ‘type two’ enjoyment. Especially when something’s going
wrong and it needs fixing and there’s a lot of stress. Especially when it’s
broadcast critical and it has to be fixed right now. That’s not that enjoyable but
you look back when you’ve fixed it and you’ve got to air and everything’s been ok
and you go ‘ok, that was a job well done’. There’s a lot of operational stuff that
goes into a Euros or a World Cup or a cricket tour which involves lots of
engineering emails about ISDN lines and sound feeds. That stuff is dry but I do
get a kick out of it all coming together and everything working. I find the last two
weeks before a tour really stressful. I always say the first week and the last week
are the worst. The first week you’re orientating yourself and working out who to
speak to in different stadiums – it’s the unknown. Then you get into a rhythm and
everything’s fine. Then the last week, you can see the light at the end of the
tunnel, you’ve been away for two months, you just want to see your friends and
family and that last week really drags. There’s nothing like it really. All of it is good.
All of it is enjoyable. It’s a pretty cool job, really!
116 ARRAN BEE
Sports broadcasting remains a very competitive field to break into. Kathryn has this
advice:
I didn’t realise I wanted to go into sport when I applied for talkSPORT. I did like
sport, so it wasn’t a huge leap. If you’ve recognised that ‘I want to work in
radio sports journalism’ then contact people. Go on LinkedIn, search for the
right person and contact them. Don’t necessarily give up. I think there’s a
balance. Don’t email someone every day. That’s not going to get you
anywhere. But keep nudging, keep saying ‘hi’. Try and get in for a coffee,
ask for advice.
Kathryn is particularly keen to support women into sports journalism:
I didn’t have a female person [to contact] on the management team on

talkSPORT when I started. I wish I had. I really like it when aspiring women in
sports journalism contact me and ask me for advice because I want to create
that pathway, so I’m more than happy to give up some of my time for that. Try
to find someone like you, who’s in the industry and contact them and ask for
advice. You just never know where that’s going to lead to.
For more on breaking into the industry, see Chapter 10.
NOTES
2 Quote from Jonny Drake taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
3 All quotes from Sarah Collins take from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
4 All quotes from Joe Shennan taken from interview with Arran Bee in September 2019.
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cost of men’s coverage. YouGov. [WWW Document]. URL https://yougov.co.uk/topics/
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Adams, A., 2002. Radio football down the years. BBC Sport. [WWW Document]. URL http://
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Andrews, P., 2013. Sports Journalism: A Practical Introduction. SAGE.
BBC News, 2018. TalkSport take cricket rights from BBC. [WWW Document]. URL https://
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CHAPTER 6
Bias and balance

Accountability in radio journalism
by John Collins
The UK has a ‘free press’ when compared to many more authoritarian countries
around the world, but there are many laws and regulations that restrict what can be
published and broadcast. The purpose of this chapter is not to provide an ex-
haustive account of those laws and regulations that apply to radio, but to sum-
marise the main areas of law that affect the day-to-day work of programme making
and radio journalism.
The proper functioning of a modern participatory democracy requires that the

media be free, active, professional and enquiring.
(McCartan Turkington Breen v Times Newspapers Ltd (2001) 2 AC 277 in

Hanna and Dodd 2016)
The UK’s media is free to operate in a manner which is envied by broadcasters and
journalists in many other parts of the world. That said, all broadcasters working in
Great Britain and Northern Ireland do have to work within a framework of legal and
regulatory constraints designed to uphold the existing law of the land, ensure levels
of taste and decency and prevent a concentration of ownership that it is believed
would lead to a reduction in the range of available viewpoints.
journalists must know the law: where it comes from, what it says and what it
allows them to do – or stops them doing.
(Hanna and Dodd 2016 p. 4)
BIAS AND BALANCE 119
LEGISLATIVE CONTROLS
The aim of legislative controls is to make sure that broadcast material does not
unfairly represent a person or organisation, endanger national security, work
against the interests of justice or cause offence to individuals or groups within
society. The last of these aims is one that has been the subject of much recent
discussion as society seeks to find an agreeable balance between the rights of
individuals and groups to be protected from, in simplistic terms, a battle between
the right to offend and the right to not be offended.
DEFAMATION
Defamation law is designed to protect the reputation of individuals and groups from
unjustified attacks, but because there is no absolute definition of defamation this
can be a minefield for broadcasters who need to be aware that a careless com-
ment about someone could land them in court.
Broadly speaking, defamation can be caused by written statements or pictures, in

which case it is libel, or spoken statements where it is treated as slander. But under
the Broadcasting Act of 1990 any defamatory statement made on radio or television
is treated as libel. The problem comes in defining what is defamatory. In McNae’s
Essential Law for Journalists, Mark Hanna and Mike Dodd give this guidance:
A statement about a person is defamatory of him if it seriously affects his/her

reputation by:
1 expose him to hatred, ridicule or contempt;

2 cause him to be shunned or avoided;
3 lower him in the estimation of right-thinking members of society
generally; or
4 disparage him in his business, trade, office or profession.
(Hanna and Dodd 2016: 256)
That seems reasonably clear, but they go on to explain that the person suing does
not have to show that the statement in question actually caused hatred and so on,
simply that in the estimation of ‘reasonable’ men and women it could be regarded
as defamatory and lead to hatred, ridicule and so on. A statement which may
initially appear innocuous can take on extra, and potentially defamatory, meaning if
it sits alongside other material. When editing audio for the radio, a journalist or
presenter must always be careful to ensure that the way any background music
interacts with the words of their script is not disparaging. In 2007, Welsh,
Greenwood and Banks cited a case where a holiday company won an out-of-court
settlement from a television company who used the theme tune from prison camp
120 JOHN COLLINS
drama Colditz under pictures of the size of rooms used by holiday makers (Welsh
et al., 2007, p. 496).
But the real minefield for radio comes in live broadcasts where a studio guest or
remote contributor can say something defamatory about an individual or company.
In cases like this both the person who spoke the words and the radio station would
be sued. As mentioned before, it’s common practice for many commercial radio
stations to use a delay on live phone-ins so that if something defamatory is said the
presenter can stop the remarks being transmitted. But where the words are
broadcast, Welsh, Greenwood and Banks say, “the presenter should immediately
dissociate himself and the station from the defamatory statement and should
apologise without repeating the defamatory statement” (Welsh et al., 2007, p. 497).
The Defamation Act of 2013 changed the law so that defamation cases are heard
by a judge alone rather than a judge and a jury. This means that the judge is now
responsible for deciding the two key issues within any defamation case, what is
meant by the words that were used? And have they caused serious harm? (Hanna
and Dodd 2016: 256).
REPORTING RESTRICTIONS AND CONTEMPT OF

COURT
Restrictions on the reporting of court cases are covered by a series of laws but can
also be ordered by judges in specific cases. One of the main reasons for imposing
restrictions is to prevent media coverage from adversely affecting the outcome of
cases. For example, the 1980 Magistrates’ Courts Act restricts what can be re-
ported about a preliminary hearing or committal proceedings to prevent prejudicing
the full hearing. This limits these reports to specified facts: the name of the court
and magistrates; the names, addresses and occupations of the parties and wit-
nesses and the ages of the accused and witnesses; a summary of the offence; the
names of the legal professionals involved; the decision of the court to commit the
accused for trial, and any decision on the disposal of the case of any accused not
committed; where there is a committal, a summary of the charges and note of what
court they are committed to; where there is an adjournment, the date and place of
the adjournment; any bail arrangements; whether legal aid was given and any
decision of the court to lift or not to lift these reporting restrictions (Welsh et al.,
2007: 43).
There are also restrictions to prevent the identity of innocent parties involved in
reported cases, such as the victims of sexual attack, rape or attempted rape, and
those of juveniles (that is, those under the age of 18) accused or convicted of
offences, and the identification of children involved in family proceedings.
Broadcasters could be regarded as being in contempt of court if their reports were

likely to prejudice or give rise to substantial risk of serious impediment of a pending
or current court case. This includes making any reference to previous convictions
or any extraneous information that could be prejudicial where a case is to be tried
by jury. The Contempt of Court Act 1981 not only covers broadcast reports but
also the behaviour of reporters. For example, under Section 8 of the Act it is an
offence to seek or disclose any information about the deliberations of a jury.
Journalists also cannot record interviews or take photographs within the courtroom
or the wider court building. The often-seen scrum of reporters immediately outside
the court building is created not just out of convenience, but necessity.
OFFICIAL SECRETS AND DA NOTICES

The disclosure of matters that are regarded as state secrets is covered by the
Official Secrets Acts of 1911 and 1989. These are complicated Acts that detail
what kind of information should not be reported, as well as restricting the disclosure
of information obtained in certain ways, for example, if it has been given to the
journalist from a Crown servant without lawful authority or in confidence.
Guidance on how certain types of information relating to national security should be

reported or not reported is given to newsrooms in the form of Defence Advisory
(DA) notices. These are issued by the Defence Press and Broadcasting Committee,
which is made up of four senior officials of the Ministry of Defence, the Home Office,
and the Foreign Office, and 13 nominees from newspapers, periodicals, news
agencies and broadcasting organisations. There are five standing DA notices that
describe the broad areas that the committee has identified as being likely to require
guidance to avoid damaging national security. These cover areas like defence plans
and equipment, ciphers and secure communications, the identification of specific
installations and details about the intelligence service and Special Forces. Each
notice describes what it is seeking to protect and why, but the system is advisory,
voluntary and has no legal authority. Editors do not have to seek advice, and are
they compelled to take any advice that is given to them. In effect, it is a system of
‘self-censorship’ by the media when it comes to matters of national security (Welsh
et al., 2007, extended website chapter 19).
OBSCENITY
Prosecutions against a station for broadcasting material that may be considered
obscene (Broadcasting Act 1990) or likely to incite racial hatred (Public Order Act
1986) can only take place with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
What actually constitutes obscenity however tends to change according to the
culture and the time: the definition of obscenity in Victorian times is quite different
from that of today. In general, material that can be reasonably considered as being
likely to deprave or corrupt an audience or incite racial hatred is covered by these
Acts. Similarly, a station can be prosecuted for blasphemy if an item uses language
122 JOHN COLLINS
that vilifies the Christian religion or the Bible, or sedition if the item could cause a
breach of the peace through the manner in which it is presented.
REGULATORY CONTROLS
Historically broadcasting has always been more tightly regulated than other forms
of media. This is partly because it is generally regarded as having a more direct
impact on audiences than print, but also for wholly practical reasons connected to
allocating the scarce resource of frequencies. It is very common for the tone,
content or balance of a newspaper article to be of a nature that would not be
allowed within broadcasting.
Radio in the UK is now regulated solely by the communications watchdog Ofcom.

The body was created via the 2003 Communications Act to replace a series of
industry-specific regulatory bodies like the Radio Authority and the Broadcasting
Standards Commission. Its role is to regulate the UK’s broadcasting, tele-
communications and wireless communications sectors and enforce rules on fair
competition between companies in those industries. Although Ofcom ultimately
answers to the government, it is independent from it and is funded from fees from
the industry charged for regulating broadcasting and communications networks
and grant-in-aid from the government.
Ofcom is responsible for licensing all UK commercial television and radio services
including the existing analogue stations, digital radio stations, restricted service
licences and community radio (Ofcom, 2005). Through the Broadcasting Code
(2005), it sets out rules and standards for all broadcasters. The Code deals with
issues of Harm and Offense and aims to protect people under the age of 18 from
material that is deemed unsuitable for them “while allowing broadcasters an ap-
propriate amount of creative freedom” (Ofcom, 2005).
THE BBC TRUST

The BBC Trust was formed under the BBC’s Royal Charter of 2006 that came into
effect in January 2007. It replaced the former BBC Board of Governors and acted
in the interests of licence fee payers to ensure that the BBC remained independent
from government or commercial pressures and that it provided value for money
and high quality programmes and contributed to the economy and culture of the
UK. It was independent from the BBC Executive and BBC Management, so it does
not have anything to do with the day-to-day running of the corporation
A new BBC Royal Charter and Agreement was published in December 2016, which
made Ofcom, not the BBC Trust, the independent regulator of the BBC. The BBC
Trust closed in April 2017.
THE BBC BOARD

The BBC Trust was replaced by the BBC Board which is chaired by the former
banker Sir David Clementi. The job of the Board is to uphold and protect the in-
dependence of the BBC and make all of its decisions in the public interest. It is
accountable for all of the corporation’s publicly funded services and all of its
commercial activities in the UK and around the world.
Every year it publishes two key documents which are known as the Annual Plan
and the Annual Report. The Annual Report also details the corporation’s accounts
for the previous year.
The Board’s Annual Report for 2018–2019 listed the ‘public purposes’ that the
BBC seeks to deliver:
1 to provide impartial news and information to help people to understand

and engage with the world around them.
2 to support learning for people of all ages.
3 to show the most creative, highest quality and distinctive output and
services.
4 to reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all of the UK’s
nations and regions and, in doing so, support the creative economy
across the UK.
5 to reflect the UK, its culture and values to the world.
Members of this board are required to “observe the highest standards of propriety,
to demonstrate integrity, impartiality and objectivity with respect to the stewardship
of public funds and the governance of the BBC and to be open, responsive and
accountable to the public and licence fee payers” (BBC, 2020: 2).
THE STRUCTURE OF OFCOM

Ofcom’s structure is similar to that of many commercial organisations and in this way it
is different from regulatory models of the past, which were often headed or overseen
by a government appointed person or body. The structure of Ofcom aims to be
transparent and far reaching. Ofcom has a Board with an Executive section, headed
by the chief executive officer Melanie Dawes, which runs the organisation and answers
to the Board. The Board has up to ten members and is chaired by Baron Burns of
Pitshanger. As Ofcom’s website explains, “The Ofcom Board provides strategic di-
rection for Ofcom. It is the main statutory instrument of regulation with a fundamental
role in the effective implementation of the Communications Act 2003”.
The main work of Ofcom is done by the Content Board, which is a committee of the
main Board that “sets and enforces quality and standards for television and radio”
124 JOHN COLLINS
and acts in the interests of the public (www.ofcom.org.uk). They also consider
format regulation for radio. The Content Board has 13 members appointed by
Ofcom and is chaired by the former BBC producer, editor and senior manager Tim
Suter. While he now runs his own company advising clients on media policy and
regulation, he previously worked for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
and was there during the formation of the Communications Act of 2003; the act
which created Ofcom.
The majority of Content Board members are part-time and drawn from diverse
backgrounds across the UK. Four are appointed to represent to Ofcom the
interests and opinions of people living in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and
the English Regions.
(Ofcom, 2019)
The Content Board has members from outside of the media industry as well as
members with extensive broadcasting experience.
There are also a series of advisory bodies that work with Ofcom. These include
advisory committees for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to provide
advice on matters of interest particular to each country, an Advisory Committee for
Older and Disabled People to look after their interests, a Spectrum Advisory Board
made up of people with particular technical knowledge and skills and a Consumer
Panel. The Consumer Panel is independent from Ofcom with its own budget to
commission research. Its job is to raise issues of consumer interest including issues
affecting rural communities and those on low income or otherwise disadvantaged.
THE OFCOM BROADCASTING CODE

The Ofcom Broadcasting Code provides broadcasters in the UK with a set of
principles, meanings and rules that they need to follow to meet accepted standards
in programming, sponsorship, fairness and privacy. The most recent version of the
code took effect on 1 January 2019, and covers all programmes broadcast from
that date forwards.
The code covers ten areas: protecting the under-18s; harm and offence; crime;
religion; due impartiality and due accuracy, and undue prominence of views and
opinions; elections and referendums; fairness; privacy; sponsorship; commercial
references in television programming and commercial references in radio pro-
gramming. But although the Code has clear rules, it also attempts to give broad-
casters more freedom of expression than in the past by taking into account the
Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights:
In particular, the right to freedom of expression, as expressed in Article 10 of

the Convention, encompasses the audience’s right to receive creative material,
information and ideas without interference but subject to restrictions pre-

scribed by law and necessary in a democratic society.
(Ofcom, 2019)
To that end the Code explains that broadcasters “should be aware that the context in
which the material appears is key” (Ofcom: How to use the Code). In other words,
material should be suitable for the intended audience. For example, under Section
One: protecting the under-18s, the Code explains that children (defined as people
under 15) should be protected by ‘appropriate scheduling’ from material that is
unsuitable for them. The Code then goes on to clearly define ‘appropriate sche-
duling’ as referring to the nature of the content, the likely number and age range of
the children listening, the time of the broadcast, and the nature of the station and the
likely expectations of the audience. In particular it points out that a time when children
are likely to be listening “particularly refers to the school run and breakfast time but
might include other times” (Section 1). At this point it is worth highlighting that the
concept of a ‘watershed’, a time point at which it was deemed acceptable to
broadcast material of a more adult nature, has only ever applied to television.
Section 2 of the Code then goes on to explain the meaning of ‘context’:
Context includes (but is not limited to):
• the editorial content of the programme, programmes or series;

• the service on which the material is broadcast;
• the time of broadcast;
• what other programmes are scheduled before and after the
programme or programmes concerned;
• the degree of harm or offence likely to be caused by the inclusion of
any particular sort of material in programmes generally or
programmes of a particular description;
• the likely size and composition of the potential audience and likely
expectation of the audience;
• the extent to which the nature of the content can be brought to the
attention of the potential audience for example by giving
information; and
• the effect of the material on viewers or listeners who may come
across it unawares.
(Ofcom, 2019: Section 2)
By providing clear definitions the Code allows broadcasters the chance to transmit
material that in the past may have been considered offensive by some, provided it
is editorially justified and where appropriate warnings are given to the audience.
126 JOHN COLLINS
The rise in popularity of podcasts, radio stations’ own apps and audio platforms
such as BBC Sounds present a real challenge to the concept of ‘appropriate
scheduling’. When content was consumed in a predominantly, and near
exclusively, linear way, a broadcaster could be very sure of exactly when
their programming was being heard. Now, with content available to be down-
loaded at the touch of a button, that same content could be being listened to at
any time. That said, it is worth drawing the distinction that both audio files
downloaded from apps and audio streamed asynchronously do have to be
‘pulled’ by the user to their device – they have chosen the time at which they wish
to listen.
Most sections of the Code deal with the effect of programmes on listeners, but
Section 7: Fairness and Section 8: Privacy focus on the way broadcasters deal with
individuals directly involved in their programmes. Both of these sections have a list
of ‘practices to be followed’. In Section 7 the Code explains that broadcasters
should avoid unfair treatment of individuals or organisations making a contribution
to a programme:
Where a person is invited to make a contribution to a programme (except when

the subject matter is trivial or their participation minor) they should normally, at
an appropriate stage:
• be told the nature and purpose of the programme, what the

programme is about and be given a clear explanation of why they
were asked to contribute and when (if known) and where it is likely to
be first broadcast;
• be told what kind of contribution they are expected to make, for example
live, pre-recorded, interview, discussion, edited, unedited, etc.;
• be informed about the areas of questioning and, wherever possible,
the nature of other likely contributions;
• be made aware of any significant changes to the programme as it
develops which might reasonably affect their original consent to
participate, and which might cause material unfairness;
• be told the nature of their contractual rights and obligations and those
of the programme maker and broadcaster in relation to their
contribution; and
• be given clear information, if offered an opportunity to preview the
programme, about whether they will be able to effect any changes
to it.
(Ofcom, 2005: Section 7.3)
The Code goes on to say that if a contributor is under 16 then consent should be
obtained from a parent or guardian, and that under-16s should not be asked their
views on matters beyond their capacity to answer properly without such consent.
In the case of persons over 16 who are not in a position to give consent, a person
of 18 or over with primary responsibility for their care should normally give it on their
behalf. In particular, people not in a position to give consent should not be asked
for views on matters likely to be beyond their capacity to answer properly without
such consent.
The Code also advises that in edited programmes contributions should be re-
presented fairly, and where contributors have been guaranteed confidentiality or
anonymity, these should normally be honoured, and it warns that care also needs
to be taken with material recorded for one purpose and then reused in a later
programme.
The Code then outlines how people involved in factual programmes a chance to
respond, and to make sure that dramas and factually based dramas are fair to
individuals and organisations. It also has a section dealing with “deception, set-
ups, and ‘wind-up’ calls, saying that broadcasters should not normally obtain
audio through the use of ‘misrepresentation or deception”, but:
• it may be warranted to use material obtained through misrepresentation

or deception without consent if it is in the public interest and cannot
reasonably be obtained by other means;
• where there is no adequate public interest justification, for example
some unsolicited wind-up calls or entertainment set-ups, consent
should be obtained from the individual and/or organisation concerned
before the material is broadcast;
• if the individual and/or organisation is/are not identifiable in the
programme then consent for broadcast will not be required;
• material involving celebrities and those in the public eye can be used
without consent for broadcast, but it should not be used without a
public interest justification if it is likely to result in unjustified public
ridicule or personal distress. (Normally, therefore such contributions
should be pre-recorded.)
(Ofcom, 2005: 7:14)
Section 8 of the Code, which deals with privacy, is similar in many ways to what is
said under the section on fairness (above), but it does have specific advice on
recording and broadcasting phone calls:
Broadcasters can record telephone calls between the broadcaster and the
other party if they have, from the outset of the call, identified themselves,
explained the purpose of the call and that the call is being recorded for
possible broadcast (if that is the case) unless it is warranted not to do one or
more of these practices. If at a later stage it becomes clear that a call that has
128 JOHN COLLINS
been recorded will be broadcast (but this was not explained to the other party
at the time of the call) then the broadcaster must obtain consent before
broadcast from the other party, unless it is warranted not to do so.
(Ofcom, 2005, 8:12)
However, it then goes on to say that recorded ‘wind-up’ calls for the purpose of
entertainment may be warranted if it is intrinsic to the entertainment and does not
amount to “a significant infringement of privacy such as to cause significant an-
noyance, distress or embarrassment”. It also states that the resulting material
should not be broadcast without the consent of those involved. (Ofcom,
2005, 8:15).
When members of the public think that the Broadcasting Code has been breached,
they can make a complaint directly to Ofcom who will investigate and publish their
findings along with the reasons the Code has been breached in regular Broadcast
Bulletins that are published on their website (www.ofcom.co.uk). When a broad-
caster deliberately, seriously or repeatedly breaches the Code, Ofcom may impose
statutory sanctions against the broadcaster including heavy fines.
BIAS VS. BALANCE

In the current political climate, it seems that almost all debates are framed as
binary, tribal disputes. This has serious repercussions for those working in the
media who are responsible for how these issues are covered. Radio talk shows,
news bulletins, news programmes and debates will often see ‘talking heads’ from
either side of a debate paired-off against one another. But this conventional way
of covering an issue is not the only way that a story can be covered, and perhaps,
it is not the only way that stories should be covered. What if the two sides of a
story are not equal? Or what if there are more than two sides to a story? We have
discussed at length the fact that simplicity is one of the great strengths of radio,
but this simplicity should never come at the expense of understanding, truth or
balance.
Does the idea of balance actually distort our news? Phrases such as balance,
objectivity and impartiality are often used as if they are interchangeable when, in
fact, their very definitions show that there are important distinctions between each
concept.
Balance means creating discussions, debates and coverage in which different

elements or opinions are considered equal or present in the correct proportions. So
if the topic under discussion was that of global warming, it often means that sci-
entists warning about the effects that rising temperatures pose to our way of life
find themselves having to debate against an individual who does not believe that
climate change is happening. The ensuing debate is balanced in that the different
elements are considered equal, but when there is a heavy consensus amongst
expert scientists that global warming is borne out by peer-reviewed scientific data
and the dangers posed by this are very real, does that one-on-one debate have the
different elements present in the correct proportions?
If this debate takes place or programming/journalistic coverage is created on this

basis and the ensuing content treats all of the participants or contributors equally,
then it could be accurately described as impartial. But is it truly balanced? Are the
different elements of the story, the two sides of the debate, present in the correct
proportions? It would be relatively easy to make the case that they are not.
Is the report objective? True objectivity requires a complete lack of bias, judgment
or prejudice and is therefore far, far harder to achieve. Can the broadcasters and
journalists involved in this coverage fully put aside their own political beliefs, their
own background, their own race, their own gender, their own sexuality and their
own prior experiences to ensure that their impact on the story is nothing more than
an objective gathering and presenting of the relevant facts?
Future broadcasters should perhaps think of impartiality as the bare minimum that
you would want to achieve, regard balance as a desirable and achievable goal
when journalistic and intellectual rigour is applied and consider objectivity to be the
ultimate goal to which they should aspire, safe in the knowledge that many of the
most-considered voices within journalism believe it to be impossible to achieve in
the real world.
IMPARTIALITY AND THE BBC

As he departed the BBC in the late summer of 2020, the outgoing Director General
Tony Hall1 spoke to the corporation’s Media Editor Amol Rajan and gave a re-
sounding defence of the corporation’s commitment to impartiality.
When you join the BBC, you hang whatever views you have with your coat by
the door. Impartiality matters to the BBC. There is a view out there that
somehow impartiality is a negative thing. It’s not. Impartiality means you are
going out there without fear or favour, seeking the truth and, actually, it’s
empowering. When you think back to some great reporters in the past, that’s
what they’ve done and I think the idea of impartiality is elevating. It’s really
important.
To further solidify the position of impartiality within the fabric of the BBC, in his first
speech as the new Director General, Tim Davie outlined four priorities for the
corporation to focus on to ensure that it best serves its audiences in the twenty-first
century. At the top of that list was a renewal of its commitment to impartiality.
130 JOHN COLLINS
I do hear questions about whether due impartiality is deliverable, even

desirable, in these more polarized, divergent times. Importantly, it is not simply
about left or right. This is more about whether people feel we see the world
from their point of view. Our research shows that too many perceive us to be
shaped by a particular perspective. We urgently need to champion and
recommit to impartiality. It is deliverable and it is essential.
(Davie, 2020)
He outlined how this commitment should manifest itself within the daily working
practices of BBC journalists and stressed that it did not mean having to espouse
repugnant views.
If you work here, nothing should be more exciting than exploring different
views, seeking evidence with curiosity and creatively presenting testimony.
Making use of our own experiences but not driven by our personal agendas …
to be clear, this is not about abandoning democratic values such as
championing fair debate or an abhorrence of racism. But it is about being
free from political bias, guided by the pursuit of truth … seeking a wider
perspective of views … and finding new voices from across the nation. … I
want staff to spend much more time outside the BBC listening to those who
pay for us.
(Davie, 2020)
At a time when high-profile BBC journalists such as Laura Kuenssberg and BBC
freelance staff such as Gary Lineker and Andrew Neil have come under fire in
certain sections of the press (and a very many sections on social media) for the way
in which they have gone about their job or opinions they have expressed, Davie
explicitly highlighted that the BBC was no place to be partisan.
If you want to be an opinionated columnist or a partisan campaigner on social

media then that is a valid choice, but you should not be working at the BBC …
we need to explore new ways of delivering impartiality.
(Davie, 2020)
ACROSS THE POND

These issues and discussions are not limited to the UK. Indeed, Tim Davie’s po-
sition is almost an echo of that outlined by Jeffrey Dvorkin,2 the ombudsman of
National Public Radio (NPR) – the United States’ public service broadcaster.
Journalists have a tendency to come chat with me up in my office … and they

say ‘you know what, I’ve got very strong feelings about this’ and I want to go
out and demonstrate or I want to be an activist or be engaged in some kind of
lobby work … people have to choose, they can go off and express their
opinions and, I guess, be a blogger or an activist or they can be a journalist.
Dvorkin’s organisation says it aims to provide the “most reliable and contextual
information possible” and that this carries an assumption of balance that then
comes to bear on all of the stories that they cover on the radio. He has concerns
that listeners increasingly want to hear their own opinions in the mouths of others
and become annoyed when they hear differing views but believes that news outlets
need to worry less about offending consumers’ sensibilities.
We tend to think that we should present both sides and then step back and say
that we’ve done our job but in many instances the public is saying ‘that’s just not
enough for us’ … a lot of listeners to NPR, to public radio are saying, ‘okay, now
you’ve given us the facts, can’t you draw a conclusion?’ … often … we won’t do
that because somehow this might contravene our sense of, or perceived sense
of, fairness. … We’re in a very fractious moment in our political and journalistic
and political culture … a lot of journalism tends to back off from drawing
conclusions for fear of inciting the wrath of listeners, readers and viewers but I’m
not sure that the listeners, readers and viewers are well-served by that attitude.
Brent Cunningham3 is a former Managing Editor at the Columbia Journalism

Review at Columbia University in New York. He is fearful of the modern media
landscape where listeners and viewers are angered on the first occasion that they
don’t hear their views reflected back at them.
I think it’s a dangerous idea if the media does start to fracture along the lines of ‘I
have my facts, you have your facts’ … this debate between objectivity and balance
tends to be over-simplified because we talk about both sides of the story … there
are more than two sides to most stories … the question of balance is a lot more
complicated and a lot more slippery than it comes across in most debates. …
Traditionally, to be an objective journalist required you to write a balanced story or to
present a balanced account of something and my problem with that is that the
world is not a balanced place. There are stories that we cover today that are
increasingly complicated, they are complex, the truth and falsity of information is
difficult to know, but it is incumbent upon journalists to use their access, to use their
research skills, to use their mission to discern these distinctions when it’s possible.
COMMUNITY RADIO REGULATIONS

