There is no reason why a radio service has to include news at all, subject to any promises made in a licence application. Some highly local stations may include only local news, arguing that this is their unique selling proposition; others include news bulletins only at certain times of day. Any policy restricting the inclusion of news must however be a calculated gamble. If we accept that our listeners will leave us from time to time to get their fix of current news, particularly during a major incident or event, we trust that they will subsequently switch back to us rather than our competitors.
Consumer research by Ofcom (2007) suggests that, despite the rise of the Internet and user-generated content, traditional media continue to serve as the main suppliers of news. Although television is by far the most important medium for local, national and world news, newspapers and radio are still highly valued as news sources. Accepting that it is hard to beat the appeal of the BBC's main news channels at times of national crisis, for many stations the promise of routine news on the hour gives them comfort that the listener will not normally feel the need to switch away simply to check that all is all right with the world.
The production of mixed local, national and international bulletins every hour is nevertheless time-consuming and labour-intensive and therefore an expensive proposition for every radio service to consider. While the mixed bulletin is arguably the best option for the listener - the news leading on a local story when its significance merits it or by integrating it into a less prominent part of the bulletin if that is more appropriate - many managers question the cost. It can be hard to justify the employment of a trained journalist in collating and presenting material drawn from elsewhere rather than in newsgathering specifically of interest to the particular station.
While, with the introduction of digital systems capable of 'capturing' the audio cuts and importing them directly into the studio playout system, much of the backroom work in preparing the bulletin can now be eliminated, authoritative news presentation still requires some understanding of the stories (or at least of the correct pronunciations) and time must be spent reviewing the network content prior to presenting the live bulletin. One alternative, often practised by smaller stations, is to opt-in to the live national bulletin exactly on the hour, at peak times following it immediately with a separate sequence of news from the local area. This mirrors the traditional scheduling of many BBC and ITV regional television news programmes. However the typically shorter duration of the radio news bulletins can exacerbate difficulties when a regional story is also prominently covered in the national news.
We should make a distinction between 'THE news', a short broadcast programme presenting information about recent events and 'news'- information about important or interesting new happenings. Few radio services can survive without providing some form of news for their listeners. Without topical information a radio station is little more than a delivery channel for piped music or entertainment that might just as easily be supplied on CD or downloaded from the internet. However the days of the three-minute bulletin at the top of every hour are numbered in a developed radio market where the average listener chooses to listen to at least two or three radio stations every week. Where radio listeners used to be scared of de-tuning their radio set in case they could not find their favourite station again today's listener has no such fears. If one service provides an attractive range of music and another supplies news every hour, the listener can become their own programme controller, switching across for news whenever they feel the need while enjoying undisturbed music at other times.
While a new service might not feel the urge to provide THE news each hour, listeners expect the radio station to be expert on its own particular field. Listeners to a jazz station could reasonably expect to be kept up-to-date with relevant gigs, new recordings, etc., while any community, local or regional service should strive to become essential listening for anyone wanting to know what is going on in their patch.
Research in Australia has shown that community radio audiences want and value local news. However they want it delivered in non-traditional ways such as within specialist programmes (Meadows et al 2005). A recent small-scale survey in to how the new community stations were managing news output in the UK (Mitchell 2008) showed that news was largely produced by volunteers -there were virtually no paid reporters or newsroom staff due to there being very little training or funding for sustainable news services. The majority of community stations took IRN or similar on the hour and most of the news was produced as community events listings or specialist news provided by volunteers as part of programmes. A notable exception where the production of community news was funded and managed differently was at Bradford Community Broadcasting who have ten community reporters from different parts of Bradford contributing features to a daily programme. (See our case study in Section 3 for more detail).
There is a risk that radio management define the work of the radio journalist simply as providing the hourly news bulletins. The tradition of a comprehensive bulletin at the top of each hour was developed by the BBC long before the introduction of UK commercial and community radio. However, whilst the regular hourly bulletin may help in building listening hours with the listener being aware that, if they stay around, at an easily memorable point in each hour they will hear a complete update, this should not encourage stations to delay interesting news items for up to sixty minutes. Equally important is a feeling, which may be instilled in each listener by their regularly hearing spontaneous news updates, that they will not be missing out on any exciting news by sticking with their first choice station.
