Groundwire - a chance to be part of a national news program

Members of the NCRA (National Campus and Community Radio Association) is reviving the initiative to have a weekly program produced by various c-d radio stations across Canada. Here are the guidelines that have been developed over the last couple of years. CJSF would probably get the responsibility every 5 weeks or even less often - depending on how many stations participate. Email me at cjsfpa@sfu.ca if you would like to be part of the CJSF team working on this. - Frieda


GROUNDWIRE

Mandate

GroundWire is a 29-minute news radio program featuring headlines, reports and features from the community radio sector in Canada. The program aims to be a strong, reliable, high-quality newscast, engaging the audience with geographically and culturally diverse features that address issues of interest to specific communities as well as to a national audience.

GroundWire balances grassroots coverage of local stories with progressive perspectives on national and international issues. Voices of people living in Canada, or Canadians living and working abroad, are a priority. GroundWire works to encourage self-representation from diverse communities in Canada, Quebec, and in indigenous nations, and features music from underrepresented Canadian artists.

GroundWire is produced by members of the Community News Network and aired on campus and community radio stations across Canada, and is also distributed online through the NCRA and other independent media sites.

GroundWire aims to connect diverse communities that take part in community radio programming all over Canada by featuring stories that are local, regional and national in scope and that share an ethic of human rights activism, equity, labour rights, democractic communication and information exchange, and progressive political and social policy.

Production Committee

GroundWire is produced and directed by a production committee composed of staff and volunteers from participating NCRA stations. The committee makes all efforts to include members from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds to ensure that GroundWire programming speaks well to many different communities and not just the core listenership of community radio stations.

The production committee is mandated to make practical decisions about the content and direction of each episode of GroundWire. This includes reviewing submissions, choosing a limited number of features for each episode, choosing two Canadian artists to feature during musical bridges, communicating with potential and actual contributors, and writing an editorial statement for each episode.

The production committee may have a monthly facilitator who will communicate directly with contributors about the decisions of the editorial committee, write runsheets and scripts, assemble the show and upload the show to distribution networks in a timely manner.

The production committee communicates with contributors via the groundwire@ncra.ca email address. this email is accessible by any member of the production committee, however, the monthly facilitator is responsible for communicating editorial decisions to contributors.



GROUNDWIRE Production Guidelines

2 WEEKS before the production deadline, send a call-out for content to the NCRAlist, Groundwire listserve and rabble producers list. The call out should refer to the submission guidelines, the run-sheet and the Groundwire website and e-mail address.
1 WEEK before the production deadline, check the Groundwire website at and email account for submissions.

SELECT the contributions that are of interest keeping in mind sound quality; timeliness; geographic diversity, originality of subject matter; usefulness, quality and novelty of information or ideas; and international importance.
NOTIFY contributors being considered for inclusion in the program and make any editorial requests for modifications to submissions.

ALONG with their audio, contributors should send a short text that will be read by the host(s) to present their audio piece.

IDENTIFY potential host(s) and music for the Groundwire program.

DOWNLOAD/COLLECT all items for inclusion in the program a few days before the production deadline.
PREPARE GROUNDWIRE for upload: see the step-by-step guidelines to include scripting, choosing music breaks, recording, editing segments together, etc.

DRAFT editorial statement: guidelines to include rationale for segments included in the program; info about other content submitted that could be included in future shows.

