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Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

LESSON 12

NOISE

In a common way, noise refers to sounds and voices. But in communication it means

altogether different. Anything in any form, which distorts or hampers true meaning of a

message, is understood as noise. If we talk in general, we notice that more than often a

message does not reach the receiver the way it is intended by the sender, that is, it loses part

of meaning, or the whole meaning, some where in the way. This situation frequently results in

creating misunderstandings between the sender/broadcaster and the receiver/the listener.

Some time message does not reach the receiver at all. This is an irritating situation in

communication.

But it does not imply that communication, particularly on the electronic media where noise is

more likely to play a part, is not possible. It is difficult though. Once a problem is marked one is

always likely to fix it. This is true the same fashion in the case of noise; we first try to mark the

sour part and then try the ways to overcome it. In broadcasting, fortunately, more room is

available to whip the trouble.

Now we will discuss various areas of noise, broadcasters/ producers in particular, must be

aware of, along with some reasonable way out.

Physical

As the message travels through different media, some physical distortion takes place, not

allowing the announcements, music, news, talks, road shows or any piece of broadcast to be

heard properly. The distortion in listening to a program due to physical factors has always

caused serious concern for the radio people. But over the years there has not been a

satisfactory solution found to overcome this problem. However, with the help of making the

transmission strong, and introducing some improvements in the components responsible to

receive the signal and making it strong, the audibility of radio message has been improved

considerably but completely overpowering the distortion problem has not yet been made

possible. Physical noise has many forms;

Medium itself

The medium used for this purpose is weak, low quality or under influence of other

factors just as amplitude modulation problem in broadcast transmission when static current

is produced by thundering clouds, a motorbike with damaged spark plug or due to high tension

overhead wire.

Problem at sender's end

Think of a situation when you are making a telephonic call and there is so much sound

around you, it may be railway platform. you may be asking some one to pick you at three but

due to rustle around you, the receiver understands three as free. Result; you may very well

imagine.

That is why every possible effort is made at a broadcasting station to keep a studio as

sound-proof as possible so that at least there is no such situation when the message is being

delivered.

Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

Problem at receiver's end

Likewise, receiver is at a place, which is very hurly, burly and full of clamor. He/she

may not understand the message. You might have notice in such a situation when a receiver

rushes away to find a calm place so that message could be understood. If there is a TV

program going on, and phone bell rings, what you do first is to mute the sound of the program

only to enable you to receive the message properly. If a man is telling from his office to wife on

telephone to dine outside this evening, and the wife, holding a crying baby in her lap,

understands as the husband wants a good meal in the evening. What the couple would be

talking in the evening is any body's guess.

Psychological/ Bias

Another very strong area of a message largely misunderstood, is the psyche of the sender and

receiver. A message from rich to poor and the same message from rich to rich will carry a

different meaning. For instance chairperson of a company asking chairperson of another

company to come to attend marriage part of his son, and the same message conveyed to the

low ranking staff in his organization, will carry different psychological approach. This is too

often observed in dramas or talk shows where characters with different social and economic

background encounter each other.

At a conference there is a Jew and a Palestinian. What they talk is completely differently

understood by an audience, which comprises delegates from Arab countries and western

nations.

There are two real brothers in a family... one very rich other ordinary. Whose voice will carry

more weight in family affairs is any body's guess. The shaping up of meaning in a

psychological background is sometime so difficult to be kept to the true meaning of the

message, a broadcaster must be cautious of.

Semantics

This part of noise problem refers to the meaning of words or phrases which stand different to

different people, though they do not have any psychological or physical problems. For

instance if a person knowing English language to a better extent, says he visits Malaysia once

in blue moon, his Korean friend may reply that his company does not deal in moons but it

produces glistening stars, meant to decorate functions. Think they are traveling in an airplane

and keep talking on this matter till landing and still they fail to understand what they mean to

each other.

A radio producer must know that a piece of broadcast is meant for a very large size of

audience. The sound of words and articulation of the sentences must be done in a fashion as

to make every body understand the message in its best possible form. This is possible, or near

possible, when the language selected for radio broadcast is simple, the voice quality of the

talent is good good enough to utter proper sound of each syllable of the word, and with a

speed which helps every listener to understood the broadcast clearly. This would only help to

minimize the occurrence of semantic problem which is otherwise quite common in mass

communication.

Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

LESSON 13

STUDIO

As we mention of a radio station what comes to the mind immediately is a studio from where

all transmissions are made and programs are recorded in a very orderly manner. It is true to

some extent but with the advancements made in the field of broadcasting, things have

drastically changed in the overall environment of the broadcasting world and also in the

setting up of studios for various purposes. What basically makes a studio appear different

from an ordinary room needs some details which must be understood by those interested in

broadcasting.

A studio is a primary requirement of a broadcasting house. It is a room-like structure from

outside but from inside it is different. The first thing which makes it diverse is the special

treatment given to its walls which are covered with a variety of substances to ensure that no

sound passes through them. That is why they are called sound-proof. To make sure that no

sound is produced even if some one is walking on the floor of the studio, special leather

covering, or a carpet is put on it. The doors are so tightly closed that any sound produced

outside is not heard inside.

Studios are fitted with proper microphones, recoding system, lights and booths for producers

to control recordings or transmissions.

Here below are details of different forms of frequently used studios:

News Studio

Perhaps the simplest of all studios at a radio station is the one meant for broadcasting news. It

is small in size, with a table fitted with a microphone along with a chair, a table lamp if lights

otherwise are not enough. Since radio news are read by one person, contrary to TV news

which are some time read by more than two people in a single bulletin, there is little room for

more people to stay there. Since no background effects are required at a news studio, no

other equipment is placed there.

Studios for Talk Shows/ Discussions

Since long it has been a practice by different broadcasting houses to invite people from

different walks of life, their representatives, city mayors, ministers and others to participate in

talks and discussions, there are studios which can facilitate such programs. In this case a

studio is not very large in size, its interior also look different. There is a rather long table,

which could help about half a dozen people to sit around. The arrangement of microphones is

also in a manner that all of them could easily get their voice recorded without creeping up to

the mike. Since a number of people are likely to talk at the same time during the course of

discussion, especially if it is a heated debate, special arrangements are made to beat the

extra noise with the help of different soundproofing systems. There is always a different

position given to the anchor-person so that he/she could easily address others and indeed,

control them if one of them does not come to terms.

Drama Studio

Very different from two categories mentioned above. At a radio station studios meant to record

dramas usually have a standing arrangement for the performers, so there is no question of

placing chairs there. The performers keep standing as they deliver dialogues by holding

scripts in their hands, and keep moving away a step or two and then coming back, to create

Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

an impression that they are coming in or going out of the scene. Mike is usually placed in the

center of half circle. More when we will come in the chapter of dramas... But table and chair

are placed within the studio at some distance for people who have to give background effects,

by playing on the table itself or putting their equipment for playing musical notes for sound

effects. It is a fun watching a drama being recorded under such an arrangement. You can

watch it from the booth which is a separation within a studio with a glass sheet where director

and recording panel take their position. You may find more lights here as compared to other

studios so that performers could easily read their script and receive cues from the director.

Music Studios

Again, these facilities are tailor-made. These days no broadcasting house can afford to do

without these studios. Size of the studio can vary according to the need, but other facilities are

almost the same. Here, too, little arrangement for table and chairs is made available. Usually

the singers and composers sit on the carpets, rehearse and get their items recorded. It is

rather difficult for the directors to handle a music studio for you need proper cabling and

recording panels to record separately the singer and the musical instruments or the orchestra.

At times every thing is OK but the violinist is little away from the mike. When mike is moved

close to him, the drummer is not getting its effects recorded properly. And if it is duet to be

recorded, the mike problem may occur the same way. Since handling the performers, if one is

high in ranking, it becomes a very delicate job for the director and assistant directors to

manage matters in a smooth way. That is why most radio stations employ directors who have

a cut for such a job.

These are but few very well known forms of studios. In practice different broadcasting houses

may have purpose built studio which serve a more specific job like running commentaries, for

VIPs when they have to talk to people from a radio station and for recording children programs

where children are usually invited to participate.

Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

LESSON 14

RADIO DRAMA I

Drama in literature is as old as most other story-telling forms like novels and short stories are;

when Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet and enthralled the audience to pave the way for

classical writings in this form, he was not the pioneer of this genre of literature. Drama; writing

story in dialogue form, was already existing, though little known. Then came others, felt the

liveliness and vibrancy in this form of communication and worked to further this part of

literature.

One prime reason for the popularity of stage has always been the dramas expressed with all

vitality and ferocity through characters some times dominating and at others subduing. When

radio was introduced in the start of last century, stage dramas had already come to age and

were one top entertainment for the common people. Radio dramas actually picked the thread

from theaters and gave it a dimension never imagined even by the top playwrights before. In

the subcontinent, the theaters echoed plays of Agha Hashar kashmiri who had a special knack

in dialogue writing. Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj, and Krishn Chandr were not much behind. In fact there

were a number of writers engaged in drama writing.

It immediately drew attention when radio came into being. Apart from music and

announcements/ news, radio stations started making dramas to build up their audience. But

radio inherited drama from stage and for years it was a replica of stage dramas, which was

heard on radios. We must see how the stage drama was before the broadcasting mode of

communication.

Stage Dramas

It was 1840 when a merchant F Cowasjee in Bombay desired to open a theatre. He was

allowed to do so in 1846 when along with him Jamshedjee and jeejabhoy founded

subcontinent's first theatre named Grand Road Theatre. For long it staged English plays. In

1853 Parsee Natak Mandli came into being and got popularity for staging over a 1000 shows

of a play, uttejak mandli, a satire, comic and reflection on various aspects of social life. It also

worked as a breakthrough to bring the drama to middle classes.

Dadabhai Sorabji Patel staged a musical urdu play early last century - Benazir babre munir.

But Indrasabah by Agha Hasan Amanat Ali at the darbar of oudh Lacnow in 1885 was a

landmark success already.

From translations stage brought drama to vernacular- hindi, urdu, Bengali and Gujarati.

It flourished more in Bombay. Agha hashr Kashmir's Kashmir ki kali and yahudi ki larki, and

then rustom o suhraab were top ranking stage performances. Performers usually spoke loudly

to enable back-seaters to listen dialogues. Top playwrights and directors included premchand,

raam babu saksena, saadat hasan minto, krishn chandr, ahmed shah bokhari and N.M.

Rashid. The dialogues were interwoven with songs, verses, and dances.

Early Radio Dramas

The same set off playwright also wrote plays for radio when it came to India in 1926. First in

Bombay and then in Lahore, Peshawar, Delhi and after partition to Karachi, Rawalpindi and

Hyderabad. Early days radio dramas were loud and more like stage plays. Then came people

like Rafi Peerzada and Z A Bokhari who worked day in and day out to convert stage plays look

radio plays.

Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

New writing techniques and dialogue delivery with immense voice control in speech were

introduced. By the time second generation of writers came Agha Nasir, Kamal Ahmed Rizvi,

Ashfaaq Ahmed, radio had come to age in Pakistan. Hamid mian kay haan, and legend

Talqeen Shah reverberated in the airs of subcontinent not for weeks or months but decades.

In between so much experiments were carried out on dramas that it has become a story in

itself.

Ethics

No immoral dialogue. No humiliation of any segment of society. No blasphemous stories even

not against government policies. But to create harmony and expose hypocrisy.

Classification

Very soon it was realized that every drama did not attract every one. In the meantime

audience analysis approach was introduced and on the basis of research, listeners were

categorized. Now there were separate dramas for children, military personals, farmers and

rural people, urban aristocratic class and one as for general public. In another way radio

dramas were classified as historical, translations, romantic (most listened category), war-time,

and on social life mainly showing bad characters getting defeated.

Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

LESSON 15

RADIO DRAMA II

Selection of director

Drama is not supposed to be an ordinary piece of broadcasting. To accomplish this

specialized job, almost all production houses employ producers who are especially educated

in drama production. It is not the director alone, but most part of the technical staff is also

supposed to know the art of producing dramas. This task was very demanding in the age

from 1920-1930, when recording facilities were not common. Like most other programs

dramas were broadcast live, a real test of nerves for the director and the performers. The

situation was entirely different when recording facilities were made available. The drama

production unit is aware of the fact these days that if something goes wrong at the time of

recording, the team would have time to correct it. Generally speaking, the provision to

rehearse to a reasonable length of time, and then be allowed to do many takes and pick the

best one to put in the sequence of drama has played a key role in the success of broadcast

dramas both at the radio and the television. But it is the director of a play on whose shoulders

lie the responsibility of making drama according to the script. It involves complete

understanding of the process including the technical facilities, and the level of performance

of the talents. A good director also tends to produce a play within economic means.

The Playwrights

It is said that radio drama belongs to the writer for it's the description of a scene and dialogue,

which will make a listener understand different things like colors, timing, smile, or the locale.

"What a fascinating place it is!" will make the listener know it is a fascinating place; there is no

other way to explain this. Writing a play for radio is a highly specialized job for it is different

from the dramas one can read in print. The drama writer must be aware of the capabilities of

the performers in saying the lines which must be simple, precise and to the point. Radio

drama writers are always told not to create too many characters in the play because it will be

very difficult for the listeners to remember each character with its specific job. Sometimes

voices of two characters are very similar to each other. This also creates difficulty in

understanding as which character is talking. Drama is part of radio entertainment and should

not all the time be causing seriousness or worry to the people by its over emphasis on

negative side of the story.

Diversity in radio plays

In the beginning dramas were meant for every body but by 1930, classification had started

appearing. Since audience sampling was also carried out, different interests of different

segments of people were studied. This helped in chalking out main categories of plays meant

for adults, farmers, women, forces and children. It is difficult to write a play which generates

equal interest among all its listeners but at the same time the playwright, writing a play for a

particular segment of people, should not make things so specific that the play may look

meaningless to other people. This is possible by using the commonly spoken language, jokes

and events from daily life.

Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

Script

Once the target audience were identified, it became imperative to ask playwrights to develop a

script which addressed the desired group of listeners. This led to specialized writing in

dramas. For instance in Pakistan, Sofi Tabbassum was inclined to write more for children.

Late Ashfaq Ahmed believed writing for middle class families and as did Ibn e Insha. Intezaar

Hussain, A Hameed and Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi were those who wrote on subjects as varied

in nature as historical plays, romantic plays and ones highlighting interactions at the lower

middle class segments in society.

Characters were kept few, five to nine, though it was never a rule. Lines were written straight

and dialogue brief. The script appeared very different from the one, meant for stage or print.

Special Effects

A voice on radio in dramas is never devoid of certain background which is usually set by the

special sound effects. Artists also specialized in giving background effects. At times more an

atmosphere is created by the sound effects rather than the dialogues. War scenes, romantic

mood, family like or domestic atmosphere is possible to be set up by these background

upshots.

Some musical, some by playing table as if a character is rushing in or going away and some

by innovative ways... by pressing papers in hands as if some one is walking on dry leaves.

Voices

A very special area in radio dramas is the voices for characters in the play. Great artists were

born. One that is unforgettable in Pakistani radio culture is Sultan Khosat who could utter

about a dozen different voices with convenience. Special training is imparted to shape up a

radio voice which must suit a character. But one thing is common for all the artists taking part

in a play that their voice must be clear and the distance from the microphone is strictly

according to the direction of the producer. If a character is away for instance the scene is

some people are talking in the drawing room and some one has to speak from the kitchen, he

or she must speak louder but reasonably away from the mike to give the impression to the

radio listeners that the voice has come from the kitchen. Similarly if it is a whisper, the talent

would have to lean more to the mike as he/she says the lines.

Pre and Post production

A lot of attention was given to pre production ... getting a drama written on a given subject

and target listeners, selection of performers in view of characters, background effects, and

recording equipment etc.

After having recorded the play, it was edited, a very tedious post production job. Dubbing was

introduced and some after effects were also brought in to the final product.

Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

LESSON 16

ADVERTISEMENT INCOME GENERATION

From the time immemorial human race has been in the business of selling and buying. At

some level of business comes publicity of the items one intends to sell.

