Main Task

THE MAIN TASK

For our main task we had to produce a 5 minute local radio news broadcast. The production team consists of:
Elle Gilbert (me) Producer/Continuity
Ryan Murphy Presenter
Sid Jackson Co-Producer
Redwan Guled Co-Presenter

The first thing we needed to do as a group is create a plan. We did this plan as a flow chart because it is easy to read and is very simplistic to follow. Also as it was a plan we wanted it to be brief and in not too much detail. We wanted it to outline the main components of our show.

Tools and resources we used

To make our radio show we needed to use certain tools and resources to record the broadcast. The main tool was audacity. This is where we did most of our recording for our show. We used tools such as the time shift tool and the envelope tool. Audacity is a free software we downloaded and were able to use for free.

We used a collection of sites known as the Creative Commons. These sites include www.soundcloud.com, www.freesound.org, www.freemusicarchive.com

We also used the site which you are on now, blogger. This is where we documented all of our decisions for the broadcast and all of our pre-research and planning, which took up a lot of our time. 

Another key website we used to complete our radio show was soundcloud. This is another free website which we used to upload our finished main task. I also used it to upload the 5 minute radio show which I analysed the codes and conventions from, I would not of been able to do this if it wasn't for soundcloud. 

We got most of our sound effects and jingle from the website freesound. This is also a free website which has thousands of sounds which you can download for free.

The Physical components we used for our radio show were as equally important as the software. The USB Microphone is one of the most important components, as without it we would not have got the clear and professional recordings which made the radio show realistic.

Along with the USB microphone we also used a portable microphone. We used this to record the outside broadcasts we did outside of the building. These recordings were the two interviews.

Our group decdied to tailor our radio show around the area of Maida Vale. We chose Maida Vale because it is local to our group, two of the members live in Maida Vale and this way we could actually access the area and research the target audience. To create this radio show we needed to use certain tools and resources. The main thing we edited our radio show on was a free software called audacity. We used this software because it is easy to use and has a lot of tools which are necessary for editing our show, For example the envelope tool is useful because we can lower the volume of a certain piece of your radio show without deamplifying it.

Editing our radio show

When creating our radio show we each took it in turns to edit certain sections. This made for co-operative teamwork and an overall good radio show. I took on the editing first as i had previous knowledge of the software audacity. Here are some screenshots of the editing I undertook.

This is a screenshot of me editing. As you can see i am clipping boundaries.

In this I am labelling the tracks.

In this I am using a tool called the deamplifying tool.

In this is am editing using the noise removal tool.



 

This is a screenshot of the Headlines being edited by me.



In order to get to know our presenter on a bit more of a personal scale we have devised a poster which tells you everything you need to know about Ryan. It tells you his name, date of birth, nationality and hobbies. This is enough to entice someone, as if they see this they may strike and interest and want to know more, so it could potentially lure them into listening to our media product which is a 5 minute local radio show.

