All Things Unsurprising

It’s formula we all know. The hook is usually a provocative snippet of nat sound, maybe the oily pop of an exotic dish sizzling in a wok or the din of group of homeowners hammering plywood over their windows in preparation for a hurricane. And then fade in the warm voices of the hosts, thoughtful, with a literate cadence, perhaps just a shade slower than their television counterparts. This is the NPR way.

We know that we will hear sounds, voices and stories that share a certain style, designed to enthrall listeners for the whole program and keep them glued to their car radios even after their commute home is over–the vaunted “driveway moment.”

In his new book, Sound Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production, veteran radio producer Jonathan Kern makes it clear that the recipe for a compelling NPR broadcast is no alchemy, but rather a well-worn list of techniques for planning, interviewing, recording, editing and post.

Like the radio shows whose hosts he coaches, Kern’s book is thrilling at times when it reveals a juicy detail, but often suffers from a syrupy tone and pacing and a certain self-satisfaction. Granted, this is a book by an NPR veteran for NPR employees and tote-bag-toting loyalists, and as such, it contains more than enough unhelpful platitudes like “A good reporter looks and listens for the truth.” But there are good nuggets to be had for the online journalist who reads between the lines.

I offer a meta-reading of Sound Reporting; there are a number of great NPR tips that can be adapted for the do-it-yourself podcaster and these are worth repeating. If you host an online show, file audio reports or do any kind of internet radio news, much of NPR’s wisdom still applies. From Sound Reporting:

“Remember that a radio audience consists of listeners, not viewers. When you write for radio, you can easily emphasize the aural nature of the medium: ‘Coming up we’ll hear from the woman who broke the story’…

“There are no headlines. That means we don’t have a way to catch a potential listener’s ear the way a big headline at a newsstand catches the eye; to get our news, people have to make the effort to turn on the radio and tune to a specific station.”

(Kern’s frequent use of italics mimics the NPR trademark vocal delivery; one can almost hear Steve Inskeep musing along with the author. Kern does in fact include a section on marking up a script with underlining for spoken stresses and warns that overdoing it can sound “mannered”…)

“Get people to use analogies to explain technical subjects. That may require you to let the interviewee know what you’re looking for. ‘You say the Earth wobbles on its axis. Help me visualize this.’

“Identify and statements that may need fact checking, or a balancing statement or response. You don’t want to put any falsehoods on the air, so listen for assertions that may need to be checked. And if a guest makes allegations about an individual or organization, make sure you solicit a response from the person or group being criticized–ideally a second interview, but at least a statement that the host can read on the air.”

Check to that you still have a conversation [after you edit]. Sometimes a producer gets so wrapped up in technical and editorial details–in making sure that he preserves the essential elements of the interiview, makes perfect edits, leaves the breaths intact, and so on–that he forgets to listen to the finished product to make sure it still sounds like a normal discussion.”

The discussion of music is one of the most interesting in the book. I have often noticed how excellent the choice and mixing of interstitial tunes is on public radio (and personally gloated when my favorite Ratatat tracks were on high rotation.)

“Like the sounds in a news report, the music added to an interview should be there for a reason–and the way it’s introduced or faded should make a point. Sara Sarasohn describes the morphology of a music piece. ‘A hot hit means were starting on something. A sneak-up means the music here is tightly connected to the thing before it. When the music comes up full and ends, and then a someone starts talking, that’s a change of direction–the thing the person starts talking about is completely different from the music that just ended. A warm hit [starting the music at low volume] in a pause means we’re building momentum on this same subject we’re discussing. Sometimes you can have music come up and end, then you hot hit something else, and then that fades under some talking, and that’s a really big change of direction.'”

Perhaps least satisfying in Kern’s book for podcasters is his section “Beyond Radio” where he brusquely touches on online radio and podcasting itself. Kern leans heavily on the wisdom of Maria Thomas, NPR’s digital media chief, and she’s a virtuosa of the obvious.

“‘People who are looking at the Internet on the job often can’t listen to audio at their workplace,’ says Maria Thomas…They may fear that the sound will disturb the person working in the next cubicle or the corporate IT department may not allow them to download audio players.”

Kern advises that podcasters provide text versions of their radio scripts, not to skimp on recording quality and “don’t forget what radio has taught us about keeping listeners’ interest.”

What Kern does to keep our interest is spice in transcripts of short exchanges between reporters and interviewees from programs like Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Day To Day and Talk of the Nation. Inevitably, the actual journalism is infinitely more engaging then the discussion of it, and I found myself being disappointed each time Kern came back after I got absorbed in a discussion of aridopsis foliage with a botanical geneticist or a chat about Bo Diddly rhythms with Dr. John. This is obviously why Kern is a producer not a scriptwriter–he sure knows how to pick ’em–but his own material is pretty boring.

The book ends with fairly boilerplate bellyaching about the future of journalism with cit-j reporters covering the London Underground bombings (oh no!), concern that consumers of news will only get the news they want and not the news they need, (eep!) and that, according to NPR Web editor Todd Holzman, different media might “converge” (you think?) to allow for new and powerful ways to deliver the news. “It’s finding a way for the world of digital media to extend radio to a larger, younger audience,’ Holzman says. ‘There are many ways to tell a story.'”

In words Michele Norris would never dulcetly intone on air, “No duh.”

HOST: For O-J-R dot org, I’m Noah Barron.