Production Guidelines

Suggestions

One of the show's strong points has been its ability to help people make connections between events and ideas which are normally disconnected by the mainstream media, so each show should strive to connect with themes and ideas from previous shows, and should also make connections between the different items. The best way to understand this show is, of course, to listen to a bunch of previous episodes.

Content

Choose one of the beta grade proposals in the studio (a title beginning with 'B'). These include enough suggested media to make up the show.

Timing

Show structure can vary to suit the material, of course, but a typical shows goes something like this:

hour #1

* 4 min  - Credits, introduction
* 55 min - Main presentation

hour #2

* 5 min  - Music (for commercial break/station identification)
* 52 min - 2-3 shorter pieces, with commentary
* 2 min  - Wrap up, end credits

Hour #1 has to stand alone, unintroduced (at least for new listeners), while hour #2 should mean more because of its position after hour #1, so could involve more complex ideas which build on the earlier material. One suggestion would be, to have hour #1 outlining a general trend, and hour #2 giving specific instances (or vice versa). Music is especially good to give listeners a break after complex material, or to lighten up otherwise heavy stuff.

What to Say

Your main role as show producer is to edit and select material rather than to speak. Your speech should amplify the messages of the speaker(s) and help the audience link their ideas together. You will be much more familiar with the material than most of the audience, so it is good to prepare them by going over the speakers' key points, perhaps clarifying important terms if the speakers use any, etc. When you introduce material, remember to state who is speaking, on what occasion, where and when. Especially if you've got an otherwise fairly dark show, try to end the show on a positive, looking at people who are making a difference and tackling the issues raised in the show.

Current Events

Linking to current events may be good if there happens to be a very topical link, but it's not needed - this is not a news show. Bear in mind that one of the show's strong points is its ability to stay relevant several years after being produced.

Consistency

As a regular listener to the show, you should appreciate the efforts made towards consistency in tone. Like most regular shows, it has a pretty consistent introduction and set of wrap up lines with credits for the music, etc. Just following these will be a good start towards establishing consistency.

Volume

You may need to adjust the volume (Effects/Amplify in Audacity) of content to try to keep it roughly the same for different audio segments. The volume level of speech should generally be about -3dB, and should not go above 0dB - since this risks annoying other radio stations. If in doubt, load a recent episode into your audio editor for comparison.

Rules

1. Only Speak what's interesting and true ☺
2. To fit our radio slots, the total show must be 119 minutes. (Traditionally, it is produced as 2 part of 59½ minutes each).
3. The audio files should be as follows (they'll be about 27.2 MB each, or 27.3 MB if you add the MP3 logo).

Codec	MPEG 2 Audio, Layer 3 (MP3)
Channels	Mono
Sample rate	22050 Hz
Bitrate	64k