The fight for community stations to become the third strand of radio broadcasting in
the UK began nearly 40 years ago. That battle culminated in the 2004 Community
Radio Order which means these stations can now operate alongside commercial radio
and the BBC. This legislation meant that Ofcom would grant community stations a
132 JOHN COLLINS
licence to be on-air for five years, providing them more stability than they had ever
previously enjoyed.
The definition of community radio is a station owned and run by a local group for
the benefit of the community it serves. Staffed by volunteers – although the odd
member of staff might be paid – and operated on a not-for-profit basis, ensuring
any money made goes back into the business.
When The Radio Handbook last went to print, there were a little over 150 community
radio stations in the UK. As of September 2020, that number has doubled. Such rapid
growth is perhaps not surprising given how technological advances have made re-
cording and broadcasting equipment more accessible. Then factor in that the passion
shown by the authors of The Community Radio Toolkit when they warn would-be
broadcasters that community radio has “the capacity to change your life”:
We think you should do it to express yourself and to fulfil yourself. To empower

yourself and engage yourself. Do it for the memories, do it for the fun. Do it for
the look on people’s faces when you explain it to them, and they say ‘wow!’.
Do it for the thrill of flying by your bootstraps, for the rawness, the immediacy,
the buzz.
(ibid., 10)
One man who would definitely recognise the excitement described in this quote is
Jeff Martin.4 He founded and runs Erewash Sound, a community radio station that
serves the area around Long Eaton and Ilkeston that straddles the borders of
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
I think community radio serves a real purpose and that’s to have a real connect
with its community. For Erewash Sound and stations like ours that serve a
particular (geographical) area … the real important thing is that there is
community in our DNA so that everything we do is judged by its benefit to this
community that we serve.
Founded in 2010, the station has recently celebrated ten years of being on the air.
With a new transmitter enabling it to reach more listeners than ever before. That this
comes soon after the commercial stations in the area merging, rebranding and
becoming part of a national network
I was right there at the start of ILR so I know what it was designed to do and
it’s been watered down over the years and now basically someone has driven
a coach and horses through it and I think that is really sad that stations will no
longer have that affinity with their area.
As well as a full schedule of weekly shows, Erewash Sound also runs its own
training academy where it teaches local youngsters the skills they need to make
radio. Several of their recent students have gone on to university degrees in

broadcast journalism and then on to employment with the BBC and in the com-
mercial sector. Jeff worries that the recent consolidation of commercial radio will
make it more difficult for those coming through the academy to find a career in
radio.
Obviously I knew people who lost their jobs who were really good presenters
but, for me, the real knock-on effect is that the people that I’m training here
now – tomorrow’s talent – have got less and less of a work pool to find jobs in
which is really, really sad.
However, the increased levels of networking and the subsequent loss of regional
programming in the commercial sector could create a localness vacuum into which
stations like Erewash Sound could step – but Jeff believes that they will need
some help.
I don think, as yet, that Ofcom have gotten on board to give us a helping hand
with that because I genuinely believe that now the big commercial radio station
groups have basically been let loose to make as much money as they like by
cutting down staff, cutting down premises, cutting down anything. … I’m
hoping that, someday, some of that benefit will drip down into community
radio.
The help Jeff would like to see Ofcom provide is a relaxing of the rules that govern
how community radio stations have to be funded. A regular community station can
only make 51% of its income from the selling of advertising and sponsorship. That
caveat was placed into the 2004 Community Radio Order to protect the interests of
commercial stations. Jeff’s suggestion is that with the big commercial groups
openly consolidating and networking to become a more attractive proposition to
national and multinational advertisers, they are no longer chasing the same clients
as community stations. Some community stations have to operate under even
more stringent conditions. Any station with a coverage area that overlaps by 50%
or more with a commercial radio station with a broadcast area which contains more
than 50,000 adults and no more than 150,000 adults are not allowed to take any
advertising or programme sponsorship. This restriction was placed in the Order to
protect small commercial stations.
NOTES
1 All quotes from Tony Hall taken from the BBC Media Show podcast, August 2020,
available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000mh72.
2 All quotes from Jeffrey Dvorkin taken from the NPR Podcast Balance vs. Bias in Journalism,
April 2006, available at https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5346256.
134 JOHN COLLINS
3 All quotes from Brent Cunningham taken from the NPR Podcast Balance vs. Bias in
Journalism, April 2006, available at https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?
storyId=5346256.
4 All quotes from Jeff Martin taken from interview with John Collins in January 2020.
REFERENCES
BBC, 2020. BBC Annual Report. Available from: www.bbc.co.uk.
Davie, T., 2020. Tim Davie’s introductory speech as BBC Director General. [WWW Document].
URL https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/speeches/2020/tim-davie-intro-speech.
Fogg, A., Korbel, P., Brooks, C., 2005. The Community Radio Toolkit. Radio Regen,
Manchester.
Hanna, M., Dodd, M., 2016. McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists, twenty-third ed. Oxford
University Press, Oxford.
Hanna, M., Dodd, M., 2018. McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists, twenty-fourth ed. Oxford
University Press, Oxford.
Ofcom, 2005. Ofcom Broadcasting Code [WWW Document]. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__

data/assets/pdf_file/0027/35856/broadcast-code-2005.pdf
Ofcom, 2019. Ofcom Broadcasting Code [WWW Document]. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-

radio-and-on-demand/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code
Welsh, T., Greenwood, W., Banks, D., 2007. McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists, nine-
teeenth ed. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
CHAPTER 7
The tools of
broadcasting
by Arran Bee
Radio is a simple medium. Someone talks into a microphone in a studio, then

sound comes out of a speaker somewhere else. It is fair to say, though, that
technological change in the last decade has had a huge impact across the whole
industry. Not only on how radio is delivered, but on the way in which content is
created in the first place. This chapter will look at how key pieces of equipment are
used to create the sound heard by the listener.
THE STUDIO
Most studios are self-operated. The presenter sits in front of the mixing desk,
opening microphone faders to talk and playing music through the playout system.
The detail in this section largely relates to this kind of solo set up (see Figure 7.1).
Some radio stations, usually speech-based and featuring multiple contributors at
once, use a ‘talks studio’ arrangement, where the desk is driven by a technician in a
production area. The technical principles are the same but the layout is different.
The centrepiece of any radio studio is the mixing desk. This device is the junction at
which all incoming audio sources (e.g. microphones, audio playout system, tele
phone lines) meet. It controls which audio sources come out on air, and at what
level. Each source is assigned a separate sliding fader, which increases the level of
a source as it is moved (usually upwards). There is also a knob called ‘gain control’
associated with each fader, to adjust the relative levels between sources. This
means that when opening the faders to the same position at the desk (usually right
to the top), the sounds from each source will be at the same level.
136 ARRAN BEE
FIGURE 7.1 A radio studio
Increasingly, studios are fitted with digital desks. This means that the audio sources
which pass through the mixer are controlled by computer software rather than
circuitry and cables. This allows the presenter control over a wide variety of po
tential sources in the studio, without the need for each one to be tied to a specific
fader, permanently. Sources can be allocated by adjusting a dial above each fader
to cycle through a list of pre-programmed options. Digital desks can make tasks
that were complicated in the analogue days much simpler. For example, with the
press of a button, the ‘cue’ (audio feed) heard in a football reporter’s headphones
at a match can be switched from the audio picked up by their own microphone to
that of a live programme covering several matches at once. This switch might
happen just before the reporter is about to give a live update. When the update is
over, the cue can be switched back to the reporter.
You need to hear what you are mixing. The mixer (Figure 7.2) provides feeds for
headphones and speakers, as well as visual monitoring aids like a meter to keep
track of level (more on ‘PPM’ meters below). As well as listening to the desk signal,
a presenter can listen to the output from the FM or DAB transmitter, to be sure that
they are on air.
A proper broadcast mixer features broadcast functions, one of which cuts the
studio speakers when the microphone fader is opened, so as to avoid feedback or
howlround. This is where the microphone picks up the presenter’s voice coming
out of the speakers, which is then picked up by the microphone, which comes out
of the speakers – and so on. Another function of a broadcast mixer is a red warning
THE TOOLS OF BROADCASTING 137
FIGURE 7.2 Close-up of a digital mixing desk
light that lights up when a mic is live. While a presenter may know when a mi
crophone is ‘on’, other contributors in the studio may not. The light reminds ev
eryone not to talk unless part of the live programme.
Looking in more detail at the sources feeding into the mixing desk, there may be
between two and four microphones. Potentially more for speech-based stations.
After the microphones, the playout system (more later) is the most important
source of audio. It has three or four outputs, attached to three or four separate
faders. This allows more than one piece of audio to be played at once and for each
one to be faded independently. One use for this is to mix the end of a song into a
station jingle or the next track. It can also mean that one fader controls the level of a
music bed while clips are played over it, at a higher level. A standard set-up for
playout system output can involve two faders for different music tracks and a third
for jingles and stabs.
Increasingly rare in studios are manual methods of playing music, namely CD

players and record players (although some specialist vinyl-based shows still use
them). With music played almost entirely through computerised playout systems,
CD players can still serve as a useful back-up in case of a technical malfunction.
Faders on a mixing desk may also be attached to a number of remote feeds to

bring in voices from outside of the studio. The most simple and long-standing of
these is a telephone feed, through a telephone balance unit (TBU). In older studios,
138 ARRAN BEE
the transferring of calls from a physical telephone (answered by a producer) to the

desk happens with the pressing of a button on a TBU. In more modern studios, this
process is carried out with the click of a mouse on a computer. In addition to phone
calls, studios now incorporate a number of ‘voice over internet protocol’ (VoIP)
services, such as Facetime, Skype or Zoom. These can offer better quality calls.
VoIP sources are operated through a separate computer, connected to the desk.
Another type of feed is one to remote studios in different towns or cities. Usually,
these connections will be via an internet-based two-way, IP line. Although in
creasingly less common, this connection may also be via ISDN (integrated services
digital network); an earlier technology that offers broadcast quality audio via dial-up
digital phone lines. Whether IP- or ISDN-based, both types of line need dedicated
‘send and receive’ equipment, called a codec (COder/DECoder), at each end to
work. ISDN is used by broadcasters who work from home and dial in to multiple
stations. It is frequently used by sports commentators, from grounds which
have ISDN points to connect to. Travel reporters serving several stations at once,
working for external companies like INRIX, will dial in at set times throughout the
hour via ISDN or an IP service.
With more and more interviews being carried out remotely, stations have started to
use cameras in their studios so the presenter and interviewee can see each other.
This helps each person take cues from body language and facial expressions, as
they might in person. BBC Radio 5 Live started doing this when they moved to
Salford in 2011, knowing that many guests would be participating in programmes via
studios in London. More recently, the addition of cameras to radio studios has al
lowed video versions of interviews to be used on social media (more in Chapter 8).
Some stations – like LBC – have invested in brighter studio lighting and visually
appealing studio ‘sets’ for the same reason.
A mixing desk allows other sources to be connected through an auxiliary port

(either a three pin XLR connection or 6.35 mm stereo plug). This could be used for
anything from an extra microphone, to a piece of specialist music equipment or
handheld audio recorder.
Talkback, an internal intercom system, is an important feature of a radio studio.

This allows a producer, usually working in another room through a large glass
window, to speak into the headphones of a presenter, reporter or contributor
without being heard on air. A presenter may receive direction around timings,
questions for an interviewee or what is coming up next. The producer may ask a
reporter to ‘wrap up’. Talkback can also be used with people in remote locations.
For the presenter, talking on the radio and receiving instructions from a producer at
the same time is a skill which requires practice. Producers need to keep instruc
tions clear and short. Talkback is a vital tool to keep a live programme on track.
Finally, the studio will likely feature a range of networking technology. While this
chapter concentrates on the pieces of kit that you might see, a key component is
the software that allows a studio to take control of an entire network. Years ago, a
radio station was directly connected to its transmitters. Now, the days of all pro
grammes on a station coming from the same building 24 hours a day are long
gone. Using high capacity data lines, programmes can be streamed across a
network from any studio within it, as broadcast engineer Iain Betson1 explains:
The BBC has a line-up of 30-odd local radio stations across the UK. In the
south west, Radio Cornwall can broadcast its output quite easily to transmit
ters in the north west of Radio Tees. They don’t need to have physical wires, it
just goes into a big ‘data bucket’ and pops out at the other end. They don’t
need to worry about having a physical connection between Radio Cornwall
and its transmitters.
While technology allows radio networks to broadcast from anywhere, to anywhere,

some stations are still required by Ofcom to broadcast from a county or region for a
certain number of hours per day.
THE PLAYOUT SYSTEM

The playout system itself is basically a computerised jukebox. There are two main
sections: a database (containing the music and other audio to be played out) and
a playlist (also called a ‘running order’). Here, all of the audio to be used – jingles,
songs, commercials and recorded interviews – is placed in the order it will be
played before being ‘fired’ in sequence. Allied with this, the playout system
may also have a hotkeys feature: a dozen or more virtual buttons upon which
audio can be dragged and dropped to be played at any time. Some have in
tegrated editing systems, while others link up with external editing software.
The BBC largely use VCS Dira!, Global use Genesys, talkSPORT use Myriad
while smaller stations use an increasingly wide variety of powerful but cost-
effective options.
It is important for all stations in a national network to use the same playout system.
Not least because it allows for the same running orders to be set up in the same
daypart in multiple locations. This means each local presenter works with identical
music, jingles and adverts positioned in the same place in the hour. A similar use is
the ability to voicetrack shows remotely. This is where the links between the music
are recorded individually, then placed in the correct position in the running order
before being played out using the software’s automation setting. For community
stations and smaller commercial stations in particular, this can allow shows to be
presented by a human voice without having a presenter in the studio.
A playout system can ‘talk’ to other systems for greater multi-platform integration.
For example, as long as all metadata (title, artist, etc) is entered into a database
correctly, online and DAB listeners are able to see which song is being played
140 ARRAN BEE
through a ‘now playing’ feature. It also means that a full list of songs played during a
show can be automatically reproduced on station websites.
MICROPHONES
Broadcasters use different microphones for different jobs. A powered studio mi
crophone will deliver a high-quality recording of speech. A handheld field reporter’s
microphone may pick up sound from a wider area. It used to be the case that radio
reporters would simply use whatever equipment their employers supplied. Now,
with the rise of podcasting and the improvement in the quality of consumer pro
ducts, both professionals and amateurs increasingly own their own kit. With so
many microphones on the market, what follows explains the main types – and
situations in which they might be used.
Categorising by the way they work (as opposed to their purpose), the two most
common types of microphone are a condenser and a dynamic. A third, less
common type is a ribbon mic.
Condenser
Also called a capacitor, as this type of microphone needs a battery or phantom
power supplied by the device it is plugged into. Output signal is created when
sound hits two plates. A condenser will deliver a very clean, detailed sound with
little hiss. Large diaphragm condenser microphones are found in studios, where the
person speaking talks either into the side or the top. Condensers are best in
controlled conditions. They can distort when faced with loud sounds.
Dynamic
Output signal is created when sound hits a coil of wire and magnet (like a speaker
but in reverse). It is a versatile and robust type of microphone that can perform well
in many conditions, particularly outdoors (although without quite reaching the clarity
of the powered condenser). Needing only to be plugged into a recorder, dynamic
microphones do not need a battery. Handheld versions are used for one-on-one
interviews outside of a studio.
Ribbon
This type of microphone has been preserved in photographs of Winston Churchill
during World War II, delivering an address to the nation on BBC radio. Output is
created when sound hits a thin strip of metal (the ribbon). This creates a noticeably
analogue sound. These days, only sports commentators tend to use ribbon
FIGURE 7.3 Omni-directional (left) and cardioid (right) microphone polar patterns
microphones in the form of stem-mounted lip mics. These are held a centimetre
away from the mouth and rarely distort, even when shouted into.
Polar patterns
Microphones also have a ‘polar pattern’, or ‘pick-up pattern’. This is the area from
which the mic picks up sound. Below are five common pick-up patterns used in
different situations.
Omni-directional: Picks up sound from all around (best from the front of the mi
crophone but also from the side and back, too). Omni means ‘all’ in Latin
(Figure 7.3).
Cardioid: A directional pattern that picks up from the front and side of the micro
phone (less so from the back, in a ‘heart-shaped’ pattern. Designed to be spoken
into at the front (Figure 7.2).
Figure-of-eight: Also known as ‘bi-directional’, this pattern will pick up from the
front and back but less so from the side. Used in stem-mounted lip mics and in
table-mounted mics where two people are facing each other. Sometimes utilised in
music recording.
Hyper cardioid: A very directional version of the cardioid. It will pick up strongly from
the front of the microphone, less from the side and little from the back. Often used
in press conferences or as part of a PA system to avoid howlround (Figure 7.4).
Shotgun: Extremely directional, it will pick up strongly from the front but little from
the side or back to minimise background noise. Long, thin and usually with a large
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FIGURE 7.4 Hyper cardioid (left) and shotgun (right) microphone polar patterns
grey fluffy cover to avoid wind noise. Used by news reporters and held out of shot.
Also pointed at specific sounds in a loud environment (e.g. the sound of a football
being kicked inside a packed stadium) (Figure 7.4).
USB vs. XLR

Most microphones have a three-pin XLR connection which locks securely when
inserted into a socket. With the growth of home podcasting, a whole range of mics
using a USB connection have been released onto the market. The performance of
both relies on the strength of their analogue-to-digital converter when transforming
sound waves into computer digits. Poor converters tend to lead to hiss on the
recording. Generally, a USB connection should only be used in a fixed location as it
may become loose if used out and about.
More microphone terminology

Microphones come with a lot of technical jargon. Here are some other descriptions
that will be used in the rest of this chapter.
Endfire/top-address: A microphone where the end is designed to be spoken into.
Sidefire/side-address: A microphone where the side is designed to be spoken into.
Large diaphragm: Sometimes called a ‘Coke tin’, which describes the larger mi
crophone head usually found in studios.
Small diaphragm: Smaller microphone head, usually used with mics of handheld
size or smaller.
Lavalier: Also known as a lapel, tie clip or clip-on mic. A small microphone which
attaches to clothing, positioned around six inches from the mouth.
Boundary: A small condenser microphone, usually placed in the middle of a table to

record conversation happening around it.
THE NEWSROOM
Most radio stations have an open-plan design with an area designated for jour
nalists working on news programmes. In national BBC stations, like 5 Live, a
programme team works together around the same large desk, surrounded by other
programme teams and journalists working elsewhere on the output (e.g. news
summaries). In local BBC stations, newsroom journalists tend to work alongside
online or TV colleagues. In commercial stations, journalists may have their own
section on the same floor as programmes, marketing, promotions and sales.
Generally, the idea is that the physical integration of staff leads to greater brand
identity and knowledge of what is happening across the station.
The news editor is in charge of the station’s journalists. They decide what stories
will be covered and how they should be done (see Chapter 3 for more on news
room roles). Reporters are delegated stories, record material themselves, edit audio
at their desk then load finished clips, interviews and packages into an audio da
tabase to be used on air. Often, remote interviews (e.g. VoIP, telephone, ISDN) can
be done using a headset at a workstation.
Newsroom workstations will be set up to work with playout, editing and script-
writing systems in a fully or semi-integrated way. The BBC uses two different
systems side by side. The VCS suite of applications is for playing out audio (using
Dira!), editing audio (using Startrack) and storing audio (using Highlander). All three
systems work together, having been made by the same company. Allied with this,
BBC journalists use Open Media to write news bulletin and programme scripts.
This system can be used for searching newswires from outside agencies like the
Press Association, viewing scripts from other parts of the BBC, searching for key
words in stories from elsewhere (a city station would be interested in stories related
to its biggest employers, for example) and managing a huge number of contacts.
Although made by a different company (Annova), it can still ‘talk’ to the VCS sys
tems – making it simple to drag audio from the Highlander database into a news
bulletin. Commercial radio tends to have separate systems for programming and
news. While the programming side uses playout systems like those detailed pre
viously, newsrooms may use a fully integrated system. The biggest commercial
radio group, Global, uses Burli Newsroom. This piece of software is used for the
whole process: recording interviews, editing and saving audio, writing scripts,
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putting a bulletin together and firing the clips while reading it out. Burli, like Open
Media, has the facility to access news wires and store contacts. Also like the BBC
system, it allows journalists to see what other stations in their group have in their
bulletins. If a newsreader in Bristol wants to use a story from a sister station in
Manchester, they can drag it over to their own folder.
In both BBC and commercial regional radio, newsreaders rely on a central feed of
national and international scripts and clips to use in bulletins, alongside their own
original material. The BBC sends out its ‘rip and read’ at around a quarter to each
hour. This is a series of pre-written scripts, some with audio, that can be dragged
straight into a bulletin or re-written to fit a particular style. Most commercial stations
use a similar feed from Sky News Radio via IRN, except that scripts and re-writes
are sent throughout the hour, rather than all at once. National BBC stations, like 5
Live, tend to produce more bulletin stories internally.
Under all systems, news bulletin scripts and programme running orders are ar
chived, meaning they can be searched for in future. This can be particularly useful
when working on an on-going story with many new developments.
EDITING
Very little pre-recorded material goes on air without at least some editing. The most
basic edit is a ‘top and tail’ when an interview runs unchanged, except for the
beginning and end of the raw recording. This removes any pre- or post-interview
chat from the recording and ensures a clean start and end to the audio. Generally,
material needs more work than this to remove sections that are irrelevant or simply
a bit dull.
Whatever the reason, editing should not be used to change the sense of what has
been said or put it in a different context by, for example, editing an answer to one
question onto a completely different question. Not only is this unethical but it can
lead to a complaint if the interviewee feels they have been misrepresented.
Both the BBC Editorial Guidelines and Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code have sections
on fairness that give advice on dealing with contributors to programmes, including
news. The Ofcom Code says this:
Where a person is invited to make a contribution to a programme (except when

the subject matter is trivial or their participation minor) they should normally, at
an appropriate stage:
• be told the nature and purpose of the programme, what the

programme is about and be given a clear explanation of why they
were asked to contribute and when (if known) and where it is likely to
be first broadcast;
• be told what kind of contribution they are expected to make, for

example live, pre-recorded, interview, discussion, edited,
unedited, etc.;
• be informed about the areas of questioning and, wherever possible,
the nature of other likely contributions;
• be made aware of any significant changes to the programme as it
develops, which might reasonably affect their original consent to
participate, and which might cause material unfairness;
• be told the nature of their contractual rights and obligations and those
of the programme maker and broadcaster in relation to their
contribution; and
• be given clear information, if offered an opportunity to preview the
programme, about whether they will be able to effect any changes to it.
(Section 7.3)
Whatever the desired end product (pre-recorded interview, news clip or package to
name three), the aim of editing in radio journalism is to create a natural sounding piece
without obvious, audible adjustments. The listener should not be able to hear the edits.
When working on an interview, a certain amount of ‘cleaning-up’ is acceptable. This may
be by removing awkward pauses or where the interviewee becomes tongue-tied,
especially at the start of a piece when many people respond to a question with su
perfluous words like ‘well now, let’s see …’ before getting to the point. There is a
balance to be struck here, though. Removal of all pauses, hesitations and stumbles can
change the listener’s impression of what the interviewee is saying. Sometimes, the way
something is said is as important as the actual words used. As Martin Shingler and
Cindy Wieringa point out, this is particularly true with political interviews: “here the pro
ducer can use such moments to suggest uncertainty, incompetence or, particularly,
dishonesty” (1998, p. 98). Additionally, noticeable edits may place doubts in a listener’s
mind, leading them to wonder what else has been removed.
Because editing it is a visual process as well as an aural one, there can be a

tendency for every gap in the waveform to be edited out, which can make speech
sound very stilted and unnatural. Reporters need to trust the way a piece sounds
rather than how it looks on screen – after all, that is what the listener will hear.
If making a package, it is important to have a strong start and a memorable end. If

there is time, detailed preparation can help to achieve this and make the editing
process straightforward. In order to record efficiently, rather than capturing every
possible sound and asking every imaginable question, some reporters like to plan
how their package might sound before they leave the newsroom, also writing the
cue in advance. Sophie Calvert,2 who works for BBC Radio Stoke, says this:
I storyboard all of my packages before I go and do them and I’ve found that
when I don’t do it, sometimes, I’m lost – even though I’ve been doing it for
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years. I go through ‘Who do I want?’ ‘What do I want?’ ‘What information am I

going to say in my links?’ I try to do all of my links from the scene, it makes it
easier introducing the guest. Just map it out, what you want from everybody.
You can change it when you’re there, if something happens. You don’t have to
stick to it. At least, you’ve got a basic plan and it shouldn’t take too long to edit
because you know exactly what you want out of it and how it should sound.
Sometimes, it is not possible to work out a package in advance. A breaking story, for
example, can require a reporter to think on their feet. Although not working to a
written plan, a similar process to the one above can be employed; identify what the
story is as early as possible, then capture key interviews and gather sounds that give a
sense of the location and any activity. Is there a particular interview clip or sound that
might set the scene well at the start of the package? What must you include to tell the
story? Is there something happening that you could commentate on? How might the
package end? Might it be forward-looking or does it give a sense of finality? Having
gathered the key material, experienced reporters are already starting to hear in their
minds how the finished package might turn out. At this point, it can be a good idea to
sketch out the cue and to script or bullet-point some short links before recording them
on location. Keeping the links simple will reduce the amount of editing required later.
Once back in the office, trust your instincts to help save time with the edit. What were
the two or three interview clips that stand out in your memory, without listening back?
If they are as good as you thought they were, you will avoid having to go back through
several minutes of material. Pull out these key clips, arrange the links around them,
add in sounds that give an extra sense of the story and you, largely, have your
package finished. A quick check of the levels and you are done.
It can be tempting to strive for audio perfection with a package. The reality is that
packages are often the best they can be in the time available, rather than the best
they could be if time were no object.
For more on the art of making a radio package, as opposed to the logistics, see
Chapter 3.
EDITING SOFTWARE
All editing packages tend to work on the same principles. The audio is downloaded
to the computer where sound appears as a waveform. This shows the peaks and
troughs of the recording. You edit by moving the cursor to the beginning of the
piece you want to cut out, highlight the section and press the delete button so that
it disappears. There will be a zoom option to enlarge the waveform and allow more
precise adjustments.
The system is very similar to the cut-and-paste facility on word processing

packages. Its main advantage is that no matter how many edits you make, the
original recording remains intact. A careless edit can be easily undone and there is
FIGURE 7.5 Multiplatform journalist, Laura Sanders
no degradation of the sound quality. Digital editing is also quite forgiving of poor
recording; material recorded at low level can be boosted (within limits) so that the
finished item sounds clear and is at the required level. That said, very little can be
done to rescue audio that is distorted because it has been recorded at too high a
level.
The systems used in most radio newsrooms have at least two channels, usually
four. This allows reporters to add sound effects or music to packages by recording
them on different tracks and mixing them together. Once the piece is completed, it
is saved into the database.
THE SMARTPHONE
The smartphone has become an essential piece of kit for radio reporters who, in the
past, used to rush back from interviews, pushing their luck on the roads to edit a
clip in time for the next bulletin. Now, an interview can be sent back in seconds.
And, as the quality of smartphone technology has improved, so has the audio
recording quality. Phones are not just for recording interviews either; they are
scriptwriting, editing and publishing tools, too.
Laura Sanders3 is a freelance multiplatform reporter, working for radio stations in

the Midlands (Figure 7.5). She says it is possible to do an entire reporting shift
without going into the office:
On a day-to-day basis, I probably don’t even touch a studio. Everything is

done on my mobile phone. There’ll be some days where I’m sent out to an
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area and I’ll be on my phone all day, sending stuff back to base for them to cut
up. I’ll do everything on my phone, from finding someone to interview using
social media, obviously you can make calls, you can do your research on a
phone and when it comes to actually interviewing somebody, that can all be
done on the free apps that come on your phone. You can film now on your
phone, of course, and I put packages together on iMovie. You can write a
script in notes. You really can do everything from start-to-finish on a phone.
Some broadcast organisations have their own smartphone apps (like the BBC’s
PNG and Report-IT, used in commercial radio) which deliver audio directly into their
newsroom databases. No downloading or converting of formats is required. Even
without specialist apps, it is simple to operate as a remote journalist. On top of
recording interviews, a number of free apps can be used for simple ‘trimming’
(taking a bulletin clip, for example). Others offer the possibility of making an entire
audio package using multitrack editing (these may be paid apps). Once editing is
finished, audio can be sent back as an email attachment or uploaded to cloud
storage and downloaded back at base.
Smartphones offer the chance to broadcast live easily. Pre-2010, live broadcasting
outside of a studio usually involved a digital satellite van, a ‘mobile’ analogue
transmitter (complete with huge extendable mast) in the back of a car, a handheld
Comrex Access box (VoIP unit) connected to wifi or through a wired connection
into an ISDN line. It was, largely, slow to set up and, often, expensive (McNally,
2008). Now, the BBC’s Luci Live app is used by its reporters to do pieces into
programming from anywhere where there is a strong enough phone signal. Outside
of the BBC, VoIP apps like FaceTime, Skype and Zoom can work in the same way.
All the reporter needs to do is make a call and be connected to a studio.
When reporting live, time spent testing off air can be the difference between suc
cess and failure. If a reporter can dial into a producer, check how they sound in
different locations and perhaps try re-connecting to cut down on delay, the
chances of success improve. Whether a reporter or interviewee, there is nothing
worse for listeners than a series of ‘lost lines’ while someone is live on air (Revoir,
2012). While the smartphone is very useful for live broadcasting in unexpected
situations, using a satellite or ISDN is a much more reliable way of producing longer
items (or even whole programmes).
Especially out of the wind and in a room with decent acoustics, there can be little
difference between a one-on-one interview recorded on a phone compared to one
recorded with a handheld audio recorder. While there is a definite quality benefit to
using a specialist piece of recording kit (for example the HHB Flashmic or Zoom
H5), Laura Sanders says, sometimes, listeners can barely hear it:
There was a day where I was sent out by the BBC with a Marantz [a handheld
recorder]. That packed in half way through getting vox pops so I just pulled out
my trusted phone and started recording with that. When I got back to base
and I edited the vox pops from both, there really wasn’t a difference. As long as
you know to keep the phone a hand’s width from the mouth and you follow the
basic rules to ensure you’re getting quality audio then really, there’s no
difference.
The use of simple equipment can significantly improve results from a smart
phone. An external microphone is the easiest way to increase the quality of a
recording. Rode’s iRig Mic is one example of a piece of kit that offers a range of
smartphone connections and means recordings are less susceptible to wind
noise. While it is good practice to learn how to make the most of the phone (you
never know when you might need to use it unexpectedly), further kit can com
plement it well. A charging pack will make sure a reporter is not stuck when their
phone’s battery runs low. A mount and tripod facilitates the recording of steady
video, if necessary. Even a cheap windshield over the internal microphone can
protect a recording from the elements. Using cloud storage for photos and video
can mean that a reporter does not have to pause at a vital moment to create
spare space. A wifi hotspot, or ‘MiFi’ unit, can help to connect to a different
mobile network.
Laura Sanders says, most of the time, making clear who you are working for can
make the job easier, especially when collecting vox pops:
The only thing I would say is to make sure you have something that identifies
you as a journalist and not just some ‘randomer’ on the street filming for
YouTube or something! When I’ve worked for Bauer, there’s been a big green
‘Free Radio’ mic cover which you stick to the end of the phone, then people
can see quite clearly that you’re working for the radio, you’re legit.
There are technical limitations to using a smartphone as the primary radio reporting
device. The main one being signal strength. If you are in a location without a strong
4G or 5G signal, live broadcasting may well be out of the question. Large audio files
will take time to be sent back to the newsroom. In more rural locations, with no
cellular connection at all, the smartphone becomes nothing more than an audio
recorder. Finding a wifi connection or different spot with better mobile connectivity
will be necessary to share audio.
Depending on workflow, an additional limitation of smartphone reporting is that it

