It seems that a lot of people at some time in their lives have wanted to become radio presenters. Now, with community broadcasting firmly established in Australia and many other countries, aspirants can have their dreams easily fulfilled. Community radio really is for everyone. Age is no restriction. Many people become presenters after their retirement. Others contribute to radio while they are still attending school.
At the present time, there are one hundred and twenty community broadcasting stations in Australia, including those catering for print-handicapped listeners, with a further sixty stations planned to start transmission in the near future. Each of these stations needs presenters to fill on-air time. In addition to the presenters, many others are required for a wide variety of tasks - writing material, gathering and presenting the news, preparing community news bulletins (the 'what's on' segments of many programs) editing tapes, recording interviews, and anything else that goes into making radio enjoyable for its listeners.
While many people would like to write for radio, they do not know how to go about developing their ideas, or, once basic ideas are written down, how to develop them into material suitable for radio. Consequently, most programs on community radio stations are music programs. The aim of this course is to show that there is much, much more to radio than being just another disc jockey.
What's community radio all about then? It's about entertaining people. It's about educating them. It's about amusing them. It's a process of enriching the lives of others.
At the same time, it should be a process whereby you, the writer or presenter of programs on community radio, are fulfilled by being creative - producing and presenting programs that are fresh and original.
Whatever area of community radio you eventually decide to specialise in, you must learn the art of writing for radio. As a writer and presenter on your community radio station, you can decide on the program content for your audience. Good radio is all about using the right words, and the right amount of those words.
We look at writing styles that are suitable for radio. We consider the choice of words, the audience, building up your script (particularly for longer scripts), script length. We also look at a number of points that are worth considering for any material presented on air.
Community radio can play an important role in its capacity to present interesting and relevant news. We look at good news and bad news, avoiding lopsided adjectives - that is, getting it right. It's about writing the news that's appropriate to your particular audience. We also consider aspects of news such as timing and depth, the length of each news segment, facts and distortions, and presenting your news bulletin at the most appropriate times.
A radio documentary is more than a mere presentation of the facts. A documentary should be an in-depth examination and consideration of an issue from a number of angles, including interviews with, and debates between, people with opposing views on a central issue. All aspects should be considered in a well-developed, unbiased manner. As a writer of a radio documentary, your role will be to tie in all the sections of the program, the interviews, and discussions. Local issues are important to local communities, although, of course, State or national issues may encroach on local issues. So, what would be a typical issue worth making a documentary about, and what should be left out? Find out, when you develop a short radio documentary.
Radio drama enjoyed success and popularity until the 1950s and 1960s when television took over as the preferred entertainment medium.
The good news is that radio dramas are making a come-back.
Writing radio drama is a specialised field of writing, but if you can write it, you are bound to entertain many listeners, and have tremendous fun in the process. Learn all about writing radio drama, creating tension, creating characters, developing dramatic conflict, and creating the setting using only dialogue and sound effects. During this lesson, you will write a short radio drama, create characters, put them into the setting of your choice, make them talk, behave or misbehave, and you will put them into conflict with the other characters you have created. It's lots of fun!
By now you will have had a taste of the main areas of writing for radio - writing scripts to make your program come alive, writing radio dramas, writing a radio documentary, and writing and present news.
Now you can specialise. Select one - or all three subjects of the previous lessons if you like - and develop your skills in one or more of these areas you have already touched on. The choice is yours, but the benefit belongs to your listeners, as well as to yourself.
Your tutor
Your tutor for the online writing course You're On Air will be Graham Andrews. Graham is a published author, freelance writer, scientific editor and technical writer with over 25 years experience in writing, editing and publication production. He is the author of the book You're On Air, published by Currency Press, Sydney.
We provide individual tuition
You will work with your tutor on a one-to-one basis where he provides instruction and supervision at each step of the writing process. Submit your outline or your first draft and your tutor will guide you through the whole of the writing process. He will advise you of ways to improve your work to make it interesting and meaningful. Together, you will create dynamic radio presentations that will be sought after by your audience.
This course takes about six months to complete. Most students require about 120 hours work to complete the assignments and write their scripts.
