February 18 2005

This is the last one that I'll be posting here. Please point yourselves over to Radio116.com. New RSS/podcasting feed is here.

[radio116.20050218.mp3 [21.1 MB (46:02) 64 kbps]

Server migration

So I've migrated the blog over to a different server, Radio116.com (sorry, Mike) -- for greater flexibility and ease-of-use.

Our new RSS/podcasting feed is here.

Radio 116 - February 11 2005

New Radio 116 podcast is up! Working on getting everything centralized onto one server, but more on that later. In the meantime, enjoy.

[radio116.20050211.mp3 [20.3 MB (44:28) 64 kbps]

Musings

Scripts: The more scripts in the control room, the merrier. The board op in particular really needs to have one.

Producers: If you're bouncing to MD and you mess it up for whatever reason, delete the bad track immediately. It makes it much easier for the Control Room folks. Also (this is for the EP/SP) make sure that the order on the MDs matches the order of the show, not like what we had last week. Also, it helps a lot to label the tracks on the MD (I don't mean writing on the paper labels, I mean using a digital label viewable from the MD player). If you don't know how to do this, ask me.

Pronunciations: Iraq = ee-ROQ (not eye-RAK) ; Iraqi = ee-ROQ-ee (not eye-RAK-ee) ; Iran = ee-RON (not eye-RAN) ; Iranian = ee-RON-ee-ahn (not eye-RAIN-ee-an).

Subway Tech

This is a test of the podcasting feed.

[radio116.subwaytech.20050211.mp3 [1.3 MB (3:00) 64 kbps]

The first broadcast and the role of the newscaster

Congratulations to everybody who worked so hard on the first broadcast. I think it all went surprisingly well considering we didn't have a rehearsal. And, it should only get better from here. Our EP put in a terrific effort and the team worked well together.

As for the newscast, I am really disappointed in myself. Both my writing and my deIivery were not up to my standards. Here's what went wrong:

I made too many assumptions about how long it would take to prepare. These were based on my use of another wire system in a different environment. Even the G5s in the Mac lab (with MS Word) provided a smoother working environment during our drill session than the one I found myself using last week. So, when it came time to write my cast, I found I had to get used to using ENPS all over again, plus learn the idiosyncricities of our new word processing software. In the end, I was way behind and had to go on air with an inferior script that I didnt have enough time to edit or practice.

I take full responsibility for the outcome. There is always going to be some reason to blame the system or the environment. But, in the end, I should have anticipated some such problem and given myself more time to make mistakes.

So, future newscasters, be warned. Manage your time better than I did: get a rough draft of your newscast out by 3 PM and then fine-tune it before you air.

Hope this helps.

Announcing the birth of Radio116

Welcome to Radio116.

Established on February 11, 2005, this is the official BLOG of the Spring 2005 Radio Workshop at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Stay tuned for updates on our forthcoming weekly broadcasts!

--The Radio116 Production Team