The Script

Running order	Script	Timing and Effects
1 – Continuity	Continuity Announcer: Bringing you the latest news every morning, it’s Maida News Flash	4 seconds – Intro music and SFX of a bell
2 – Intro	Presenter: Good morning I’m Elle Gilbert it is Friday 3rd of April and here are your headlines at 8am.	5 seconds - Jingle
3 - Headlines	Presenter: Firstly, man obsessed with saw films jailed for 30 years	3 seconds – part of jingle
	Presenter: Pensioner arrested 28 years after alleged rape on a woman in south London	4 seconds - part of jingle
	Presenter: Heartbreak strikes all as Maida Vale schoolboy is killed in tragic horse riding accident	4 seconds - part of jingle
	Presenter: England’s poorest spend 13 billion on gambling machines	2 seconds - part of jingle
	Presenter: The number of 18 year olds attending university rises, but is this the same in all areas?	5 seconds - part of jingle
	Presenter: Rock band the killers perform intimate gig for 35 fans at Maida Vale Studio	4 seconds
	Presenter: And 5 jailed over fake film tax scam in Maida Vale	3 seconds - part of jingle
4	Presenter: First, this morning’s main headline	1.5 seconds
First Story	Presenter: 25 year old Matthew Tinling brutally stabbed and murdered his former neighbour Richard Hamilton 17 times in the head neck and legs in a vicious attempt to recreate saw 6	10 seconds
	Presenter: He killed him in a hostel for the homeless in which they both lived in Shirland road	3 seconds
	Presenter: Judge Timothy described the attack as vicious and savage whilst he was sentencing Tinling	4 seconds
	Presenter: Tinling was sentenced to at least 30 years at the Old Bailey on Friday.	3 seconds
	Presenter: Now over to our Crime Correspondent, Jonathan Rodgers who is at Marylebone Magistrates court with the owner of the Hostel	5 seconds
Start of first OB	Crime Correspondent: Thank you Elle	1 second – Street Sounds
	Crime Correspondent: I am now stood with the owner of the hostel, Melanie Gold.	3 seconds
	Crime Correspondent: When this awful incident took place, where were you?	2.5 seconds
	Owner of hostel: Well it happened during the middle of the night and I was sleeping and I wasn’t notified until the morning.	4 seconds
	Crime Correspondent: And who notified you that this event had occurred and how did you react to it?	3.5 seconds
	Owner of hostel: It was about 7 o’clock in the morning and one of the workers called me and said something horrific has happened, you know I didn’t know what to expect really until I got there. By the time I arrived there was police, the building was taped off and a tent had been put up. I was shocked	13 seconds
	Crime Correspondent: This was a truly awful occurrence, thank you Miss Gold	3 seconds
End of first OB	Crime Correspondent: Back to you Elle, in the studio	3 seconds
5	Presenter: Thanks Jonathan	1.5 seconds
Second Story	Presenter: Lyndon Plumber was arrested 28 years after and alleged rape on a woman in west London. He bumped into the victim in a pub where she recalled the double attack. Plumber denies the two accounts of rape and the trial at Southwark Crown Court continues.	13 seconds
6 – Third Story	Presenter: Local boy 11-year-old Medi Mehra crashed into a tree after losing control of his horse last week.	5 seconds – SFX: Fade in  sounds of outdoors
	Presenter: Our Health Correspondent Redwan Guled is at Oxfordshire Polo Club with, William Newman, a witness to the tragic event.	6 seconds
Start of second OB	Health Correspondent: So tell me Mr Newman, what actually happened?	3 seconds – Street Atmo
	William Newman: I thought I’d push Medi a bit more and told him to take the stirrups off and have a canter. I lost sight of him over the hill and heard him scream. When I found Medi he was lying by a tree and had blood coming from his nose and ears. I obviously hugely underestimated the horse’s quietness. It’s something I regret hugely.	15 seconds SFX: horses snorting and trotting
End of second OB	Health Correspondent: Thanks Mr Newman, back to you Elle	2 seconds
7	Presenter: Thanks Redwan, this is clearly a heart-rending tragedy.	2 seconds
Fourth Story	Presenter: Gambling rates are at an all time high	1 second
	Presenter: But it’s not the millionaires in Vegas, what you’d expect, as our leisure correspondent Joe Austin found out on Kilburn High Road.	5 seconds
Start of third OB	Leisure Correspondent: What do you think about the use of betting machines nowadays?	2.5 seconds - SFX of road atmo
	Gambler: well they’re unproductive for young kids who go in there, but lots of them a re on drugs so they got a lot of money anyways, me personally I don’t touch them, I’m a horse man myself.	7 seconds
	Leisure Correspondent: How have the betting machines changed how betting shops are like?	4 seconds
	Gambler: What it comes down to people just kind of go in there because they’re drawn to them. They can’t keep away.	5 seconds
End of third OB	Leisure Correspondent: Thanks Sir, Now back to the studio	2 seconds
8 – Fifth Story	Presenter: Thanks Joe, For the first time there are now more than half a million 18 year olds at university.	6 seconds
	Today's UCAS figures show that ten out of twenty 18 year old are studying for degrees.	4 seconds
	But this is not true for every part of Britain. In Cornwall for example, only THREE out of TWENTY 18 year olds attend university whereas here in Maida Vale the figure is TWELVE out of TWENTY. Our Education Correspondent Megan Ryan is out and about…. Discovering why?	15 seconds
	Education Correspondent:
Sixth Story	Presenter: Legendary rock band The Killers performed a very small and special concert last night at Maida Vale Studios. Over to our Entertainment Correspondent Rachel Barratt who is talking to a lucky few who managed to attend the concert.	10 seconds
Start of fourth OB	Entertainment Correspondent: Thank you Elle, I am here with Ted, an attendee to last night’s Killers concert.	4 seconds
	Entertainment Correspondent: So Ted, how was the Killer’s concert?	2 seconds
	Concert Attendee: The Killers’ concert was absolutely phenomenal and that was simply because it had me at the edge of my seat throughout the whole time. I know people might disagree with me, but it is all-opinionated and to be honest I love the atmosphere that was created within the arena. Also The Killers’ concert was exciting yet unique in some way, as you don’t see other concerts having the same thrill and bringing the same style of presenting.	15 seconds
End of fourth OB	Entertainment Correspondent: Thanks Ted, now back to the Maida News Flash studio.	3 seconds
10 – Seventh Story	Presenter: Lastly, 5 individuals have been jailed for four years for abusing the applications for VAT repayment and claiming film tax credits used to encourage the film industry.	9.5 seconds
	Presenter: Bashar Al-Issa, Tariq Hassan, Osama Al Baghdady, Ian Sherwood and Aoife Madden stole almost £3million pounds between April 2010 and April 2011.	10 seconds
11	Presenter: That’s all we have time for today, the time is 8:06, now over to Ron Burgundy for the weekly weather forecast.	6 seconds – SFX outro music

