Radio Broadcasting By: Rachel Byers

In the world of technology, the one that anyone in the world can remember is radio. Being the oldest from of communication and broadcasting, radio is how most people in the world receive news. However, no matter how easy it looks or sounds, producing a radio talk show or drama is very challenging and difficult.

The easiest way to own a radio station is to be hired as a lower part of the business. Once you’ve your way up to the top, it becomes more a dispute.

A talk show radio station needs a few things. First off, you have to learn how to operate the technical equipment or hire someone that does. Even if you have an engineer, its better that you know what’s happening with the technology, just incase. If the engineer is gone, then at least someone else knows how to operate the machinery. There are two trains of thought for the second part. On one side, you’re going to need sponsors who will pay to have their ads on the air. Being a producer, you’re setting the advertising rates. Finding sponsors is an art; very difficult to accomplish. Most businesses won’t waste money on a radio ad that only a few thousand listeners are going to hear. In order to get more listeners and more ads, do the show first, get listeners that regularly listen, and then find sponsors. If you’re worrying about the money in the mean time before the sponsors, don’t worry. Build a strong relationship with the studio management. In the end, you could get a good deal. A good starting point carries on. Whichever decision you chose, perfect your chosen format, that’s the important part. When it comes to speaking into the microphone, stay at least six inches away. You don’t want to hurt your viewers’ ears and you want to make sure that they can hear you properly without turning the volume on the radio far to the right. Another way to get more listeners is to acquire a press pass from studio management. With this pass, you can get unlimited backstage passes to concerts and important events. And last, with a great talk show, be sure to have fun and entertain your audience. I don’t know about you, but if a really boring talk show is on, I’d turn it off or use it to go to sleep.


Another type of radio broadcasting would be radio drama. It would like the soup operas in the sixties or comedies, like Amos ‘n’ Andy, that you would normally hear on the radio. Even with this type of broadcasting, it takes a lot of time, patience, crew members, and hard work to make it happen. This type of radio show takes a little more work than the talk show does.
With any drama of show, on air or off, you’re going to need a script for the actors to read off of. The script, of course written by the writer, takes critical analysis and rewriting as you go along. Rewriting the script will at times add more to the story or suspense. That makes it more interesting as your listeners take in on what’s going on.


There are usually casting conferences with the Writer, Director, and Producer. This step in a radio drama, selects the crew and cast for the production. A Director is said to be “only as good as his/her cast” because they take full responsibility of casting the assembly. The Producer is usually in charge of the auditions and casting requirements. And together, all three choose who will become the characters in the writer’s story.


For any radio station, there is the part where everyone in the cast does the directing and recording. In this part, there is actual dialogue with the script being acted out by the cast in a recording studio. Watching them behind a glass box, would be the director, speaking into a speaker, letting the actors know what they should do next. Also with the recording, would be the mixing of the atmospheric sound effects that will be used in the background. A performance can be done live or recorded, depending on what the director wants to happen. The efficiency of the production is on the shoulders of the studio manager and director. If anything goes wrong in the studio or stereo sound stage, they take the blame.


There is also the selection and critical analysis of the show. This includes musical themes and musical enhancement. Musical enhancement can happen in a few ways. For one, the director and writer can sit down and listen to vast libraries of CDs, sometimes old vinyl records as well. Or, they can hire a composer and musicians to produce original scores of music to fit in with the program.


The post production process involves the planning and discussion to establish a “sound philosophy”. This individual production includes surrealistic, subconscious, and background sound conventions.

There is also multi-tasking post production. This requires strict mathematical planning, timing, and disciplined experimentation with mixed and balanced tracks of sound. With radio, film, and music industry, there is the well-established technique of sound production. Taped stereo sources are included with for different types:

Track 1 and 2
Stereo Music
Track 3 and 4
Stereo sound effects, e.g. atmosphere of a railway station
Track 5 and 6
The stereo sound of actors’ words and movements
Track 7 and 8
The stereo sound of special incidental sound effects, e.g. the sound of a railway station tannoy announcement, or an ambulance driving into the station

Then finally, there is the final editing. This process brings all the scenes together into one story line, the effects of the music and sounds, and the director’s role. The director, at this part, may over take the moral rights of the author and add significant structural changes to the play while in post-production. It all goes down to the ethical issues.

Before the broadcast, there is the impact of the digital technology. This includes the digitalization of the recording and mixing techniques. This step has had revolutionary impact on the political economy. The director can and may use some affordable portable digital audio tape and digital mini-disc machines. Directors and producers use this often to record because it’s cheap and works effectively on different locations. The success for the radio drama depends on the combination, knowledge, technique, and qualitative microphones that the director provides and actors use. Also with these, you can broadcast to the Internet and World Wide Web.
Weither you decide to use a radio drama or a talk show, radio broadcasting will always be tougher than it looks.

Giejgo, Marja . "Radio Drama: The Production Process." www.irp.co.uk. 25 Mar. 2008. IRDP. 4 Apr. 2008 <http://www.irdp.co.uk/production.htm>.