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![1. Write as if you are talking to a friend
-Use contractions such as don’t insteadof do not, or can’t instead
of can not etc…
2. Use the 6 W’s
-(Who, What, When, Where, Why and hoW)
3. KISS – Keep it Simple, Stupid!
-Use simple sentences,and have one sentence for one idea.
-AVOID COMMAS!!!
4. Two or three sentences for a cue and four sentences for a copy
story.
5. Write numbers as words
- (E.g. 2010 becomes ‘two thousandand ten’ or ‘twenty ten’)
6. Joe Blogs, 17, from Newport. <- Doesn’t make sense when read
on a radio news report.
- Should be ‘Joe Blogs _ seventeenand from Newport’
7. When writing for a cue, make sure you don’t repeat when is
saidin the clip!
Paraphrase the first line of the audio or sum up what is going to
be said.
8. Write names of people and places that could be hard to
pronounce, phonetically.
E.g. Sarah Leahy [ PRON: sare-harlee-ee]
9. Round up statistics andput them in context.
E.g. 260,000 hectares = the size of 3 football pitches.
This makes it easierfor the audience to understand the scale and
visualise the size.
10. Don’t use ‘today’ in the top line of your story!
The audience should assume events are taking place today,
otherwise why are you telling them about it.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/rulesforwritingforradio-151129201046-lva1-app6891/85/Rules-for-writing-for-radio-1-320.jpg)
Rules for writing for radio
- 1. 1. Write asif you are talking to a friend -Use contractions such as don’t insteadof do not, or can’t instead of can not etc… 2. Use the 6 W’s -(Who, What, When, Where, Why and hoW) 3. KISS – Keep it Simple, Stupid! -Use simple sentences,and have one sentence for one idea. -AVOID COMMAS!!! 4. Two or three sentences for a cue and four sentences for a copy story. 5. Write numbers as words - (E.g. 2010 becomes ‘two thousandand ten’ or ‘twenty ten’) 6. Joe Blogs, 17, from Newport. <- Doesn’t make sense when read on a radio news report. - Should be ‘Joe Blogs _ seventeenand from Newport’ 7. When writing for a cue, make sure you don’t repeat when is saidin the clip! Paraphrase the first line of the audio or sum up what is going to be said. 8. Write names of people and places that could be hard to pronounce, phonetically. E.g. Sarah Leahy [ PRON: sare-harlee-ee] 9. Round up statistics andput them in context. E.g. 260,000 hectares = the size of 3 football pitches. This makes it easierfor the audience to understand the scale and visualise the size. 10. Don’t use ‘today’ in the top line of your story! The audience should assume events are taking place today, otherwise why are you telling them about it.
- 2. However you canuse ‘this morning’ or ‘this afternoon’ in order to be more specific. 11. Do not use quotations from people in the newsreaders script. One exceptionto this might be using one or two words in the top line of the cue- but it cannot go against rule 7. 12. AVOID ABBREVIATIONS!!!! Only use abbreviations is they are well known (e.g. the UN or NATO) 13. READ IT ALOUD!!!! Sometimes sentences canmake sense when you write them however don’t when they are read aloud.