There are traces available to the fact that Greek civilization had the tendency of wall chalking.

But from the 16th century, there had been authentic evidence of trading goods and service by

first running a campaign to familiarize the potential buyers about these products.

With the print media coming strongly in the 19th century, the advertisement started assuming a

very formal shape as an independent subject. But by and large advertisement remained a part

of communication as a subject. Most research and analysis of common people conducted to

enhance communication of different type through various media, have always been fully

exploit by the advertising sector.

But on the other hand, the growth of media was not possible without earning reasonably.

There were two sources of earning in the start; selling the newspapers and magazines, and

the advertisements. With the advancement in various areas of commercial communication, it

was experienced that the money earned through advertisement was many times more than all

other sources of income generation for the media, thus came into being a full scale

advertisement industry- a pure commercial branch of media and communication.

At present the size of advertisement sector in terms of budgets, is undoubtedly bigger than

various means and channels of communication being run on commercial basis.

Here below we will examine what the world of advertisement means to students of

broadcasting.

Similarities

There are three types of broadcasters - global, national and regional/local. Every type of

broadcasting has its own scope, range, purposes and investment. Amazingly, the world of

advertising is divided in the same way global, national, regional/local. It depends how far

producer of certain product wants to carry information about his product, what is the capacity

and nature of the product and what investment has been made into the production? An

advertiser will choose a broadcasting station which best suits for the purpose of publicity of its

products for exact target people.

The Early Phase

In the beginning it was like requesting a radio station to announce about various products

against regular or irregular payments. But very soon, by 1925, radio stations became aware of

the income they could generate seeing the enormous interest and demand of using the

electronic media for publicity instead of relying on the print media alone. The US congress

passed a number of bills to regulate income matters for radio stations, which were allowed to

operate under the license issued to them by the government. On the other hand the

industrialists started finding it increasingly difficult to approach radio stations for publicity of

each of their product. They could not miss the radio publicity for it was fetching remarkable

results. This resulted in the birth of advertising industry a segment of commercial activities

which is responsible to play a role between the radio stations and the producers of goods and

services willing to utilize the electronic media, to propagate about their products.

Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

The Money, the Entertainment the Revolution

It is difficult to describe the exact advent of the advertisement industry but one can simply

observe that with its arrival came the money (for broadcasters) and entertainment to people

never known before. With the money, now available in larger size, the broadcasting houses

were able to employ more talented people and set up certain offices which helped promoting

their cause enormously. One such area was Audience Analysis.

Audience Analysis

Almost all big broadcasting houses now have set up cells which regularly conduct survey to

analyze the amount of interest their various programs generate, the timings of the program,

the script, the anchor-persons, and the advertisement which go along the program. On the

basis of this data all the radio stations now shape up their program. But this audience analysis

has also greatly helped the advertisers for they can easily get information about which

programs are going HOT and popular among various segments of people. Some time they

conduct their independent surveys to reach the conclusion for running radio campaigns.

The Audience Pattern

Much research has gone into this area. The segments of people have been globally identified

as follow: men, women (in general), children up to 13 years, youth 14 to 30, middle ages 31 to

50, middle ages but in low income group, people in upper income group... and in another way

typical rural listeners and typical urban listeners. No advertisement agency can ignore these

well defined segments of audience while preparing a publicity campaign on radio or TV.

More Analysis

Before we learn how radio advertisements are produced, which we will discuss in the following

lecture, students must know that it is not the classification of listeners which matters to air

Ads; the analysis of programs, policies, popularity of a channel, and certain hidden areas are

also taken into consideration before giving a final shape to an advertising campaign for

broadcasting.

Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

LESSON 17

ADVERTISERS' APPROACH

Although listening to advertisements on radio appears as those are directed to every body, this

is not true. As discussed in the previous lecture, every advertisement is based on a keenly

conducted research for influencing the target audience the most, if it rocks other audience, it is

considered as bonus of a good effort.

Primarily, every advertisement tries to cover as many segments of listeners as it can by

involving different LINES and CHARACTERS in it. For instance, a bank may be advertised in a

manner that youth, men and women and typical rural moneyed persons are persuaded to use

it to keep their riches by using such a mode, background and lines... all within 15 seconds or

so.

