Pitch Workshop
We’ll discuss your pitches for your radio stories.
Practice Exercise
Find a family member/friend/partner to interview or pair up with a classmate. Take turns interviewing each other (over the phone, if necessary, and share your recordings with each other) about something they’ve done this summer (whether their job, how they’ve adapted to life in the pandemic, maybe they bought a bike so they can get around the city more safely, etc). Remember to ask open-ended questions. Interviews should be 3-5 minutes long. Record some natural sound if there is any.
When you’re finished, save your sound files to the computer (and send them to your partner if you did the interview remotely). Transcribe your interview. Pick out your top three sound bites and write a short script following this format:
—
Host intro: (Here, the host will give background info and introduce you, the reporter. You can have a friend record this part if you like.)
AMBI1: (This is where your scene-setting natural sound will go, and it will fade down under your track.)
AMBI2: (As the nats fade down, this is where your room tone will come in. You’ll keep it at a normal volume behind all of your narration.)
TRACK: (Describe where you are and introduce the person you’re interviewing.)
ACT: (Sound bite #1.)
TRACK: (More background info, set up next sound bite.)
ACT: (Sound bite #2.)
TRACK: (More background info, set up next sound bite.)
ACT: (Sound bite #3.)
TRACK: (Use your narration to wrap things up, often by looking towards the future in some way, and then sign off. “For Baruch College, this is __ ___ in New York City/your borough.”)
Recording Narration
- Record your narration in an improvised at-home “studio.” Aim to record in a space that absorbs sound: a room with carpeting, curtains, bedding, etc. Some tried-and-true methods that radio journalists use in a pinch is to go in their closet or simply to throw a blanket over their head. Take a look at the way some WNYC journalists are setting themselves up at home for inspiration: https://twitter.com/WNYC/status/1239896211903086592
- Conduct interviews over the phone and record them.
- If your subject is willing and has access to a landline or a borrowed phone, ask them to record a “tape sync” for you by recording their end of the call with their Voice Memos app (or equivalent) and then sending you the file along with at least 90 seconds of room tone. Make sure they know where the phone mic is located (on iPhones, it’s on the bottom of the phone.) Make sure you record the call from your end, too, as a backup.
- To record a call from your end, there are a few options. 1) Google Voice is free to use: create a number, route it to your phone and press “4” during any call to start recording. 2) TapeACall is also a great app which lots of professionals use, but it’s not free. 3) Put the phone on speaker and record it with your audio recorder or a borrowed phone.
- Download Audio Hijack, which allows you to record the system audio from your computer for up to ten minutes. This will allow you to grab audio from Cuomo/de Blasio press conferences, YouTube or Instagram videos, etc., depending on what you’re covering.
- Record natural sound only if it’s something you can do at home or by going for a solitary walk or bike ride outside and from a distance of greater than six feet. You can also use clips of audio from online videos as natural sound if relevant to the story (like the Iceland screaming story we listened to).
For Wednesday:
Post your script to the class blog *and record your narration* by class time on Wednesday. We will use your script and sound from this exercise to edit together a practice radio story that day in Audacity.