can require someone back at base to edit clips and prepare them for broadcast.
LIVE ON LOCATION
As previously mentioned, some situations, where stations are relying on a large
amount of air time to be filled from a particular location, call for reliable kit (and
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possibly a backup plan should the first piece of equipment fail). These situations
include outside broadcasts, locations with poor 4G or 5G coverage and scenarios
where several live ‘hits’ are planned from the same location. Radio producers will
consider the use of the following equipment.
Satellite vehicle
More commonly used in television, BBC Local Radio uses a lower powered version
called a VERV (VSAT enabled reporter vehicle) to enable reporters to broadcast live
from virtually anywhere. Essentially a branded van with broadcast equipment in the
back and a large dish on top, the VERV connects to a satellite, as long as the path
between it and the dish is not obscured (by tall buildings, for example). Gusts of
wind withstanding, this can be a very reliable way of broadcasting for as long as the
battery lasts. As well as satellite, the VERV can also connect to the studio using
mobile phone signal.
Comrex Access
A hand-held audio IP unit, designed especially for field reporting. Able to connect
using wifi or cellular signal, the user can pick from a range of pre-programmed
studios to link up with. A range of external kit (e.g. microphones and headphones)
can be attached and batteries can be changed. The touchscreen display indicates
both signal strength and latency (delay).
ISDN
If you are lucky enough to be broadcasting from a location with a pre-installed ISDN
line, this can be the most reliable method of all. Essentially a high-quality phone line,
a Comrex Access unit can be plugged in directly, using an ethernet cable. Like with
phone calls, there is a per-minute usage charge.
Fixed wifi
Always a good backup regardless of the primary way of broadcasting. Identifying
possible wifi connections, and their strength, before arriving at a location can be a
big help should another method fail.
NEWSREADING
Newsreaders need to be faultless under pressure. From a technical perspective,
this means making sure they and their bulletin clips are broadcast at the correct
level. They should also be positioned correctly in front of the microphone to use
their voice to best effect (see Chapter 2 for voice tips from Kate Lee).
While most newsreaders read from a screen, it can be reassuring to take a printed
copy of the script into the studio. Not only can it give the reader confidence that
they have a backup plan, it can also be genuinely useful in the event of a com
puter failure. It is best to arrive in the studio (or news booth) a few minutes before
a live bulletin. This gives the opportunity to check equipment (and avoid sounding
out of breath!) Most newsreaders operate their own microphone with a small
mixer and play their own clips through an integrated ‘scripts and clips’ software
system. Before the bulletin, level can be set by pre-fading the newsreader’s mi
crophone, reading the first couple of lines from a story out loud, and adjusting the
gain accordingly. The voice should peak at 5 on the PPM meter (often where it
turns from green to yellow). If there is time, testing the level of clips can prevent
the first one booming out or being too quiet. Again, the clips – like all speech –
should peak at 5.
It is important for the newsreader to be comfortable. Some stand to allow a greater

range of movement and easier deep breathing. Some sit to be at the same height
as the computer. Former IRN Newsreader of the Year, Sophie Calvert says “it’s all
about making sure that you are comfortable. Whether you choose to sit or stand,
that depends on the person. [If sitting], sit up straight and breathe properly.
Breathing technique is really important”.
Once checks have been carried out and the newsreader is in position, the mi
crophone can be placed exactly where required. Most studios use a large dia
phragm, sidefire microphone, where the point from which sound is picked up is
indicated by an arrow or spot. This mic would usually use a slightly directional
cardioid pick up pattern. Practise will indicate the best place to position the mi
crophone in relation to the mouth. Speaking just over the top of the microphone, or
even across it, can avoid ‘popping’ caused by plosives, like ‘p’ and ‘b’ sounds.
If reading live, the newsreader should take a deep breath before opening the fader
for the start of the bulletin. Generally, newsreaders will drop their microphone fader
when clips are playing to ensure that distracting sounds do not come out over the
top. This gives a chance to take another deep breath and practise the delivery of
the next line. Sometimes, the newsreader will leave their fader up, especially if the
clips are particularly short.
If the bulletin has to fit into a particular time slot (two minutes, for example), the
newsreader will know exactly how long it takes to read their ‘out cue’ (the final line
of their bulletin). The last item (often the weather) can be written in a longer format
where the final sentence or two can be left out if it is necessary to reach the end
more quickly.
Finally, if recording a bulletin for another part of a network, the newsreader will
dispatch their bulletin to a virtual ‘cart’, to be fired automatically at the time the
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bulletin is due. These bulletins tend to be recorded ‘as live’ with small stumbles left
in to avoid the need to edit.
INTERVIEWS
How to approach interviews – preparation, handling interviewees, which questions
to ask – is dealt with in Chapter 3. In this section, the mechanics of different types
of interviews are discussed from a technical perspective.
One-to-one studio interview

More often than not, a radio studio or news booth, would use two or more powered
condenser microphones with the recording pattern focused toward the person
speaking (usually in a cardioid pattern). With two microphones, setting the re
cording level for each person is very easy. The interviewer simply adjusts the gain
above the relevant fader on the mixing desk. The level of the interviewer should
match the interviewee, so neither comes across as louder than the other.
Setting level can be combined with putting an interviewee at ease. Asking ‘how has
your day been, so far?’ or ‘how was your journey in?’ can get the interviewee
talking and give an indication of how loud or quiet they are, so any necessary
adjustments can be made. While conducting the interview, it is important to listen
carefully to the interviewee and occasionally keep an eye on the PPM meter to
ensure consistency of sound. Often, interviewees back away from the microphone
(or speak more loudly or quietly) once initial checks are complete and the interview
starts. Adjustment to the levels may need to be made while the interview is in
progress.
Body language is an important factor in ensuring a successful interview. Usually,

the interviewer will avoid audible conversational encouragement like ‘uh-huh’,
‘yeah’ and ‘hmmm’ while the interviewee is talking, as it can be distracting for
the listener. Instead, a nod or smile can have the same effect. Regardless of the
purpose of the interview, eye contact is important at all times to engage with the
interviewee.
Discussion with multiple participants

Discussions can be a challenge, from a technical perspective. It is important to
record all voices clearly without too much room noise or echo. The best method is
for each participant to have their own microphone. A cardioid pattern can be useful
as it focuses on the sound in front of it and does not pick up sound behind it. If
outside the studio, a lapel mic can be attached to each contributor. In either
scenario, levels need to be set individually for each person. For discussions of more
than three people, a sound engineer or producer should monitor all levels rather
than the presenter (who can then concentrate on the discussion itself). A small
amount of distance between contributors can help to isolate their voice to one
microphone only. If using a lapel microphone, contributors should keep their hands
away from it and avoid wearing loud jewellery around their neck.
One-to-one field interview

From a technical perspective, this is a very straightforward type of interview. Press
record, point the microphone in the right direction and away you go. However, the
consideration of a few easy-to-control factors and a couple of checks while the
interview is in progress can ensure good quality results every time.
Given the variety of situations that a field reporter may find themselves in, a single
omni-directional dynamic microphone can be a reliable and versatile choice. The
alternative, a condenser, can be affected by moisture and requires a battery or
phantom power. As the ‘omni’ will pick up sound from all around it, a moving
interviewee can still be captured well. It will also pick up a bit of background sound,
convenient when the sound of the location is part of the story.
Usually, the microphone will be plugged into a handheld digital audio recorder (not
a Dictaphone, which gives lower quality results) via an XLR cable. Different radio
groups favour different types of recorder but most share the same characteristics:
high quality recording capability, lightweight, large recording capacity to either hard
drive or memory card, ability to monitor and adjust levels and simple play/stop
operation. Audio can be transferred to a computer for editing via a USB connec
tion. Some recorders have an external microphone attached, which allows a re
porter to keep a hand free during an interview.
Reporters should aim to use the same recording kit on a regular basis. In breaking
news situations, knowing your equipment can be the difference between capturing
brilliant, memorable audio or nothing at all. For interviews set up for certain times
and locations, checking kit before leaving the newsroom is very important. Do a
test recording and listen back to it. Is the recording on-mic and at the right level? Is
there enough spare space on the memory card? And always remember to take
some spare batteries!
On arrival at the location, the recording possibilities should be assessed. If the

location is not linked to the story or the interviewee (an office and the story is not to
do with working in an office, for example), somewhere quiet, without echo could be
fine. A reporter may, however, want to use some of the sound offered by a location
to be audible while doing the interview. If interviewing a farmer, the ‘baa-ing’ of
sheep can help to paint a picture in the mind of the audience. Similarly, speaking to
a protestor about why they have joined a particular demonstration is so much more
engaging with chanting and shouting in the background than if the conversation
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were set against silence. As a general rule, avoid windy and very loud locations. If
recording outside, a sponge windshield over the top of a microphone can do a lot
to make sure a recording is not drowned out by the elements.
The projection of confidence is important when meeting up with an interviewee.

Greet them, thank them for their time and give them a brief overview of what you
have planned (‘I just want to have a quick chat about the new houses being built,
we’ll do it over here to get some construction sounds in the background’). Being
polite but clear can mean the reporter gets what they are looking for and does not
waste too much time in acquiring it.
The minutes in between meeting an interviewee and starting to record can be

useful to double-check facts or to get more of a sense of what they are likely to say
(‘so, how long have you been campaigning against this development?’ or even just
‘why is this so important to you?’) At the very least, these moments can help an
interviewee feel comfortable if they are nervous.
A one-to-one field interview usually requires the interviewer and interviewee to be in

closer proximity than they normally would be. This can be strange for the inter
viewee. It might be necessary to explain that you need to be close together to get a
good quality recording. To mitigate this, stand at a right angle (if doing the interview
upright) rather than face to face, which can sometimes feel more confrontational.
Similarly, if sat down, positioning the chairs in an ‘L’ shape can feel less adversarial.
Using a long-stem mic (or ‘reporter mic’) can help too.
Like with this interview’s studio equivalent, you will need to set levels before re
cording (if your device allows) or immediately after pressing record. Ask the inter
viewee to say their full name and title (always useful if you are not entirely sure!) Ask
them to spell it, if not obvious. Set level for the interviewee, rather than you, as they
will be doing most of the talking. If there is a clear difference in level between you
and the interviewee, hold the mic closer to them when they are talking and further
away from you when you are talking.
Some recorders have an automatic level control. This works by keeping the output
below the point of distortion and boosting it when it falls too low. Sometimes,
though, this can have the effect of boosting quiet background sounds and in
creasing hiss. With the importance of keeping control of levels in mind, never let the
interviewee hold the microphone themselves!
Good microphone technique ensures the best quality sound on the recording
(Figure 7.6). Hold the microphone a hand-span away from the mouth of the in
terviewee. Too close could lead to distortion if they suddenly become more ani
mated in their expression. Too far away may capture an off-putting amount of
background sound. Audio producer and Senior Lecturer at the University of Derby,
Alex Canner,4 adds that a reporter should think about the angle they are holding the
mic, too:
FIGURE 7.6 Laura Sanders demonstrates effective microphone technique
Speaking directly into the microphone is very often bad. There’s a popular
misconception that’s what you have to do. In fact, the place your mic needs to
be is about 45-degrees from your mouth, so you’re speaking across it, as
opposed to into it. There’s a lot of air that comes out of your mouth when
speaking, which can cause ‘popping’ – so ‘p’ and ‘b’ sounds. There’s
sibilance, which is a ‘trebely’ ‘s’ sound. These two things, if someone is
talking directly into the microphone, can be distracting.
Handheld microphones can be sensitive to handling noise. To minimise this, grasp

the microphone firmly, using the wrist and arm to move it, rather than the fingertips.
If the microphone is not built into the recorder, keep the cable slack. If there is some
rattle on the recording when the microphone moves, hold the cable in a loop, just
down from where it connects into the mic.
At the end of the interview, depending on its purpose, you may want to ask the
interviewee if they have anything else that they would like to say. Most of the time
they will either say ‘no’ or something that you will not use but every now and again
you might end up with a great, unexpected clip.
Finally, check that the interview has recorded before you let the interviewee leave.
There is no need to listen back to the whole thing, the first ten seconds should tell
you if it sounds like it should. While it can be slightly embarrassing to ask an in
terviewee to record again, it is much better than getting back to the office before
realising you have nothing saved.
156 ARRAN BEE
If you have to wait before doing your next interview, and you are likely to take clips
out of the recording that you have just done, use that time to listen back. Making
notes on the times at which potential clips occur can save time later on.
Telephone or VoIP interview from a studio

Remote interviews, whether using the telephone or a VoIP service like Skype or
Facetime, rely on their technical quality. A poor line or low signal strength can
render the interview impossible to hear properly.
A telephone or VoIP interview would normally take place in a studio or recording

booth. Failing that, through a recording console at the desk of a reporter. The
interviewer can save time by setting their own level before making the call.
Upon connecting to the interviewee, a polite but clear approach is best. Say ‘hello’,
reiterate the general area of conversation and briefly explain what is about to
happen (sometimes there can be a moment of silence while a call is transferred, for
example). If interviewing by phone, spend a moment making sure the signal quality
is as good as it can be. If the interviewee is using a mobile, are they clear enough?
Talk to them for a minute or so to see if their signal drops out. If so, it may be better
to quickly call them back on a landline. Otherwise, advise your mobile-using in
terviewee to keep still and talk into the phone normally (not using speakerphone,
which affects quality).
Pre-interview checks using a VoIP service are very similar. If an interviewee is at home
with a full wifi connection then they should be fine. Full 4G or 5G should also work well.
For radio, it is preferable to make an audio call rather than a video call. For an audio call,
your interviewee will hold their phone as they would for a normal telephone call, thus their
mouth is close to the phone’s internal microphone. For a video call, they are likely to hold
the phone further away, leading to a lower level of clarity.
Whether on the phone or using VoIP, there can sometimes be pressure to com
plete the interview as quickly as possible. It may be that the guest has limited time.
In a breaking news situation, it may be that the interviewee is required on air
straightaway. In these moments, where there might only be one chance to speak to
someone, still spend a moment checking signal strength. There is no point setting
up a brilliant piece of radio if the listener cannot hear what the interviewee is saying
or, even worse, the guest disappears during their first answer.
During a pre-recorded interview, interviewers have the luxury of asking an

interviewee to say something again if the signal drops out. Do not be afraid to
do this as it can lead to a more concise and ‘clippable’ version of the original
point.
When the interview is underway, especially when pre-recorded and interventions to

keep to a set time are not necessary, the interviewer should drop their fader while
the interviewee is talking. This avoids distracting background sounds and inad
vertent verbal cues (e.g. ‘right’, ‘I see’) being heard on the recording. Once you
have finished, thank the interviewee for their time and let them know when the
interview will be used.
Simulrec
Short for ‘simultaneous recording’, this is where interviewer and interviewee each
record their end of the conversation independently before the recordings are
synced together using multi-track editing software. This technique can be helpful in
situations where phone signal or internet connection cannot be relied upon to re
cord a live conversation. Simulrecs are used by BBC World Service.
A simulrec tends to work in one of two ways. The most common involves the
participants speaking to each other by phone or Skype while simultaneously
capturing their words on a separate handheld audio recorder or smartphone audio
recording app. Once the interview has finished, the interviewee emails their audio to
the interviewer. This is a low-tech way of capturing a conversation in good quality,
without the risk of losing the interview half-way through. A second method of
‘simulrec-ing’ involves an interviewer dialling the interviewing from a radio studio,
pre-fading the interviewee (so as to hear them but not have them be part of the
desk output) and recording their own side of the conversation only. The inter
viewee, again, records their side and sends over their audio, and then the two
tracks are mixed together.
Editing a simulrec requires a level of precision. Using multi-track editing software,

the two separate recordings need to be perfectly aligned so that questions and
answers appear in exactly the right place. Both participants clapping at the same
time, at the start of the recording, can provide a loud ‘spike’ in each recording for
the editor to attempt to line up and make the synchronisation of both tracks easier.
Perfect placement can involve shifting one recording by a tenth of a second at a
time. Some audio editing software can do this process automatically.
There are a couple of limitations to consider with this method. Firstly, it relies on
the interviewee having internet access to send their audio back to the inter
viewer. Also, the interviewee needs to understand how to record and send audio
in the first place (a process some might find a challenge). Secondly, there is the
risk that the interviewee may choose not to send their part of the interview over if
they were unhappy with it. For this reason, it can be a good idea to use a studio
‘auto rec’ facility to record the original phone or Skype conversation separately,
as a backup.
A simulrec can work best between two colleagues or people who are familiar with
one another.
158 ARRAN BEE
VOICENOTES
A simple way of acquiring audio, this method involves asking questions (either
verbal or written) using a messaging app like WhatsApp. The interviewee responds
verbally, sending their response in the form of a voice note. This way of carrying out
an interview is particularly effective when phone signal is unreliable and only short
clips are required (for a package or news bulletin, for example). An interviewee can
also record and email their answers to one or more questions on a smartphone
voice recording app.
There are, however, significant limitations to this method. Firstly, the audio quality is in
the hands of the interviewee. They need to be coached in how to hold the microphone
and how to send the audio by email (if using a voice recording app). Secondly, it is
easier for an interviewee to avoid challenging questions (compared to a live interview,
where the interviewer can interject). Thirdly, the end result can lack the sound of
natural conversation, especially if a nervous or over-prepared interviewee decides to
read from notes. Multimedia reporter, Laura Sanders, says many of the drawbacks
can be overcome by giving the interviewee simple instructions:
It’s all about communicating and putting people at ease. I always do a test,
saying ‘tell me your name and where you’re from’. From that I can say ‘the
phone’s a bit close to your mouth, can you move it away?’ Most people can
take that basic instruction. Another thing I find that really helps with WhatsApp
voicenotes is just taking a print screen on my phone and drawing a circle
around the microphone button and saying ‘press and hold this and release to
send’. I mean, how much easier and simple can you make it for someone?!
Once the conversation is complete, the interviewee’s answers are extracted from
the messaging app – or downloaded from an email – and imported into the re
porter’s editing software.
NOTES
1 All quotes from Iain Betson taken from interview with Arran Bee in September 2019.
2 All quotes from Sophie Calvert taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
3 All quotes from Laura Sanders taken from interview with Arran Bee in June 2020.
4 All quotes from Alex Canner taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
REFERENCES
McNally, P., 2008. New kit lets BBC radio reporters file live audio over web. Press Gazette.
[WWW Document]. URL https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/new-kit-lets-bbc-radio-
reporters-file-live-audio-over-web/ (accessed 24.06.20).
Ofcom, 2019. Section seven: Fairness. Ofcom. [WWW Document]. URL https://www.ofcom.
org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/section-seven-fairness
Revoir, P., 2012. Radio silence: Complaints on the rise at BBC as interviews repeatedly
disappear off air in series of ‘technical glitches’ [WWW Document]. Mail Online. https://
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article‐2198443/BBC‐Radio‐complaints‐rise‐interviews‐
repeatedly‐disappear‐air‐series‐technical‐glitches.html (accessed 24.06.20).
Shingler, M., Wieringa, C., 1998. On Air: Methods and Meanings of Radio. Bloomsbury
Academic.
CHAPTER 8
Social media
A renaissance in radio
by John Collins
The focus of this two-pronged chapter is the impact of social media on the radio
industry. It begins with a more theoretical analysis of the characteristics that social
media platforms share with radio stations before comparing and contrasting the
way in which media consumers interact with each. It will argue that social media
may well have played a role in a ‘renaissance’ in radio by connecting stations to
their listeners in a deeper way than has ever previously been possible. The second
half of the chapter contains the thoughts of active journalists and content makers
on how best to embrace platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok to
not just deepen and broaden radio stations’ output but to promote the radio station
as a whole.
THE DECLINE OF NEWSPAPERS

The arrival of widespread internet access in the final throes of the twentieth century
has led to transformation in how media is produced, consumed and regarded.
After his appointment in 1995, Alan Rusbridger was the Editor-in-Chief of

Guardian News and Media for the next 20 years. He now chairs the Reuters
Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. In the introduction
to his 2018 book Breaking News, he reflects on the immediate impact of the
changed media landscape.
It was easy to confuse our privileged access to information as ‘authority’ or

‘expertise’ and when the floodgates opened – and billions of people gained
SOCIAL MEDIA: THE RENAISSANCE IN RADIO 161
access to information and could publish themselves – journalism struggled to

adjust. Newspapers began to die in front of our eyes.
(Rusbridger, 2018, p. xix)
This opening up of information and the arrival of technology which allowed almost
everyone to post to the web or broadcast via social media lowered – and all but
removed – the ‘entry-barrier’ to publication
In journalism, there is talk of a ‘filter’. The filter traditionally represents the role of
mass media outposts to digest the information before they pass it on to the
public. In this globalized economy, the filter is quickly being removed and
replaced with a direct line to the public. As they become easier to contact, they
increasingly process the information through their own personal filters and
send it back out to the world.
(Levy, 2007)
The traditional top-down method of news being located, gathered, sourced, ver-
ified, written, checked, produced and checked again before being neatly edited,
packaged and released to the masses was being shaken up.
Fragmentation of the media, channel proliferation, and simultaneous media

consumption have all assisted in the demise of the ‘mass media’.
(Levy, 2009)
The ‘masses’ were now present in the same space where the news was located.
They were posting on the same platform as where case studies were found, their
digital interest creating analytics so that media companies could see which stories
or topics their audience was interested in even before their version of events had
gone to print or air.
By 2017, social media had barely existed for a decade – a blink of the eye in
the sweep of human communication, but long enough for a generation to grow
up knowing no other world. Among those who had known another age there
developed a kind of panic as they contemplated chaotic information systems
that seemed to have emerged from nowhere.
(Rusbridger, 2018, p. xviii)
The imagined picture of the UK’s news agenda being decided by predominantly
middle-aged, middle-class white men in air-conditioned London offices was not as
true as it once was. The gatekeepers no longer had full control of the information,
and nor were they the sole arbiters of what should be done with it. The gate
was open.
162 JOHN COLLINS
Social media has wrested control away from the authorities. Messages that
used to be controlled by marketing departments, crisis-communication pros,
and professional journalists have been taken over by the public.
(Deckers, 2011)
This process of ‘democratisation’ comes at a price. Steve Levy, the Chief

Operating Officer in Canada for the global market research specialist IPSOS, goes
as far as to suggest that in place of the crumbling ‘mass media’ you now find “mass
confusion, mass distraction and mass clutter” (Levy, 2009).
On a practical level, some of the biggest casualties to emerge from this disruption are
the sales and circulation figures of newspapers. In the eight years to 2018, the circu-
lation of national newspaper titles in the UK fell by more than half. In 2010, they shifted
22 million copies every weekday, just eight years later that figure was 10.4 million. The
percentage decline in the circulation of newspaper’s specific Sunday titles was all but
identical (Ofcom, 2019).
ROBUST RADIO
Throughout the same time, radio stations have consistently returned robust lis-
tening figures. Currently, 87% of UK adults (15+) listen to the radio each week,
which means that, nationwide, there are 48.1 million people consuming radio
content (RAJAR, Q4 2019). This figure has risen from the 46 million people who
were tuning in during the final quarter of 2009 but is slightly lower than subsequent
peaks (RAJAR, Q4 2009-2019).
These headline listening figures do not tell the whole story as they make no
distinction as to how people are listening to the radio. What we do know, is that
during the last ten years, the number of people listening to the radio via their
desktop or laptop computer, via their smartphone or via their smart speaker has
increased substantially. By the end of 2019, 36 million adults (66% of the UK
population) were tuning-in to the radio via a digital platform, that is to say that they
accessed the radio online, via an app, via a digital television set or through a DAB
radio (RAJAR Q4, 2019). This listening is still included in a station’s RAJAR survey
while a newspaper’s online readership is measured separately from its circulation
figures.
The rise of digital media was always going to bring with it a mix of challenges and
opportunities, but the radio industry would almost seem to have benefitted from,
particularly, the advent of social media.
So, why is that? Why did the rise of the internet and social media platforms not lay
waste to the radio industry’s listening figures in the same way it has seemed to
halve the circulation of national newspapers?
It is my contention that this is down to the innate similarities between social media
and radio, the integral characteristics that the two media share. The closeness of
this relationship was characterised by radio consultant David Lloyd as that of “fitting
bedfellows” (Lloyd 2015). The late Guy Starkey was a Professor of Radio and
Journalism and Head of Media at the University of Sunderland. He argued that the
longevity of radio’s success was rooted in its make-up and could be explained by
the essential characteristics of radio, which also suggest to many commenta-

tors that it may in practice remain a much more resilient medium in our near
futures than some others are predicting.
(Starkey, (2016))
THE STRENGTHS OF RADIO
Immediacy
What I absolutely love about radio is the immediacy of it. The fact that if a story
breaks or if something is happening it’s live and it’s happening there and then.
You can’t pause it and rewind it and continue. If you make a mistake you can
just fix it straight away and I love the fast-paced medium that it is.
(Poluta in Friedman, 2018)
Radio is indisputably an immediate medium. Live radio involves the words uttered
into a microphone by a presenter, reporter or newsreader arriving in the ears of a
listener, unedited and unfiltered, just moments later.
the medium is enormously flexible and is often at its best in the totally
immediate ‘live’ situation. No waiting for the presses or the physical distribution
of newspapers or magazines. A news report from a correspondent overseas, a
listener talking on the phone, a sports result from the local stadium, a concert
from the capital – radio is immediate.
(McLeish, 2005)
Radio broadcasters need not worry about the delayed arrival of the camera op-
erator, the subsequent filming of pictures or the time it then takes to edit them.
The immediacy of radio is still its greatest attribute and it’s the quickest way to
get breaking news to air … television tries hard, but is ponderous, while
newspaper websites are having a crack but still can’t match the speed and
accessibility of radio.
(Denovan, 2015)
164 JOHN COLLINS
Simplicity
Makers of radio need not worry about light. Nor need they worry about camera
angles, framing, captions, subtitles or many of the other vagaries that can slow
down or complicate the production of television. If broadcasting is all ‘lights,
cameras, action’, how empowering it must be to only need to focus on the third of
those, the ‘action’, the one that really matters.
Similarly, makers of radio need not worry about a headline, a standfirst, page
layouts, pull-out quotes or many of the other concerns that a newspaper reporter
has to think about when they are building their piece.
The comedian Clive Anderson has written about his time hosting the radio show
Whose Line Is It Anyway which was later transferred to television. While the show was
successful on both media, he has reminisced of how making the radio show involved
mornings where “the producers would come round to my house, and over tea
and toast at the kitchen table, the three of us would agree what games would be
played and how it might work” (Anderson, 2011). Following the show moving from
the airwaves to the small screen, he reflected on how it could no longer be something
that “happened around my kitchen table” and concluded that something was lost
for that being the case and that while the essence of the show remained the same,
making it for television forced it to become a bigger – and not necessarily better
project. He went on to explain his feeling that the simplicity of radio allows it to be a
more ‘human’ medium.
With radio, there’s less to get in between the listener and the broadcaster.
Most radio consists of one or two people in a studio talking to one or two
people at home. It's broadcasting on a very human scale.
(Anderson, 2011)
This simplicity also leads to flexibility. The time it takes a radio programme to bring a
contributor to air is far less than it would take a newspaper or magazine journalist to
transcribe their quotes into an article and radio’s position as the ‘blind’ medium
means it does not need to wait for a contributor to be in front of a camera as a TV
channel (almost exclusively) does. The speed, and particularly the ease, with which
callers and guests can be brought to air means that there is a very low barrier to be
overcome for anyone who wants to get involved. The resulting breadth, depth and
instant availability of potential contributors means that a radio show can go off in a
different direction with its Plan A discarded far more easily than a newspaper layout
can be undone, or a television running order torn up.
radio’s comparative simplicity means a flexibility in its scheduling. Items within

programmes, or even whole programmes, can be dropped to be replaced at
short notice by something more urgent.
(McLeish, 2005)
Crucially, radio is not just relatively (and comparatively) straightforward to make, it is

simple to consume too.
Every time I step into a car with an AM/FM radio, I am reminded about the
concept of simplicity and ease of use as key reasons why radio grew to have
such a large listening audience.
(Grey, 2016)
Never though mistake simplicity for a lack of depth, the speed and technological
ease with which radio can be added to and influenced is what creates its next
strength.
Interactivity
The default position of radio broadcasting is a live environment. A glance at an average
television schedule in the UK might reveal a live news show at breakfast time and a live
magazine show in the morning, but it’s entirely possible that, with the quiz shows,
documentaries, game shows, soaps, dramas and films that follow, they are the only
two live programmes to be broadcast all day. In television, the live shows are the
exception. In radio, the reverse is true. The bulk of the output on BBC Radio 1, 2, 5
Live, Absolute, Virgin and the big commercial networks is made up of live pro-
grammes. This doesn’t mean that the output is automatically better. The time that can
be invested on research, the chance to seek out the very best contributors and the
ability to edit output to sound exactly as you wish can all mean that the production
values on pre-recorded productions can be substantially higher than on content that is
delivered live. However, the missing element in any output that is pre-packaged long
before it is intended to be consumed is that it is inherently shorn of interaction.
As the presenter of It’ll Be Alright On The Night, Comedian Denis Norden was at the
helm of one of Britain’s longest-running TV shows, yet in a newspaper interview of
2008, he explained why he had always maintained a preference for the medium on
which he began his career.
I prefer radio to television. Radio is a dialogue; television is a monologue. In

radio, you have to interact – they put the words in your head, you build the
pictures in your mind. To that extent it is more engaging than television.
(Jacobs, 2008)
This assertion that radio is innately interactive is backed-up by Crisell who writes of
the ‘distinctiveness’ of radio centring around it requiring the imagination of the
consumer to a far greater extent than other media (Crisell, 1994, p. 9).
Writing as he was in 1994, the birth of social media was still three years away with
Six Degrees widely regarded as the first online social network (Sumar, 2018).
166 JOHN COLLINS
Intimacy
The idea that radio is intimate is commonplace in radio literature. Crisell refers to
radio as “an intimate medium” (1994, p. 11) while Chignell has also noted that radio
intimacy “owes a lot to radio’s invisibility, which results in it being experienced
entirely inside the listener’s head” (2009, p. 87).
It is consumed in bed, in the shower, in the car. It is frequently consumed alone.

