M2: What Are The Processes And Technologies Involved In Producing A Radio Broadcast?

 For this unit, we will need to go through each of these stages to create a successful radio show. In this report, I will go through each of these processes and explain what what professional radio stations such as Capital FM would do. We will also follow these stages to create our own radio show.

 

                                     Pre-production

This is the first stage to create a radio show or any media product. In this stage, the Capital FM would generate ideas and plan out the radio show. They will need to create lots of pre-production documents, create some assets and also make sure they have all the equipment. First they will create a mindmap. This helps them generate ideas and show them in a presentable way. Once the radio team has chosen a topic or theme, they will create a moodboard. A moodboard is a collection of sample images or materials based around a certain topic or theme. This will also help the team understand the atmosphere of the radio show and what should be included. Afterwards, they would create a script. A script will tell the presenters (such as Roman Kemp) what to say and when. This can be used in the production process, however a script can also just be a rough guide for the presenters if they would like to improvise a little. Now they understand what radio show they are creating and they have a basic script, they will need to make sure the production team is safe and arrives on time for the recording day. A risk assessment makes sure that they minimise any potential dangers that are present in the workplace. A contingency plan also tells the team what to do if anything unplanned happens. This is to make sure that production runs smoothly no matter what happens. A call sheet tells the production team the overall plan for the shooting day. This tells them who needs to be present, when they need to be in the studio, what radio show they are producting, what equpment is needed.... Call sheets are so important since they organise everyone and explain what is going to happen in that day. They also include important information such as the nearest hospital, the contacts of the important personnel and so on.  A consent form will be needed to make sure the radio station is legally allowed to record someone's voice. This stops someone from suing them/taking them to court.

Knowing what equipment will be needed is vital. Radio shows require lots of different equipment to create and edit them; an equipment list is necessary to mke sure they have everything they will need. 

 

                                   Radio Equipment

Microphones are devices that we use to record sound. They are plugged into a computer/laptop so the sound when someone speaks, this will be picked up by the microphone and recording software will save this. Microphones usually have a shockmount to stop any vibrations or noises from effecting the audio quality of the audio. 

 

Computers/laptops and radio software would be needed to record and distribute the radio to audiences. The computer should have all the USB slots needed and it must run well. 

 

Headphones can be used to listen to the audio when you are speaking into the microphone. They can also be used to listen to recorded sound and play it back to make sure it sounds okay. Headphones are especially essential in the post production stages when the editors make adjustments to the audio.

A mixing desk is used to control the sound levels of the audio. Capital FM produce live radio, although they have playbacks of the radio on their website. The only thing that Capital FM might pre-record are the news segments of the show and some assets.

To make sure that Capital FM know where all of their assets are and what they are called, they will use an asset log. Some assets will be pre-recorded. The Capital FM jngle will be pre-recorded so it is the same everytime. Product endorsements may be pre-recorded too. Capital will also have a digital playlist/cartwheel of modern pop songs so that they can play them when they need to. Sine I  have listened to Capital FM before, I know that they have digital playout systems for each of their radio shows since the structure is linear and the order of the radio show repeats. When the presenters talk, news, music, advert breaks, product endorsements and giveways are all going to be in a tight radio structure to make sure that everything is timed correctly.

                                     Production

This is the second stage of the production process. In this step, Capital FM will be recording their radio show. All of the pre-production documents that were created before will be used.Presenters will talk into the microphones, this audio will be transmitted through the computer and the software so it is broadcasted to the audience. The presenters will use the script, playlist/cartwheel of pop songs and the digital playout systems so they know what to say and when to play the music, advert breaks etc.

 Capital FM record their radio live. Because this is live, they will combine the production and post-production stages by using a mixer and editing the audio this way to make sure the radio is the best quality it can be.

 

                                   Post-production

 This is the last stage of a radio show. This stage is only seperate for pre-recorded radio since this stage would happen at the same time for live radio shows. In this stage, the editors would take the raw audio tht has been recorded as well as any assets. They will piece them together and make sure they follow the structure. They will adjust the audio levels (decibles) of the audio, remove any background noise and any other noises. A software they might use for thi is called Adobe Audition. Finally, they will export this and

To conclude, we will go through these processes to create our own radio show for this unit. We are going to produce a pre-recorded radio show. To do this, we will follow the same procedure as other radio stations would go through. We will create lots of pre-preoduction documents to help us form ideas and plan our own radio show. We will then have to use a microphone, shockmount, computer/laptop, headphones and a mixer to help us create our radio show. We will use the script as much as possible but we may be able to improvise some talking between the presenters. We will use the mixer to edit our audio.We will have a prerecorded jingle and product placement/advertisement. After we have recorded our radio show, we will edit this in Adobe Audition. We will piece the structure together, remove background sound, edit the audio levels and audio to create a clear radio show.