But the advertisers often hit a particular class for visa cards, business loans or an ordinary

soap.

Advertisers' Choice

They are more inclined in the entertainment program musical programs, sports or humorous

programs. Obviously, these programs are listened to, by more and the response is usually

good.

Studies are regularly conducted by especially set up cells at the advertising agencies to find

out the latest trend in the liking of radio programs by various target groups. The studies are

then seen against the type of products and a match is worked out that for a particular product

which radio program suits the most.

The liking of program is also based on whether it includes some celebrity/ star or anchor-

persons in high demand these days.

Types of Ads

Straight announcements

Usually this exercise is done to save time and preferably in between the programs. There are

hardly any sound effects accompanying the advertisements of this nature. Since these ads are

small in size, the advertisers can repeat them many a times during a day.

Dramatized

To attract listeners in a different way some ads tend to create some excitement in otherwise a

normal event of life. Usually a question is raised, or a statement made expressing surprise

over some matter related to using a particular brand of a product. For instance one character

would express surprise over the extra shine in the hair of an other and would enquire what

shampoo is used to make hair so bright. The other would say: "how come you do not know

this, the whole world knows it; this is---------- shampoo".

Dialogue based

This is a very common approach as during exchange of dialogue among two or more people

that it is established that a particular product, or services, are best in the market. In most

cases advertisers prefer to include both male and female voices to give an impression that the

product is meant for all the people alike.

Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

Comedy / funny

This type of ads are usually meant for children and get popular soon. But care must be taken

to ensure that nothing goes against the social values while making fun of different things

including human relationship, particularly at the family level.

Sound effect commercials

Almost all the advertisements carry sound effects. TV ads may take little liberty to escape

background sound effects but for radio ads there is no way out. It is commonly noticed that

some radio ads start with a bang or similar sound effects to attract the listeners before some

voice telling about the product.

Acoustical effects as sour throat, (with filter mike or echo chamber) These effects are

attached with the ads when a person is suffering from some problem and his/her voice has

changed. There are so many devices now available to change ordinary voices into a different

voice. A number of microphone filters help change the pitch of the voice to give it a desired

effect. This technique is also applied in ads with funny characters.

Jingle short song

Most popular form of radio ads is perhaps the jingles. These are crisp little songs with a very

attractive musical composition. At times the jingles are so impressive that you may catch a

person humming those while doing routine chores. Making a good jingle is rather difficult as

compared to other forms of advertisements for it involves complete radio production

techniques of writing script, production and post-production. These ads also cost a little more

than other ads.

Verse commercial

In between a jingle and plain dialogue forms lie the ads done in verse form. In this case

performers simply utter lines written with rhyme and which give a musical impression without

actually involving music in them.

The Insertion Orders

Also called release order, which an advertisement agency sends, along with the costs and

other suggestions, if any, to a radio station, magazine or TV channels, requesting the ad to

appear in any of the following manner;

Integrated

As if part of an interesting program, cause no irritation by listeners. For instance

you may notice a particular ad, or set of ads, appearing in all dramas of a series. Or a sporting

event is carrying a particular ad, is what is generally called ads in an integral way.

Non integrated

inserted in-between programs

Trailer

Brief commercial, with detail ads later in a program

Spot

Marking time when the ads should appear

Time signal

First gives time, followed by brief announcement

(Sports/ weather products with these types of programs)

Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

Sponsors a new marriage of convenience

Whole series, matches, long plays, serials and dramas are some times booked by one or

multiple number of advertisers. In this case broadcasting houses charge more and is

considered one more advanced an area for making money for radio stations.

News

There was a time when news broadcast was considered without a commercial approach.

Things seem changing in recent years, most newsreels especially on TV channels are marked

with ads... good or bad, let's keep the debate open. The only loss in this case is the ads have

a fixed time during a newsreel. If an important news is delayed due to the ad, listeners may not

like it. Secondly, ads are done usually in a cheerful mood. If such an ad follows a very tragic

news, people may not like it.

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