Pr Writing Ch 9 Radio Tv

7/27/2019 Pr Writing Ch 9 Radio Tv

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Writing for Radio and Television

Chapter 9


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Radio and TVs Importance

PR values radio and televisions mass and specializedaudiences

Radio reaches 94 percent of adults 18+ daily; totalaudience about 225 million

Radio particularly strong among Hispanics, the U.S.s

largest and fastest growing minority Teenagers are also big listeners of radio, primarily

through online sites A 2008 study found that college grads aged 25-54 listen

to the radio almost 16 hours a week; non-college grads

listen 21 hours a week 33 million Americans 12+ listen to a radio station over

the Internet during the average week Local television attracts about 150 million Americans on

a daily basis and the average U.S. family still spends

about 7 hours daily watching TV, according to NAB


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PR Access to Radio and TV

Writing and preparing materials for broadcastoutlets require a special perspective

Must understand how to write for the ear

How to integrate audio and visual elements intoa script

How to harness the power of satellite and digital

communications to conduct media tours that canreach a global audience

How to get spokespeople on broadcastprograms


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Radios Strengths

While radio may lack the glamour of TV and thepopularity of the Internet it is, especially on thelocal level, a cost-effective way to reach largenumbers of people in various age, ethnic, andincome groups

Radio remains the only mass medium that canreach millions of Americans as they commute toand from work and elsewhere in their cars

Its portability, due to transistors, expands radiosreach to workers on the job, people doingexercise, people working in yards, at the beach


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Study the Stations

A PR pro should study each stations format and submitmaterial suitable to it

Determine the demographics of a station by listening toit, by consulting radio directories or by contacting the

stations advertising/marketing departments Resources include Radio Marketing Guide and Fact

Book for Advertisers, Bacons Media Directories andBroadcasting Yearbook

Charlestons Television Market

U.S. Television Markets

Charlestons Radio Market

Charleston Radio Ratings (Arbitron)
http://www.stationindex.com/tv/markets/Charleston,+SChttp://www.stationindex.com/tv/tv-marketshttp://www.ontheradio.net/metro/charleston_sc.aspxhttp://ratings.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb231http://ratings.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb231http://www.ontheradio.net/metro/charleston_sc.aspxhttp://www.stationindex.com/tv/tv-marketshttp://www.stationindex.com/tv/markets/Charleston,+SC


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Radio News Releases

Radio station staffs often have to rewriteprint releases to conform to bcast style

But the most effective approach is to send

news releases that are formatted for themedium

Radio is based on sound so every release

must be written so that it can be easilyread by an announcer and clearlyunderstood by a listener


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Radio News Release Characteristics

Standard practice is to write a radio release using alluppercase letters in a double-spaced format

Also give the length Example: RADIOANNOUNCEMENT: 30 seconds (or :30)

The timing is vital because broadcasters fit theirmessages into a rigid time frame that is measured downto the second

Writing is more conversational, can be OK to haveincomplete or partial sentences as you would in normalconversation

Radio releases can be emailed, faxed, mailed See Radio News Release example on p. 211 See tips, How to Write a Radio News Release on page

212


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Audio News Releases

A more effective approach is to send a station arecording of the news announcement

An ANR can consist of someone reading the 15,

30 or 60 seconds of copy or it can havesomeone reading plus one or more soundbitesfrom, say, a satisfied customer, a celebrity, or acompany official or spokesperson

The second way gives station staff the option ofjust using the entire recording or just thesoundbite(s)


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ANR Steps

Production- process starts with a carefullywritten and accurately timed script; then recordthe words; make sure sound quality is the best itcan be; add music, effects

Delivery- in a survey of 305 news-talk stations,75 percent preferred to receive emailnotifications about ANRs, 20 percent wanted tobe notified via news network feeds and 10percent preferred fax notifications. Radiostations prefer to receive actualities by phone.They can also be delivered via satellitenetworks, CDs, and MP3 formats


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ANR Use

ANRs are considered a bargain compared to producingmaterial for television (p.214 examples)

Important to monitor usagemany organizations send areturn postcard on which the station can report use (low

response rate); can also call to ask if and how manytimes ANR used, then use Arbitron ratings to determinethe estimated audience

Monitoring services can scan radio and TV stations inmajor markets and give a report within 24 hours of

something being aired See ANR writing example, p. 213

More on ANRs

News Generation, Inc. website
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Audio_news_releaseshttp://www.newsgeneration.com/http://www.newsgeneration.com/http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Audio_news_releases


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Success in Radio/TV Story Placement

Topicality news is aboutissues that matter to themajority of listeners andviewers

Timeliness- strive fornow, today, tomorrow

not yesterday in stories

LocalizationIf its not

local, its probably notnews

Humanization- Show andtell how real people areaffected

Visual Appeal- Providevibrant, compellingsoundbites or videofootage that subtlypromotes, but also

illustrates and explains


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Public Service Announcements

