Principles of Radio Journalism

There are five key principles for radio writing and programme production/presentation:

-          spoken

-          immediate

-          person to person

-          heard only once

-          sound only

Spoken

'Writing for radio is writing for the ear. Write as you would speak.Better still, write as you would hear.' (Here's the News: 38)

Though spoken medium, many items or programmes in radio are written. We write scripts, especially for radio news and current affairs.

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Since school days we wrote for reading not for talking or hearing. Many people come to radio from print background. And in print we write for eyes. Eyes can catch whole sentence or a clause at a time, make a provisional meaning of the writing, can stop and go back-forth if anything is not understood. There is no such flexibility with the radio. The ears can take one word at a time and cannot go back-forth if anything is not understood.

While writing or presenting in a radio we must use only words that are natural to our spoken vocabulary
. Language and sentences we use are employed in conversation and in day-to-day circumstances.

Immediate

Radio is now. Use present tense. Stuffs read in radio should appear to the listener to be happening now. So, time frame has to be kept in mind.

We refer to the time of any past event or forthcoming event with reference to 'today'.  As far as possible we avoid mentioning the date saying today, yesterday, this week, this month or this year.

Person to person

Radio is communication between two persons- presenter and listener, i.e. between 'you' and 'me'. There may be hundreds of thousands listening at the same time, but each of them is listening on his own or in a small group.

So, we should be informal, try to avoid formal and bureaucratic language,address the listener personally, sound interesting and entertaining.Talk to the listener as a friend in the setting of interpersonal contacts.

Heard only once

Radio once broadcasted, is gone. If a listener has to think twice to understand certain clauses, then it is lost forever. It has to be observed as it goes on the air. Radio writers and presenters have to ensure that both the contents and presentation hold the attention of the listener all the time.

We have only one chance! So, clarity is top priority. Short, simple, declarative sentences are preferred. Do not put all information in one sentence, bring only one idea in one sentence.

Avoid long and complex sentences, unexplained technical terms.

Sound only

We have only sound to tell a story-spoken words, sound effects, music, non-verbal expressions to be heard, and silence.

This is creative use of sound.

While writing script, we should try to avoid sound clashes. Words should not be distracting to the listener, and soundalike.

We should be careful about the use of figures-round figures wherever possible. We should put amount of money first and the currency afterwards.

Use of correct punctuation is demanded. Even a slight hesitation during the reading will be noticed by the listener. Use of punctuation must match with correct structure of sentence. For example, the name of the speaker should come first.

Finally, there is a formula to check the radio writing.

Having written the script, read it aloud:

If it is not easy to say,
it sounds strange,
it is ambiguous, not clear,
it is pompous,
it is complex, 

(This Note is provided in classroom of Central Department of Journalism, TU, RR Campus to First Semester Batch of M.A)