Rare are the occasions on which it is said ‘do you want to come over and listen to
the radio?’
We tend to think that because of the way we listen while doing other things,
hearing something is somehow a secondary activity. And we assume that
moving images, which demand our immediate focus, are more powerful. But
radio takes concentration, even if we’re also shaving or preparing the Sunday
roast at the time. It’s not a slovenly activity for couch potatoes. After all,
nobody ever invented a ‘radio dinner’.
(Anderson, 2011)
There are occasions where the radio becomes wallpaper, happily playing away
while builders put up walls, decorators paint homes and cooks prepare food, but
there is also radio, particularly speech radio, that necessitates a deeper connection
between the listener and the output:
the sights and sounds of radio are created within us and can have greater
impact and involvement. Radio on headphones happens literally inside your
head. Television is, in general, watched by small groups of people and the
reaction to a programme is often affected by the reaction between individuals.
Radio is much more a personal thing.
(McLeish, 2005)
THE STRENGTHS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

If the strengths of radio can be characterised as immediacy, simplicity, intimacy and
interactivity, can the same not be said of social media? Are the characteristics that
have made radio so long-lasting not the same characteristics that have led to social
media’s explosive growth over the last 15 years?
Immediacy
There is no doubt that social media is immediate. The thoughts, opinions, reactions
and experiences of all users can be shared with the world in the mere moments
that it takes to compose a post. Users do not post for a particular edition, bulletin or
programme and nor do they work to anyone’s deadline. They post what they wish
whenever they want to do it. With little time needed to formulate a tweet, a TikTok
video, an Instagram post or a Facebook status, there is almost no delay between
an event happening or an opinion being formed and either of those things ap-
pearing online. While we’re currently taking a holistic look at social media, it is worth
noting that this ease of publication has impacted upon the ability of journalists and
news organisations to lead the news cycle.
Now that social media has sped up the pace of how people communicate with
each other, real-time communication is becoming even more important.
Thanks to social media, ordinary folks are breaking news before the media
gets the chance.
(Deckers, 2011)
Simplicity
Beyond internet access and a device to browse the web, nothing else is required to
be active on social media. With no need for a studio or a formal publication and a
microphone and camera likely built-in to the device you are using to access the site,
everyone suddenly has the ability to broadcast to the world. The interface of social
media apps is deliberately designed to make it as easy as possible to do that and
the hit of dopamine to the brain delivered by the reactions to doing so make users
keen to do it over and over again.
The internet and social media gave everyone a voice, audience, and a ticket to
the party. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram made it easy for you to express
yourself and feel heard.
(Isenberg, 2018)
Intimacy
In early 2017, Mark Zuckerberg changed Facebook’s mission statement from “give
people the power to share and make the world more open and connected”, the
concept of everyone having a ticket to the party that Isenberg describes above, to
“give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together”
(Isenberg, 2018).
This building of a more intimate global community is predominantly done on de-

vices that rarely leave our hands, that rest on our desks or in our pockets when we
work and that sit on our bedside tables when we are asleep. Social media is
168 JOHN COLLINS
consumed in the same physical and personal spaces as radio. In this sense, they
are equally intimate media.
Interactivity
Social media is, almost by definition, an interactive space. Twitter and Instagram
users seek to grow followers, those on Facebook make requests to be friends and
connections are sought on LinkedIn. No matter the platform, an individual’s online
network is built through an initial (and the promise of future) interaction. Once
created, the material posted into this space is not just the expression of an opinion,
the capturing of a moment or the recording of an event, it is an offering made in the
pursuit of likes, favourites, shares and retweets. Frequently, the thinking behind the
decision to post is to invite interaction.
What is fundamentally different in the social media mode of communication and

production is the fact that the text or artefact can be created, modified,
supplemented and appropriated by a dynamic process of interactivity … it is
the interactivity that generates the sense of presence and thus community that
enables most people to engage with social media. However, it is also this
interactivity that encourages people to use it with their friends and communities …
social media interfaces engage us through interactivity and the appearance of
co-presence, community and, in the end, an appearance of social connection.
(Hunsinger in Hunsinger & Senft, 2014)
Ellis and Goggin argue that the term social media has almost ceased to be a noun
and is now an adjective widely used to indicate particular qualities of digital media.
When going on to list those qualities, ‘interactivity’ is placed second with only social
networks above it and ahead of other characteristics such as sharing and gen-
erating media content (Ellis & Goggin in Hunsinger & Senft, 2014, p. 126).
A STRENGTHENED MEDIUM
Ninety years ago, the German philosopher and cultural scholar Walter Benjamin
was already noticing an issue with the medium that had been made possible by
Guglielmo Marconi in the mid-1890s and shaped into something closer to what we
know today by Richard Fessenden in 1906.
The crucial failure of radio has been to perpetuate the fundamental separation
between radio producers and their audiences, a separation that is at odds with
its technological basis … audiences must be transformed into witnesses in
interviews and conversations and must have the opportunity to be heard.
(Benjamin in Bonini, 2020)
As far back as 1930, those who thought about the fundamentals of radio were
questioning whether its intimacy was genuine or false. Similar questions are still
being posed in this century. Kirkpatrick believing that the relationship between
broadcaster and listener is skewed too heavily towards the former.
radio’s intimacy is rooted in multiple overlapping asymmetrical relationships

that tendentially privilege and empower the speaker.
(Kirkpatrick in Loviglio & Hilmes, 2013: p. 117)
While McLeish argues that listeners often believe that they have a far stronger
relationship with radio broadcasters than is true in reality.
Radio is not a good medium by itself for establishing a genuine two-way

contact. Listeners may feel that the broadcaster comes into their home and
they may even get the impression that they know an individual presenter.
However, this is at best a substitute companionship rather than a genuine
personal interaction
(McLeish, 2005)
To an extent, social media has begun to close these gaps, to change these in-
teractions and to strengthen these relationships – a concept noticed by Starkey
and Crisell in 2009.
The impact of the new technology is more complicated. Because some of the
media that radio is converging with are two-way (phones, the internet), radio
itself will become much more interactive, by various means, listeners will be
able to shape and even control its content.
(Starkey & Crisell, 2009, p. 127)
As practitioners, as opposed to academics, Lloyd and Geller separately take these

theoretical positions and outline how they manifest themselves in the industry.
To contact a radio station, you wrote a letter to your favourite presenter. They
probably did not write back. If they did mention you on-air, you might miss it,
unless you remained devoted to your radio in solitary confinement for a week
after posting the dedication. You could phone-in of course, but the chances of
getting through were remote. In due course, texts made life a little easier, but
even those generate what is essentially a one-way conversation, unless the
text is read out.
(Lloyd, 2015, p.137–138)
In the old days, listeners had to call a radio station or write a letter to be heard.
Now listeners can interact with the station immediately – online, using Twitter,
170 JOHN COLLINS
texting and instant messaging. All are powerful and indispensable tools in
today’s interactive media ecosystem.
(Geller, 2012, p. 318)
It’s not just that the relationship between broadcaster and listener has been dee-
pened, those broadcasters can now be heard much more easily and in many more
places. Overall radio listening has not really dropped due to the advent of the in-
ternet and social media. Almost every new competitor for a listener’s attention has
brought with it either a new opportunity to showcase content or a new platform on
which output can be delivered. The medium has been challenged but rising to the
challenge has made it stronger.
Today, a radio station’s audience must be understood as the sum of its listeners
and those who follow it on social networks. While the first kind of audience still
receives radio in a traditional way, members of the second set are connected to
each other and to the host within a network. The intersection of radio and social
media heavily modifies both the vertical relationship between the host and the
audience, and the horizontal relationship between individual listeners.
(Bonini, 2020)
But nor is it just that there are still as many people listening as there ever were, radio
stations now know much more about those who are listening too.
Two-way dialogue now exists between listeners and stations, and between
listeners and presenters. Traditional boundaries have been dissolved … never
before have broadcasters had quite so much access to how their listeners are
feeling and what they are talking about.
(Lloyd, 2015, p. 138)
Ben Cooper, the controller of BBC Radio 1 who oversaw the development of
station cornerstones the Big Weekend, the Teen Awards and the Live Lounge has
previously outlined how listeners’ new found ability to generate great content marks
a significant shift in the nature of the relationship between a radio station and the
consumer (Lloyd, 2015).
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT

A new way of interacting with your listeners, the chance to deepen listener re-
lationships, the opportunity to attract a new audience and a new environment in
which to showcase your best content means that successful radio stations have
little choice but to invest in social media. However, they must do so with the same
level of thought, the same care and the same principles as when they are creating
on-air content.
Georgia Pinfold1 is a social and video producer at KISS FM: Bauer radio’s national
youth brand. She outlines how the brand’s social media channels are not solely to
promote the station, they are also a way of delivering content to consumers that
simply could not be delivered within a show or a news bulletin:
Social media plays a large role in promoting the station and our events but it’s
also there to share multi-media content that can’t be used on air. Our pages
are vital in establishing the brand’s tone, highlighting who are our key artists
and what are our key messages. They are also used to share commercial
information and event line-ups that don’t always appear on-air. Our target
audience is 15–34-year olds, they want to engage with meme style, light-
hearted content and my job is to make sure that content reinforces the brand’s
slogan: The Beat of the UK.
While there is a clear overlap in the audience that Georgia is targeting, she is also
aware that the consumers of KISS’s social content are not necessarily the same
people who are listening to their traditional, linear, radio output.
Social media is also important for audiences who may not listen to the show
live. By posting clips from shows of the previous day, we are attracting a new
audience who may not be familiar with the brand which can be shared across
the country, if not the world.
Steve Hermon2 is a broadcast journalist at BBC WM who has previously had re-
sponsibility for much of the station’s social media content. For his station, posting
to social media is an opportunity to interact with people that are perhaps not lis-
tening to their on-air output.
While it's not a ‘priority’, in the sense that what comes out of the speakers is
what will always matter the most, social media is important for a radio station
like BBC Radio WM because it helps us connect with a more diverse and
younger audience that may not be amongst our regular audience but the hope
would be if something catches their eye on social media, they will also tune in
to us to find out more or see what else we offer.
While it may not be the number one priority, Steve points out that serious amounts
of time and effort have been put into creating engaging content.
When I worked on social media for the radio station, there were often times
where some stories and videos were made just for our Facebook and Twitter
accounts … not all of our social media stories were used on-air as radio
content in the traditional sense. For example, sometimes it was CCTV or police
footage relating to a story that was featuring in our news bulletins but wasn’t
worth a longer interview within a programme. Sometimes they were stories
172 JOHN COLLINS
that just didn’t work as well on the radio – photos or video of new born animals
at Dudley Zoo or West Midlands Safari Park is great social content which
would drive traffic to our Facebook page but it’s not a story that works
anywhere near so well on the radio.
The impact of continuing financial pressures at the BBC has led to cuts in local
radio staff in recent years with more to come by 2022 (BBC, 2020). Steve admits
that these have already started to have an impact on his station’s social media
output.
due to resources, the focus has changed in recent months. We don’t tend to
find as many ‘original’ stories for social media. Instead, the focus has shifted to
making social media videos that link to radio station campaigns, such as ‘Make
A Difference’ which highlighted the work being done by local communities
during the coronavirus pandemic. This has been seen as a better way of
increasing exposure to what we do on the radio, rather than original stories
that can take longer to source and produce but sometimes be hit and miss in
terms of the online reaction
While there is little overlap between the target audience and brand values of KISS
and BBC WM, Georgia agrees that there needs to be a synergy between what is
broadcast on-air and what is posted to social media but they need not be identical.
you want your content to reflect what is happening on air with topical content,
but you also want stand-alone content that gives the audience a reason to link
directly with the social media platforms instead of just listening on-air. It
continues the narrative and conversation. Not all interviews can be played in full
on-air so being smart with the content you receive is vital in targeting different
demographics
One of the biggest challenges that radio stations face is that no sooner have they
got to grips or mastered how to best make one platform work for their brand,
another platform or feature has appeared. TikTok and Instagram Reels are the
newest arrivals with KISS recently live-streaming a special show to TikTok to
celebrate the end of the first week of their new breakfast show (RadioToday, 2020).
With guidance from the platform, Georgia saw the idea through from the ideas
stage right through to it going live. She firmly believes that each social media
platform requires its own unique approach.
Every brand will choose to target a different platform depending on their

audience. We use most platforms at KISS including Twitter, Instagram,
Facebook and TikTok. Currently, our main focus is on Instagram and TikTok
due to our demographic, but it doesn’t mean the other platforms should be
neglected, just altered to fit the audience. For Facebook we would post more
comment generators, meme-style pictures and videos as well as news

whereas on Instagram we focus on more of the ‘in the moment content’ on
stories such as behind the scenes moments of KISS Breakfast and witty,
relatable content on the main Instagram feed. Each platform has features it
wants you to use. Geotagging and alt-text are important for Instagram. Using
gifs, polls and question boxes on stories will boost your content too – the
platforms have these features for a reason, so use them. Being inventive is
crucial too, don’t post the same content on different platforms – that’s a
definite no-no. Landscape videos and pictures work best on Twitter. For
Instagram, square content is most valued and for TikTok everything should be
filmed in portrait to avoid the clipping of videos. Also, learn what timescale
works best for the platform you’re posting on: 15 seconds for Instagram
stories, up to 1 minute for videos on Instagram etc. This way you can tailor your
content to fit the needs of the audience … you should always stick to your
brand guidelines, use your brand colours, keep your logo size and positioning
the same on each post so the audience can connect those colours with your
brand. You must make regular content and creating ongoing features such as
a video series or weekly content pieces brings familiarity to your audience and
keeps them coming back.
The content is packaged and produced in a specific way for each platform. What
the content is made up of is decided by going back to the same values that
drive the on-air brand.
Choosing what to post usually derives from artist news, new music or on-air
content. For KISS, we would focus on the artists we feature on our playlist or
upcoming musicians we have our eyes on. This way we’re targeting artists with
huge fan bases as well as introducing them to new music that they can hear on
the station. Your role as a social media producer essentially is to always push
people back to listen to on-air shows. Without this, there would be no
cohesion between on-air and social. We also ensure each of our day-time
presenters and producers know what social is going to be posted that day.
This way, the presenter can push to our socials to allow for the listener to join in
conversations, share their own thoughts and continue the dialogue between
the brand and the listener. When posting any of your content check in with
your insights first. On Instagram, Twitter and Facebook especially you can find
out what the most popular times your audience is engaging with your content
and then post when it’s at its peak. The algorithms are never the same each
day so looking at your insights daily can increase your reach and engagement
figures.
It is perhaps no surprise that as a national brand seeking to attract a young de-

mographic, KISS is embracing the very latest social media platforms. At BBC WM,
Steve Hermon admits that resources are focused on more established platforms.
174 JOHN COLLINS
I believe that Facebook remains King for our audience. Twitter less so but I
would say that is second, ahead of Instagram, although that is fast becoming
an increasingly used tool … but the engagement side of things for our target
audience isn't as good as Facebook. While I might be wrong, I would argue
that the traditional BBC Local Radio target audience isn't on Instagram or
TikTok. However, I do think the goal of social media as a tool for us as a radio
station is to help us reach a more diverse audience rather than just the listeners
we already have.
One thing that both Steve and Georgia agree on is that whatever and wherever you
are posting content, it has to be done in a voice that befits the brand.
Following the voice of the station is key. For KISS it’s vital we write copy that fits
with our audience demographic and would be different to our other brands like
Scala and Magic radio. Our audience primarily uses a lot of emojis and ‘youthful’
language, slang and pop culture references so we try to mirror this and add our
own edge. The relationship between a brand and a listener is so important.
There are subtle but important differences to each of the brands under the KISS
umbrella; KISS, KISS Fresh and KISSTORY all have differing demographics
which means we alter our copy to fit each one. KISS Fresh focusses more on
specialist music while KISSTORY is our throwback 90s RnB station so naturally
how we talk about music and the content will fit to the listener.
While music and artists are the major focus of KISS’s social media platforms, for
BBC WM it is news and sport.
I produced a lot of bespoke videos for sport, which either encouraged debate
or were produced to spark a reaction. A lot of these were phone calls made to
our football phone-in programme. I would post the phone call with accom-
panying pictures to make it into a social media video and we would get
hundreds, if not thousands of shares for some of them. They proved to be very
popular (or controversial) but they provoked a reaction and were engaging,
which is the ultimate key to social media content. It has to be engaging. If
people aren't liking or sharing it, then what's the point?
Steve also notes that the production of bespoke content for social media has
changed the whole grammar of audio and video editing, that the way in which you
frame, tell and produce a story alters due to the way it will be consumed, and the
audience consuming it.
The most important thing I have learnt, especially for Facebook, is that the most
important/interesting part of a video/story needs to feature in the opening 5–10
seconds. The way you build a radio or even TV package is completely different
to social media. You effectively need to give away the ending of a story at the
start! People’s attention spans are really short and oftentimes, they are watching
videos on mute to begin with, so you really need to grab their attention straight
away in order to make them keep watching. There are lots of rules in terms of
the shape/size of videos but that can differ depending on the platform or who is
providing the content. Shaping videos to fit an iPhone screen is the current
favoured approach as the general public tend to watch and even film content
that way but just a few years ago, square videos were the general rule! One of
the biggest don’ts is don’t fish for likes and shares!! Writing a post such as ‘Like/
share this video if you hate/love pizza!’ comes across as just desperate. It’s a
tactic that was used a lot at one time but not so much anymore.
Much social media success depends on the quality of the tease that is placed
ahead of the audio or video content that follows. There must be enough information
to whet the appetite and never so much that the appetite is suddenly sated. That
perfect combination is the sort of ‘sticky’ tease has been the preserve of talented
radio presenters for decades. In Chapter 5, there is much more detail on how
talkSPORT does this with their content. To keep the food metaphor going, as well
as ensuring that you whet the appetite of your audience, it’s also about feeding
them a balanced diet, Lloyd notes that:
If you are always ordering your social media audience to listen to this interview,
take part in this contest, or call in on this topic, they can grow weary. Social
media is about two-way interaction, more than the uni-directional ‘push’. Much
like on your programme itself, it is key to intersperse the necessary audience
drivers with sufficient elements of real insight, value or entertainment.
(Lloyd, 2015, p. 143)
THE VISUALISATION OF RADIO

Right across the spectrum of UK radio, brands have quickly realised that gaining
traction on social media is often helped by posting video content. On average,
posting a video to Facebook generates 135% more reach than simply posting a
photo (Savage, 2016), social videos generate 12 times the shares than text and
images combined and 92% of mobile video consumers share that content with
others (Mansfield, 2016).
From the agenda-setting news coverage of Radio 4’s Today Programme to Bauer’s
studios for Magic, Absolute and Kiss via News UK’s new set-up for talkSPORT,
talkRADIO and Virgin and Global’s Leicester Square headquarters for Heart, LBC
and Capital, video cameras are now fitted as standard to the studios of high-profile
shows. Their presence is not entirely new. Adam Bowie works in business devel-
opment and strategy at the BBC having previously been employed by both Virgin
176 JOHN COLLINS
and Absolute Radio. He is noted in his blog that cameras have ‘always’ been invited
into radio studios but that previously those invites were only extended if there was a
“noteworthy interview or event” (Bowie, 2019) rather than the permanent fixture they
have now become within studios broadcasting nationally.
In the main, these cameras are not meant to be watched in a linear fashion. Rather,
they are there to capture moments that could go viral. After all, while we all know
what a viral video is, there is no such phrase as viral audio.
With UK stations with studio cameras, the real benefit is the ability to create
socially shareable clips. Stations might open up their live streams too, and
some listeners love to see ‘behind the curtain’, watching a presenter at work,
or find out how a radio station works. But the real strength in having cameras in
the studio is to maintain a relationship with your audience online, and to share
buzzworthy clips that might, in turn, bring in new audiences.
(Bowie, 2019)
LBC has perhaps been the leading exponent of this new marketing tool. They will
routinely release video clips of Nick Ferrari grilling politicians, James O’Brien
sparring with callers or Eddie Mair skewering ministers to try and attract new eyes –
and then ears – to their station. In the case of some of their most famous clips,
Diane Abbott getting her sums wrong in relation to the policing budget, Liz Truss
being hoisted by her own petard over Brexit and James O’Brien railing against
those who delivered the vote to leave the European Union, these videos were not
just the showcasing of strong content, but served as organic marketing campaigns.
The framing and lighting of the images (and the layout of the studios) do not always
lend themselves to the standard of production values that you would expect from
television or film. By their very nature, the studio layouts, microphone positions and
presenter seating have all been optimised for the delivery of high-quality audio. The
marketing departments of radio stations have worked hard to ensure that no matter
the position of the camera, the presenter or the microphone, the all-important
branding is always in shot. Adam Bowie suggests that, in the case of LBC, the
camera may even have been set up to “maximise the space behind presenters
where station logos are” (Bowie, 2019).
Steve Hermon is well aware of how incorporating video into your social media
content allows you to move beyond some of the limitations of traditional radio.
You can use social media to expand your content. Radio is restricted to the
sound of something but if we have a platform to be able to visually show a
listener something then we should be using or promoting it … also, it's just a
good way to promote the station to another audience. If our listeners share a
social media video, then hopefully their friends and family who aren't listeners
may see it and also share it and become listeners.
Some stations, including BBC WM, have taken things further than simply re-
plicating or re-purposing their on-air content and begun to produce bespoke vi-
deos that are over and above their traditional output. Even when well-received,
these projects have often run into the problems of increased costs and increased
workloads for a platform that is still not universally viewed as a priority.
I also filmed and edited content to complement our (Warwickshire) Bears

Podblast Cricket podcast. These didn't prove to be the most engaging in
terms of shares and likes but it helped give a visual aspect to content that
featured in the podcast. At one time, we also used Facebook Live to our
advantage. Up until the coronavirus pandemic, our Aston Villa reporter, Mark
Regan, did a Facebook Live Q&A with Villa fans, which proved really popular.
We also broadcast the Football Phone-In on this platform as well, when we
had a manager live in the studio. This gave us an extra platform to take
questions from fans and enable them to see the manager in the studio, as well
as hear them. We also produced some innovative content, including a live
sports programme with multiple camera angles, which was broadcast via
Facebook Live. This was a more informal version of the phone-in but instead of
calls, we had a panel and we took questions via the comments. We also
produced videos focusing on Non-League football, as this is a popular but
underserved area in our patch. However, despite being held up as a great
example of what could be done on social media, after a four-week pilot, it was
discontinued as it was decided it was too time consuming and required too
many resources. This is the ultimate challenge going forward for radio stations
wanting to do engaging social media content. it has to look good and be done
right which takes time and effort, which radio stations don't necessarily have
when the focus has to be what comes out of the speaker, not what is posted
on a Facebook page.
NOTES
1 All quotes from Georgia Pinfold taken from interview with John Collins in August 2020.
2 All quotes from Steve Hermon taken from interview with John Collins in August 2020.
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Lloyd, D., 2015. How to Make Great Radio. Biteback, London.
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CHAPTER 9
Podcasting
An audio revolution
by Arran Bee
Writing in The Guardian about what to call an emerging form of online ‘amateur
radio’ in 2004, Ben Hammersley suggested ‘Audioblogging’, ‘Podcasting’ or
‘GuerillaMedia’. As the second of those terms (a portmanteau of ‘iPod’ and
‘broadcast’) slipped into common usage, technical innovations in the early 2000s
meant that anyone could build an audience as an online broadcaster. A low barrier
to entry turned podcasting into a ‘wild west’ industry (Seale, 2019). Now, there are
more than one million podcasts available through Apple, the largest provider (Apple
Newsroom, 2020). With giant streaming companies, like Spotify, and producers
such as Amazon’s Audible, spending huge amounts of money on online audio,
podcasting is going through a phase of professionalisation. Bonini (2015, p. 22)
calls this “the second age of podcasting … characterised by the transformation of
podcasting into a commercial productive practice and a medium for mass con
sumption”. This chapter is structured in three parts; it starts with an introduction to
podcasting and its history so far, it looks in detail at the art of podcasting and what
makes a great podcast before focusing on the practicalities of producing a pod
cast. It finishes with a section on podcasting and the law. This chapter aims to be
useful for both amateur and professional podcasters. It contains a number of in
ternational references, such is podcasting’s global nature.
AN INTRODUCTION TO PODCASTING
A podcast is a pre-produced digital audio show, released to online subscribers in
an episodic format. Increasingly, video versions of episodes are produced si
multaneously. As this chapter will point out, this modern form of production and
PODCASTING: AN AUDIO REVOLUTION 181
distribution still shares many key principles with radio, exemplifying some even
more strongly. Andrew Crisell identifies appeal to the imagination, intimacy,
“a sense of ‘liveness’” and flexibility to listen while doing other things amongst his
“characteristics of radio”. Crisell adds that listening is a mostly solitary activity
(1994, pp. 7–11). All of these are still true for podcasting. In fact, podcast con
sumption may be an even more solitary activity, with 92% of all listening in the UK
happening alone (RAJAR, 2020). For this reason, Richard Berry suggests that
podcasting has taken the fundamental requirement for listeners to create their own
pictures in their head a step further:
It is this open approach that has made podcasting the rapidly adopted and
popular medium it has been. No one person owns the technology and so it is
free to listen and create content, thereby departing from the traditional model
of ‘gatekept’ media and production tool. … What podcasting offers is a classic
‘horizontal’ media form: producers are consumers and consumers become
producers and engage in conversations with each other.
(2006, pp. 145–146)
Sullivan also identifies podcasting as a “uniquely democratic medium” (2018,

p. 45), when compared to commercial media. Presenters and producers in the
podcast world do not need a programme controller to give them a chance to be on
air or to have access to a transmitter to speak to an audience. As mentioned
above, there is no ‘gatekeeper’ (Sullivan, 2018, p. 45). Anyone can be a podcaster.
Consequently, podcasting is a creative space which has led to the creation of a

greater breadth of audio content. Commissioning Editor for BBC Sounds, Jason
Phipps, says one of the UK’s most popular comedy podcasts, My Dad Wrote a
Porno, “wouldn’t have been commissioned anywhere in the past” because it is “too
outlandish” (quoted in Waterson, 2018). Phipps adds that podcasting’s intimacy
makes it “a perfect place to have uncomfortable conversations” (Waterson, 2018).
Podcasts can be accessed through a range of different platforms, which usually

have their own smartphone app: 79% of all listening is via a smartphone (RAJAR,
2020). For more than a decade, Apple owned the most popular platform by far.
Firstly through iTunes, then via its bespoke Podcasts app. In 2020, The Reuters
Institute for the Study of Journalism identified BBC Sounds as being the most
popular platform in the UK (see Figure 9.1), with Spotify the equivalent in the US
(Newman et al.). For most of the 2000s, nearly all podcasts were available through
Apple, the company whose technology allowed podcasting to grow so rapidly.
From the late 2010s, platforms began to sign podcasts to exclusive deals as a way
of increasing their market share (Holt, 2019; BBC News, 2020). These deals,
alongside consumers broadening their use of audio streaming more generally,
mean that podcasts will increasingly be sought from a variety of sources.
Consequently, there is greater competition between platforms.
182 ARRAN BEE
FIGURE 9.1 The most used potcast platforms in the UK (2020) (Reuters Institute Digital
News Report, 2020)
Historically, podcasting has had a ‘discoverability problem’ (LaForme 2020). With

one million podcasts out there, limited online audio search options mean that it can
be difficult for a listener to stumble across something new that they might like.
Where TV channels have the ability to market new programmes within linear and
on-demand programming, as well as through other advertising means, podcast
ing’s low barrier to entry means that independent creators who lack the budget of
major media companies struggle to build a sizable audience. It is hard to have a hit.
The result is that the podcast charts feature a number of shows which have been
professionally marketed or are hosted by celebrities with large followings on social
media. Platforms have tried to tackle the issue. Spotify created ‘Your Daily
Podcasts’, an algorithm-based tool that suggests new podcasts based on what a
user has already listened to (Quah 2019a). Google includes playable podcast
episodes in its search results (Quah, 2019b)), Apple has increased the amount of
podcast information which can be searched (Miller, 2019).
How is a podcast different to a radio programme?

As podcasting began to grow, Wired Magazine described it as “unregulated, low-
cost, on-demand radio” (Newitz, 2005). The description hints at three kinds
differences between traditional broadcasting and the new world of online audio:
namely lack of time restriction, digital method of distribution and an absence of
regulation.
As the removal of set time slots “broadens the ways in which stories (both fictional
and factual) can be told” on video streaming services like Netflix (Johnson, 2019,
p. 82), the same can be said for podcasts. Episodes can be as long or as short as
each one merits. The format and audience ultimately decide exactly how long it is,
rather than the need to fit a pre-existing duration. Episodes of The High Low, with
Pandora Sykes and Dolly Alderton, range from 30 minutes to more than 90 min
utes. In general, the average length of a podcast episode is around 40 minutes,
partly influenced by typical commuting times (Newman et al., 2019, p. 60).
Subject matter is a big factor in determining the duration of an episode, too.

