Making the most of your local broadcasters A Voluntary Arts Toolkit Making the Most of your local broadcasters A Voluntary Arts Toolkit Making the most of your local broadcasters CONTENTS Foreword ........................................................3 1.Your Local Radio Station .............................4 2. Your Audience.............................................7 3. Making A Connection ..................................8 4. A Good Story ..............................................9 5. Writing A News Release ...........................10 6. Interviews .................................................12 7. Local Television ........................................14 8. Think “Partnerships” .................................15 Acknowledgements ......................................16 Page 2 Making the Most of your local broadcasters A Voluntary Arts Toolkit FOREWORD People from amateur arts and craft organisations do what Amateur theatre is at the heart of many they do because they love what they do. That’s what the word communities around Britain, providing “amateur” means. And you want to share that love with others. opportunities for people of all ages to get Local broadcast media provide you with a chance to do just that. involved in a creative hobby, as well as They’re a way to showcase your work, raise your profile, grow entertaining local audiences. audiences and attract new members. Whilst there are already many instances of local Yet too many groups and practitioners have little or no idea radio showing interest in amateur productions, how to use local broadcasting effectively. Their efforts to with a rapidly changing broadcasting scene publicise events, performances, courses or workshops are often made up of more community radio stations - as haphazard and unproductive. well as a growth in community television - there is a need for guidance about how best the worlds That’s why Voluntary Arts and NODA - the National Operatic & of broadcasting and theatre can work together. Dramatic Association – have devised this ‘toolkit’ to help you make the most of your local broadcasters. As the main representative body for amateur theatre, NODA is constantly seeking new ways There are huge opportunities out there. For example, seven to support the thousands of committee members million people listen to BBC local radio each week. Many more who run amateur theatre groups on a voluntary tune in to local commercial stations. This guide will help you basis, and therefore welcomes the production of reach those listeners more effectively. this toolkit. There are also some 200 community radio stations, run mainly The hope is that this toolkit will make it easier by volunteers. These offer thousands of hours of airtime just for amateur theatre, local radio and TV to work waiting to be filled with engaging and creative local content - together to provide creative and engaging content you can provide. content for listeners and viewers, to supplement And a new era of truly “local” television has begun with new what can be seen on stage. channels being rolled out across the UK, all of them eager to connect with groups like yours. Tony Gibbs This guide has been compiled by broadcasting professionals Chief Executive, who know the industry inside out. It features case studies National Operatic and Dramatic Association which show what can be achieved with the right preparation www.noda.org.uk and imagination. It builds on the success of the Up for Arts collaboration with BBC local radio stations in England. We believe this toolkit will make it easier for you and your fellow volunteers to “share the love” and to persuade others to explore the creative possibilities on their doorstep. Robin Simpson, Voluntary Arts Chief Executive Page 3 Making the Most of your local broadcasters A Voluntary Arts Toolkit 1.Your Local Radio Station A BBC local radio station is a uniquely powerful medium for telling your community what your organisation is up to. If you need to recruit volunteers, find a performance space, sell tickets or just get noticed then your local BBC station is the obvious place to start. How you use this resource may range from having a simple “What’s On” announcement read out on-air to collaborating on a full- scale OB (outside broadcast.) BBC Radio In Scotland The public service radio broadcaster (in English) for Scotland is BBC Radio Scotland. It is a “national” station serving the entire country. As such only the most unusual, ambitious or eye-catching stories from a local arts or crafts group are likely to receive significant coverage. But if you think your event or performance falls into one 91% of people in the UK listen to the radio of these categories you may attract interest from one of each week. And most of them listen to local BBC Radio Scotland’s speech-based news programmes stations, BBC and commercial. A small but (e.g. Good Morning Scotland) or a specialist arts growing number of listeners are tuning in to programme