Codes and Conventions of our radio show.

In order to deem our radio show 'successful' it needs to have met the same codes and conventions all other radio shows follow, which I found in my research and planning. To demonstrate the codes and conventions we used I have taken snippets, which can also be called codes/conventions from our radio show and embedded them into this blog.

1. Introduction/Continuity 

At the beginning of all radio shows, ours included, there is an announcer introducing the show clearly. They usually state the name of the radio station, the time at which it is broadcasted e.g morning, midday, evening and what it is delivering. As you can hear for yourself ours does all three of those things. 

2. Jingle

The first thing I with radio is the catchy and unique jingle at the beginning. This jingle is the be-all and end-all of your show. It is the first thing the listener hears when they tune in and if it is boring and dull they will switch over. So we decided that we wanted a unique jingle that's more professional sounding than friendly and more sharp tones so that the audience is enticed rather than put into the boring zone. 

3. Outro

The Outro is important because it brings a rounded conclusion to our radio show. It enables the show to exit the way it came in, in a similar track. I took a track from freesound and used the beginning as the intro and the end of the track as an outro.

4.  Vox Pops

a vox pops is essential in our radio show, as it tests the public's opinion and reaction and incoperates the public's view into our show. When the viewers see its public orientated it will make them more interested in listening to our show. 

5. Outside Broadcast

For our radio show we needed to include two oustide broadcasts, this is an extract from the second one, from the killer's concert.

Rejected Audio

In our radio show we recorded two oustide broadcasts which we needed in our radio show. This is an example of our first recording with the owner of a hostel in Shirland road. Overall we got a very good interview from her and she spoke for a total of 2:45. This was longer than we required so i had to cut it down. After we done this we only kept the audio that was suited to the show. The other bits of the interview were then called the 'rejected audo' in which you can see below.  

Maida News Flash Finished