Analysis from Canada’s Pacific Content found median episode length to be over an
hour for podcasts about video games, wrestling and films, while education, chil
dren’s stories and daily news were found to average under 15 minutes (Misener,
2019). For the former, this may be because they cater to large online communities
linked to a niche area of interest and are produced in a discussion-based format
(where episodes are likely to be longer). It supports the assertion from Llinares et al.
that podcasting creates “spaces for niche and cult content that caters for the more
idiosyncratic cultures of interest” (2018, p. 2).
Many of the shorter subject areas are centred around the transmission of in
formation, demanding higher concentration from their audiences.
The digital method of distribution – where listeners actively seek out the podcast,
subscribe to a feed of episodes and listen to them from the start – is another
influence on the way that podcasts are produced and presented. Before even
pressing ‘play’, listeners make an active choice about what they want to listen to,
easily reading a description of what an episode is about and who the presenter and
guests are. For podcasts where the subject matter is the main attraction, over the
personality and profile of the presenter, the necessity to fill in the knowledge gaps
for a broad audience is much lower than it is in radio. Podcast audiences arrive with
a higher level of understanding of the featured topic or story. Podcasters do not
need to try to please a wide spectrum of people. They can concentrate on their
own, specific audience. That does not mean, though, that a podcaster can take the
listenership of their audience for granted. The quality of production and pre
sentation is a major factor in building a loyal audience. There is more on podcast
production later in this chapter and a section on presentation in Chapter 2.
On a practical level, digital listening means podcasts can be structured in a much

simpler way than their radio equivalents. Much of radio’s furniture is unnecessary
(travel reports, news bulletins etc.). The same can be said for re-caps of something
that happened earlier in the show.
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Finally, podcasts offer the chance to binge listen to several episodes at once. This,
too, has an effect on production decisions. On the one hand, it means that epi
sodes can have a long life-span, especially if references to current events are kept
to a minimum. On the other hand, for shows that do deal with current events, it can
mean that regular publishing is necessary to keep the audience coming back.
Publishing schedules are discussed more under ‘Promotion’.
A brief history of podcasting

1993: Launch of the first online radio station, Internet Talk Radio. Described
as an “asynchronous radio” station (Lasar, 2016, p. 32), programmes were
both broadcast live and made available for download afterwards (taking two
hours over a standard internet connection). The first feature programme was
Geek of the Week, where pioneers of the internet were interviewed by
technologist, Carl Malamud. Academic Andrew Bottomley says “the notion of
user control that is closely associated with podcasting today was very much
present here” (2020, p. 29).
Late 1990s: First handheld mp3 digital audio players are released.
Early 2000s: Radio broadcasters begin to make shows available for
download in mp3 format.
2001: BBC Radio 4 introduces ‘Listen Again’ page for programmes
broadcast in the previous seven days.
2003: RSS technology allows an automatically updating subscription to a
feed of audio files for the first time (widely seen as the development that led to
the start of podcasting as we know it).
2003: iPodder is created. It allowed users to download internet radio
programmes into iTunes to be played on an iPod. Developer Adam Curry
starts The Daily Source Code, credited as the first ever podcast
(Newitz, 2005).
2004: The word ‘podcast’ is used for the first time in a report by The
Guardian.
2005: Apple announces that it “is taking podcasting mainstream” by
integrating podcasts within the next version of iTunes (4.9), allowing users to
have “each new episode automatically delivered over the Internet to their
computer and iPod”: 3,000 podcasts are listed (Apple Newsroom, 2005).
2007: The first iPhone released. More than two billion would be sold by 2017
(Costello, 2019).
2007: The Ricky Gervais Show is named the ‘world’s most downloaded
podcast’ by Guinness World Records, with an average of 261,670
downloads per episode during its first month.
2013: Apple announces one billion podcast subscriptions through iTunes.
2014: Real-crime podcast Serial averages 1.5 million listeners per episode,
becoming “arguably the medium’s first breakout hit” (Carr, 2014).
2018: Ofcom report that “podcasts are booming in the UK, with nearly six
million adults now tuning in each week”, double the number from five years
ago (Ofcom, 2018).
2019: Spotify buys podcast companies Gimlet and Anchor for €300 million
(£270 million) as part of its strategy to “become the world’s leading audio
platform” (Spotify, 2019).
2020: The number of podcasts listed by Apple passes one million, following a
big increase in new shows during the coronavirus pandemic (Binder, 2020).
2020: This American Life wins the first-ever Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting,
described by the New York Times as “a milestone” for the medium of audio
which, it says, “has been energized over the last decade by the emergence of
podcasting as a force in journalism and culture” (Ugwu, 2020).
Who’s listening?
Statistics consistently tell us two things about podcast listeners: that they are in
creasing in number and that they are much younger, on average, than listeners to
linear radio. One in eight people in the UK listen to a podcast every week, up 24% in
a year (Ofcom, 2019a). The average age of a weekly listener is 39, much younger
than the average radio listener (Ofcom, 2019a). Figure 9.2 shows the stark differ
ence in age between podcast listeners and those listening to radio news.
Internationally, the story is very similar. Edison Research (2020) published figures
suggesting that more than a third (37%) of Americans listen to a podcast every
month, compared to 32% the year before. More than half of 18–24 year-olds and
25–34 year-olds in both the US and Sweden listened to a podcast in the last
month, with the proportion declining in older age groups (Newman et al., 2019).
Who’s publishing?
The UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom, identified six types of podcast pub
lishers (Table 9.1):
PODCAST FORMATS
A format is a “pattern, plan, or arrangement” (Cambridge English Dictionary, n.d.).
While podcasts lack the rigid nature of traditional radio programmes, there are
common approaches to making them. It is not unusual for a podcast to be a hybrid
of formats, taking advantage of the greater creative freedom offered by the medium.
There are many examples that use interviews within a discussion-based structure, for
example. The critically-acclaimed and experimental Have You Heard George’s
Podcast? draws from many formats to create something genuinely unique.
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FIGURE 9.2 The age of podcast and radio listeners (Reuters Institute Digital News
Report, 2020)
Objectively categorising podcast formats is not without its challenges. That being
said, the section below sets out six common approaches.
Discussion-based
Perhaps the most common format of all, and certainly the one that many amateur
podcasters first attempt. A presenter and one or more co-hosts discuss a number
of pre-planned talking points around a particular theme or subject, for the purpose
of enlightenment or entertainment. This can include everything from high-profile
broadcasters pulling apart international news stories to a bunch of mates mulling
over the weekend’s football results. Sometimes referred to as a ‘chat show’ or
‘panel show’, co-presenters may appear every episode or are rotated with only the
lead presenter being the consistent presence.
The popularity of this format is probably down to its ease of production, certainly at
the amateur end of the spectrum. What else do you need but a microphone, re
cording device and someone to talk to? You do not even need to go to the trouble
of setting up a guest!
Table 9.1 Ofcom: Examples of UK‐based podcast publishers and podcasts
Description Examples
Radio Podcasts produced by radio Ellie & Hannah Have Issues
broadcasters broadcasters which (Heart), Brexitcast (Radio 5
background in live radio. Live), Frank Skinner Show
Podcasts may include (Absolute Radio), Premier
repurposed radio content League Preview Show
and/or ‘born-native’ (TalkSPORT), Tomorrow’s
podcast content which has Nerd (Global)
not been previously
broadcast on a radio
station. Often monetised
via advertising and
sponsorship or funded via
licence fee (BBC).
TV broadcasters Podcasts developed from or Obsessed With Line of Duty
associated with TV (BBC), Love Island (ITV),
programmes. Often Channel4 News (C4), The
monetised via advertising Gary Neville Podcast (Sky),
and sponsorship or funded Ffit Cymru (S4C)
via licence fee (BBC).
Newsbrands Podcasts published by non- Today in Focus (Guardian),
broadcaster newsbrands. Sun Football Podcast (Sun),
Some of these podcasts Brexit Podcast (Telegraph),
are daily news shows, while The Intelligence
others are more thematic. (Economist), FT Money
Often monetised via Show podcast (Financial
sponsorship and/or Times)
advertising or used as a
promotional material to
promote subscriptions.
These may sometimes sit
behind the paywall as part
of the overall offering to
subscribers.
Other media Podcasts published by Appearances (British Vogue),
businesses organisations with Wired UK Podcast (Wired
significant presence in UK), Empire Podcast
other types of media, for (Empire), The Penguin
example magazine or book Podcast (Penguin)
publishing. Podcasts may
be used to supplement
other types of content
produced by the
organisation, as a way of
reaching new audiences
and as a source of
additional revenue and/or
be used as a
promotional tool.
Independent Wide range of organisations Retro Hour Podcast (retro
podcasts and individuals in the UK gaming), Wooden
whose activities are Overcoats (drama / sitcom),
focused on production and The Unseen Hour (horror/
publication of podcasts on drama), The Guilty Feminist
(Continued)
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Table 9.1 (Continued) Ofcom: Examples of UK‐based podcast publishers and podcasts
Description Examples
both a commercial and (comedy), The Football
non-commercial basis. Ramble (sport)
Wide variation in genres,
scale of operations and
funding sources.
Non-media Podcasts produced by a wide Future Curious (Nesta),
organisation range of for-profit, not-for- Strength and Flex plan
podcasts profit and public sector (NHS), Big Idea (Edinburgh
organisations whose University), The British
primary purpose is not Museum Membercast
media production. These (British Museum), PLT:
organisations may be using Behind Closed Doors
podcasts to engage with (Pretty Little Thing), FRS
audiences to promote the 102 Podcast (Institute of
organisation’s broader Chartered Accountants of
objectives (for example in England and Wales)
relation to education,
outreach or health), as a
promotional activity, or a
service targeted specifically
at the organisation’s
members. Depending on
the purpose of the
podcast, it might not be
monetised directly and may
run for a relatively limited
number of episodes.
(Ofcom, 2019b)
Another great strength of this format is the authentic feel it can present to a listener.
Presenters talk about subjects they care about, to an audience that shares the same
interest (or are listening because they want to hear what the presenter has to say). A
greater level of informality, when compared to radio, is obvious to the listener.
Production of a discussion-based podcast can be relatively straight forward. While

most of the content is free-flowing, presenters and producers usually plan talking
points in advance. This can be a test of how much each contributor has to say on a
subject and what their position is. Some elements may be scripted, particularly the
introduction to the episode and transitions between discussion points.
Discussion-based formats, and interview-based formats, lend themselves to the

creation of a video version, published on a sharing platform. With all of the con
tributors in the same room, or even on the same online video call, capturing a visual
version of the conversation opens up the opportunity to attract a new audience.
Even when its audio version was available through multiple podcast providers, The
Joe Rogan Experience still managed to attract more than eight million subscribers
on YouTube (BBC News, 2020).
Making a discussion-based podcast a success can come with challenges. The

sheer number of them means that standing out from the crowd can be very difficult.
Success can be born out of a charismatic presentation team, avoiding self-
indulgence, high technical production values and a distinctive angle.
Examples. The Football Ramble, Newscast (BBC), Science Weekly (The

Guardian), Around the NFL
Interview-based
If the discussion-based format is the most frequently attempted, then the interview-
based format is not far behind. Here, the main thrust of the podcast is a presenter
(with or without co-presenters) speaking to a special guest for an extended period
of time. The same presenter hosts every episode. Often, the interviews are linked
around a specific area of interest.
This format best illustrates one of the main differences to broadcast radio; the lack
of time constraints. News interviews, in particular, tend to be short and to the point.
Even interviews which are for entertainment purposes still have to fit within a certain
time slot. Podcasters in this format have as long as they think their interview merits.
A big factor in the success of an interview-based podcast is the level of preparation

by the presenter. It is difficult to create an engaging hour of audio without some
knowledge of who the guest is, what the areas of conversation might be and what
the interviewee might say. ‘Making your podcast’ goes into more detail on this.
The growth of VoIP services (like Facetime, Skype and Zoom) has opened up the
creation of interview-based podcasts to anyone with a laptop and the ability to
record a call. Especially for new podcasters, a common problem with interview
podcasts using VoIP is poor audio quality. While it is simple to arrange and record
interviews, how listenable they are is in the hands of the interviewee, rather than the
interviewer. If the interviewee has an external microphone and headphones, the
results can be excellent. If the interviewee relies upon the built-in microphone and
speakers of a computer, the results can be much worse.
Where possible, it is best to record in person. This gives the interviewer control over
the technical aspects of the interview and more chance to set the tone before
recording begins. If there is an emotional aspect, the interviewee can be reassured.
If the interview is more for entertainment, there is more chance to establish a
rapport. A professional tone can be adopted for a hard news interview. The ability
to read body language can be a real benefit, too. All of these should contribute to a
more engaging experience for the listener.
Examples. The Joe Rogan Experience, Happy Place (Fearne Cotton), How to Fail
(Elizabeth Day), Hotboxin’ (Mike Tyson)
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Solo
Easy to create, difficult to perfect: this podcast relies entirely on the appeal of a
single presenter and the words they have to say. Sometimes a monologue, rant,
lecture or even a piece of performance art, shows are built on the old principle of a
broadcaster talking directly to one listener. Valerie Geller evaluates the success of a
radio show by asking the key question “can the listener feel connected with the
presenter, or is the host speaking to ‘all those listeners out there’?” (2007, p. 237).
The same question can be applied to this type of podcast. The voice of the host
may be the only sound in the entire podcast (apart from production music at the
start and end). This format can be ad-libbed, scripted or a mixture of the two.
With the qualities of the presenter so central, this format can offer a good chance of
creating a distinct angle, especially if it is personality-led. The style of the host and
their take on a certain subject can become the unique selling point. The presenter
may be carrying out an activity while recording.
With only one host and no contributors, it cannot be simpler, at least practically, for
a podcast in this format to deliver a very clear proposition. Listeners should easily
get a sense of what the podcast is about and how it works.
This format can suit podcasts which largely transmit information (e.g. education,
news updates) or are based around solo performances (e.g. poetry, comedy or
personal journals). With few extra elements to them, these podcasts tend to be on
the shorter side (20 minutes or less), especially when demanding a high level of
concentration from listeners.
Examples. Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast, The Slowdown (Tracy K. Smith),
Weeknight Kitchen with Melissa Clark
Non-fiction storytelling
Often journalistic, these podcasts are highly produced and carefully scripted.
A presenter sets out a long-form story, or part of a story over a number of episodes.
A good example connects with the listener on an emotional level. As well as the
voice of the presenter, sound effects, atmospheric music or interview clips may be
used. This format is employed in current affairs (e.g. The Daily by The New York
Times) and documentaries (e.g. Serial). It may be presented solo.
Where the advance production needed for other forms of podcast can be minimal, this
format is defined by the level of work that goes into creating a single episode. Stories
need to be investigated, facts need to be checked, interviews need to be edited down
and scripts need to be written. Producing this type of podcast can be a full-time job,
especially when the featured story is a developing one.
As with fiction storytelling, there are some similarities with an audiobook. A key
difference is that long-form stories in a podcast are often serialised, being told
across a number of episodes with a period of time in between the release of each
instalment. The average length of an audiobook is much longer than an episode in
this format, at 10 hours (Kowalczyk, 2018).
Examples. The Daily (The New York Times), Serial, Casefile True Crime, Today,
Explained (Vox).
Fiction storytelling
On a simple level, these podcasts are similar to radio plays. Usually fully scripted,
they tell their story in either a single episode or across a series of episodes. Like
their non-fiction counterparts, they use sound effects, music and advanced
editing techniques to immerse the listener. They are sometimes referred to as
‘audio theatre’.
One of the earliest forms of podcast (Lett, 2020), this format has seen huge growth,
catering for all tastes (Harven, 2019) which may not previously have been served by
the schedules of broadcast radio. Advanced digital editing software, affordable
recording equipment and straightforward distribution mean that anyone can piece
together their own detailed aural masterpiece. That being said, as the popularity of
fiction storytelling podcasts has grown, the production values and budgets have
grown too.
The one-to-one nature of podcasting benefits this format. Voice actor Cecil Baldwin
narrates the chart-topping Welcome to Night Vale, which has been credited with
being part of “the revival of radio drama” (Bottomley, 2015). Baldwin plays the role
of Cecil Gershwin Palmer:
Listening to a podcast, I think, is very intimate. It’s this voice that is very present
in your ear, and you can’t help but imagine that that narrator is talking only to
you. We do a lot of direct address, where Cecil will talk to the listeners and
speak to them directly, breaking the news format genre. And I think that for a
listener, for some kid sitting at home or wherever they’re at listening to the
show, it makes them feel like they’re included in this community, because
Cecil, I, am talking just to them. I think that goes a long way to fostering this
really lovely relationship we have with our fans.
(quoted in Biese, 2014)
While radio plays often make good podcasts, fiction-based podcasts may not al
ways make good radio plays. BBC Radio 4’s Drama of the Week, for example, has
featured highly in the podcast charts since its launch in 2017. On the other side of
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the coin, Welcome to Night Vale, with its surrealist premise and varied episode
lengths, has not been adapted for a traditional broadcast medium (although a TV
series was explored in 2017).
This format suits the ability of a podcast to present niche interests to a global
audience. The result is a hive of creativity and experimentation across a much
broader spectrum that is usually heard on radio. While the idea of a ‘space opera’
(Griffin, 2018) about life on-board a space station orbiting a far-away star might
struggle to attract a commission for, say, BBC Radio 4, it can build a huge loyal
audience as a podcast. Wolf 359 was downloaded more than six million times and
generated more than $3,000 a month in donations from listeners (Watts, 2018).
Examples. Alice Isn’t Dead, The Leviathan Chronicles, A Scottish Podcast, Stories
from the Borders of Sleep.
REPACKAGED CONTENT
Here, most of the podcast has been produced for another platform first (usually
radio but sometimes television) before being re-edited into a podcast. Editing can
include the removal of unnecessary segments like travel bulletins, the shortening of
music for rights reasons and general ‘tidying up’. Sometimes a new introduction is
added or an extra section tagged on the end as a ‘bonus’ for online listeners.
For broadcasters, the clear benefit is to reach a wider audience (and, potentially, a
younger audience than they are attracting through linear means). In the US,
National Public Radio (NPR)’s This American Life, is listened to by 2.2 million people
when it is broadcast across a network of 500 stations, before 2.5 million download
the weekly podcast (NPR, 2017).
A risk that this type of podcast presents is that of trying to serve two different
audiences at the same time. For example, a wide-ranging sporting round-up show
on a regional radio station with a middle-to-older age listening demographic might
be extremely popular in linear form. It could also fail as a podcast because of a lack
of focus on a single team or sport and the fact that online listeners tend to be much
younger than the desired radio audience. Sometimes, significant editorial com
promises or heavy editing are needed to make the same show ‘work’ across both
platforms. Producing a separate, podcast-only version can be a better option.
For radio shows of a similar type to those outlined in this section, producing a
podcast version is an easy win.
Examples. Desert Island Discs (BBC), Sunday Supplement (Sky Sports), The
Archers (BBC)
FIGURE 9.3 Audioboom Head of UK Content Partnerships, Mike Newman
WHAT MAKES A GREAT PODCAST?

Mike Newman1 is Head of UK Content Partnerships for Audioboom, one of the
largest podcast hosting and distribution platforms in the world (Figure 9.3). In this
section, he explains what makes a great podcast. For Mike, it involves three ele
ments: the ‘angle’, the production values and the storytelling:
A clear and precise vision of what you want it to be, makes a great podcast.
Who are you talking to? What’s your subject? What’s the defining thing that
makes your podcast stand out above any others?
Good production values make a good podcast. If your content is brilliant but
you don’t have good production values, then you can turn some people off.
I think ultimately, it’s about storytelling. It is about delivering great content that
connects with an audience in such a way that engages them and doesn’t drive
them away.
With a huge number of podcasts out there, coming up with an original take on an
idea is a challenge, to say the least. This can be achieved by being more focused
on an element of your chosen subject, rather than the entire subject itself.
Originality can come from a unique presentation style. But is it always possible to
come up with that 'defining thing' that makes a podcast stand out?
Yes and no. There are tonnes of superhero movies but some are way better
than others. Lots of people have told the story of Superman and Batman and
some have told it better than others. The difference there is how they have
chosen to tell that story. It’s the same in podcasting. There are tonnes of
football podcasts out there. The ones that stand out are the ones that tell their
story better than anybody else. They find an angle that someone else isn’t
using. And they find that angle and they tell it in their own words and their own
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language. It’s about understanding who your audience is and what’s going to
separate you from your competitors.
Mike makes the point that while high technical production values are a vital part of a
show’s success, that does not mean that podcasters need a lot of expensive
equipment:
You do have to have a certain sound. But I also think that there is a huge gap
between a terrible sounding ‘we’ve done it in a large cavernous room with no
thought to mic positioning and editing’, to producing a high-end documentary
for the BBC which is going to go out on Radio 4 and be examined by
audiophiles. I think on the ground in the middle, you don’t need to spend
hundreds of pounds on recording equipment. You can, these days, access
some very high-quality recording equipment for relatively low-cost. Editing
equipment too. A lot of the investment is actually in time and consideration for
what sounds good.
When it comes to storytelling, how well the podcast is presented is most important
of all for Mike:
Your presenter, who is going to be the guide and the lead in your podcast, is
crucial. They need to know what they’re doing. They need to know the
definition of the podcast, what it is you’re trying to convey. They need to
respect the audience. Respect how people are going to consume your
podcast and how much time they have to dedicate to it and be realistic about
that.
While Audioboom largely deals with mainstream podcasts with relatively broad
appeal, often using celebrity presenters, Mike stresses the importance of pod
casters defining their own version of ‘success’:
If you are looking to enter the podcast space to make millions and millions of
pounds, then that might not be the best way of approaching it. There are
certainly people who are doing very, very well within podcasting and have
businesses and companies that are solely performing just from making
podcasts. But, much like any other industry, there are lots of levels in between
and success doesn’t always need to be monetary success. So, if you are a
budding sound engineer or a budding presenter or producer or audio
specialist, then having a podcast that only a few hundred people listen to
might be the perfect calling card when you’re speaking to a prospective
employer to really display what you do.
MAKING A PODCAST
So, how do you make a great podcast? This section focuses on producing a
podcast in line with the ideas and principles set out previously: what is the podcast
about? Who’s going to listen to it? And how will it work?
What is it about and who will listen to it?

Podcasting being such a one-to-one medium means that the content should have
a strong link with the presenter. If you are the presenter, you need to decide what
you are going to talk about. A subject you care about, have plenty to say about and
want to learn more about can provide a good starting point. If you are a producer
with an idea in mind already, choosing a presenter with a genuine connection to
your subject will help to build a feel of authenticity. Former BBC journalist Clare
Freeman2 works with independent podcasters. She says the connection between
presenter and subject matter is vital:
The intimacy that you get from podcasting is very different. A lot of it is around
building a community or a tribe, building connections with like-minded
individuals. When you’re speaking from a point of passion, about a niche
you’re knowledgeable about and you’re excited about – that’s what hooks
people in.
Even with this in mind, identifying the defining topic can still be a challenge.
Presentation coach Kate Cocker uses an exercise called ‘10 Things You Know to
be True’ to help presenters identify what they really care about:
I ask the presenter to list 10 things they know to be true about themselves. I
ask for passions, wants, needs, fears, worries … anything. It never fails to help
me as a producer or coach, to get under the surface of what makes presenters
tick.
(Cocker, 2015)
Once the subject for the podcast has been identified, establishing a target audience
can help the production process. Firstly, is there a clearly identifiable demand for
the podcast you are thinking of creating? The answer to this question could be
linked to an existing trend, like a popular TV series or a huge news event, for
example. For podcasts with a narrower, more specific audience in mind, seeking
out active online communities (e.g. Facebook groups, discussion boards, YouTube
channels) can help to work out what level of interest an idea might receive.
Before committing to an idea, ask whether the podcast has the potential to be a
series or if it is just a good idea for a single episode. Sketching out 6–12 possible
shows will help to answer this question.
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Once you have decided on a rough idea for the podcast, who might listen to it and
whether it has the ‘legs’ to go beyond a couple of editions, it is time to do some
research. Listen to as many existing podcasts as possible, especially those which
are similar to the one you have in mind. Start to make notes on what you like about
particular podcasts and the elements you would like to re-create in your own
podcast. Also, think about what could differentiate your podcast from similar ones
out there already. This will help significantly when it comes to refining your idea.
Finally, try to avoid becoming a victim of ‘podcast fear’: the avoidance of starting a
podcast because it feels too daunting. You do not have to get everything right in
episode one. It can all be refined later.
Why are you making the podcast and how will

it work?
These two questions are inextricably linked. The answer to the second question is
built upon the answer to the first (as well as having a clear understanding of who the
target audience is).
At this stage, really focus on giving your podcast a clear proposition. What is the
angle? As Audioboom’s Mike Newman mentioned earlier, “What’s the defining
thing that makes your podcast stand out above any others”?
Mike says that deciding why you are doing the podcast can help to work this out,
especially when deciding how broad or niche to target an idea:
It depends on what you’re trying to achieve. If you do want to make your

fortune in podcasting and generate a huge audience but your podcast is about
how corrugated cardboard is created and the history of paper, you’re definitely
not going to find a mainstream audience. If you want to find a mainstream
audience and you want financial success then I would recommend you go for a
broader approach.
Clare Freeman advises her clients that being narrower in focus can help to deliver a
desired audience:
The first thing I ask people is ‘who are you making this for’, because it helps you
keep a focus. What really works in the podcast world is being more niche. Being
a generalist in podcasting doesn’t really work. It’s a very busy world out there. If
your podcast is very, very specific, it means you can create your own field.
In addition to deciding on a ‘broad versus niche’ subject focus, thinking about the
main selling point can help to define the angle too. Is the podcast content-led or
presenter-led? In other words, what attracts the listener and keeps them coming
FIGURE 9.4 Independent podcast producer, Clare Freeman
back? The subject matter or the way it is presented? For example, Katherine
Ryan’s Telling Everybody Everything is very much centred around the presenter,
her humour and her take on the world (similarly to a personality-driven radio show).
At the other end of the spectrum, the Global News Podcast from BBC World
Service is very much about the content. Considering your purpose and audience
will help you work out where on the ‘personality versus content’ scale your idea sits.
Clare Freeman says it is important to remember that personality – to some extent –
will always be a factor in the success of a podcast:
I don’t think you can get away from the fact that you and your personality is going
to turn some people on and turn some people off. Who wants to be vanilla? If
some people do like you and some people don’t like you, that means you’re doing
something right. I think personality always wins: the ability to be yourself. If you are
recording in your bedroom and the cat is in the corner of the room snoring, tell us
that! Don’t pretend you’re in a lovely, posh studio in London. Be real and be
honest about where you are and what’s happening around you.
The name
The name of the podcast needs to be short and give an indication of the main
attraction to the audience (content or personality). Independent podcast producer,
Clare Freeman suggests using three or four words and picking something easy to
understand when spoken (Figure 9.4):
Don’t try to be too clever about it because you’ve got to say it. Sometimes the
best name written on paper is not the best one to say – and you’re the one
who’s got to say it at the start of every episode! Check that someone else hasn’t
got it, especially if you are someone who’s looking to get into the world of
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monetisation to build a brand on this thing. Check that someone else hasn’t got
that trademark or that company name. Not just Spotify and Apple Podcasts,
check online as well. Would you want to buy the domain name further down the
line? You don’t want to be confused with a podcast of the same name.
Search engine optimisation can help to bring in new listeners, especially those
searching online for your chosen subject area. Clare adds that “Keywords do
matter. If you’re not someone who’s privileged to be a celebrity and you want to
pick up some passing trade – then think quite strategically about it”. This is a
method she employed when coming up with a name for an ice hockey podcast
aimed at people outside of North America:
We settled on NHL Fans from Afar. We thought people like us were going to be
searching ‘NFL Fans’ in Apple or Spotify or Google Podcasts, so we knew that
might open up a wider audience for us to get passing trade. It also meant in
terms of search results when people typed ‘NHL Fans’, we would come quite
high amongst all of the NHL podcasts.
Producers also need to write an overall podcast description, as well as titles and
descriptions for individual episodes. To maximise these fields, Google Trends can
give an indication of the words people are using when searching for your subject
area. For example, a search for ‘parenting’ brings up ‘related queries’ which include
‘fitness’, ‘working from home’, ‘wellbeing’, ‘positive parenting’, ‘parenting support’
and many more. Can any of these terms be used in your title or description to
increase your chances of being discovered by a new listener?
Finally, most platforms display both the title and author of a podcast, meaning that
the title does not have to feature the name of the presenter or an associated brand.
That being said, famous names are always helpful to sell a podcast, therefore
celebrities often feature in titles.
Presentation
Becoming a great presenter takes practise and hard work, although being blessed
with natural charisma can help significantly! Podcast entrepreneur Mark Asquith
says listeners “come for the content but stay for you” (Asquith, 2019). This section
deals with what a podcast presenter needs to do and how they can improve.
The standard of a podcast presenter relies heavily on their real-life personality.