The online writing course You're On Air costs $295 AUD (about $280 USD)
At the present time, there are one hundred and twenty community broadcasting stations in Australia, including those catering for print-handicapped listeners, with a further sixty stations planned to start transmission in the near future. Each of these stations needs presenters to fill on-air time. In addition to the presenters, many others are required for a wide variety of tasks - writing material, gathering and presenting the news, preparing community news bulletins (the 'what's on' segments of many programs) editing tapes, recording interviews, and anything else that goes into making radio enjoyable for its listeners.
While many people would like to write for radio, they do not know how to go about developing their ideas, or, once basic ideas are written down, how to develop them into material suitable for radio. Consequently, most programs on community radio stations are music programs. The aim of this course is to show that there is much, much more to radio than being just another disc jockey.
What's community radio all about then? It's about entertaining people. It's about educating them. It's about amusing them. It's a process of enriching the lives of others.
At the same time, it should be a process whereby you, the writer or presenter of programs on community radio, are fulfilled by being creative - producing and presenting programs that are fresh and original.
Whatever area of community radio you eventually decide to specialise in, you must learn the art of writing for radio. As a writer and presenter on your community radio station, you can decide on the program content for your audience. Good radio is all about using the right words, and the right amount of those words.
We look at writing styles that are suitable for radio. We consider the choice of words, the audience, building up your script (particularly for longer scripts), script length. We also look at a number of points that are worth considering for any material presented on air.
Community radio can play an important role in its capacity to present interesting and relevant news. We look at good news and bad news, avoiding lopsided adjectives - that is, getting it right. It's about writing the news that's appropriate to your particular audience. We also consider aspects of news such as timing and depth, the length of each news segment, facts and distortions, and presenting your news bulletin at the most appropriate times.
A radio documentary is more than a mere presentation of the facts. A documentary should be an in-depth examination and consideration of an issue from a number of angles, including interviews with, and debates between, people with opposing views on a central issue. All aspects should be considered in a well-developed, unbiased manner. As a writer of a radio documentary, your role will be to tie in all the sections of the program, the interviews, and discussions. Local issues are important to local communities, although, of course, State or national issues may encroach on local issues. So, what would be a typical issue worth making a documentary about, and what should be left out? Find out, when you develop a short radio documentary.
Radio drama enjoyed success and popularity until the 1950s and 1960s when television took over as the preferred entertainment medium.
The good news is that radio dramas are making a come-back.
Writing radio drama is a specialised field of writing, but if you can write it, you are bound to entertain many listeners, and have tremendous fun in the process. Learn all about writing radio drama, creating tension, creating characters, developing dramatic conflict, and creating the setting using only dialogue and sound effects. During this lesson, you will write a short radio drama, create characters, put them into the setting of your choice, make them talk, behave or misbehave, and you will put them into conflict with the other characters you have created. It's lots of fun!
By now you will have had a taste of the main areas of writing for radio - writing scripts to make your program come alive, writing radio dramas, writing a radio documentary, and writing and present news.
Now you can specialise. Select one - or all three subjects of the previous lessons if you like - and develop your skills in one or more of these areas you have already touched on. The choice is yours, but the benefit belongs to your listeners, as well as to yourself.
Your tutor
Your tutor for the online writing course You're On Air will be Graham Andrews. Graham is a published author, freelance writer, scientific editor and technical writer with over 25 years experience in writing, editing and publication production. He is the author of the book You're On Air, published by Currency Press, Sydney.
We provide individual tuition
You will work with your tutor on a one-to-one basis where he provides instruction and supervision at each step of the writing process. Submit your outline or your first draft and your tutor will guide you through the whole of the writing process. He will advise you of ways to improve your work to make it interesting and meaningful. Together, you will create dynamic radio presentations that will be sought after by your audience.
This course takes about six months to complete. Most students require about 120 hours work to complete the assignments and write their scripts.
The online writing course You're On Air costs $295 AUD (about $280 USD)
Online course on writing for radio - You're On Air
Teaching writing with FLAIR over the InterNET
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Would you like to enrol in the Flairnet online writing course You're On Air? To enrol in this course, click on the PayPal button and make your payment by this safe and secure method. Your course notes will be sent to you by e-mail (usually within 24 hours), and you can begin writing right away.
Would you like to enrol in the Flairnet online writing course You're On Air? To enrol in this course, click on the PayPal button and make your payment by this safe and secure method. Your course notes will be sent to you by e-mail (usually within 24 hours), and you can begin writing right away.