DOCUMENTING SOURCES IN YOUR NEWS STORIES
by Leah Kohlenberg
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Who is the most appropriate source for information about how local politicians destroy the economy by holding onto municipal property:
An economist, or a local city resident who is disgusted with government?
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FACT VERSUS ASSUMPTION: KNOWING WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW
by Leah Kohlenberg
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GORIS, Armenia - I hold up a photograph of a man planting flowers in front of a large skyscraper."What's a fact about this photograph?" I ask the group of seven professional journalists gathered for a workshop called, technically, a "Masters class on issues reporting."
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MAC Consultation
May 1-Sept. 30
by Leah Kohlenberg
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My work as a MAC consultant has evolved in an amazing way over the past few months, tied to the various printed supplements we’ve been producing here on everything from women in the workplace to local elections.
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The Radio Calendar
by Rich McClear
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Year in and year out there are things you can predict. There will be Christmas, there will be national holidays, school terms will start. Right now our stations in Alaska are awash in ads targeting parents with all sorts of “back to school” related specials.
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What is this story about? Why am I looking at this picture?
The importance of good headlines and photo captions in news
by Leah Kohlenberg
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All too often, I see Armenian journalists missing a key opportunity to enhance interest and excitement in their news stories – by not taking advantage of headlines and photo captions.
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New Year Ideas for Your Station
by Rich McClear
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The turning of the year is a time when people reflect on what has happened over the past 12 months. I work with a lot of stations in the course of the year and when I look back I find ideas in one region that I can share with stations in another. In past years I have shared some of your ideas in other regions so it’s only fair that you benefit from ideas hatched in other places.
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Salesmanship Begins When the Customer Says No
by Rich McClear
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Recently I sent a letter to one of the Armenian stations answering a question and realized that the answer to the question may help everyone. The question was common.
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Covering a “people’s agenda.”
by Rich McClear
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You just had parliamentary elections in Armenia and you are about to have presidential elections. If Armenia is anything like any other country where I have worked, the politicians like to set the agenda. They want to talk about what THEY think is right for the country, or more accurately, what fits their agenda. Politicians want to mold public opinion to set the agenda. It is the job of independent media to allow people to mold public opinion, to help set the “People’s agenda.”
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THE INTERVIEW: DIRECT QUOTES AND SUMMARIZING STATEMENTS
by Leah Kohlenberg |
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The interview is the one crucial skill all good journalists need in their toolbox.
It is also a complex process. Reporters must formulate, remember and be willing to ad-lib questions, distinguish between relevant and extraneous information, and identify good quotes – all under time pressure. Though not every reporter will write about or approach or question an interview subject in the same way, they need to be able to convey their impressions in powerful and direct language with good writing flow.
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Fast Forward.
by Rich McClear |
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Fast Forward. Does anyone remember that term? It is what we used to do with reel-to-reel tape when we wanted to cue ahead to another part of the program. “Fast Forward” is the way the radio business seems to be going. And if you don’t think forward you can wind up bankrupt like the New York Central Railroad. The New York Central thought of itself as a railroad and not as a transportation company. If it had thought “off the rails” Americans might now be flying an airline called “New York Central,” or perhaps shipping goods in containers marked “New York Central,” containers that travel on ships, truck beds, and yes, even on rails.
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HARD NEWS STORY STRUCTURE BY RE-WRITING FAIRY TALES
by Leah Kohlenberg |
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Want to write a hard news story, but don't know how to begin?
The structure of a hard news story is vastly different than that of a narrative tale. The main action of a hard news story is summarized up front, and then the details are expounded upon in subsequent paragraphs. That's unlike the narrative story structure, where details are delivered in a chronological manner and the main action, or event, occurs at the end of the story.
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Fish Where the Fish Are
by Rich McClear
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I’m from Alaska where fishing is a major part of our economy. Fishermen have a saying “Fish where the fish are.” It does you no good to fish where you think the fish are if they are not there. There’s a lesson here for radio program directors. You need to know when your target listener is listening to the radio or when your listener can be enticed to listen to the radio.
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Radio Advertising Networks
by Rich McClear
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Radio stations in smaller markets often have trouble selling enough advertising to make money. One way for stations in smaller markets to get advertising money is to band together and create virtual networks that deliver listeners to advertisers. Such networks can offer the advertiser flexibility, mixing national ads with local cut-away ads.
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IS FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHY DEAD?
by Mark Milstein
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It is hard to overstate how the profession of editorial photography is endangered. Magazines and newspapers all seem to be marching in lockstep towards demanding either "work for hire" agreements giving them total rights to material shot on assignment, or other exorbitant demands on the people who helped to provide the original material which publications depended upon to distinguish themselves.
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Radio, Revolutionary Stealth
by Rich McClear
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Experts pronounced Radio dead 52 years ago. But no one told Radio. Radio has continued to reward those with the creativity to use it well and continued to bite those who forget to take it seriously. Ignore radio, especially local radio, at your peril.
In 1954 the experts said TV had replaced radio. Video killed the Radio Star. TV was king. Radio stations in the US sold at a fraction of their value until a series of entrepreneurs, living far away from the cultural centers in places like Kansas City and Cleveland, found that Radio could serve a new group of listeners ignored by the media establishment.
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Selling Radio Packages
by Rich McClear
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Selling radio advertising is harder than selling refrigerators. You can see a refrigerator, you can open the door and watch the light go on, you can take a beer from a refrigerator and it’s cold. You know immediately how a refrigerator helps you. You can’t hold radio time in your hand. While you can listen to a radio commercial, you can’t see a radio commercial. It is often difficult for the advertiser to determine if the commercials you run actually bring customers into a store. That is why smart radio sales people put together packages that give your sales people something to sell that is concrete, or at least provides results the advertiser can see. The best packages bring people into a business and demonstrate the ability of a radio station to motivate its listeners.
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