PSAs are another category of material that PR writersprepare for radio and TV stations and networks

Defined by the FCC as an unpaid announcement thatpromotes the programs of government or nonprofitagencies or that serve the public interest

As part of their responsibility to serve the public interest,radio and TV stations provide airtime to charitable andcivic organizations, although there is no longer a legalrequirement to do so

A 2008 survey found that less than 1 percent of air timeis dedicated to PSAs. As a result, some nonprofitsnegotiate with stations to actually buy time to ensuretheir PSAs are aired

Sample Television PSA (anti-smoking)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhMT5VWB99Qhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhMT5VWB99Qhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhMT5VWB99Qhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhMT5VWB99Q


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PSA Topics

Local communityissues and events

Childrens issues

Health

Safety

Service organizations

Breast cancerOther cancers and

diseases

2008 study confirmstopics:Health- 26 percent

Fundraising- 23 percentFamily and social

concerns- 12 percent

Community

organizations andevents- 8 percent

Volunteerism- 6 percent


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TVs Irresistible Appeal

Televisions visual element sets it apart from othermedia the combination of color, movement, sound, andsight on a screen in your own living room is hard to resist

TV remains the primary source of news, information, and

entertainment for most people Local TV news attracts 150 million viewers daily; network

news reaches 30 million; prime-time national cable, 3million; and regional cable, 31 million

Network News Ratings Up

PR people should understand and keep up with ratings

TV/Cable Ratings

Zap2it.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/13/network-evening-news-rati_n_896883.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/13/network-evening-news-rati_n_896883.htmlhttp://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2007/09/01/all-our-charts/896/http://www.zap2it.com/http://www.zap2it.com/http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2007/09/01/all-our-charts/896/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/13/network-evening-news-rati_n_896883.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/13/network-evening-news-rati_n_896883.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/13/network-evening-news-rati_n_896883.html


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TV Station Organization-Whos Who(page 223)

General manager

Program director

Producers and

director

News Director

Assignment Editor

Reporters

Videographers

Public affairs or public

service director

Promotion director


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Getting Attention from TelevisionFour Approaches

Send same newsreleases you sendnewspapers

Prepare a media alertor advisory, stressingthe strong visualappeal of the story or

event

Phone or email theassignment editor orprogram producer to

make a pitch tocover a story or haveyour guest on aprogram

Write and produce aVNR video newsrelease


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Video News Releases (VNRs)

VNR is, essentially, a television releaseconverted to a finished tape (digital file) that canbe broadcast

The standard length is 90 seconds, the length

preferred by the overwhelming majority of TVnews directors

VNRS are much more expensive to producethan ANRs on average $20,000 to $50,000 for

production and distribution So youve got to decide if the cost is worth theresults you may (or may not) achieve


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VNR Disaster Prevention

Use outside experts to give credibility A VNRwith only corporate spokespeople is not a goodidea.

Dont clutter with excessive number of corporatelogos

Avoid commercialism and hype- a VNR is anews story, not a corporate ad

Avoid overproduction- slick dissolves and flashyeffects are great for music videos, but newsproducers equate it with advertising


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TV/Video Jargon/Lingo

A-roll

B-roll

CU

Dub

On cam

Pan

SOT

Super

V/O

VO/SOT

PKG

Zoom


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Fake News Controversy

TV watchdog groups have complained tothe FCC that stations using VNR contentwithout telling viewers the original source

are presenting fake news

At issue is whether PR firms and VNRproducers are adequately labeling VNR

packages with the sponsor and the client


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Satellite Media Tours (SMTs)

SMTs are widely used in the broadcast industry SMTs are essentially a series of prebooked,

one-on-one interviews from a fixed location viasatellite with a series of TV journalists and/or talk

show hosts SMTs can be used by CEOs, celebrities, sports

figures, authors and others Is a time-efficient (but expensive for satellite

time) way of giving interviews See Best Buy SMT example (p. 236) See Guidelines for a Successful SMT (p. 237)


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Scripting Audio News ReleasesCompany Letterhead(company address, phone, website, etc)

Audio News Release Contact InfoTopic: Flu Shots (like news release)

Length: :30

Script: (write in all caps and double-space)PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR LOVED ONES THIS FLU SEASON. MORE INFLUENZA

VACCINE IS AVAILABLE THAN EVER BEFORE. TALK WITH YOUR DOCTOR NOW ABOUT

IMMUNIZATION.

Soundbite :10 Dr. Andrew Remedy/ CDC Influenza Director

Incue: Flue shots are.. (for your ANR, write out entire soundbite)

Outcue: free of charge

THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM THE NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR INFECTIOUS

DISEASES.

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