A news bulletin is a very important part of any radio station’s broadcasting day. It is usually the first item to be heard by many listeners and so it must grab their attention. It must also keep their interest throughout and be informative, not sensational. It must have a wide variety of stories to appeal to a varied audience.
It is usual to begin a long bulletin with headlines which promote the major stories of the day. You can then decide what to include in the rest of the bulletin.
When selecting stories for a bulletin you should always aim to balance stories of different levels of importance and tone. You should also try to include some short pieces of recorded sound called actuality. These may be either a short extract from a speech or an interview. They are an effective way of breaking up a lengthy read by one person and can make a bulletin much more attractive to listeners.
The lead story of a bulletin should be very important but it is not necessarily the most important news of the day. You must remember that people listening to a bulletin do so in addition to doing other things such as working, driving or shopping. The lead story should therefore be a headline which is new and interesting but not overly dramatic. If you oversensationalise the lead story your listeners will not respect you or the information you are sharing.
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