Audioboom’s Mike Newman says that there is one key ingredient that a host must
have in their arsenal:
Passion can be a brilliant cover-all. Lots of skills that, perhaps, you don’t have
in abundance can be covered up with passion. Passion can actually drive
those away. You don’t need all of those other things if you have a huge amount
of passion and dedication.
Coming up with the definitive list of what makes a great podcast presenter is almost
impossible. What makes one presenter brilliant can be totally different to what
makes someone else equally brilliant. Although aimed at education practitioners,
Rob Jenkins’ Four Properties of Powerful Teachers may provide a useful framework
for aspiring presenters. The author identifies four traits of great performers; per
sonality, presence, preparation and passion (Jenkins, 2015). Under ‘personality’,
he specifies
Good-natured and approachable, as opposed to sour or foreboding; profes

sional without being aloof; funny (even if they’re not stand-up comedians),
perhaps because they don’t take themselves or their subject matter too
seriously … comfortable in their own skin (without being in love with the sound
of their own voices); natural (they make teaching look easy even though we all
know it isn’t).
(Jenkins, 2015)
When it comes to improving your own presentation skills, practise as much as

possible and get over any reluctance to listen back to yourself! Ex BBC journalist,
now podcast producer, Clare Freeman, advises new presenters to concentrate on
reading scripts, sounding natural in interviews and speaking ‘off the cuff’:
The first thing I do when I’m coaching clients who are new to presenting their
own podcast is I get them to do some exercises. ‘Here’s some scripts, let me
hear how you read those’, ‘here’s a task – interview your dad about a favourite
childhood moment’ and ‘go for a walk around the park and record yourself
describing what you can see’. I can very quickly hear whether they’re best to
be scripted or best to ad-lib. Find out which one you are and practise.
Listening to a lot of podcasts can also help you to find your own presentation style.
Listening critically, try to work out what it is you like about certain presenters. What
do they do that you might want to try out yourself?
Production
Good production leads to better, more confident-sounding presentation and an
easier edit. The key is to spend time on planning an episode before starting to
record and coming up with an effective running order. Clare Freeman says
sketching out the key sections of the podcast, bullet-pointing interviews and setting
out expected timings are all part of an effective plan:
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I often have an A4 crib sheet before I start recording. I will write the episode title
and episode description before I record. I will write the name of the guest, so I
can check it with them when I start, to make sure I’ve got their title and spelling
right. For the podcast itself, I’m a fan of ‘how are you going to start it?’, ‘what’s
in the middle?’ and ‘what’s at the end?’.
First things first: Your running order will involve anything from a few bulletin points to
several pages. It could also feature a script or notes for an introduction, a series of
talking points and a scripted ‘outtro’. The more you practise, the more you will learn
the degree of scripting that you require as a presenter.
Timing out an episode will keep each section focused and make the editing much
more manageable. Clare Freeman says the target audience informs the episode
length:
Are you making for a mum of two kids who’s in her 40s and works part time?
Because she hasn’t got three hours to listen. She needs something that’s
quick, snappy, maybe 20-minutes or so. If you’re doing an in-depth interview
where you want to go into detail, it’s for a highly-intelligent, quite nerdy
audience then maybe they will commit two hours to an interview.
The beginning: Getting the introduction right can make the difference between
winning and losing a listener. Clare says some short bullet points can keep it fo
cused:
Listeners are using that first 60 seconds to decide ‘am I really going to give my
time to this?’ What you’ve got to remember is that for podcasts, YouTube
videos and social media videos the consumption rate of 100% is very rare.
People won’t always listen the whole way through. It’s a bit different to a film or
a theatre show where people have bought their ticket, will sit there and you can
do the reveal and the cliff-hanger at the end. Actually, what you’ve got to do is
put your best content – and be very specific – within those first 60 seconds: a
hook or a teaser of ‘here’s what’s to come’. Quite often I do my intro at the
end, so I’ll record the episode and I’ll come back and say ‘here’s some of the
things we talked about’. When there’s quite a bit of information to get out, if
there’s a tag line, if there are things that you need to say like ‘please
subscribe’, ‘please follow’ or you’re plugging an event that’s coming up then
having a loose script really helps.
The middle: This could be a series of talking points for a discussion-based podcast
or notes on potential areas of questioning for an interviewee. For a discussion-
based format, it is important to set up each talking point clearly, aiming to grab the
interest of the listener, quickly. Like when writing a ‘cue’ for a radio news story, the
words used to ‘sell’ what is to come. Where there is more than one presenter,
discussing talking points in advance can be useful, Jennie Longdon,3 co-presenter

of Two Non Blondes, a lifestyle discussion podcast, explains:
For my podcast, we will pick a theme of that week’s episode and within that
theme, we will then pick six or seven bulletin points of different topics which
lead on nicely to one another. Then with that, we will also, not script it but, say
‘I want to say that there’ and sometimes we’ll be talking about it before we
record and we laugh and we go ‘make sure you say that in the episode’ and
then she’ll say it in the episode and I go ‘ha ha ha ha’ as if I’ve never heard it
before. It’s never scripted but we know exactly where we’re going because if
you don’t, you just waffle and you get very lost and it gets very boring.
Interview-based shows make the most of podcasting’s informality. Interviews can

sound like two people having a chat over a coffee. However, that does not mean
recording a conversation where you ask the first things that come into your head.
Clare Freeman says, to prepare for an interview, it is necessary to combine an
understanding of what you want to get out of the interview with keen ‘active lis
tening’ skills:
I don’t like to think of podcasts as interviews, I like to think of them as

conversations. ‘Active listening’ is important. If I’ve had a briefing chat with this
guest then I’ll probably pick out two or three things that I know I want them
to say.
Sticking rigidly to a list of questions can have the effect of being over-formal or not
listening to the interviewee if a question relates to a point they’ve already made, or
simply missing their point. In his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,
author Stephen R Covey sets out five levels of listening, with the fifth – empathetic –
being the only one where the listener is genuinely trying to understand the meaning
of the words being used by the person they are talking to (Covey, 2004, p. 153).
Podcasters should aim to be empathetic listeners. Covey explains his idea in the
following way:
Communications experts estimate, in fact, that only 10% of our communication is

represented by the words we say. Another 30% is represented by our sounds,
and 60% by our body language. In empathic listening, you listen with your ears,
but you also, and more importantly, listen with your eyes and with your heart. You
listen for feeling, for meaning. You listen for behaviour. You use your right brain as
well as your left. You sense, you intuit, you feel.
(Covey, 2004, p. 153)
Podcast interviewers also use a technique called ‘active listening’ to gain “a better
understanding of those who communicate” (Roman and Roman, 2017). The
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Samaritans, the charity that supports people in emotional distress through a tele
phone helpline, train their counsellors in six active listening techniques:
• Open questions: How? What? Where? Who? Why?

• Summarising: A summary helps to show the individual that you have
listened and understood their circumstances and their feelings.
• Reflecting: Repeating back a word or phrase encourages the
individual to carry on and expand.
• Clarifying: Sometimes an individual may gloss over an important point.
By exploring these areas further, we can help them clarify these points
for themselves.
• Short words of encouragement: The person may need help to go on
with their story – use words like ‘yes’ or ‘go on’.
• Reacting: We need to show that we have understood the situation by
reacting to it – ‘that sounds like it is very difficult’.
(Samaritans, 2005)
The end: Scripting the ‘outtro’, the final few lines of the podcast, can help to give
the episode a definitive ending, especially where specific information needs to be
put across (if you want to tease the next episode, give out contact or social media
details or credit contributors).
PROMOTION
Even if you are not aiming to reach huge broad audiences, you – obviously – still
want people to listen to your podcastEven within your specific niche, some level of
marketing is vital. According to radio and new media consultant Matt Deegan,4
small podcasts still need a strategy to generate awareness for their show:
You can email all of the radio reviewers and podcast reviewers and, if it’s good,
they might review it. If you have 10 million followers on Twitter because you’re
a comedian on Live at the Apollo then that’s a way to do it too. There’s
obviously charts and featuring on the podcast networks, which you can appear
in. Some of that is luck and some of that is skill. You need a great idea to be
successful but just having a great idea won’t instantly make you number one.
To publish your podcast, you are going to need to upload to a third-party host (like
SoundCloud, Libsyn or Anchor to name three of many). Depending on your re
quirements, there is a whole range of pricing options. Some offer a free service.
Established content producers may host their episodes on their own servers.
Before beginning a promotional push, ensure your podcast is available as widely as

possible. Third-party hosts will push your show to the major distribution platforms
for you. Also, consider whether your podcast is ready to be promoted in the first
place. Podcast producer Clare Freeman suggests that you should be releasing
episodes regularly, once a week being a good starting point, to build a show’s
momentum. She says, “activity is the key. Be in the right places where it is easy for
people to find you and favour consistent activity over monthly or sporadic activity”.
Another consideration before starting a marketing push is the podcast’s artwork.

This is mainly the image that accompanies the podcast Apple Podcasts (Spotify
has episode artwork, too). Professional publishers are likely to use a graphic de
signer to ensure that imagery is consistent with existing brand values. Independent
and amateur podcasters may use desktop or mobile apps like Canva or Adobe
Spark Post.
Using social media (particularly Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) to promote a

podcast requires the creation of visually appealing, engaging content that tempts
users to interact and links back to the show. The more comments, likes and shares
it gets, the more feeds it appears in and – consequently – the more people see and
hear the content. The more social media followers you have access to, the better.
The use of audiograms can work well. This is where an online tool (or motion
graphics software) is used to create a short video around a strong piece of audio,
from a podcast interview. It consists of a subtitled, attention-grabbing clip, a
moving waveform and one or more relevant pictures designed to encourage users
to comment, ‘like’ or share. Using arresting quotes or a question in the text of the
post can encourage engagement.
Another important use of social media is the building of relationships with listeners
and potential listeners. Individual creators may choose to play an active role in an
existing community or set one up themselves as a private Facebook group, for
example. This can give the listener a feelling of being ‘part’ of something, rather
than just passively consuming it. Matt Deegan says investing time in an online
community can bring its own rewards:
I was looking at a podcast called Red Handed, which is a really good true-
crime podcast. They’ve got a really passionate Facebook group of fans. They
get $33,000 a month on Patreon. They’re a top 200 UK podcast, they’re not
Brexitcast, but they’ve really worked hard on their audience, really curating
their audience.
Many of the top ranked podcasts benefit from some form of cross promotion. The
Peter Crouch Podcast is promoted on BBC TV and radio (as well as the presenter’s
own social media). The Daily features on the front page of the New York Times. For
smaller, independent podcasts, cross promotion can involve a contra-deal be
tween podcasts, with similar audiences, who choose to advertise each other.
Cross promotion does not always have to be digital, either. Clare Freeman con
siders where her desired audiences are likely to be, on- or offline:
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When I work with arts and culture organisations, before we record, we’re
writing out a ‘seeding list’. What that means is looking for people who may be
able to share your content and help promote your series. Perhaps, if you’re a
touring theatre company, asking other big theatre providers ‘will you put a
podcast shoutout on your newsletter, next month?’ Will you re-tweet a post for
us?’ If you have your own podcast, would you be able to feature us as a
guest?’
MAKING MONEY
Podcasts tend to have two main income streams: advertising (‘spot’ adverts, live
reads and sponsorships) and a range of direct-from-listener methods (e.g. sub
scriptions, donations, merchandise and live events). Spot adverts are pre-built,
recorded commercials. Similar to radio adverts, they can be sold either directly by
the podcaster or inserted by the host (usually at the start, end and in the middle).
Host-inserted ads are often dynamic, meaning that different listeners can hear
different promotional messages, targeted directly toward them. For example,
geographical references can vary, depending on where the listener is. Hosts have a
minimum number of downloads within 30 days before they will monetise a podcast.
Podcast advertising can also take the form of a ‘live read’, where the host promotes
a particular product or message. Radio is limited on how commercial references
can be used within programming. Podcasts, not being regulated, have greater
freedom for a host to give either direct or indirect endorsements. Finally, some
entire podcasts are sponsored, with the purpose of marketing a particular brand
which aligns with the target audience (for example, Love Island: The Morning After
is sponsored by Just Eat). The advertising and sponsorship method tends to work
best for podcasts with a large audience, says consultant, Matt Deegan:
If you’re a really big name then advertising is totally fine and people are
spending money and want to be connected with you as a brand as well as your
show. There are certain ‘verticals’ that do really well for advertising. Sports
podcasts have, at the moment, a lot of gambling sponsors because they’re
reaching an audience that likes football and will bet on winners and all those
sorts of things.
There aren’t many shows that have sponsors. If you look through the ‘top 100’
lists, they might have live reads, they might have adverts but there are very few
where it’s like ‘this show is sponsored by Ariel Ultra’, or whatever it might be.
That’s because of volume. Sponsorship comes from delivering a lot of volume,
which even the bigger shows don’t really do at the moment. If you’ve got a lot
of audience, dynamically inserted advertising from Acast and Audioboom and
people like that – you can do pretty well on that.
Increasingly, digital content producers aim to monetise their audience directly.

Subscription services offer podcast listeners access to extra episodes, ad-free
episodes or ‘bonus’ digital content for a monthly or annual fee. This is either paid
directly to the publisher (for example, The Athletic offers subscribers additional
episodes behind their paywall) or via a subscription content service like Patreon.
For podcasters with a loyal fanbase, this can be extremely profitable. True Crime
Obsessed is estimated to make nearly $100,000 a month from 20,000 monthly
subscribers (Bussey, 2019). Podcasters sometimes offer a ‘tip jar’ service (like Ko-fi
or Buy Me a Coffee), where listeners can send a small donation for no reward,
simply because they enjoyed the podcast. The analogue photography-related
Sunny 16 Podcast has a steady stream of listeners who buy a ‘cup of tea’ for its
creators, at £3 each (Ko-fi, n.d.). In a similar way, ‘official’ merchandise can draw an
extra income from listeners who love a podcast, while fans can be part of an
episode through live events.
PODCASTING AND THE LAW

While podcasts are not regulated in the way that broadcast radio is by Ofcom,
podcast hosting platforms have their own standards and professional publishers
their own codes. This section is a brief overview of ethical standards and the law.
Chapter 10 deals with accountability in radio.
The law applies to podcasting. Defamation (libel) and copyright pose the most
common risks and should be kept in mind by producers and presenters when
creating content. There are no high-profile cases of original podcast episodes (i.e.
not a re-packaging of a radio broadcast) leading to a successful libel action in the
UK. Blogging – in some ways a written version of a podcast – has, however, seen
cases where writers have been ordered to pay damages over defamatory com
ments that they have published. One case (Thompson v James & Anor [2013]
EWHC 515 (QB), 2013) saw a South Wales blogger named Jacqui Thompson told
to pay £25,000 to the then chief executive of Carmarthenshire Council, Mark
James, over unsupported damaging assertions she had made in a number of
postings. Mrs Thompson’s subsequent appeal was dismissed (Thompson v James
[2014] EWCA Civ 600, 2014). Amanda Ball5, Principal Lecturer in Media Law at
Nottingham Trent University, says the small audience of many podcasts is likely to
be a reason why they do not routinely face court action:
Essentially, it comes down to two broad reasons. There are two parties in a
defamation suit, there are the people that are going to sue and the people who
are going to be sued – the claimant and the defendant. The first thing is – can
the claimant sue in the first place? There has to be an established defamatory
statement which causes serious harm to the claimant, people can’t just sue
because they’ve got hurt feelings or feel a little bit miffed about what’s been
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said about them. The threshold has been deliberately made slightly tougher
under the 2013 Defamation Act, in terms of whether people can sue in the first
place. Also, the claimant has to decide whether it is worth doing. If you are
going to sue the BBC over some content that they are hosting, it probably is, in
that the BBC, if you win, would be able to pay out. Is it actually worth suing
somebody who’s got three people listening to their podcast and has recorded
it in their bedroom? Probably not. Also linking into whether someone’s going to
sue or not, it is all right thinking that you’ve been wrongly done by but libel
action is a very expensive business.6 I think there are some issues that might
put a claimant off from suing in the first place.
The second part is ‘what about the defences?’ Are you going to be sued if
you’re prepared to take [the podcast] down very quickly? Chances are it’s not
going to proceed to any kind of legal proceedings. If people have got very few
followers, I think the argument about serious harm to reputation is highly
questionable. And I think the nature of podcasts themselves where, obviously
not exclusively, if you think they’re a bit like an aural version of a blog, a lot of
these podcasts are largely – if not wholly – opinion pieces. Of course, if you are
expressing an opinion, you do have a defence in law which is actually very
user-friendly, as all journalists will know. It’s far easier to defend a comment
piece than it is a factual assertion in hard news. In some ways, that mitigates
against the chance of being sued.
Amanda adds that there are some parallels to be drawn with defamatory com
ments made on social media:
Clearly there are some examples in the online environment. We’ve seen cases
where people have been sued for online content but they’ve tended to involve
people with reputations to defend, a large number of people have seen that
comment or heard the allegations and, therefore, it is going to cause serious
harm to reputation. Also, the claimant is suing people that they know can pay
them out.
Whilst we have seen examples, the reality is that minor players in the field –
very few followers, very few people listening, it’s not been communicated very
widely, very low circulation – chances are, particularly if that person is prepared
to take it down and remove it, it’s very unlikely it would end up proceeding to
court, I would have thought.
Copyright is part of intellectual property law, giving the owner of a piece of work
control over how it is used. Copyright holders can licence or sell their work to
someone else. In the world of podcasts, copyright issues can arise around the use
of recorded music and audio from other media (TV, radio, film, for example). Some
use is allowed for contemporaneous news reporting, criticism and review (under
‘fair dealing’ in section 30 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988), but
there is no hard and fast rule outlining exactly how much of a piece of work can be
used without permission. Generally, ‘fair dealing’ means not taking advantage of
the original work, while ‘sufficient acknowledgement’ should be given to its creator.
In cases where ‘fair dealing’ does not apply – or podcasters are unsure whether it
does – it is good practice to secure permission from the copyright holder (usually,
but not always, the creator or production company) before using protected
material.
The growth of independent digital content has seen an increase in audio released
under an ‘open content’ licence (usually called ‘Creative Commons’). This allows
‘some rights reserved’ music to be used legally for free (creativecommons.org,
n.d.). Credit should be given to the creator. Often, however, Creative Commons
licencing will be restricted to non-commercial use, meaning only non-monetised
shows can take advantage of it. Many podcasters use some form of licenced,
royalty-free music, where a fee is paid for its use, as required, within a certain time
period. Terms of a licence vary, especially for financially successful, high audience
shows. Illegal use of music under copyright will see a podcast removed from Apple
and Spotify distribution platforms.
Third-party hosting platforms have their own rules for content. Anchor’s
Community Guidelines, for example, state that “we believe there is value in pro
viding a platform that enables a diverse range of voices and perspectives to share
their stories with the world” (Anchor, 2018). They add that “it is against our core
values to promote content or opinions that may be harmful to others or may be
breaking the law” (Anchor, 2018). Anchor sets out rules on decency, defamation
and copyright, amongst others. Users are to report content that they think violates
those rules before “the Anchor team will review the offending episode or show”
(Anchor, 2018). If a podcast is deemed to have broken the rules, it can be removed
and the creator can have their account closed. Amanda Ball says that – generally
speaking – technology companies will take down potentially illegal content without
being forced to by law:
[The tech companies’] position in law is rather more ambiguous than, for
example, if something was published on the BBC website or MailOnline.
Secondly, they are very keen not to be regulated. There is certainly a growing
appetite for some kind of regulation of the tech giants and they’re equally very
keen to avoid it, coming as they do, mainly from America with a very strong
First Amendment culture which favours freedom of expression. They’ve been
quite pragmatic. Where they get requests, and this can be variable, they will
take stuff down. Particularly where they judge it’s going to save any further
problems further down the line. They will do that out of a sense of self-
preservation. They can pick and choose a bit, in terms of the stuff they take
down. And it can be variable how quickly they react and whether they take
stuff down but that’s one way of trying to – again – ameliorate the problem – by
just taking it down.
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Finally, media organisations often have their own standards of journalism and
production, which are still adhered to within online audio. The BBC applies its
editorial standards to podcasts (BBC Academy, n.d.). In America, NPR still applies
its ‘Guiding Principles’ (NPR, n.d.). Generally, this involves treating interviewees
fairly, being accurate and acting transparently with the audience. For the BBC and
NPR, practising ‘due impartiality’ is central to how they work. That being said, it
could be argued that audience expectations around the level of impartiality ‘due’ in
a podcast may be slightly lower than, say, a TV news bulletin. When launching
Americast on the BBC Sounds App, host Jon Sopel said the podcast would allow
him and co-host, Emily Maitlis, “to arch an eyebrow half an inch higher than maybe
you would do on the 10pm news” (Furness, 2020). However, BBC Editorial
Guidelines still prevent the hosts from giving a personal view “on matters of public
policy, political or industrial controversy, or on ‘controversial subjects’ in any other
area” (Section 4:3.11). Of course, many podcasters do not set out to practise
impartiality and – in a key difference when compared to radio – are not required to.
The Brexit-related podcast Remainiacs describes itself as “taking an honest look at
the unfolding shambles that is Britain’s departure from the EU”, clearly taking a
position that traditional media organisations with a commitment to impartiality never
would.
NOTES
1 All quotes from Mike Newman taken from interview with Arran Bee in September 2019.
2 All quotes from Clare Freeman taken from interview with Arran Bee in June 2020.
3 All quotes from Jennie Longdon taken from interview with Arran Bee in December 2018.
4 All quotes from Matt Deegan taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
5 All quotes from Amanda Ball taken from interview with Arran Bee in August 2020.
6 Legal expenses in high-profile libel cases can be around £500,000.
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CHAPTER 10
Catching a break
Getting started in radio
by John Collins
A wide spectrum of people work in radio carrying out an array of roles from reading
the news to selling adverts to maintaining equipment. If your aim is to work on air,
most professional stations will be expecting you to have some prior knowledge,
previous experience and technical skills. There are a number of ways to put this set
of skills together including apprenticeships, university degrees and vocational
qualifications.
What follows are the views of several radio professionals as to how you can best
begin and further an on-air career in radio, with enthusiasm, ideas, commitment
and a knowledge of the medium being paramount in their thoughts.
A BILLION POUND INDUSTRY

In the 2019–2020 financial year, the Radio Broadcasting industry was expected to
generate revenue of just under £1.4 billion. That would have represented growth of
0.9% on the previous year; with that growth fuelled by strong advertising revenues
and an increase in the cost of the TV Licence (IbisWorld, 2020). Those figures are
driven by the thousands of people who work in UK radio. The most recent data
available suggests that as many as 14,000 people walk through the door of a radio
station and call it their office (Statista, 2020). So far, so very healthy. However, as
recently as 2012, 21,000 people were employed in the industry. The media has
long been viewed as an industry that is difficult to break into, now factor in that the
number of jobs within it has shrunk by a third over a five-year period
(Statista, 2020).
214 JOHN COLLINS
For every naturally talented presenter pictured in childhood photos clutching

headphones and a mic, there are others who developed a set of skills much later in
life that allowed them to have an equally rewarding career in the same industry.
AN ART FORM AND A TRADE

Broadcasting is both an art form and a trade. There are innate talents which will
stand you in good stead, curiosity, passion, empathy chief amongst them, but
there are also a myriad of skills (scriptwriting, audio editing, driving a studio desk,
etc.) which can be honed to make you an asset to any station. This dichotomy that
lies at the heart of the radio industry is why it employs such a wide variety of
individuals. It is also why there is no right or wrong way to get there.
For many, the lure of radio is a desire to be on air. For that to happen, it is likely that
you will need to display a certain style of personality.
The stars of broadcasting share certain traits. Genuine talent are true individuals,
gifted storytellers, and good listeners, as well as articulate communicators. They
have original thought, intelligence and passion. These people have a strong life
force and a sense of humour. They have passion, and they get a kick out of
things. They burn with curiosity. Some have a formal education; all have a lot of
life experience. These are people who naturally connect with others.
(Geller, 2012, p. 65)
THE TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY RADIO

PROFESSIONAL
So, if you are looking to get into the radio industry right now, what do you need to
know? And what do you need to know how to do? You will need to be comfortable
working with pictures as well as with sound. You will need to know how to edit
video and photographs, how to write for the web and how to use social media as a
news-gathering tool and as a way of reaching a new audience. You will need to
understand the demands of a modern, converged newsroom catering for different
platforms and dealing with different deadlines, priorities and decisions. You will
need to be organised and have great time-management skills while still having the
creative spark that allows you to produce original and engaging content. You will
need to understand how different stories, and different treatments of the same
story, will work on different platforms. You will need to understand the brand you
are working for, the company that owns it and their major competitors.
You will need to appreciate the intimate and personal nature of radio. You will need
to be able to connect with an audience, to be able to show empathy to an
CATCHING A BREAK: GETTING STARTED IN RADIO 215
interviewee, to know just how important your voice is and how to use it to its full
potential. You will need to understand that no matter how large a radio audience,
you should address it as a single individual rather than a crowd. You need to know
the importance of sound and how it can be used to paint pictures in the minds of
listeners. For many roles you will need traditional writing skills and journalistic
knowledge – the ability to spot a news story the moment it happens and then have
a skill set that allows you to research it thoroughly and accurately, to distinguish
truth from fiction and to verify information given to you. You will need to be a good
enough salesperson to pitch those stories to your editor and to persuade in
dividuals to speak to you – and not your competitors – on what may often be either
the best or worst day of their life
If they are the skills, there is then the knowledge. Without the crucial details of the
law, ethics and industry regulation, you are dangerous. No employers are taking risks
these days, not with the possibility of seven-figure fines from Ofcom and an im
mediate savaging on social media. You will need to understand the concepts of
fairness, objectivity and trust – to appreciate what they mean in modern broadcasting
and grasp why they are so vitally important. Politics is at the heart of so many news
stories that you will need to understand how the government works at all levels,
which department is responsible for which issue and who all the major players are.
While that may seem like an overwhelming list to accomplish, no radio station
expects to see all of those skills in someone applying for their first work placement
or even their first job. What they will expect, in both instances, is for you to have
researched the station to which you are applying, have a good knowledge of its
target audience and to arrive filled with enthusiasm and ideas.
CHOOSING A PATH
It is also important to research any course you are considering beginning. There are
a wide range of degrees, college courses, apprenticeships and vocational courses
available and it is important to select one that is relevant to the area you want to
work in, and, wherever possible, one that has a nationally recognised qualification
that is accredited by the industry. For radio, this will normally be the Broadcast
Journalism Training Council.
When deciding upon a course, you will need to consider the following:
• how is the course structured and assessed? Is it mainly theory-based or

does it deliver practical training as well?
• what equipment is used? Will it ensure you have the skills you will need for
contemporary industry?
• who teaches on the course? Do tutors have real-world radio experience
themselves? Or are they career academics?
216 JOHN COLLINS
• what links does the course have with the radio industry? Will it be able to
provide you with valuable industry contacts and smooth your passage into
work experience and future work?
• how many students from the course progress into related employment?
There is no better barometer for the relevance of the skills being taught
than the immediate success of former students.
While there are many individuals within the radio industry who have formal jour
nalistic qualifications or have completed training accredited by an industry body,
there are also many who have not. Jobs within the radio industry are not exclusively
filled by graduates
A FOOT IN THE DOOR

The interviews on which this book is based suggest that only two things are uni
versally acknowledged about getting into radio. Firstly, it is hugely competitive and,
secondly, that competition can only be overcome by persistence. The hardest part
of the process is getting your foot through the door of a radio station for the first
time. Kathryn Anastasi1 is the Head of Live Sport at talkSPORT.
Get some experience, however you get it. Even if it’s just a week, get yourself
in somewhere and get familiar with it. Try and find someone who is like you in
the industry and contact them and ask for their advice. You just never know
where that’s going to lead to. Keep your contacts book, maintain it. It’s about
networking and relationships – finding something out about someone –
remembering that and then asking about it the next time you see them.
That’s how you foster goodwill.
Alex Canner2 is now a Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Derby

having moved from the radio industry to academia six years ago. He has been
working in radio since the age of 16 and his first full-time job was as a Broadcast
Assistant at BBC Bedfordshire. He didn’t go to university, gaining a BTEC qualifi
cation instead.
I got into radio by writing a letter to a presenter of a show that I really enjoyed
… there was an interview that I didn’t think went very well, I thought it was a bit
out of character. … I got a letter back to say would you like to come in and
meet the team ... what I realised that I’d actually done is I’d written an
interesting critique of the show and hadn’t really realised it. Now that I’m 44,
looking back having been through the industry, I can appreciate that would
have been a really interesting thing for them to pick up – a 16-year-old radio
geek writing a letter of critique to the show.
FIGURE 10.1 Star Radio Cambridge breakfast presenter, Josh Lovatt
Josh Lovatt3 is the breakfast show presenter at Cambridge’s Star Radio, having
spent most of his career to date as a producer for Global Radio (Figure. 10.1). While
he has a degree in media production, his involvement with the industry began well
before graduation.
I started to chip away at the breakfast producer at Heart in Birmingham,

sending emails relentlessly at the age of 15/16 … eventually got my foot in the
door when the producer said, ‘why don’t you come in and be our tea boy’.
In his book How To Make Great Radio, the former presenter, programmer and now
radio consultant David Lloyd notes that many careers are born from an informal
invite such as this one, “It is often casual assistance that leads to a full-time op
portunity. In such a competitive field, with a fast-moving workforce, there is a lot to
be said for being in the right place at the right time” (Lloyd, 2015, p. 281).
For Josh, things soon developed, but not without the odd setback.
I would literally put my hand in and dabble any way that I could. … I’d go to
college and do college radio there, I’d then come back into work and do a call
centre job doing audience research. … I got made redundant from that job but
absolutely wanted to stay working for Heart and Global so I pestered the
marketing manager asking if I could join the street team and he said go on we’ll
try you … again I just worked relentlessly, trying to make friends within the
building, pestering people who worked there, sitting-in on shows.. and then once
218 JOHN COLLINS
I got my own door fob, it made it a lot harder for people to kick me out of the
building. From then on I worked for Global for pretty much the next ten years.
While there is definitely a balance to strike between being persistent and being
annoying, it is likely to be the same radio station managers who will occasionally
lament the number of demos and CVs that land on their desk who, the very next
day, complain that new, exciting, up-and-coming presenters, producers and
journalists are hard to find.
Most radio managers will try to be helpful, but they are paid to run their stations
rather than be a free coaching service. If you get several rejections from the
same station, do take the hint.
(Lloyd, 2015, p. 282)
TRUST THE PROCESS

