Making Radio, 3rd edition
MAKING RADIO Making Radio PAGES.indd i 21/1/11 2:27:42 PM Steve Ahern has been in radio for over thirty years, working in all sectors of the Australian radio industry He was Director of Radio at the Australian Film Television and Radio School and now runs his own international radio and new media training company called AMT Pty Ltd In 2009 Steve received an Order of Australia Medal for his services to the radio industry and education His career includes periods as manager of ABC stations in Melbourne, Canberra and Newcastle He has been a columnist for the Australian newspaper, a consultant for the establishment of South Africa’s National Broadcasting School and is founding editor of www.radioinfo.com.au His website is www.steveahern.com.au Making Radio PAGES.indd ii 21/1/11 2:27:42 PM 3RD EDITION EDITED BY STEVE AHERN MAKING RADIO A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO WORKING IN RADIO IN THE DIGITAL AGE Making Radio PAGES.indd iii 21/1/11 2:27:42 PM First published in 2011 Copyright © Steve Ahern 2011 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act Allen & Unwin 83 Alexander Street Crows Nest NSW 2065 Australia Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100 Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218 Email: info@allenandunwin.com Web: www.allenandunwin.com Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available from the National Library of Australia www.trove.nla.gov.au ISBN 978 74237 207 Set in 12/13 pt Adobe Garamond by Midland Typesetters, Australia Printed in China at Everbest Printing Co 10 Making Radio PAGES.indd iv 21/1/11 2:27:43 PM I dedicate this book to my father and my uncle Cec, who were strong examples to me in my life They have both now passed away Making Radio PAGES.indd v 21/1/11 2:27:43 PM This page intentionally left blank Making Radio PAGES.indd vi 21/1/11 2:27:43 PM CONTENTS Contributors Preface A History of Radio in Australia Phil Charley, Wayne Mac and Steve Ahern ix xiii Digital Radio in Australia Steve Ahern 19 Radio 2.0 in the Digital Age Steve Ahern 48 The Studio Steve Ahern and Rod Pascoe 58 Broadcast Laws and Regulations Steve Ahern and Joanna White 106 Radio Announcing Steve Ahern, Georgia Brown and Dean Buchanan 125 Presentation Steve Ahern and Dave Cameron 140 Interviewing Jen Oldershaw and Lucienne Joy 157 Producing Steve Ahern 176 10 Copywriting Kevin Best 193 11 Audio Production Phil McNab and Kevin Best 200 12 News Russell Powell and Glenn Daniel 209 Making Radio PAGES.indd vii 21/1/11 2:27:43 PM viii MAKING RADIO 13 Talkback Steve Ahern with Kevin Brumpton and Alan Jones 228 14 Research and Promotions David Rogerson 244 15 Radio Sales David Maxwell 259 16 Programming Graham Smith and Steve Ahern 270 17 Torque Radio: The Radio Feature Tony Barrell 295 18 Radio Comedy Ian Heydon 305 19 The Transmission Chain Gorden Smith 323 Glossary Bibliography Notes Index 339 354 359 362 Making Radio PAGES.indd viii 21/1/11 2:27:43 PM CONTRIBUTORS Tony Barrell is a highly respected feature and documentary producer who had a long and successful career at ABC Radio National and is now retired Many of his specialist feature programs have won international awards for their creativity and innovative subject matter Kevin Best works in his copywriting consultancy company, Heard, which supplies creative expertise to Austereo stations He was formerly an award-winning producer and copywriter at various radio networks He regularly travels internationally to deliver consulting and training presentations on high-level creative copywriting techniques Georgia Brown is a well-known voice-over artist and radio presenter She has worked as an announcer at metro stations including 2SM Sydney, and has guest lectured in voice-over techniques at AFTRS Before her work in voice-over and radio she had a successful singing career Kevin Brumpton is a successful freelance writer who has worked in both the television and radio industries He was an editorial writer for the John Laws show and a comedy writer for Doug Mulray’s breakfast program, and has written comedy for many television shows Dean Buchanan is a radio programming consultant He was previously Group Program Director at DMG Radio He began his career in New Zealand, moving through the announcing, promotions and programming ranks with Radio New Zealand, then joined Programming and Research consultancy BP&R, consulting to more than 30 successful stations around the world At DMG he launched the Nova and Vega networks as well as DMG’s digital radio stations Dave Cameron is the Today Network’s head of content and has spent the last five years programming FoxFM in Melbourne, Australia’s most listened to radio station He also oversees the Hamish & Andy Show nationally Dave has been with Austereo for 16 years, working in programming and music roles at FoxFM, 2DayFM, SAFM, 929 and Triple M Making Radio PAGES.indd ix 21/1/11 2:27:43 PM x MAKING RADIO Phil Charley is a veteran of the radio industry, having worked as an announcer and manager in Australia and Papua New Guinea in a career that spans five decades He received a Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to the radio industry Glenn Daniel is the Group News Director for the Australian Radio Network and reads the Breakfast news on WSFM in Sydney Glenn has been a radio journalist for 28 years and has also been News Director at 2SM, 2DAY-FM and Triple M Sydney Ian Heydon is an award-winning freelance writer who has worked in radio and television He has written three crime novels, two creative writing texts, a novel for young adults, a children’s picture book, various websites and a few songs Alan Jones is Sydney’s highest rating breakfast radio announcer and most awarded talkback radio personality His 2GB program has won more consecutive surveys than any other radio personality Alan Jones was also a high profile rugby union coach and a former school teacher Lucienne Joy was formerly Head of Radio at AFTRS, and is a freelance presenter on both ABC and commercial radio stations including 2GB and ABC 702 Sydney and Classic FM Wayne Mac was an announcer and program director at various commercial radio stations including 2CC Canberra He is now a radio historian and the author of Don’t Touch that Dial, a history of Australian commercial radio since 1950 David Maxwell is a lecturer at Charles Sturt University’s School of Communication and Creative Industries He teaches in the Bachelor of Communication (Commercial Radio) course, including subjects such as commercial radio, the industry, media sales communication, advertising, channel planning and purchasing Prior to joining CSU, in a media career which spans 40 years, David held senior management positions in media sales, including the position of General Manager Sales and Marketing at Radio 2UE Phil McNab is a former production lecturer at AFTRS and awardwinning senior audio producer with the Australian Radio Network He is currently Production Manager at FM 103.2 in Sydney Jen Oldershaw has worked as an announcer and producer in community, ABC and commercial radio She spent 11 years at the Triple J network then moved to Nova with the Merrick and Rosso breakfast team She is also a well-known voice-over artist and a lecturer at AFTRS Rod Pascoe is an award-winning sound recordist and microphone specialist, mostly working in the film industry He is a regular lecturer in sound recording techniques at AFTRS Making Radio PAGES.indd x 21/1/11 2:27:43 PM ... www.steveahern.com.au Making Radio PAGES.indd ii 21/1/11 2:27:42 PM 3RD EDITION EDITED BY STEVE AHERN MAKING RADIO A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO WORKING IN RADIO IN THE DIGITAL AGE Making Radio PAGES.indd... This is the third edition of this book; the first edition of Making Radio was published in 2000 and was reprinted again three years later due to popular demand Prior to the first edition, an earlier... sets out to provide a practical approach to making good radio in the modern multimedia landscape Making Radio PAGES.indd xiii 21/1/11 2:27:44 PM xiv MAKING RADIO As this book goes to print, Australia