such as The Culture Studio. community stations. Radio, especially local A short-lived experiment in Scottish local radio ended radio, remains a powerful and effective tool for in the 1990s with the closure of half-a-dozen of BBC you to promote the work of your organisation. local stations in centres like Inverness, Aberdeen and Dumfries. Limited local services do survive. Listeners This toolkit will offer tips on how to make the in Orkney and Shetland “opt-out” from BBC Radio most of the medium where you live. But first, Scotland at fixed times each day to hear extended news some context... programmes covering local events and issues. Limited local news opt-out bulletins can be heard in South The BBC West Scotland, the Borders and the Highlands & Islands. Gaelic language broadcasters Radio Nan Gaidheal and BBC Local Radio : England its TV counterpart BBC Alba serve their own distinctive The first BBC local radio station, BBC Radio Leicester, audiences. opened its doors in 1967. Today a network of 39 stations across England and the Channel Islands provides BBC Radio In Wales listeners with local news, information, features, debate As in Scotland, BBC local radio on the English model and music. More than 7m people tune in to their local never really took off in Wales. Radio Gwent closed in BBC station each week. Station schedules are designed 1991. Radio Clwyd followed two years later. around speech-based programmes where local people get the chance – and the time – to talk about local life and BBC Radio Wales is the English language public culture. service radio broadcaster for Wales. BBC Radio Cymru performs the same function for the nation’s Welsh- “This quality local speech content together with a focus speakers. Though another “ national” broadcaster, BBC on listener involvement... and local community events Radio Wales serves a population equivalent to the makes the service highly distinctive within the UK’s radio English West Midlands, making access to the airwaves market.” for community and cultural groups with news to share a [ BBC Trust Review of Local Radio 2012 ] little easier. Page 4 Making the Most of your local broadcasters A Voluntary Arts Toolkit BBC Radio Wales’ emphasis on speech programming gives it a daily appetite for good stories that will engage its audience. BBC Radio In Northern Ireland Northern Ireland has a fully-fledged BBC local station, BBC Radio Foyle, which serves the area around County Londonderry. BBC Radio Ulster is the national public service radio broadcaster. With a 22% share of listening in the province, the station has a long-established reputation for high-quality programming which reflects For example, Rutland Radio - part of a small community life and culture in all its diversity. Lincoln-based group of stations - has a “Going Out Guide” listings feature, broadcast on every show 7 days a week. The station also engages with local COMMERCIAL RADIO organisations via “Rutland Radio Action” with on-air mentions and links to local groups via the station Older listeners may recall the days of “pirate radio” in website. the 1960s. But local commercial radio in the UK began in earnest in 1973. London’s LBC and Capital Radio “Corby Silver Band are always happy to welcome were followed onto the air by Radio Clyde in Glasgow. any new brass or percussion players, but are Then came a host of big city stations whose names - particularly looking for bass and tuba players. Piccadilly (Manchester), Radio City (Liverpool), BRMB There are no membership fees and they have a (Birmingham) and others - came to define a whole selection of instruments for loan. More details can era of pioneering “independent” radio, funded through be found at www.corbysilverband.com “ advertising. Though the emphasis was on pop music, [Rutland Radio Action, October 2013] substantial air-time was also devoted to local news coverage, phone-ins, the arts, sport and even politics. Forty years on, the commercial radio landscape is a lot Will your local commercial station can give you air-time different. There are now more than 300 commercial to promote a concert or find new members? There’s a stations, almost all of them pursuing the same youthful simple way to find out. The regulator Ofcom requires audience with a strict formula of chart-based pop. every commercial radio broadcaster to display a PUBLIC FILE on the homepage of the station website. It’s usually Much of what was local and distinctive about commercial hidden away at the foot of the page in tiny print so look local radio has been lost. Scores of stations have become carefully. “brands” owned by one of the sector’s “Big Three” networks: Global Radio (Heart, Galaxy, Gold, Xfm), Bauer The Public File will tell you what opportunities the station Media (Kiss, Magic) and Guardian Media Group (Smooth, has for community and voluntary groups to publicise Real, Rock Radio). themselves and it will list the names and contact details for the journalists you’ll be dealing with.