Page 72 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

BROADCAST WRITING AND SPEAKING

possible, through the facts of the story. That works for hard news.
Features are different and harder to tell because you have to build in sur-
prises and interesting aspects of the story periodically throughout the
material.
The preceding rules are designed to give the listener or viewer a
fighting chance at understanding what the broadcaster is saying.

Story Formats

Radio stories’ typologies are categorized by the origin of the sound
used within them. There’s the reader, which is simply the newscast
announcer reading a story. In commercial radio, a reader isn’t likely to
run more than 15 to 20 seconds. In public radio, it might go double
that. We dress up stories through the use of natural sound (also called
nat sound, wild sound, or ambient sound) and actualities. Natural sound
is the sound of real life, recorded onto tape or disk. It might be the
sound of chanting protesters, honking car horns, or the growl of a tiger.
62 Actualities are the comments of people in the news. We might capture
those by recording a teacher talking to her class or by interviewing the
mayor. A voicer is a story recorded by a reporter, as opposed to one
that is read by the announcer. In commercial radio, a voicer isn’t likely
to run more than 20 to 30 seconds. In public radio, a voicer might go
40 to 50 seconds. A wrap or wraparound is a voicer with one or more
actualities or pieces of natural sound included, which allows for greater
depth and length. In commercial radio, a wrap might‘go 45 seconds
to a minute. Public radio wraps can run up to 2 to 3 minutes or even
longer. A live report, occasionally called a ROSR or radio on scene report,
is the final category of radio news.
Television stories are divided by complexity. The simplest form is
the TV reader. A TV reader is essentially a radio story read by the
anchor on television. The one potential complication of the reader
is television’s use of box graphics—that over-the-shoulder box that
includes a visual related to the story. Even with box graphics, the story
is still a reader, but the graphics may change how the story is written.
Without the graphics, there would be no difference in the wording
between a radio reader and a TV reader. With the graphics, the first
line of the story must also reference whatever is in the box. If the box
says “robbery,” then the lead must include that information. If the box