REMEMBER to alternate as much as possible between women and men’s voices.
UPLOAD the program and editorial statement to the Groundwire page.
SEND a release stating the content of this week’s Groundwire to the NCRAlist, Groundwire listserve and rabble producers list.
Show Structure


0:00-1:00 Theme music and program highlights (outline upcoming features)

1:00-5:00 Headlines (30-90 second stories with or without actualities)

5:00-8:00 Canadian campus and/or community station report

8:00-9:00 Music break #1

9:00-14:00 Feature segment #1 (1, 5-minute feature or 2, 2-minute features with intros/extros)

14:00-15:00 Music break #2

15:00-27:00 Feature segment #2 (one or more 2-minute, 5-minute or 10-minute features with intros/extros, adding up to no more than 12 minutes total)

27:00-28:00 National upcoming events listings

28:00-29:00 Sign off, thank yous, contact information, theme music



GROUNDWIRE Submission Guidelines: Editorial

INFORM US: We are looking for grassroots coverage of local stories, and progressive perspectives on cross-Canada and international news. Voices of people living in Canada, or Canadians living or working abroad, will be prioritized. Groundwire strives to represent the diverse communities of Canada, Quebec and indigenous peoples, in a manner which is respectful, informed, and relevant.

(INTER)NATIONAL INTEREST: Would your story be more interesting to your local station than to people across the country? Groundwire is a national and international news show so we are looking for stories with a national angle.

WHAT'S THE TIMELINE: Include whether the story is time-sensitive: e.g., "Klein's story will be published in the April edition of This Magazine," “These hearings wrap up on Friday, June 30” or "This would be great to run with the anniversary of the Inquiry into Neil Stonechild’s murder next August."

JUST THE FACTS: Please ensure that your contributions are factual, can be verified by at least 2 sources and that material being presented is in no way libelous or slanderous.

STREET LEGAL: No person's voice should be used on your piece unless the person speaking was aware they were being recorded for possible broadcast. Identify your sources on the air, unless the source has asked not to be identified, in which case say that this is so. Synthesizing information you get from various sources is a normal part of journalism, but plagiarism is not acceptable. If you use information from other media outlets, give them credit: "The Associated Press reports...", etc.

MULTIPLE VIEWPOINTS: Include at least 2 contrasting viewpoints in your submissions to Groundwire.

OUR PROCESS: Production of Groundwire rotates among stations with the interest and resources to take on the editing process. Producing stations will choose content among the material available on the Groundwire website and will provide the rationale for their selections in an Editorial Report posted to the site with the program. Groundwire cannot currently remunerate content providers financially, however reporters will be thanked during the program and the program provides an opportunity for nation-wide broadcast of journalistic pieces.


GROUNDWIRE Submission Guidelines: Technical

HEADLINES: Headlines are 30- to 90- second scripted stories with or without actualities (sound clips).

STATION REPORTS: The Canadian campus and/or community station report is a 3-minute feature exploring developments at at Canadian campus and/or community radio station. These reports should include at least 2 voices and the station’s contact information.

FEATURES: Features may be submitted in 2-minute, 5-minute or 10-minute lengths. There is some flexibility in these time guidelines; however features that run overtime (2:30, 5:15) or of radically different lengths (7 minutes, 15 minutes) will not be considered for inclusion in the program.
Features must include more than one voice and at least 2 contrasting viewpoints or opinions on the issue being discussed.
In addition to the pre-produced audio feature, a 10-30 second lead and extro should be submitted as text, including the story’s highlights, the name of the feature developer, and the location(s) of the story.

NATIONAL LISTINGS: Listings should be 10-15 second scripts highlighting upcoming events of national significance (anniversaries, mobilizations, grassroots projects) submitted as text in the body of an email to: groundwire@groundwire.ca.
Submit each listing individually and do not submitt .jpegs, .pdfs or other files with listings.

FOR ALL SUBMISSIONS: For headlines, Station Reports and Features, a text file including the links to actualites and/or features, the producer’s name and contact, and information as to why the story is important and what current news/political events make it important to air now must be included for the piece to be considered for inclusion in a Groundwire program. This information may be included in the same document as your headline, or your lead/extro.
FORMATS: Groundwire currently accepts content in digital formats only. Headlines, intros and extros, and text files should be submitted as text (.txt), word documents (.doc) or rich text format (.rtf) files, uploaded to our website at http://secure.groundwire.ca or emailed to groundwire@groundwire.ca. Audio should be submitted in mono, as .mp3 or .wav at a sampling rate of 44.1khz, 16-bit and a bit-rate of 128 or higher.

