How to Get the Local Angle for Radio News Report

Find out how a national topic, such as high gas prices, is affecting your area.

National news is fine and dandy but you can make it even dandier with some local input. Listeners will care more and you’ll get to meet some folks around town. You can get the local angle for a radio news show by using the following tips.

Things You'll Need

• Topic
• Phone book, map and car

Instructions

1. Pick your topic. High gas prices is a boring one but serves as a good example on how to go about localization.

2. Talk to area people. Find folks at the pump to get their spin on the gas crunch. Ride the bus to see if fellow passengers used to drive but now can’t. Talk to some folks on their bicycles.

3. Interview local businesses. Are less people lining up at the pump? Has the local grocery had to charge more for deliveries because of the price of gas?

4. Find the local epitome. This would be a poster family who used to travel across the country all summer in their RV and now have stay home and look at postcards because of high gas prices.

5. Look for a unique spin for your area. Is the topic somehow “special” to your region and could make an extra impact?

Tips & Warnings

• Radio news is short, short, short. Have your pointed questions ready for the best, briefest responses.

• The best sound bytes include emotion. Get the poster family crying or some man cussing about deisel fuel.

• The best local businesses are small, privately owned ones. Large chains will not talk to you and shuttle all your questions to their corporate office somewhere in Iowa, causing you to miss the local angle and your deadline.