Crucially, it is not just about getting people to notice you; it is much more about getting
people to notice you once you have got something worth showing them. That means
keeping an archive of your best work, your best scripts, your best links and being
prepared to turn those files into an audio CV, a demonstration of what you can do.
If you have chosen to pursue a degree to get into the industry, then it is important to
have faith in that process. Undergraduate courses are three years long for good
reason. As well as teaching you a variety of practical and technical skills, they will
also be ensuring there is a rigorous academic underpinning to your studies so the
qualification you leave with is worthy of the Bachelor of Arts title attached to it. You
will likely be encouraged to secure as many days of work experience as you can,
and many courses make placements a compulsory element of your studies. This
does not mean that you need to be applying to radio stations from the first week of
your first year. It is far better to go out on placement once you have developed skills
that make you useful to the team you have temporarily joined. Then, you can
perform at a level that allows you to influence and improve that station’s output.
Far too often students see the pursuit of work experience as a race, with the winner
being the first to secure some time in industry. Such enthusiasm should never be
discouraged, but work experience placements are much better viewed as a
springboard rather than a finishing line. BBC Radio 1 NewsBeat’s Christian
Hewgill4 believes it is far better to hit that springboard when you are ready to jump
than to get there first without the knowledge you need to get the most out of it.
My belief is that you need to get your foot in the door of radio stations in any
way you can once you’re at a certain point. You can do it too soon.
FIGURE 10.2 Freelance radio presenter, Jen Thomas
Alex Canner agrees and believes that placements are not just more useful once you
have a good set of skills to fall back on, they are more rewarding too.
I realised straightaway that it was important to be useful to people … whatever

needed doing at that time, I did it and within two days, somehow, I managed to
get my first vox and package on the radio … I couldn’t believe it … the feeling I
had from somebody mentioning my name on the radio … I nearly fell off my
chair with excitement and it never left me after that.
BUILDING A BRAND
Developing a professional reputation and managing your presence on social media
is another way in which you can become noticed and stay at the forefront of
peoples’ minds.
Jen Thomas5 is a freelance presenter who mainly works for Virgin Radio and BBC
Radio Derby (Figure 10.2). While she had worked as a music journalist within the
written press from the age of 15, she returned to university at the age of 30 to
retrain as a broadcast journalist. She built her profile through hosting successful
shows on student radio before using social media to bring those successes to the
attention of the wider industry.
220 JOHN COLLINS
I started off doing a daytime show which was just chart music and then in my
final year I decided to do something more specialist because rock and emo
music has always been my passion. There’s a thing called the Student Radio
Awards … I knew that every entry got feedback which I wanted and then, of
course, all of the industry professionals listen to it over the course of the judging
process. Over the course of the three years I ended up with six (awards) … it
was towards the middle of my second year that I started to present on Heart
Yorkshire and after a year there I was poached by Virgin Radio so while I was in
my final year of Uni, I was presenting weekend breakfast on Virgin.
This is an extreme example where someone still completing their undergraduate

degree is hosting shows on a national station but – for Jen – it was clear these
opportunities were a direct result of joining Fly FM at Nottingham Trent University
and that what happened outside the classroom was just as important for her future
success as everything that happened within it.
Student radio – I’ve always said – was the best thing I’ve ever done – it gave
me freedom to be creative … going to the events – there’s the Student Radio
conference every year where you’re then networking and meeting different
people and then winning the awards … I then ended up getting that job on
Heart Yorkshire which I’m not sure would’ve happened had I not won … but at
the same time the academic side of things goes hand-in-hand because that
gave me the media law training.
But it was not solely just about winning these awards, what followed was a careful
curating and showcasing of these successes on social media to ensure they were
brought to the eyes and ears of key decision-makers within radio.
I used social media to promote the interviews I was doing … I hate the phrase,
but that gave me more ‘clout’ as I was promoting interviews with Christina
Aguilera, the Pussycat Dolls, and Bastille. That gave me an air of profession
alism. If I won an award, I put that on a post, I put it on LinkedIn, I wrote a blog
post about it. I don’t know if it’s a British thing or a female thing … not shouting
about your achievements … but my logic has always been that no-one else is
going to do it for me, so I’m going to shout about it. Don’t dim your light for fear
of blinding someone else.
While there is a perception that gaining experience within the media can only ever
be done on an unpaid basis, that was not how things transpired for Jen.
I did next to no work for free but quite a lot where I ran at a loss due to the cost
of travel and hotels, especially in London. That said, there were one or two
“shadowing” shifts that I did as a broadcast assistant or a producer where you
would go and learn the ropes
Similar persistence – alongside a constant sharing of new ideas – is also what kick-
started Josh Lovatt’s career.
I did a radio production degree which I got a hell of a lot out of – a lot of time in the
studio – building contacts in the industry – and then I left Uni with nearly no plans
… bumbled about for a month before I got a call from Heart in Cambridge saying
we need someone to help us out for a month. I busted a gut doing 12-hour days
starting at 5 am every day. I was constantly told to go home and get some sleep. I
was told the 12-hour days weren’t necessary but I wanted to show that radio –
and particularly working on a breakfast show was all I wanted to do … at the end
of the month they kept me on for another two … at the end of the three months,
they took new me on as the new breakfast producer. I almost cried.
BORN TO DO IT
Christian Hewgill knew from his mid-teens that he wanted to be a broadcast
journalist.
I was very average at school, but I was always good at talking. I remember
seeing a careers advisor and saying ‘I like English, I like writing, but I also like
talking about things’ and she said ‘have you thought about broadcast
journalism? There are degrees in it – have you thought about aiming for
something like that?’ I’d love to meet that careers advisor because she set me
off on a great path. I was incredibly lucky … the media department at my
school – I owe my career to them. They were the ones that backed me to the
hilt and said ‘you can do it’.
The path to a degree in broadcast journalism, media production or a related subject

does not have to follow the traditional path of sixth form and A-Levels. Like
Christian, often the students best prepared for the practical modules on these
courses are those that arrive at university with a BTEC qualification.
In my view, the BTEC I did in media production is what gave me a head start in
my career. I’m not sure I’d be doing what I do today if it wasn’t for that BTEC.
Academia is important but you’ve got to get out there and use equipment …
it’s absolutely vital. When I was at school in the nineties there was a more
traditional approach. I don’t think many people looked at the radio and said,
‘oh there’s a career in that if you want it’.
Having hit the ground running and then picking up a wide variety of work placement
opportunities during his undergraduate studies, Christian was able to begin his
radio journalism career before his graduation.
222 JOHN COLLINS
Throughout my third year of Uni, I was mixing the degree with paid work at
BBC Radio Leicester and BBC Radio Nottingham and then I started getting
some work with Gem 106. The work experience had done what it needed to
do by the end of my second year and throughout my third year I was being
paid to work in the industry.
After graduation, Christian freelanced in the radio industry as a broadcast journalist

before joining the brand-new local television station for Nottingham, Notts TV. After
three years there, he returned to the world of freelance journalism picking up tele
vision work at BBC East Midlands Today and radio work at BBC Radio 1 NewsBeat.
He feels that developing skills in both areas has stood him in good stead.
Versatility in today’s media industry where there are fewer jobs than there used
to be and also every single radio station is trying to do video content, I think
being able to flick between TV, radio and online is massively helpful and if you
can do that you’re considerably more likely to get work. I got some advice in
the early stages of my career before I’d graduated: ‘you need to pick – you’re
either a TV person or a radio person’ – that could not be further from the truth
anymore. Certainly, my job at NewsBeat now, where we’re expected to be
able to do television … we’re expected to be able to do online and social
media … I’m not a radio journalist, my job is a multimedia broadcast journalist.
GAINING EXPERIENCE
Sitting in between academia and professional radio stations are the huge number
of opportunities provided by student radio, hospital radio and community radio.
These outlets provide wannabe broadcasters with the two things lacking in an
academic environment: an audience and full creative freedom.
As part of his journey to working for talkSPORT, the first commentaries for Joe
Shennan6 were on Wycombe Wanderers fixtures for Wycombe Hospital Radio.
You have to get your hours up. You can have all the ideas in the world but
people are only going to look at you and think about giving you jobs and taking
you forward in the industry if you’ve got those hours on-air behind you … one
of the best ways of doing that is community radio or hospital radio … ultimately
it’s the perfect breeding ground … it’s the only way you will essentially learn
how to commentate, learn how to report, make your mistakes. Wycombe
Hospital Radio was a fundamental thing for me. I will always be thankful for it.
Crucially, Joe stresses how he approached those commentaries in the same way
he now prepares for Premier League fixtures for a national broadcaster.
How many people were listening? I’m not entirely sure but for me it was an
absolute obsession and I treated it as if I was broadcasting to several million
and not just several people. … I took it seriously and I did my prep.
When reflecting on her own time in student radio, Jen Thomas offers similar advice.
You can make mistakes and you won’t be judged for it. I say to anyone who’s
doing student radio to make the most of the freedom that you have and make
the most of the fact that it may just be your Mum that is listening. You have a
freedom to do whatever you like – that said – just because you can do
whatever you like – I always tried to make every show my best.
Developing the resilience needed to deal with potential rejection will also stand you in
good stead for the running social media and online commentary that may accompany
much of your future work. Overcoming these obstacles will also make your future
successes all the sweeter – and better prepared for when your career progresses to
the point where those wanting to get into the industry are now contacting you.
Most people now holding decent posts in radio once felt they would never get
the job they dreamed of – and are quietly hugely thankful they did. It is a true
privilege. If you are walking through the door of a radio station tomorrow
morning and you don’t feel honoured, then maybe it is time to step aside.
(Lloyd, 2015, pp. 291–292)
As has been outlined throughout this book, the way in which broadcasting tech
nology has developed means that it is easier than ever before to produce content. If
success is still proving elusive after several attempts at securing work experience or
paid work, Clare Freeman7 – who works with individuals and companies to develop
podcasts – suggests beginning to create and curate your own content to build your
online profile and improve your portfolio.
If you’re someone starting out as a journalist and you’re struggling to get work
experience … then perhaps starting to build your own online digital footprint by
doing a podcast series is just a very easy way to say ‘here’s what I am, here’s
what I do, here’s a CV and a portfolio ready-made’.
CREATING A GOOD IMPRESSION

Making a success of a work placement, a freelance opportunity or a short-term
contract depends on many things but mirroring the behaviours of your colleagues
can often make you stand out from the others who have been on placement before
you. While this is clearly about taking on board the culture of the company you have
224 JOHN COLLINS
joined, it is also about ensuring that you are viewed as part of the team. This is not
simply about adhering to a dress code and taking your turn to fetch the coffees but
about embedding yourself within the group. If they all go to Nando’s on a Thursday
lunchtime, try to join them; if they go to the same pub quiz each Monday night, why
not see if there is space on the team? After the most successful work experience
placements, a member of staff turns around on the first day you are not in the
station and says, ‘I wish so-and-so was still here’.
Tom Hilton8 was a Bulletin Editor for Bauer Media at Gem 106 in the East Midlands.
For the last three years he has been overseeing a rolling schedule of two-week
work placements which has seen undergraduate Broadcast Journalism students
from Nottingham Trent University in his newsroom throughout the year. He is clear
about what separates successful placement students from those who are simply
attending because it is a compulsory element of their course.
A good placement student is someone who is confident but humble and keen
to contribute not over-confident … the last thing that someone who is taking
you on a placement wants to hear is that you know a better way of doing
something that they do. If you do know a better way of doing it than they do,
do it that way, keep it to yourself and demonstrate the good results.
This idea that a love of content is far more important than a desire to be famous is
something echoed by Christian Hewgill from BBC Radio 1 NewsBeat. He says he
would never claim to have been the most talented student within his university
cohort, but he was sure of where his qualities did lie.
I think I was the most committed student in my cohort. I think I was the most
passionate about the industry. I knew what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a
broadcaster and a journalist. I didn’t want to be an MTV presenter, I didn’t want
to be a YouTuber, and I didn’t want to be the host of a show. I had no interest in
the fame aspect of it but I was living, eating and breathing radio … I do think I was
born to do this. It is sheer stubbornness and determination that you need. Even
though you hear ‘there’s no jobs in this’ … the industry needs good people.
Much of the above advice has come from people who are already well-established
within the radio industry or are in the middle part of their careers. Laura Sanders9 is
a freelance radio journalist who graduated from Birmingham City University with an
MA in Multiplatform and Mobile Journalism in January 2020. She believes that
knowing your way around the newest apps and equipment is the best way to make
you stand out from the competition.
It’s a very saturated industry to get into and having tech literacy, being up to
date on how to gather news, how you record news, how you get that news to
your audience is only going to give you that cutting edge.
Laura admits that having made the move from being a student journalist to working
in the industry, there were a few realisations she had to reach about how she
worked, how much she worked and the regard in which her new profession was
held on occasion.
journalists are kind of artists, everyone has their own way of doing things so
one of the biggest things is learning how to come together as a team for the
good of the story … the first big shock to the system is the sheer amount of
work that you’re expected to do in a day … not everybody likes journalists …
particularly when you go to a crime scene, people do not want you there. You
do have to grow a thick skin and put that professional face on, get the job done
and get out of there.
DIVERSITY, EQUALITY AND INCLUSION

It has long been clear that the radio industry workforce is not representative of the
UK population as a whole. In 2019, Ofcom published Diversity and equal oppor
tunities in radio, a report monitoring the make-up of those working in the business.
Sixteen companies were surveyed. The report itself has a particular focus on the
BBC and the two largest commercial groups; Global and Bauer. Highlighted were
“gender disparity at the top”, “poor representation of minority ethnic employees”
and that “disabled people are significantly underrepresented” (Ofcom, 2019). On
gender disparity, it said this:
Although representation of women across radio is slightly higher than the UK

labour market (51% v 47%), women continue to be underrepresented at senior
levels. Men still make up a greater proportion of senior (63%) and mid/junior
management roles (54%).
(Ofcom, 2019)
On the representation of people from ethnic minority backgrounds, it said “re

presentation of radio employees from minority ethnic backgrounds across all levels
of the industry is still low” (Ofcom, 2019). The report highlighted that people from
minority ethnic backgrounds make up 7% of all employees in the UK radio industry
(ibid.), compared to 12% across the UK workforce (Office for National
Statistics, 2018).
Outlining the underrepresentation of disabled people, the report said:
Representation of disabled people remains disappointingly low across certain

subgroups – for example, sales (2%) and marketing (2%) – with no significant
change since 2017. Although there has been a marginal increase of 1% since
226 JOHN COLLINS
2017 in the proportion of employees who self-define as disabled (6% in 2018),

this is still very low in comparison to the UK labour market average of 18%.
(Office for National Statistics, 2018)
The radio industry acknowledges that it has a problem. Chief Operating Officer at
BBC Radio, Rhona Burns,10 says:
From my perspective, I would say that radio hasn’t kept pace with changes in
society, has been very slow to reform and, certainly, ways of working are not
moving fast enough. Diversity hasn’t really been at the top of the agenda for
quite a few organisations although I would say that, now, there’s definitely a
very clear shift in that and, rightfully, it is at the top of the agenda.
Will Harding,11 Chief Strategy Officer at Global, says as a result of the journey of
“enormous change” that commercial radio has been on since the late 2000s, “we
haven’t given diversity enough of a focus. At Global, we’re extremely proud of our
culture, which we think is a very inclusive and open and welcoming culture, but it is
not reflected in the makeup of our workforce”. For Bauer Media’s President of
Audio, Paul Keenan,12 “direct action” needs to be taken to address the problem.
He says this:
We need to look at how attractive we are to diverse groups of people, how we

bring people into the industry, how we accommodate a whole spectrum of
people with different interests from different backgrounds so we can better
reflect the communities that we serve.
During the course of the research for this book, a number of interviewees talked about
issues of equality and diversity. This section features contributions from three of them.
Radio Derby reporter Pamela Gupta13 joined the BBC on a traineeship in 2001.
Months earlier, the then director general, Greg Dyke, had characterised the corpora
tion as “hideously white” (Hill, 2001). She says progress has been slow, since then:
Diversity has always been important. As long as I’ve been in the BBC, it’s
always been a buzzword. It gets interpreted as just being about race and just
being about black and Asian people and it’s not. True diversity is about
people’s backgrounds, it’s about class, it is about race, it’s about age, it’s
about disability, it’s about sexual orientation, it’s about regionality, it’s about
gender … the mainstream media is still a certain type of person and story.
Pamela agrees that broadcasters need to widen the scope of where they look for
their future talent:
As long as the BBC, or anyone else, keeps recruiting in the same standard,
stock way then it’s probably not going to change, particularly with presenters.
… The onus is on broadcasters to get out there because people have this
assumption that the media attracts this certain type of person. That has got to
change because if we don’t attract those different people with different life
stories, different experiences, then we’re just going to be boring, the stories are
going to be bland.
A former sports editor in BBC Local Radio, Sarah Collins14 is an executive producer
at talkSPORT. While acknowledging that “things are changing”, she says the radio
industry is still far from an equal playing field. She says broadcasters need to do
more work to ensure those from less well-off backgrounds are able to get jobs:
Some organisations and corporations will actively make a change, some due
to the Black Lives Matter movement which I hope will last forever, some will be
knee-jerk reactions. Until organisations and corporations understand that
there’s the money aspect to it as well, things aren’t going to change.
Four-time Sony Award-winning presenter, Joanna Russell,15 co-hosts Gem at

Breakfast with Jo and Sparky on Gem 106 in the East Midlands. She does not think
women and men will have equality in the radio industry in her lifetime, saying that
radio needs more women in management positions:
There are a lot of men making decisions about what women want to hear, at
radio stations that are aimed at females. With the greatest of respect in the
world, if you’re not female, you absolutely don’t understand that. There needs
to be more women who want to be in charge of radio stations.
Industry representatives are keen to point out what they are doing to increase
diversity, accessibility and inclusion. Rhona Burns says the BBC is changing its
approach to recruitment, increasing the use of anonymised CVs. She adds that all
staff have been given ‘unconscious bias’ training and that, amongst other initiatives
for existing staff, the corporation offers a number of apprenticeships and trainee
ships, which she says it sees as “a good way of bringing in a more diverse staff
base”. Will Harding from Global says this:
We’ve tried to look very carefully at our entry level recruitment. We realised
quite a few years ago that we were fishing in too small a pond and that the
traditional route into production, in particular – work for nothing based on a
connection with someone you know or someone your parents know – is all
very well if you can, a – afford to work for nothing and b – you have
connections.
Global sponsor a secondary school called the ‘Global Academy’. Will Harding adds
“what we’ve discovered is that the pool of potential talent is quite extraordinary, of
the young people in the UK – and the desire to work in our industry is there – all that
228 JOHN COLLINS
is lacking is the infrastructure and training to develop young people’s skills”.

Additionally, Global launched its first apprenticeship programme in 2018 and has
also taken steps, in Will Harding’s words to help “managers understand how to
extended recruitment processes”. Bauer Media have set up a diversity and inclu
sion forum, later renamed ‘Belonging at Bauer’. President of Audio, Paul Keenan,
says its members concluded that the company “needed to change the way in
which it brought people in”. Paul Keenan adds “we need to ensure – and we’re in
the process of doing this now – we offer a level playing field to people who want to
come and work here and that there are no conscious or unconscious barriers to
getting diversity into the organisation”. The company has also brought together 60
of its leaders, “they will make the change happen” says Paul Keenan.
There continue to be recruitment schemes aimed at women, people from an ethnic

minority background or for those with disabilities. Sarah Collins feels passionately
those who are eligible should take advantage of them, saying “these sort of
schemes that are put in place, go and use them to make up for all of the people
who have gone ahead of you – and don’t feel bad about it”. She adds to make the
most of any opportunity:
Over the times when I’ve gone into universities, sometimes I’ve handed my
card out to people because I liked them. If I’ve handed my card out, I’ve done it
because they’ve really, really impressed me and nine times out of ten those
people haven’t followed it up – so whatever background you’re from, do what
you need to do. It’s a hard line between being a pest and keeping in touch with
people. Just keep knocking on the door. It’s the only thing you can do. You’ve
just got to keep going until the door opens.
BE THE BEST YOU

Despite the challenges posed by the rise of social media, a lack of diversity,
consolidation of ownership and the resultant networking, and challenging eco
nomic circumstances, radio remains one of the greatest of all industries to work in.
To enjoy the privilege of learning, telling and sharing others’ stories on the most
immediate, intimate and interactive form of legacy media.
For Pamela Gupta, the best way of forcing that door open is by being yourself:
Make sure people know what you’re into. Be distinctive, be authentic, don’t
shy away from the fact that you know loads about American Football or that
you collect gaming cards. … I want to know if you’re on TikTok and you had a
million hits – bring that to the table – or if you really know loads about
environmental affairs – don’t think that people only want to hear about one
thing – the onus is on you to be yourself and never be ashamed of who

you are.
And once the door has opened for you? Enjoy it. Because, as Sarah Collins
confirmed, it is now that the learning really begins.
Watch and learn … don’t think you know it all. We all think we know it all and
none of us do. I’m still learning now at the age of 48. Make notes. Work hard.
Watch certain people, take a little bit of them and a little bit of them and decide
who you want to be.
John Myers grew to be one of the most-powerful and most-respected figures in the
UK radio industry but when breaking into the industry in the early 1980s, his pay
was so low that he lived in a caravan to save money. (Myers, 2012, pp. 32–33). By
the age of 50, he had retired as a wealthy man after a career as a TV and radio
presenter that culminated in a stream of large bonuses as he masterminded the
expansion of the Guardian Media Group’s radio division (Guardian, 2019). Shortly
before his death in January 2019, he was good enough to send me a copy of his
memoirs on the proviso that the book was used to help educate and develop
students about the radio industry. He left a handwritten note inside the front cover
of the book for the students to read, quoting it below seems a fitting place to end
this chapter and The Radio Handbook.
If you ever wanted to get to the top, this is how to do it: never ever doubt
yourself, work harder than others but, most of all, be likeable.
NOTES
2 All quotes from Alex Canner taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
3 All quotes from Josh Lovatt taken from interview with John Collins in July 2020.
5 All quotes from Jen Thomas taken from interview with John Collins in June 2020.
6 All quotes from Joe Shennan taken from interview with Arran Bee in June 2020.
7 All quotes from Clare Freeman taken from interview with Arran Bee in June 2020.
8 All quotes from Tom Hilton taken from interview with John Collins in August 2020.
9 All quotes from Laura Sanders taken from interview with Arran Bee in June 2020.
10 All quotes from Rhona Burns taken from the Ofcom Dialling Up Diversity In Radio podcast
July 2019 available at https://soundcloud.com/user-818961462/dialling-up-diversity-in-
radio.
11 All quotes from Will Harding taken from the Ofcom Dialling Up Diversity In Radio podcast
radio. Will Harding stepped down from his role as Global’s Chief Strategy Officer at the
end of 2020.
230 JOHN COLLINS
12 All quotes from Paul Keenan taken from the Ofcom Dialling Up Diversity In Radio podcast
radio.
14 All quotes from Sarah Collins taken from interview with Arran Bee in July 2020.
REFERENCES
BBC, 2018. Reflecting the ethnic diversity of the UK within the BBC workforce. <https://www.
bbc.co.uk/diversity/strategy-and-reports/bame-career-progression-and-culture-report>.
Guardian, 2019. <https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jun/19/john-myers-obituary>.
Geller, V., 2000. The Powerful Radio Workbook. M Street Publication, Nashville, TN.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯, 2012. Beyond Powerful Radio. Focal Press, Burlington, MA.
Hill, A., 2001. Dyke: BBC is hideously white. The Guardian. [WWW Document]. URL <http://
www.theguardian.com/media/2001/jan/07/uknews.theobserver1> (accessed 21.08.20).
IbisWorld, 2020. Radio Broadcasting in the UK – Market Research Report. <https://www.

ibisworld.com/united-kingdom/market-research-reports/radio-broadcasting-industry/>.
Lloyd, D., 2015. How To Make Great Radio. Biteback, London.
Myers, J., 2012. Team It’s Only Radio. Kenton Publishing, Sevenoaks.
Ofcom, 2019. Diversity and equal opportunities in radio. [WWW Document]. URL <https://
www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/information-for-industry/guidance/
diversity/diversity-equal-opportunities-radio> (accessed 21.08.20).
Office for National Statistics, 2018. A09: Labour market status by ethnic group – Office for
National Statistics. [WWW Document]. ons.gov.uk. URL <https://www.ons.gov.uk/
employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/
labourmarketstatusbyethnicgroupa09> (accessed 21.08.20).
Statista, 2018. Number of employees in radio broadcasting within the creative industries in
the United Kingdom (UK) from 2011 to 2017. <https://www.statista.com/statistics/
383593/radio-broadcasting-employment-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/>.
Glossary
actuality – the live or recorded sound of an event or interview on location, i.e. as it

‘actually’ happens.
ad – advertisement or commercial.
ad lib – unscripted, improvised speech.
ALC – automatic level control – a device on portable recording machines and

studio desks that maintains a standard recording level.
AM – see frequency.
analogue broadcasting – non-digital broadcasting, e.g. on AM or FM.
as-live – an item pre-recorded to sound as if it is happening live.
atmosphere or ‘atmos’ – background noise that provides a sense of location to

interviews or voice pieces. The ‘natural’ sound of a location, e.g. pubs, schools,
countryside. Can be used as a ‘bed’ for studio links to provide continuity for
packages. Also known as ‘wild track’.
audio feed – sound bites and other material sent to studios or stations.
B/A – back-anno – an announcement at the end of a piece of music or an in-

terview that gives details of what has been heard.
base – the location of the on air studio.

232 GLOSSARY
bed – a recording of music or actuality played under speech to provide continuity

or atmosphere. For example, the music played under a news bulletin on com-
mercial stations is known as the ‘news bed’.
benchmark – an item that features in a programme at the same time everyday,

e.g. travel, news or a competition.
bi-media – describes any operation that involves both radio and television. The
BBC, ITN and Sky have reporters that produce material for both radio and tele-
vision.
bulletin – a report containing the latest information on a topic such as news, travel
or weather.
burn-out /burn – when listeners are tired of a previously popular song.
cans – headphones.
Catch-line – a word at the top of a script that identifies the story or item; also
known as a slug.
clip/cut – an extract from an interview or other recording.
codec – device used at each end of an ISDN or IP call (COder/DECoder)
commentary – a report broadcast from an event as it is happening, e.g. a sports

match or state funeral.
copy – written information read by a presenter or newsreader. News copy tells the
story without any audio.
cue – 1. the written introduction to a piece of audio that is either live or recorded. 2.
a signal either by hand or by light for the next item to begin. 3. signal played into a
person’s headphones that introduces or indicates when they should start broad-
casting, e.g. from a studio to an outside broadcast unit,or someone down the line.
DAB – Digital Audio Broadcasting – The system of digital radio transmission

adopted by the UK.
DAB+ – An alternative system to DAB for delivering digital radio that uses a dif-
ferent codec (method of decoding the digital signal).
delay system – electronic device that delays the transmission of a live broadcast
by three to ten seconds, used mainly in phone-ins to override potential libels or
profanities.
demographic – the profile of a station’s average listener based on age, gender,

race, profession, etc. This is very important to advertisers who want to target a
particular audience.
desk – the control panel in a studio that mixes different sources for transmission.
GLOSSARY 233
digital platform – method for transmitting and receiving digital programming, e.g.
DAB, digital television, mobile phones, smart speakers.
double-header – item or programme presented by two people.
drive – 1. to drive a desk is to operate a studio desk. 2. Shortened version of

drive-time.
drive-time – the late afternoon rush-hour period when a great number of listeners
are in cars going home from work. One of the peak listening times of the radio day.
duration – the length of time to the nearest second of a piece of audio or written
script.
edit – to make audio ready for transmission. At its simplest this involves finding an
appropriate start and end point, but it can also involve removing unwanted material
to help the piece to make sense or flow better.
embargo – request not to release information until a specific date or time.
fader – the slide mechanism on a studio desk that opens an audio channel and
controls the volume.
feature – a prepared item for a radio programme usually consisting of interviews,

actuality and links.
feed – a supply of audio from an outside source, e.g. IRN feeds news clips to
various commercial radio stations for them to use in their bulletins.
feedback – also known as ‘howl round’. The effect produced when the signal from
a microphone is transmitted through a nearby speaker, which is in turn picked up
by the microphone producing a high-pitched howling sound. It can also be caused
if a phone-in contributor has a radio tuned in to the programme that is near to the
telephone.
FM – see frequency.
format – 1. the agreed style of programming for a radio station regarding the
speech/ music ratio, genre of music played, style of delivery. 2. the structure and
presentation of individual programmes regarding, for example, the number of time
checks in any hour, use of jingles and idents, duration of links.
free plays – songs chosen by the presenter, not scheduled by the head of music.
frequency – the measurement of analogue radio waves. A station’s frequency

denotes its position on the dial. Frequencies on the AM waveband (amplitude
moderation) are expressed as kHz (kilohertz) including medium- and long-wave
transmissions, and on the FM waveband (frequency modulation) as MHz (mega-
hertz).
FX – sound effects used to bring colour to features or packages.