UK commercial radio stations operate under individual 'Formats' agreed with Ofcom that may define the hours during which a full news service must be supplied and community broadcasters may have made a similar commitment. While commercial broadcasters frequently complain of undue detailed restrictions imposed by their Format obligations, the Formats are largely based on promises made by the broadcasters in their original licence applications and almost all appear to have been informed by similar assumptions about the ideal distribution of news bulletins.
If in music radio it is the music that is the deciding factor in the listener's choice of stations then programmers will wish to avoid any interruption to the flow of music that does not offer substantial compensation in either audience appeal or revenue. Experience suggests that, while news is an important reason for listening to the radio first thing in the morning, it becomes less important as the day goes on. However a strength of radio broadcasting is that it is the only medium which can brief you for the day ahead while you busy yourself with other preparations. Later in the day listeners often have a much wider choice of media available to serve their information needs. In the USA many stations cease to supply local news bulletins after breakfast time.
While on smaller services the same individual may research, prepare and present the news bulletin in larger operations the functions of reporter, editor and news presenter will be separate roles. Economies of scale frequently lead to reporters providing copy and recorded reports for more than one station, editors preparing bulletins to be used by a number of services, or newsreaders appearing on more than one station. In the 1960s, when the two American operated pirate radio stations were based on the same ship off the Essex coast, Radio England used the same newsreader as Britain Radio, reading the bulletin live on-the-hour on one frequency and the on each half hour on the other. In 1967, when the BBC split the Light Programme to become Radios One and Two, they adopted the same economy measure - and the half-hour bulletins remain on BBC Radio One to this day.
Recognising that the skills of the radio journalist may be different to those of a great news presenter, particularly at the junior levels employed by many local radio services, most radio station groups have started to introduce news hubs. The individual hourly bulletins for a number of radio stations may be prepared and presented at a central location, usually at a larger station, while the journalists employed at each station focus their efforts on newsgathering on their patch. Although the pre-recording of news bulletins is officially frowned upon (Ofcom 2008: 28) this is frequently required if the same voice is to present separate hourly bulletins on more than one station. Such arrangements are undoubtedly capable of freeing solo journalists on smaller stations from the tyranny of the hourly news reading deadline, but their introduction gives rise to inevitable suspicions that the main motive for these changes is the possibility of reducing costs.
The introduction of news hubs and other co-located programming at neighbouring local stations reflects a change in attitude by the broadcast regulator Ofcom. Until recently a local service was expected to originate from within its own locality but following detailed research (Ofcom 2007) the policy on localness has been relaxed Ofcom (2008: 28) stating:
For listeners, it is the quality, relevance, timeliness and accuracy of the news that matters, not where it is read from. However, in order to provide a comprehensive local news service in touch with the area it is covering, Ofcom believes each station should have direct and accountable editorial responsibility for covering its licensed area. It also believes that the appropriate provision of professional journalistic cover, based within the licence area, on days when local news provision is a Format obligation, is a reasonable minimum expectation.For further specialist reading in the area of managing newsrooms see Chantler and Harris (1997) and Boyd (2001), and for wider critical perspectives on radio journalism see Starkey and Crisell (2008)
Unexpected news
Perhaps the greatest test of a station's news provision, and of its understanding of its listeners' attitudes and needs, comes during a major unexpected news event or tragedy. Independent Radio News has a system in place to alert its client stations to the death of major figures such as the Queen, Prince Of Wales, Prince William, Prince Harry and the Prime Minister. Known as the Obituary Procedure, or "Obit Alarm" the system can also be used in the event of a major international or national disaster such as 9/11. Stations can be alerted via an alarm signal and by messages on their news screens which will instruct them when to opt-in to a special broadcast announcement and any network programming from IRN. In the event of a royal death the next top-of-hour IRN bulletin will be five minutes long followed ay a one-minute version of the national anthem. The BBC has similar internal systems.As a mark of respect, or in recognition of the scale of the disaster, normal programming is suspended and most stations will not use any jingles or music idents, nor will any commercials or promotions be broadcast. Stations should be prepared in advance for such situations by having a compilation of more serious music prepared, recorded on CD or as a special playlist on the playout system. Depending on the music format of the station the choice of music will vary but the main aim is to avoid anything where the title, lyrics or connotations of the music could be distasteful. Instrumentals are a popular choice and common examples are Albatross by Fleetwood Mac and Song for Guy by Elton John along with a range of classical music.