SOUND QUALITY: Always ensure that you can hear what you are recording in your headphones when gathering sound.

Ensure that connections on all recording devices are solid and that there is no buzzing or humming in the background of your recordings.

Whenever possible, record interviews in person instead of on the phone.
Ensure the you and your guests use proper microphone technique: keep the microphone about a handspan away from people’s mouths. Avoid excessive microphone popping or hissing during talk and narration segments by talking over or across the mic instead of directly into it.

Do not record with a microphone directly into a computer: either record onto a separate recorder and transfer to a computer, or plug your microphone into a recorder, connect the “line-out/speaker-out/headphone-out” of the recorder to the “line-in” of your computer and have the recorder on “record pause” or “monitor input” mode. This way you are using the preamp built into your recorder instead of the one in the computer.

Adjust the sound levels of the elements in your submission so that the entire piece rests between -12 and -6db.

EDITING: It is easiest to edit your pieces on a computer, using an audio editing program such as Audacity, SoundForge or Audition. There are lots of resources on-line for downloading free .wav and .mp3 recording/editing software, and for learning how to use it. Your local campus-community radio station may also be able to provide you with technical training, resources and assistance.

Make sure that the edits in your piece are clean. Do not cut breaths in half, paste two breaths back to back, leave extra bits of words or cut off the end or beginning of a word. Use fade-outs and cross-fades instead of abrupt cuts when layering sounds. Be sure that the start and the end of your piece are silent (-Inf db)

Digitial editing makes it possible for you to build soundbites using several different comments that may have been spoken minutes apart. You can really make people say anything you want them to say. This is of course immoral, inaccurate, and probably illegal. A good rule of thumb when cutting and pasting various statements into a soundbite is to ask yourself, "Would this person approve of the edits I have made? Does it accurately express what they were trying to say?" If the answer is no, then don't use it.

Don’t be afraid to include lots of ambience! If you are recording people outside on the street, let your mic run for a minute or two without anyone talking, until you get something interesting. A car honk, a group of kids walking by, whatever! If you are at the docks, record the foghorn, or a bell, or a ship coming in. If you are in an office, get the sound of the phone ringing and the receptionist answering.

UPLOADING: Go to http://secure.groundwire.ca and follow the instructions for uploading via our .php page.

FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: email groundwire@groundwire.ca. We’ll be happy to help you troubleshoot.


GROUNDWIRE Submission Guidelines: Creative

TIPS ON SCRIPTWRITING: Every second counts. Write short sentences with one basic idea in each. Put the subject at the front of each sentence, using the formula: (subject) + (verb) + (object) + (...all other stuff). Sentences should be written in the positive, as opposed to the negative: Avoid using "not", "no", "don't", "doesn't", "won't", etc. Write in the present tense, whenever possible. Be sure to answer the "Five W's": Who, What, Where, Why, and When.

Start and end your story with a person, a personal story, an illustrative anecdote...something that the listener can understand and relate to immediately.

Remind your listeners of the subject of your story as you go along, and again near the end. If you are having a hard time coming up with a definitive general statement for the conclusion of your story, conclude by telling the listener what they can expect to happen next.

Words to avoid in radio writing, whenever possible:
-All forms of the verb to be (is, am, are, were, will be, have been, being, etc.)
-Get (use an action verb instead)
-Adverbs, those words that usually end in -LY.
-That and Which
-Cliches and overused phrases

TIPS ON SOUND GATHERING: Let your sources give the examples, and (if possible) draw the conclusions. The reporter should state the general fact/trend/phenomenon, then the source should illustrate with an example.

Take notes when you're recording, whenever possible. When someone says something you might use in your story, make a note of what they said and where it is on your tape.
Label your tapes/discs/files diligently, with date, name, and location.