234 GLOSSARY
goalflash – a short, live radio report as soon as a goal is scored in a football match.
GTS – Greenwich Time Signal – Now no longer from Greenwich but generated by the
BBC, this is six pips broadcast at the top of the hour to give an accurate time-check.
IBA – Independent Broadcasting Authority –The body that regulated all non-
BBC broadcasting from 1973 to 1990. Its radio monitoring activities were taken
over by the Radio Authority, which was then replaced by Ofcom in 2003.
idents – a way of identifying the station to listeners usually in the form of a jingle.
ILR/IR – Independent Local Radio/Independent Radio – All commercial radio

covering national, regional and local stations.
imaging – the collective name given to a package of jingles, trails, idents, beds and
stabs.
ISDN – Integrated Service Digital Network – a system of providing high-quality

digital audio signals through telephone lines.
jingle – a short musical piece used to identify the station or a particular programme
or presenter.
journalese – clichéd words or phrases, only tending to appear in journalism.
landline – a cable capable of carrying a high-quality signal used for outside

broadcasts before ISDN.
lead – 1. the first and most important story in a news bulletin; 2. an electrical cable
from one piece of equipment to another.
LED – Light Emitting Diode – a meter that indicates volume through a series of
lights.
level – the volume of recorded or broadcast sound as registered on a meter; also a

pre-recording check on a speaker’s voice, known as a ‘level-check’.
link – any speech between items that introduces or sets up the item for listeners;
also refers to the words between interview clips in a package that connects the clips.
log – a recording of a station’s output that is required to be kept for a minimum

period in case of legal disputes; also refers to a note of all music played by the
station for notification to the Performing Rights Society so that royalties can
be paid.
meter – a device for monitoring audio level. The VU (volume unit) meter gives the
average reading of the audio, the PPM (peak programme meter) measures the
peaks of the audio.
mic rattle – noise caused on a recording when the microphone cable is moved
during the recording.
GLOSSARY 235
mixing – combining two or more audio sources. Used in making packages when
interviews and links are combined with music or sound effects.
news agency – an organisation that provides news stories on a commercial basis

for use by other news media. Reuters, the Press Association and the Associated
Press are all news agencies.
news release – also known as a press or media release. Information prepared by

an organisation to inform news organisations of their activities. This can be to
promote a new venture by an organisation, or to provide a statement about an
ongoing story, for example, a crime story or industrial action.
NVQs – National Vocational Qualifications, known as SVQs in Scotland – a

vocational award to a nationally set standard of skill.
OB – outside broadcast.
off-mic – noise not fed directly through the microphone but audible in the
broadcast.
Open Media – the computerised newsroom system used by the BBC to manage
audio and text.
out – the last few words of a piece of audio, written on the cue as a warning that
the piece is about to end.
output – the sound that is heard by listeners.
package – a recorded item combining interviews, links, and/or music and effects,
prepared for broadcast with a cue.
playlist – the list of newly released songs a station is playing. Often broken down
into ‘A list’, ‘B list’, etc.
podcast – a pre-produced digital audio show, released online in episodic format.
podcast host – an online space where a podcast recording is uploaded, allowing

its distribution.
podcast platform – an app or store from which podcasts can be subscribed and
listened to.
popping – distortion caused by the rush of air in ‘p’ and ‘b’ sounds usually caused
by the presenter or interviewee being too close to the microphone.
PPL – Phonographic Performance Ltd – represents record companies and li-

censes the broadcasting of music.
PPM – peak programme meter – measures the peaks of audio. See meter.
pre-fade – facility on a studio desk that allows a presenter to listen to an audio

source (live or recorded) and adjust the level before it is broadcast.
236 GLOSSARY
promo – a promotional spot for a forthcoming programme; also known as a ‘trail’.
prospects – a list of news stories expected to be covered on a particular day

or week.
PRS – Performing Rights Society – represents the interests of musicians,

composers and publishers and acts as a clearing-house for the use of their material
both live and recorded.
PSA – public service announcement – any item that provides information in the
public interest, e.g. travel news, notification of charity events, police appeals.
Radio Authority – the body that licensed and regulated radio in the UK from 1990
to 2003. Now replaced by Ofcom.
RadioCentre – body that represents the interests of commercial radio in the UK.
Formed in 2006 from a merger between the Commercial Radio Companies
Association and the Radio Advertising Bureau.
RAJAR – Radio Joint Audience Research – the body owned by the BBC and
the RadioCentre that measures audiences for all stations in the UK.
reach – the percentage of total listeners in the TSA (Total Service Area) who tune in
during a specified period.
rotation – how frequently a song is played on a station, for example a high rotation
song would be heard several times a week, if not more than once a day.
royalties – fee paid to the Performing Rights Society based on the amount of
recorded music played by a radio station.
RSL – Restricted Service Licence – a licence from Ofcom for special events
broadcasting over a limited geographical area for a specified time, usually 28 days.
running order – the planned order of items in a programme.
schedule – the planned sequence of programmes throughout a week.
Selector – a software system that selects tracks from a pre-entered base of

music. The music is categorised in various ways, for example, artist’s name,
title, chart position, mood, tempo, etc. and the system provides running orders
that take account of the time of day of the programme and the required fre-
quency of play, and makes sure the tracks ‘flow’ together in pace and mood.
SEO – Search Engine Optimisation – the practice of using keywords and

phrases to achieve maximum exposure within search engines.
share – the total listening time achieved by a station expressed as a percentage of

the total amount of time spent by people listening to all radio services in the same
transmission area.
GLOSSARY 237
simulcasting – the practice of broadcasting the same output on different fre-

quencies, e.g. when analogue stations broadcast their output on a digital frequency.
simulrec – the independent recording of each ‘end’ of a conversation, with the

intention of mixing the two tracks together to give a quality recording of a con-
versation.
skill – The smart speaker’s version of an ‘app’, adding new possible commands
and capabilities.
slug – word or words used to identify an item; also known as a catchline.
smart speaker – a voice-activated, home device which can be used to play radio
stations and stream music with a verbal instruction.
SOC – standard out cue – an agreed form of words used by a reporter at the end
of a report, e.g. ‘John Smith for IRN at the Old Bailey.’
sound bite – brief extract from an interview.
stab – a short jingle or ident.
sting – a brief burst of music sued to punctuate output, often including the sta-
tion name.
stringer – a freelance reporter covering an area where there is no staff reporter

available.
talkback – off-air communication system linking studios, control rooms, or OB

locations.
tease – a short advert for something coming up later in the programme.
tech. op. – short for technical operator. Someone who ‘drives’ the desk during an
outside broadcast.
top and tail – basic edit to make the start and end of a piece of audio ‘clean’ so
that the item starts and ends at the correct point.
trail – a promotional advert for a forthcoming programme.
treatment – the way in which a story is told on air. More often used in the BBC.
TSA – total survey area – a geographical area served by a station. This may not
be the same as the area the station can be heard in, but it is the area used by
RAJAR to measure a station’s audience.
two-way – another name for a Q and A which sees a presenter interview a reporter
to provide information and analysis of an event.
VERV – VSAT Enabled Reporter Vehicle – satellite broadcasting vehicle used by

the BBC.
238 GLOSSARY
voicebank – system used by the emergency services whereby information is re-

corded for journalists to access.
voice piece – a scripted report of a story read by the reporter, it immediately

follows a cue delivered by the newsreader.
voicetrack – pre-recorded links are inserted in between songs in a running order,

before being played out ‘as-live’ by computer.
VoIP – Voice over Internet Protocol – describes apps like Facetime, Skype and
Zoom where calls are made using data rather than cellular signal. These can offer
better quality calls than a traditional telephone line.
vox pop – literally ‘voice of the people’. A series of responses from people in the
street to a specific question, edited together in a continuous stream. Used with a
cue read by the newsreader.
VU – volume unit meter – this measures the average volume of sound.
waveform – the visual display of sound on a computer in digital editing systems.
wild track – the recording of background noise or ambient sound on location,

used for editing into a recorded piece to provide atmosphere.
windshield – a foam ‘sock’ used over a microphone to prevent wind noise on the
recording.
wire service – national and international news stories sent electronically by news
agencies to newsrooms.
wrap – a news item where the reporter provides context by literally ‘wrapping’ their
voice around an interview clip.
Index
Note: Italicized page numbers refer to figures, bold page numbers refer to tables
Abbott, Diane 176 audiences: and advertising 18–9, 24–5;

Absolute Radio 4, 7 podcasts 196; reaching 39–43
active listening 201–2 Audio Content Fund (ACF) 41
Adams, Audrey 93 audio streaming 95
Adebayo, Dotun 83 audio theatre 191
Adobe Spark Post 203 audioblogging see podcasts/podcasting
Adult Contemporary 69 audiobook 191
advertising 14–20; audience 18–9, 24–5; Audioboom 26, 30, 193–4, 198
creative process 18–9; live reads 204; audiograms 203
opportunities to hear (OTH) 17; podcast auditorium testing 13
204; promos 15; scheduling 16;
sponsorships 204; spot adverts 204; balance 128–9
trails 15 Baldwin, Cecil 191
Aftertnoon Play 87 Ball, Amanda 205, 207
airlines 2 Ball, Zoe 4, 10
Alderton, Dolly 183 Bayfield, Polly 63–4
Alexa 39 Barnard, Stephen 47
Alexander, Ray 77 basic requirements 2
Alom, Qasa 71 Bauer Media 224, 226, 228
alt-text 173 Bauer Radio 11, 20, 24, 46, 52, 82, 225
Amazon 39, 86 Baxter, Adam 75
America’s Greatest Hits 70 BBC, The: Annual Plan 123; Annual Report
Americast 208 123; Board 123; brand 9–10; Editorial
Anastasi, Kathryn 73, 94, 96, 99, 111–16, 216 Guidelines 9–10, 144, 208; Election
Anchor 185, 202, 207 Guidelines 79–80; impartiality 129–30; Royal
anchor points 113 Charter 122; Trust 122
Anderson, Clive 164 BBC 1Xtra 12, 45
Andrews, Phil 96 BBC 5 Live 8, 32, 33–4
Annova 143 BBC Asian Network 24, 45, 69, 71
Apple 180, 181, 184, 185, 207 BBC Bedfordshire 216
appropriate scheduling 125 BBC Local Radio 14, 150, 174, 227
The Archers 87 BBC Minute 41–3
Ask Boris 72 BBC News 45
Asquith, Mark 198 BBC Radio 1 12–3, 20, 24, 36, 69
assistant producers 30 BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat 45, 54, 61, 218
The Athletic 205 BBC Radio 2 4, 7–8, 11–2, 20, 35, 69
Audible 86, 180 BBC Radio 3 20, 86
240 INDEX
BBC Radio 4 36, 46, 68, 69, 72, 77, 86, 87, 89, Burns, Baron 123
175, 184, 192 Burns, Rhona 226, 227
BBC Radio 4 Long Wave 94 Buy Me a Coffee 205
BBC Radio 5 Live 46, 68, 69, 72, 76, 83, 93,
94, 95, 138, 143 Call Clegg 72
BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra 94 Calvert, Sophie 81–2, 145–6, 151
BBC Radio Derby 61, 84 campaigns 20–1
BBC Radio Leicester 69, 222 Campbell, Nicky 10
BBC Radio London 73, 74 Canner, Alex 216, 219
BBC Radio Manchester 111 Canva 203
BBC Radio Northampton 27, 68, 72, 75, 77, 84 capacitor 140
BBC Radio Nottingham 71, 222 Capital East Midland 51
BBC Radio Scotland 69 Capital FM 24, 25, 49–50, 69, 175
BBC Radio Shropshire 62 Capital Radio 1, 6, 16, 20, 49–50
BBC Radio Stoke 8, 62, 81, 145 cardioid microphones 141
BBC Radio WM 171, 174, 177 CD players 137
BBC Sounds 39, 126, 181, 208 celebrities 7
BBC Sport 93 Central News Service 52
BBC Studios 9 Chapman, Mark 111
BBC Voice 39 charity events 20
BBC World Service 9, 69, 197 CHR 69
beds 14 CHR Pop 69
Benjamin, Walter 168 Churchill, Winston 140
Bent, Darren 101 Clark-Neal, Ryan 7
Berry, Richard 77–8, 181 Classic FM 39
Betson, Iain 139 Classic Rock Party 70
Beyond Powerful Radio (Geller) 47 Cleanfeed 19
biases 128–9 cleaning-up 145
Big Debate 71 Clegg, Nick 72
Birmingham 2 Clementi, David 123
bits and pieces 14 clichés 36
Black Lives Matter movement 227 clips 59
blogs 53 codec 138
Bonini, T. 180 Coke tin 142
Bottomley, Andrew 184 Colerangle, Mark ‘Sparky’ 4–6
boundary 143 Collin Murray and Friends 113–14
Bowie, Adam 175–6 Collins, Ian 111, 112
Brand, Russell 7 Collins, Sarah 78, 97–8, 101, 108, 227, 229
branding 1–2, 219–21 comedians 7
Breakfast 32, 77 commentaries: live 100; sports 102–9
breakfast shows 3–6 commercial radio 10–1; revenues 15
breaking news 83–6 Communications Act 2003 122, 123–4
Breaking News (Rusbridger) 160–1 Communicorp UK 16
Breakwell, Vicky 51 community radio 131–3
breathing techniques 30–1 Community Radio Order 131–3
Brexitcast 203 Community Radio Toolkit 132
British Airways 2 competitions 20–1
broadcast assistants 30 Comrex 150
Broadcast Journalism (Stewart/Alexander) 77 concerts 20–1
Broadcast Journalism Training Council 215 condenser microphones 140
Broadcasting Act (1981) 78 Conroy, A. 14
Broadcasting Act (1990) 78, 119–20, 121 contemporary 69
Broadcasting Code 122 contempt of court 120–1
Broadcasting Standards Commission 122 Contempt of Court Act 52, 121
bulletins 63–6 context 125
Burli Newsroom 143–4 Cooper, Ben 160
INDEX 241
copy 57–8 editors 30

copyright 206 elections 78–82
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 206 Ellis, K. 168
councils 52–3 emergency services 52
courts 52–3 emergency situations 83–6
Covey, Stephen 201 endfire/top-address 142
Covid-19 8–9, 19 equality 225–8
Creating Powerful Radio (Geller) 38 Erewash Sound 132–3
Creative Commons 207 European Convention on Human Rights 124–5
Crisell, Andrew 24, 47, 71, 165–6, 169, 181 Evans, Chris 3
cross-promotion 203–4 Evans, Elwyn 25, 32
cues 58, 136 evening and overnight shows 7
Cunningham, Brent 131
current affairs 76–8 Facebook 167, 168, 171, 172, 174, 175, 203
Curry, Adam 184 Facebook Live 177
cuts 59 Facetime 138, 148
faders 137
D for Dexter 87 fair dealing 207
DAB+ 67 Feltz, Vanessa 73, 74
The Daily Features 203 Ferrari, Nick 176
The Daily Source Code 184 Fessenden, Richard 168
Davie, Tim 129–30 fiction storytelling 191–2
Dawes, Melanie 123 figure-of-eight microphones 141, 142
daytime shows 6–7 Fly FM 220
Deagan, Matt 40–1 football 8
debates 99–100 formats 67–89; breaking news 83–6; drama
deception 127 86–9; elections 78–82; emergency
Deegan, Matt 24–5, 26, 202, 203 situations 83–6; music 69–71; news and
Deezer 68 current affairs 76–8; phone-ins 71–6;
defamation 119, 205–6 podcast 185–92; referendums 82–3;
Defamation Act 120, 206 speech 69; speech/music mix 69; sports
Defence Advisory (DA) notices 121 programmes 99–101
Defence Press and Broadcasting Four Properties of Powerful Teachers 199
Committee 121 Freeman, Clare 196–8, 199–200, 203,
desk driver 97 203–4, 223
Devichand, Mukul 39 Fun Kids 40–1
Dee, Moz 77
diaphragm 142–3 Gage, Linda 71
digital audio broadcasting (DAB) 2, 67, 95, 162 gain control 135
digital editing 146–7 Galaxy South Coast 4
Dira! 143 Galloway, George 75
Director of Public Prosecutions 121 Gambaccini, Paul 70
discussions 152–3 Geek of the Week 184
diversity 225–8 Geller, Valerie 38, 47, 169, 190
Diversity and equal opportunities in radio Gem 106 4–5, 13, 17, 29, 46, 51, 59, 224
(Ofcom) 225 Gem at Breakfast with Jo & Sparky 4–6,
documentary 100 29, 227
Drake, Johnny 95 General News Services 52
drama 86–9 Genesys 139
Drive 32 geotagging 173
drive-time shows 7 Gimlet 185
Dvorkin, Jeffrey 130–1 Global Academy 227
Dyke, Greg 226 Global News Podcast 197
dynamic microphones 140 Global Player 39
Global Radio 2, 11, 16, 20, 50, 52, 68, 72, 139,
editing 144–6 225, 226, 227–8
editing software 146–7 Goggin, G. 168
242 INDEX
Gold Radio 69 iPodder 184

Golditz 120 IPSOS 162
Google Trends 198 iRig Mic 149
Grand Slams 95 It’ll Be Alright On The Night 165
Gray, Andy 111, 113 ITN 52
Greatest Hits Radio 69 iTunes 181, 184
Grimes, Helen 27, 27–8, 68, 72–3, 75–6, iTunes Radio 68
77, 84–5
GSelector 12 JACK Radio Group 6
The Guardian 180 Jackson, Gerald 14, 15
Guardian Media Group (GMG) 2, 229 Jackson, Michael 6
Guardian News and Media 160 James, Mark 205
GuerillaMedia see podcasts/podcasting jargon 36
Gupta, Pamela 42, 61, 84, 85–6, 226–7, 228 Jenkins, Rob 199
Jeremy Vine Show 35
Hall, Tony 129 jingles 1, 14–20; functional purpose 15;
Hammersley, Ben 180 memorability 14–5; packages 14; station
Harding, James 83 names in 15
Harding, Will 226, 227–8 Jobs, Steve 14–5
Hartley-Brewer, Julia 74, 75 The Joe Rogan Experience 188
Hayes, Brian 71 Johns, Tim 35
Heart 1, 6, 16, 25, 28, 39, 50, 69, 175, Johnson, Boris 5, 72, 78
217, 220–1 Jones, Alex 8
Hermon, Steve 171–2, 174, 176 journalese 36
Hewgill, Christian 54–5, 58, 61, 110,
218, 221–2 Kaye, Paul 25–6, 27–8, 67
HHB Flashmic 148 Kearney, Martha 3
The High Low 183 Keenan, Paul 226, 228
Highlander 143 Kenny, Siobhan 9
Hilton, Tom 46, 51, 59, 65, 66, 224 Keys, Richard 111, 113
Hindell, Alison 86 Keys and Gray 113
hook 37 kicker call 76
Hootsuite 53 King, Chris 62
Hornby, Jo 32 Kirkpatrick, Bill 169
How To Make Great Radio (Lloyd) 217 KISS FM 171, 173, 173–4
Human Rights Act 1998 124 Ko-fi 205
Humphrys, John 27 Kuenssberg, Laura 130
hyper cardioid microphones 141, 142 Have You Heard George’s Podcast? 185
idents 14 lavalier 143

Iliffe, Paul 4, 4–5, 13, 29, 74 LBC 46, 67, 69, 72, 75, 76, 77, 138, 176
impartiality 129–30 Lee, Iain 7
Independent Broadcasting Authority 67 Lee, Kate 31
Independent Radio News 50, 52, 63, 144 legislative controls 119
Independent Television News (ITN) 52 Levell, Tim 72
Instagram 41, 168, 172, 173, 174, 203 Levy, Steve 162
integrated services digital network (ISDN) Libsyn 202
138, 150 Lifetime Achievement Award 4
intelligent speech 69 Lineker, Gary 130
Internet Talk Radio 184 LinkedIn 168
interviews 152–7; body language 152; Listen Notes 95
discussion with multiple participants 152–3; listeners 3, 12, 13
one-to-one field 153–6; one-to-one studio live commentary 100
152; podcasts 189, 201–2; post-match live coverage 100
109–10; simulrec 157; strengths of 153–6; live on location 149–50
telephone or VoIP 156–7; voice notes 158 live reads 204; see also advertising
INDEX 243
live streaming 95 48–50; sounds 47; sources 51–3; sports

Lloyd, David 25, 55, 70, 163, 169, 175, 217 110–11; 2-ways 61–3; voice pieces 59–60;
Local Radio 69 vox pops 60–1; writing 53–7
London Gazette 79 news build 14
Longdon, Jennie 201 news editor 143
Lovatt, Josh 217, 221 NewsBeat 45, 54, 61
Love Island: The Morning After 204 newspapers 160–2
Luci Live app 148 newsreading 150–2
newsrooms 52, 143–4
Maggs, Dirk 89 NewsUK 72
Magic Radio 24, 69 NHL Fans from Afar 198
Magistrates’ Courts Act 120 Nightingale, Annie 7
MailOnline 207 non-fiction storytelling 190–1
Mair, Eddie 176 Norden, Denis 165
Maitlis, Emily 208 Norton, Graham 7
Malamud, Carl 184
managers 30 O'Brien, James 176
Marconi, Guglielmo 168 obscenity 121–2
Martin, Jeff 132 Ocean FM 4
McCartan Turkington Breen v Times Oddie, Jack 17–9
Newspapers Ltd. 118 Ofcom 9, 10, 67, 68, 113, 122, 131, 133, 139,
McLeish, Robert 36, 47, 169 185, 205, 215, 225; Board 123;
Metro Radio 17 Broadcasting Code 78–9, 124–8, 144;
microphones 136–7, 140–3; cardioid 141; Content Board 123–4; due impartiality rules
condenser 140; dynamic 140; figure-of- 74–5; election/referendum coverage
eight 141, 142; hyper cardioid 141, 142; guidelines 78–9, 82; Media Nations Report
omni-directional 141; polar patterns 141–2; 2020 39; structure of 123–4
ribbon 140–1; shotgun 141–2; USB 142; official secrets 121
XLR 142; see also tools Official Secrets Acts 121
Microsoft Teams 47 omni-directional microphones 141
Mills, Bob 114 One Show, The 8
Mirer, M. 96 one-to-one field interviews 153–6;
misrepresentation 127 see also interviews
mixers 136 one-to-one studio interviews 152;
mixing desk 135–8 see also interviews
Morning Reports 46 online testing 13
mouth exercises 31 open content licence 207
Moyles, Chris 27, 28 Open Media 52, 143
mp3 players 184 opportunities to hear (OTH) 17
Murray, Collin 111, 113 overnight shows 7
music 11–3; auditorium testing 13; categories
11–2; online testing 13; playlists 11–2; Pacific Content 183
schedules 12 Palacio, Laurie 112
music programming 69–71 Parfitt, Andy 3
My Dad Wrote a Porno 181 Parker, Caroline 16
Myers, John 229 Patel, Priti 36
Myriad 139 Patreon 203, 205
Peel, John 7
National Public Radio (NPR) 130–1, 192, 208 Performing Rights Society (PRS) 12
Naughte, James 77 Peter Crouch Podcast 203
Neil, Andrew 130 Philpott, Mairead 85
Netflix 183 Philpott, Mick 85
Newman, Mike 26–7, 30, 193–4, 196, 198 Phipps, Jason 181
news 45–66, 50; bulletins 63–6; clips 59; copy phone-ins 71–6
57–8; cues 58; format 76–8; icons 48; phones 147
impact 49; incidents 48; issues 48; making pick-up patterns 141–2
50–1; packages 61; scripts 53–7; selection Pinfold, Georgia 171, 172
244 INDEX
playlists 1, 11–2 Radio Cornwall 139

playout system 139–40 Radio Derby 226
PNG app 148 Radio Handbook 132
Podcasts app 181, 203 radio shows: breakfast 3–6; daytime 6–7;
podcasts/podcasting 180–208; advertising evening and overnight 7; versus podcasts/
204–5; angle 193–4, 196; artwork 203; podcasting 182–4; presenters 29–30;
beginning of 200; binge listening 184; brief weekend 7–8
history 184–5; cross-promotion 203; radio stations: immediacy 163; interactivity 165;
definition of 180; digital distribution 183; intimacy 166; listeners 186; listening figures
digital listening 183; discussion-based 162–3; simplicity 164; social media content
186–8; end of 202; fear 196; fiction 170–5; strengths of 163–6; visualisation
storytelling 191–2; formats 185–92; of 175–7
interview-based 189, 201–2; laws 205–8; Radio Tees 139
length of 183, 200; listeners 185, 186, 196; Radio Times 93
making 195–202; middle of 200–1; Radio X 39, 67
monetizing 204–5; name 197–8; non-fiction Radiocentre 8–9
storytelling 190–1; overview 180–2; Rajan, Amol 129
personality 197; platforms 181, 182; RAJAR 162
presenters 198–9; production 199–202; Rdio 68
production values 194; promotion of 202–4; record players 137
publishers 187–8; versus radio programmes Red Handed 203
182–4; reasons for making 196; repackaged Redknapp, Harry 77
content 192; solo 190; sponsorship by referendums 82–3
government agencies 204; storytelling 194; Regan, Mark 177
subject matter 183, 195, 196–7; regulatory controls 122
subscriptions 205; voice 30 Remainiacs 208
polar patterns 141–2 Report-IT app 148
Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Representation of the People Acts 78
Act 78 restrictions 120–1
post-match interviews 109–10 ribbon microphones 140–1
Powergold 12 The Ricky Gervais Show 184
Premier League 95, 96 Robson, Alan 7
presenters 1, 3, 25–9, 76; podcast 198–9; Rogers Radio 25, 67
sports 101 Ross, Jonathan 7
Press Association 52, 143 Royal Charter 93
Price, Pete 7 RSS technology 184
Proclaimers, The 5 Rugby Union 95
producers 29–30 Rusbridger, Alan 160
promos 15; see also advertising Russell, Joanna 4–6, 29, 227
Proudfoot, Jim 102 Ryan, Katherine 197
Public Order Act 1986 121 Ryanair 2
public service broadcasting 9
Saga radio 2
Radio Academy Awards 4, 72 The Samaritans 201–2
Radio Authority 67, 122 Sambrook, Richard 85
radio broadcasting: art form and trade 213–14; Sanders, Laura 147, 148–9, 155, 224–5
being oneself in 229–30; brand building Sandoz, Matt 8
219–21; BTEC qualification 221; courses in satellite vehicle 150
215–16; creating good impression in 223–5; Scala Radio 2
disabled people in 225–6; diversity in 225–8; scripts 32–6; change of wording 38–9; details
equality in 225–8; experience in 222–3; 38; everyday language in 36; first sentence
getting started in 213–30; inclusion in 37; for news 53–7; numbers in 37–8; short/
225–8; industry growth 213; revenues 213; simple sentences in 37; synonyms in 38;
skills and knowledge in 214–15; writing 36–7, 36–9
strengthened medium 168–70; trusting the search engine optimisation 198
process 218–19; women in 225 Serial 184
INDEX 245
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People streaming services 183

(Covey) 201 studios 135–9
Shennan, Joe 102–9, 222 Sturgess, Claire 70
Shingler, Martin 145 subscriptions 205
shock jocks 113 Sunny 16 Podcast 205
shotgun microphones 141–2 sweepers 14
sidefire/side-address 142 Sykes, Pandora 183
Six Degrees 165 synonyms 38
Six Nations 95
Six Weeks of Summer 114 takeaways 15
skills 39 Talkback 138
Skinner, Dennis 82 talkRADIO 46, 69, 75, 76
Skinner, Frank 7 talkSPORT 2, 8, 68, 71, 72, 73, 77, 78, 93, 94,
Sky News 50, 52, 82, 143–4 95, 96, 97–8, 99, 101, 102, 108, 110,
Skype 47, 138, 148, 157 111–12, 116, 139, 175, 216, 222
smart speakers 39 talkSPORT2 94, 95
smartphones 147–9 tech op 97
Smith, Jeff 11 technology 39
Smooth radio 1, 2, 6, 16, 50 telephone balance unit (TBU) 137–8
social media 53; content 170–5; and decline of telephone interviews 156–7; see also interviews
newspapers 160–2; immediacy 166–7; Telling Everybody Everything 197
interactivity 168; intimacy 167–8; podcast Test Match Special 94, 95
promotion 203; versus radio 163–6; simplicity TFI Friday 5
167; sports programming 94, 96, 99; strengths That Peter Crouch Podcast 39
of 166–8; visualisation of radio in 175–7 This American Life 185, 192
Sony Radio Awards 4, 77 Thomas, Jen 27–8, 219, 219–20, 222–3
Sopel, Jon 208 Thompson, Jacqui 205
soundbites 59 Thompson v James 205
SoundCloud 202 Thompson v James & Anor 205
Source-Connect 19 TikTok 41, 167, 172, 173, 174
The Space Programme 41 Times Radio 46, 67, 68, 69, 72, 76
Spectator 94 tip jar service 205
speech 69 today customers 17
speech/music mix 69 Today programme 3, 77
sponsorships 204; see also advertising tools 135–58; CD players 137; editing software
sports programmes 8, 93–116; commentaries 146–7; microphones 136–7, 140–3; mixers
102–9; debates 99–100; documentary 100; 136; mixing desk 135–8; playout system
formats 99–101; interactivity in 99; listeners 139–40; record players 137; satellite vehicle
98–9; live commentary 100; live coverage 150; smartphones 147–9
97, 100; match-day 97; news 101, 110–11; Top 40 69
post-match interviews 109–10; pre-match top line 54
preparation 98; presenters 101; preview/ Torrington, Graham 7
review 100; producing 97–9; scheduling 94; touch points 113
in social media 94, 99; specialist 101 trails 4, 15
spot adverts 204; see also advertising Trent FM 4
Spotify 46, 68, 180, 181, 182, 185, 203, 207 trimming 148
stabs 14 True Crime Obsessed 205
standard out cue (SOC) 60 Truss, Liz 176
Star Radio 217 TuneIn Radio 68
Starkey, Guy 37, 163, 169 Tunnel 29 (podcast) 39
Startrack 143 Tunnock, Boyd 36
station imaging 14 Tweetdeck 53
Station of the Year 77 Twitter 85, 168, 169, 171, 172,
Stevenson, Gemma 74 173, 174, 203
Stewart, Peter 77 Two Non Blondes 201
Stone, Dick 6–7, 8, 20 2-ways 61–3
246 INDEX
Up All Night 83 WhatsApp 5, 81

White, Katy 4, 6, 37, 82
VCS Diral 139 Whittington, Amanda 87, 87–9
VCS suite 143 Whose Line Is Is Anyway 164
VERV (VSAT enabled reporter vehicle) 150 Wieringa, Cindy 145
video streaming 183 wifi 150
viral video 176 Wilby, P. 14
Virgin Radio 67 wind-up calls 127–8
The Voice 83 Wired Magazine 182
voice 30, 30–2, 33–4 Wolf 359 192
voice notes 158 Woman's Hour 72, 87
voice over internet protocol (VoIP) 19, 138, workstations 143–4
148, 156–7 Wright, Steve 10
voice pieces 59–60 Wycombe Hospital Radio 222
voice-activated devices 39
Vorderman, Carol 8 XS Manchester 16
vox pops 60–1
Your Call 72
Wakelam, Henry Blythe Thornhill 93 YouTube 68
watershed 125 zoo format 7
websites 53
weekend shows 7–8 Zoom 47, 138, 148
Welcome to Night Vale 191–2 Zoom H5 148
Whale, James 7, 78 Zuckerberg, Mark 167

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2 The voice of the station 24

3 The role of news 45

4 Station and programme formats 67

6 Bias and balance: accountability in radio journalism 118

7 The tools of broadcasting 135

8 Social media: a renaissance in radio 160

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1.1 Gem at Breakfast presenters, Jo and Sparky 4

WHAT LIES AHEAD

THE IMPACT OF COVID-19

reverse, when companies face challenging financial circumstances, their

Bowie, A., 2019. Where next for ILR? URL https://www.adambowie.com/blog/2019/02/

Competition Commission, 2013. Global/GMG final report. URL http://www.competition-

Ofcom, 2008. The communications market 2008. URL https://webarchive.nationalarchives.

Ofcom, 2020. Community Radio Stations. URL http://static.ofcom.org.uk/static/radiolicensing/

Branding, then, is a way of achieving a consistent offering, a reassuring identity,

THE RADIO DAY: THE BREAKFAST SHOW

Looking at the ‘personality’ element, mentioned by Andy Parfitt, breakfast shows

FIGURE 1.1 Gem at breakfast presenters, Jo and Sparky

Gem at breakfast with Jo and Sparky

Jo2 says the show’s audience is primarily “fun-loving, easy-going, light-hearted,

It is a pressure because what’s funny or entertaining is subjective. Trying to

Jo Russell says it is crucial to get the team dynamic right:

EVENING AND OVERNIGHT SHOWS

For decades, overnight slots were used by programme controllers as a breeding

THE IMPACT OF COVID-19

THE BBC BRAND

The BBC brand is recognised worldwide as quality broadcasting. It is intimately

THE COMMERCIAL RADIO BRAND

As evidenced by its recent consolidation of ownership and networking of pro­

Not only do we broadcast the biggest range of genres of any station

JINGLES AND ADS

To ensure consistency, jingles are delivered to radio stations as part of a package,

To aid ‘memorability’, scripting in audio production employs the ‘rule of three’,

In the world of commercial radio, it is adverts showcasing the goods or services of

FIGURE 1.2 Communicorp commercial director, Caroline Parker

Radio advertising works on a repetition or ‘frequency’ basis. Research has

This is also referred to as Opportunities To Hear or OTH when we are planning

Radio advertising is a mix of appealing to customers who are looking to make an

FIGURE 1.3 Voiceover artist, Jack Oddie

producing radio advertising campaigns. He takes us through the process of

As well as developing an understanding of the product and its potential audience,

CONCERTS, CAMPAIGNS AND COMPETITIONS

Radio is measured by someone’s ability to remember they heard a station and

Cridland, J., 2020. URL https://twitter.com/JamesCridland/status/1297871535085150208

As evidenced by its recent consolidation of ownership and networking of pro

Lastly, it can be worthwhile to test the proposed wording of a question on col

Weather-related events tend to be the most common emergency situations cov