Writing for radio station involves sound effects
63Television is the most popular and higher paying for writers, although I believe radio to be as rewarding from the drama aspect. Sound effects add the tension, drama, hype, and mystery to the play or story. The sound of marching feet, or the drum roll announces the anticipated action.
Whereas TV costs a fortune to set up the stage for scenery to see the whole picture, radio can do it all with sound effects previously stored on disks or tapes. They can use these repeatedly for different scenes and circumstances.
By writing for a Radio station you can create any scene that your imagination can conjure, with little or no cost. Many people believe that radio would die with the advent of TV. They could not have been more wrong. Some radio stations revolve around music, while others cater to entertaining their listeners, a lot of this involves sound effects.
Yes I believe there will always be a place for writers wanting to write for both TV and Radio.
 | Amazon Price: $82.43 List Price: $167.95 |
 | Amazon Price: $39.95 |
 | Amazon Price: $0.43 List Price: $9.99 |
 | Amazon Price: $1.99 |
Techniques for radio writing
In radio, a writer needs to set the scene at the beginning to make the audience aware of what is actually happening. The writer needs to prepare the audience for the actors, as they cannot see who they are the will do it with sounds and effects.
Scenes
As a writer, you have to describe the location. You have to describe and identify the characters, as the listeners cannot see them. Sound effects can only tell you so much.
Narrator
The narrator needs to explain what is happening:
The boy huddled deep into his coat to steel himself against the driving wind and rain. Oblivious, to the sounds of crying as a man menaced the girl in a nearby car.
Sound Effects
Sound of a girl crying; fades with the wind whistling overhead; sound of footsteps; then stop.
Dialogue
The characters describe and identify themselves through dialogue
Tony: What do you think you are doing?
Man in car: Get out of here. Its none of your business.
Sound effects come in giving the sound of a storm. and also the woman crying.
 | Amazon Price: $9.49 |
 | Amazon Price: $0.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $0.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $6.60 List Price: $13.96 |
Some common sound effect terms are:
FADE IN: Fade up sound from nothing
FADE OUT: Fade back sound to nothing
Use of music with plays on radio
Music can help enhance the drama of a script and adding another dimension to it. It can build up to a crescendo or have it fade off to nothing.
I hope this has given you the basic information on how writing for radio works.
To learn more, you will have to do a lot more research. This could be well worth doing if you have thought of writing for radio. Do not be put off by lack of knowledge. Your local radio station may even give you some helpful information if they know how keen you are to get started.
I hope this article on writing for a radio station will help you in this new venture for you.
CommentsLoading...
I've never even thought about writing for radio. I'll have to explore this more. Thanks.
Bright sorcerer, thanks for that. you reminded me of a scarey show we listened to called The Shadow. It started up with "Who Knows the Shadow knows" It was to us kids real scarey.
Mr Marmalade . You just cant help bad luck can you. We got to keep on rockin on though.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to read my hubs. really appreciate it.
Sally's trove, yes I love listening to the radio too. We have an oldies music and entertainment station here in oz 10l. Love that.
woody marx. you are not wrong. They used their initiative back then.
Dazy bee, glad of chance to take you down memory lane.
Tone death, guess that spoils my aim , (Which I never had)
My critics think my singing is worse than my golf.
Thanks for a good hub
I've always been a huge Sherlock Holmes fan and read every story I could since my teen years and then "dicovered" our library had a huge selection of the old radio shows starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce and I was hooked....lol. I've found that dramatizations of Louis L'Amour novels are also excellent simply because of the sound effects. Mind you, my introduction to his books on tape was one that starred Johnnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson and it really was just like "being there." I've always enjoyed the visualization aspect and you make some very interesting points here. I've worked as host and DJ but never really considered using my talents for speaking and writing in this type of application...for radio shows. Hmmm, very interesting. Thanks for my jolt of inspiration for today. It has got me thinking, which isn't always a bad thing..lol.
hubs of this nature can truly help one appreciate the work behind a radio production. suddenly i miss my news casting days on radio. thanks
I love to go to 'Live365' on rainy days and listen to some of those old time radio shows from the 1930's when all they had was radio...they are jam-packed with sound effects some of which rival the best our modern movies can do with all their surround-sound and computer generated effects. Thanks for hub! :)
I am a radio-holic and have been for many years. Radio is always my first choice for being in touch with the world, whether I'm in the car or at home. When nothing on the radio appeals to me, I fire up an old radio mystery or comedy from my tape collection rather than turning to TV.
I never thought about how to write for radio, I've just enjoyed the listening. I'll be paying more attention now to the nitty-gritty of how a show comes together through words and sound in this special medium.
CJ, just who is it who says radio can't be art? I don't think I've ever heard that said. Must have been some high-brow with limited imagination.
When it comes to drama, music, commentary, humor, creativity, and pure entertainment all wrapped up in one, my favorite broadcast is Prairie Home Companion, now in its 35th year.
CJStone, I love listening to the serials on the radio. But what annoys me I miss a few episodes and then catch up. TV is so out there that people forget the radio unless in the car. Now they are spoiling that by putting TV in Cars for god (oh ) Sake.
Dont know of those ones but then I live in oz so we have different shows to you maybe. Thanks for stopping by again
I've written a couple of radio columns for the BBC, but radio drama is definitely my favourite art form. Never done it myself, but I love listening. The best bit of Radio ever - which involved large amounts of sound effects - was the original BBC radio series of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. What makes it brilliant is that you have a whole universe in your head while you are listening. There's a lot of space in the imagination that gets squeezed out by movies and TV. The next best bit of Radio is Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas, originally written as a radio play. Who says radio can't be art?
Eileen Hughes Hub Author 3 years ago
Alocsin, Thanks, yes there are lots of different ways of earning money but it is hard work too. thanks for stopping by