Of course news of a major happening may also arrive at the studio from a range of other sources. Indeed when the Queen Mother died in 2002 staff at IRN pressed the wrong button and failed to alert their 258 stations to the news, as a result many presenters first heard the news from their TV monitors or via friends. However it is crucial that presenters are trained not to put any such announcements from other sources on-air without checking the information first. Journalists will normally wish to confirm news from two or three sources and IRN or central BBC news resources are the natural port of call.
Staff should be empowered to suspend normal programming and join network coverage where possible without waiting for senior management approval but the most senior managers will need to decide what happens next. How long to maintain special programming and which regular features and programmes should be suspended requires understanding of the expectations of the station's audience and the general mood in the country. Often the return to normal is a gradual process managed over several days. For example the first breakfast show is likely to be considerably toned down.
Programme Features
Many of the staple features of traditional radio services require input from outside suppliers and organisations with whom the manager must negotiate content guidelines, commercial terms and technical delivery arrangements. Take for example the weather forecast - a reliable and up to date summary must be a valuable option for any broadcaster. Forecasts, whilst widely available on the internet, in the press, and on TV, provided by the Meteorological Office or one of the independent forecasting companies, are generally covered by copyright. The station would be expected to pay a fee for the right to broadcast anything more than a very basic summary. UK weather centres offer such services on a commercial basis and will quote a price if given details of how many separate daily forecasts are needed, in what detail and for what area. In the commercial sector the expense of receiving a customised forecast can be offset by income from a weather sponsor, or suitable forecasts may be available without additional cost from a national news supplier. As a minimum the station will probably need to receive at least one forecast early each morning, for use in the breakfast show onwards, and another updated script in mid-afternoon that includes the outlook for tomorrow.The weather forecast also offers a clear example of the importance of identifying what information is, and is not required by the target listener. Too often valuable time in a breakfast show is occupied by a presenter quoting a detailed forecast for "overnight tonight". The listener has just woken up to a new day, what they really needs to know is what clothes to wear. Only a few listeners, such as farmers, will generally be concerned about rain in the middle of the next night, and they can receive detailed forecasts by a variety of other more efficient means. On a Tuesday lunchtime the listener will be interested in the rest of that day and the outlook for Wednesday, on a Friday lunchtime they will want to know about the weekend ahead, and the prospects for a Bank Holiday Monday. By five in the afternoon the prospects for the rest of the day generally pale into insignificance - the listener now wants to know about tomorrow.
Similar rigour should be applied to the selection of content for any traffic and travel news bulletins. The attitudes towards traffic reporting in UK radio may have been influenced by practice in the United States but it is easy to forget that "drive-time" is really no such thing for the majority of our UK listeners. In southern California there is little public transport and radio stations may have a captive audience for one and a half hours every morning and evening as listeners sit trapped, bumper to bumper, in their cars as helicopters and planes circle above reporting on every minute detail of the traffic flow. However 23 per cent of households in the UK have no car, rising to 39 per cent in London and the majority of remaining households have only one car (Transport for London 2007: 49). No great statistical analysis is required to appreciate that the majority of UK radio listeners are not going to be driving themselves anywhere in their own car today. As a result most local radio stations habitually combine news on the roads with information about buses, trains and planes.
Traffic specialists such as Trafficlink provide regular road updates to many commercial radio stations and the BBC in the form of scripted information or voiced live by their own reporters. An alternative is to combine details of planned road works, supplied by County Councils, with information from local police control rooms but the station must find someone with the time to make the necessary check calls and compile the details for the studio. However the traffic news is compiled, it is worthwhile suggesting that listeners text or call the studios (if it is safe to do so) with details of any hold-ups they may have missed, not only does this provide a free source of information, it offers another opportunity to build a bond with listeners.
The most impressive solution is to give a traffic reporter a grandstand view in a 'flying eye' helicopter or light aircraft. Helicopters cost far more to hire than light aircraft but operate nearer to the ground and in conditions of poorer visibility. The station will need a special licence to operate an outside broadcast radio link from an aeroplane and the power level will be restricted, however, due to the altitude, a remarkable range can be achieved with quite low-powered equipment. While the 'eye-in-the-sky' is superficially impressive, in practice the talkback frequency to the aircraft is frequently used to pass details of road problems up to the flying eye so that they can in turn relay them back down to the listeners. The plane cannot be everywhere at once and the station needs to ensure they don't appear to miss anything important. Aircraft are frequently hired from a flying club or aircraft charter operator at a local airport, enabling the plane to report as soon as it becomes airborne with considerable savings over paying for it to fly to and from a more distant field each day.
