How to Write News for Radio

Writing news for newspapers is not the same as writing news for radio. A listener's attention span is far less then someone who is reading the newspaper. Details aren't as important when it comes to writing for the radio. I will share some tips that I have learned in the field.

Instructions

1. Write short, sweet and to the point. People want to know the news right up front. If you skirt around the issue, they'll either switch stations or tune out completely. Get right to the point and don't overwrite the story. It should be much shorter then a newspaper story.

2. A catchy lead is a must to get people to tune into a story. To do that, the first sentence needs to pack a punch and tell the listener why they need to be listening to the story.

3. Make sure the story is conversational in style. Read it out loud if you have to in order to make sure the story flows. Listeners want to feel like you are talking right to them and the best way to do that is to make sure the story is conversational and has a good flow to it.

4. Read a story out loud several times or have other people read the story for you. Quite often there are extra words that can be cut without affecting the story and making it sound better and more tight.

5. Don't include sound bites in a story too long. Long sound bites will also draw the listener away from the story. They should be no longer then 18 seconds. Make sure a soundbyte either describes what you're talking about or is something different then what you already said in the story. Listeners don't want to hear the same things repeated.