Once you have chosen a clip you want to use, avoid editing it, especially if there is background sound that would be interrupted by your edits.

Whenever possible, primary sources should be used to tell a story. If you're reporting on a judicial nominee accused of torturing small animals, call him and ask if it's true! He's the only one who knows for sure. Don’t relying on pundits and bystanders to tell the story.

If you're having trouble locating opposing viewpoints for your story, ask your sources who their enemies are, and call them.

TIPS ON INTERVIEWING: Before you enter an interview location, press record on your machine and leave it running until after you leave. Even if you're in a quiet office, recording a minute or two of the sound of the location with nobody talking provides "room tone" that comes in handy when you're editing. You can't air coments recorded while a person thought the machine was off, but you will get the sounds of phones ringing, machines grinding, and people introducing themselves. If you don't turn your machine off right after the end of your questions, you won't miss the best part of the interview, which starts at the moment the person thinks it's over. Again, before you use pre- or post-interview tape, you must ask permission, but at least you'll have it, in case they say yes!

Don't be afraid to explain what you're going to do in the interview, before you start asking questions. However, don’t read all your questions to your guest before you begin!

Before you ask questions, have your sources identify themselves on the mic, with their full names and titles. One useful technique in a crowd is to ask for ID and info at the same time: "What's your name and title, what do you think about the tax cut plan, and why?" This way you'll have an actuality and ID all in one: "I'm Ronnie Fong, I'm a pipefitter, and I think the tax cut is terrible idea! Billionaires are rich enough already!"

If you have time, ask a few throwaway questions at the top of the interview, to get your guest comfortable. "When did you start doing this kind of work?" "How did you get into it?" If what you really want on tape is the answer to the question, "Did you embezzle $10,000 from city government?", you might want to start with some softballs which make the source feel good: “How has the first year of your term been going, Mr.Mayor?”

Ask one question at a time. Keep your questions short and direct, while avoiding those with “yes or no” answers. Asking, "Why did you do it, and what do you think is going to happen next?" gives the guest the option of answering either or neither: if they're good at avoiding questions, by the time they've given an answer, you've forgotten the other question.

Be careful not to say, "Uh huh", "Mmm Hmm" when the person is talking, as we all do naturally in conversation. Just nod your head to show you are listening.

TIPS ON NARRATION: Read your script aloud before you record it. Note those places where you may have to emphasize certain words to make your point. But be careful not to over-emphasize or emote while you’re reading.

Don't look down at the page when you read. Hold the script up to your head level and read upward. It opens up your chest cavity and improves the delivery of your voice. Remember to breathe: it's easy to get through half a page and find yourself running out of air. Also remember to vary your tone, but keep your volume consistent.

When you make a mistake, start over at the beginning of the paragraph.

Deleting helper files after an edit

Whenever you edit with SoundForge or Audacity, there are helper files created during the process, which are no longer needed when your piece is finished. Some of these files are even larger than your finished piece; they clog up the hard drives, and someone has to remove them.

When you finish your Audacity edit, please Export the file as an mp3 or wav file - then delete all the .au files that are associated with the filename you used during your edit.

Similarly, with SoundForge, your product will be an mp3 or wav. The helper files will have the same title you used during the edit, but will end in .sfk or other .sf endings.

Because there is often emergency need for more space on local hard drives and on the server, any helper files more than a month old are likely to be deleted by others.

Free audio editor - upgrade

The free and open-source audio editing software Audacity has been upgraded. We've got the new version, 1.3.4, now loaded in both the Production Studio and in Studio B. It has some significant improvements. If you'd like to download it to your own computer, get it here:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

Welcome to CJSF Spoken Word Department Blog

This blog is for posting discussions about opportunities, achievements, and techniques in the Spoken Word/Public Affairs Department of CJSF, 90.1 FM, Burnaby BC, Canada.

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