It is less exciting, and often harder, to obtain reliable information about public transport. Inevitably bus and rail operators may wish to receive as little publicity as possible when services fail, and cannot be relied upon to inform the media. There is no substitute for the person at the station who has the task, in the breakfast show and during the afternoon rush-hour, of ringing round the public transport companies to check on the buses, trains, ferries and 'planes. A rapport hopefully develops with the people at the other end, who may even remember to text or ring the station when anything unexpected happens.
The choice of whether the main show presenter should read the traffic news depends on the station style. In a fast moving "morning team" style of show it may be thought better to use a separate voice who often develops into another character in their own right. If the traffic news is a minor feature in an otherwise straightforward specialist music format then it is best presented in a low-key way by the regular voice.
Phone - Ins
Some of the greatest editorial challenges in radio are met during a live topical phone-in where critical editorial decisions must often be made within seconds and usually by the presenter themselves. There is no time for upward-referral or an exchange of email, the manager can only prepare the ground, set clear guidelines and provide the tools for the presenter to respond appropriately to any likely scenario.One common precaution is to route the phone-in programme through a electronic delay which when fed with the completed programme at their input reproduce it a few seconds later at their output. Commonly the delay can be built up over a period of a few minutes of speech, the unit imperceptibly lengthening the pauses between words until the required delay, usually around seven seconds, is achieved. The presenter and/or producer is armed with a button in the studio which when pressed immediately 'dumps' the last seven seconds of audio - to the listener it is as if they never happened. If the call is faded out and a suitable comment made any contentious material can be edited from the 'live' programme, it is a question of judgement whether the caller may be allowed to continue, after a suitable admonishment, or is dropped from the programme or even banned from all future participation.
Effective use of the 'dump' button requires split-second decision-making but often the experienced presenter will be forewarned by danger signals, finger hovering over the button. A long build-up to a joke, or when a caller is accompanied by voices in the background, creaking doors, whispering or giggling, suggest that the presenter should be prepared to get rid of the call at any moment. Although often referred to as 'profanity delay' UK experience suggests such systems are used as frequently to remove legally contentious material as to censor obscene or offensive language.
There is no statutory requirement to employ a delay in live broadcasts in the UK, and many stations do not have the facility. It has however been suggested, for a station challenged in the courts for the broadcast of contentious comments, the worst-case scenario is for the station to have such equipment and not to have employed it.
Among the issues the manager must anticipate, in no particular order, are:
Editorial control
The presenter must recognise that, on a minute-by-minute basis, they have the authority and responsibilities of the producer or editor of the programme. While there may be a telephone assistant making choices on the selection of participants and topics it is the presenter who makes the ultimate decisions.Presentation
Depending on format and available audience, the manager may require the presenter to adopt the manner of a 'shock-jock' or of an agony-aunt, or any style in between, but the presenter should usually appear responsible, prepared to listen, ready to put an opposing point of view and, above all, to be approachable to a potential caller from the station's target listener base. Ideally there are three distinct phases to the perfect 'phone-in call:1. The presenter helps the caller to put across their point of view, developing their argument with phrases such as: "so are you suggesting.....?" or "and when exactly is this happening?"
2. If appropriate, the presenter challenges the caller without giving away his/her own personal viewpoint, using phrases such as: "But surely many people would argue that..." or "But other people believe that...."
3. If the caller has the potential to contribute further, the presenter moves the caller onto another topic, if necessary repeating the first two phases.
The presenter must keep the programme moving. They should not stretch a call just because they do not have another one to go to, nothing kills a phone-in faster than a long boring call. The programme should have a sense of momentum, if it is broken for music, news bulletins or advertisements it can be a mistake to announce that it will be returning to the same caller or topic after the break. Any listener uninterested in the current contribution may take the pause as an opportunity to switch off. It is far better to offer a change after the break, while trailing a possible return to the previous topic a little later.
