Modern Radio Production

This edition continues to provide a current, comprehensive look at radio production and programming, integrating new material on cutting-edge technologies with explanation of traditional equipment and practices.

An introduction to the field of radio production. Structured to provide a balanced mix of techniques and theory, along with step-by-step instruction in hands-on production techniques.

The opening decades of the twentieth century witnessed a profound transformation in the history of modern sound media, with workers in U.S. film, radio, and record industries developing pioneering production methods and performance styles tailored to emerging technologies of electric sound reproduction that would redefine dominant forms and experiences of popular audio entertainment. Focusing on broadcasting's initial expansion during the 1920s, Making Radio explores the forms of creative labor pursued for the medium in the period prior to the better-known network era, assessing their role in shaping radio's identity and identifying affinities with parallel practices pursued for conversion-era film and phonography. Tracing programming forms adopted by early radio writers and programmers, production techniques developed by studio engineers, and performance styles cultivated by on-air talent, it shows how radio workers negotiated a series of broader industrial and cultural pressures to establish best practices for their medium that reshaped popular forms of music, drama, and public oratory and laid the foundation for a new era of electric sound entertainment.

Radio Production is for professionals and students interested in understanding the radio industry in today’s ever-changing world. This book features up-to-date coverage of the purpose and use of radio with detailed coverage of current production techniques in the studio and on location. In addition there is exploration of technological advances, including handheld digital recording devices, the use of digital, analogue and virtual mixing desks and current methods of music storage and playback. Within a global context, the sixth edition also explores American radio by providing an overview of the rules, regulations, and purpose of the Federal Communications Commission. The sixth edition includes: Updated material on new digital recording methods, and the development of outside broadcast techniques, including Smartphone use. The use of social media as news sources, and an expansion of the station’s presence. Global government regulation and journalistic codes of practice. Comprehensive advice on interviewing, phone-ins, news, radio drama, music, and scheduling. This edition is further enhanced by a companion website, featuring examples, exercises, and resources: www.focalpress.com/cw/mcleish.

A practical handbook for programming directors, this guide focuses on achieving specific objectives in today's modern, competitive environment. Radio Programming is designed to convey underlying principles and to assist the programmer in accomplishing specific objectives, without mandating exact implementation methods. Instead, it empowers station management and the PD to implement strategies that will work for the particular format and market niche. Radio Programming will be helpful for neophytes in programming, experienced programmers seeking further growth, air talent seeking to develop skills, and general managers trying to understand programming and effectively manage program directors without stifling creativity. It will also help general managers hire effective programmers. Eric Norberg is the editor and publisher of the Adult Contemporary Music Research Letter and a radio consultant. He has worked as a program director at several radio stations, as on-air talent and general manager, and has also operated a radio production company. For fourteen years he has written a weekly column on radio programming for The Gavin Report, a radio trade publication.