Taste and decency
Phone in presenters must remember that the station's guidelines on taste and decency apply in all respects to material in 'phone-in programmes, even when uttered by a listener rather than the presenter. There is no 'watershed' at 9 pm in radio. Audience expectations of different services at different times of day vary considerably and these are increasingly considered by Ofcom when deliberating on any alleged lapse of standards. While callers may occasionally start to move away from good taste, the presenter must never lower the tone of the discussion. If something contentious is broadcast any offence can be substantially minimised if the presenter immediately and sincerely apologises for the comment or expression used by the contributor.Personal bias
While there is no specific ban on radio presenters having their own point of view, only a requirement for the station's programmes when taken as a whole to be fair and impartial, in practice a 'phone-in presenter should hesitate before giving away his or her own position on any matter of current controversy. Aside from the complexities of ensuring an adequate supply of opposing views, once the listeners know the presenter's real views their ability to act as a devils advocate in future discussions becomes severely limited.Advice and counselling
Whilst the radio presenter may perform a useful function just by listening to a person's problems, they must be careful not to offer advice that could turn out to be misleading or even harmful. If the station runs a phone-in on personal issues, or a general phone-in which may attract needy callers, the manager should endeavour to ensure a list of contact details for reputable local help and advice organisations are compiled and kept available at the 'phone-in switchboard. It may on occasions be most responsible to refer a caller directly to an organisation that can offer experienced and trained help without putting the caller on the air.Politics
Licensed broadcast channels are required to maintain a balance over a series of programmes. There is, generally, no reason why a political figure cannot spontaneously contribute to a phone-in programme providing the same access is available to equivalent figures of other parties in future programmes. The position is slightly different where the political figure is specifically invited to take part; in such a case the manager should ensure a similar invitation is extended to representatives of the other relevant major parties. An exception is if they are not appearing in a political context but to plug a cookery book or perform on the spoons, in which case political balance is not an issue. In the 'pending period' before an election far more stringent rules apply and many 'phone-ins, while still dealing with the issues in a fair and balanced way, choose not to permit anyone standing for office to participate.Libel
Any statement which implies a lack of honesty, ability, competence or skill on the part of any person or body may be defamatory. If it is broadcast then it does not matter whether the words are said by the presenter or a listener participating in the programme, the presenter and the station can be held responsible. Listeners are unlikely to be aware that it is not safe to repeat a defamatory statement previously uttered by someone else in a newspaper or on the internet; nor safe because they personally know it to be true - unless they could prove it to the standard required by a court of law; or safe merely because it does not name the person or organisation concerned. The manager must ensure a phone-in presenter realises that the test of a libel action is whether the words are such as would reasonably lead even one person acquainted with the plaintiff to believe they were the person referred to. While journalists are able to use the defences of justification, fair comment, and privilege, these are quite technical and cannot usually apply to a live phone-in where the presenter is unable to instantly check the accuracy or source of the statements being made by a caller.Court cases
When a major crime or trial is in the headlines, listeners will naturally wish to comment on the reports during a phone-in. Such comments must not be broadcast, and station's guidelines should stress that callers are required to confine themselves to a general discussion of crime and punishment not the details of a specific active case. Court reporters know that it is usually an offence to identify any juvenile involved in court proceedings, or the victim of a sexual offence but ordinary phone-in callers who personally know the case may blurt them out and the availability of a delay system can be invaluable in preventing potential contempt of court.Selection of callers
A few loyal listeners can hijack a programme and make it their own club if not subjected to careful controls. Depending on format and size of the market the manager should discuss this issue with the presenter, possibly setting a limit on how often an individual caller may appear on the show. In the interests of growing the audience 'first time callers' should be constantly encouraged and positively welcomed to the programme.While occasional live contributions can be included between other items in most programmes without noticeable additional effort or expense, the continuous talk-radio style phone-in usually requires additional resources so that a telephone assistant may screen callers and select a steady flow for the studio. Specialist broadcast telephone systems, now usually software driven, allow the assistant to answer all incoming calls while forwarding two or three to the studio at any time. The host may be presented on-screen with a name, line number and brief description of the topic and is free to switch each caller onto a desk fader when required. While lining up the next couple of calls prevents a hiatus in the event of an on-air caller hanging up or becoming boring, it can require the listener to hold a call for a considerable time while waiting in the queue. The station must decide if it can afford to ring all callers back, saving their telephone bills and with the additional advantage of giving some confirmation of their identity.
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