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START UP A LOCAL TN

Editing

You will have two copies of your local paper so that you can cut the odd numbered pages from one copy and the even numbers from the other. Cut out all major news items. Do not censor items to protect your listeners from local horror stories - they will not thank you for that - you are supposed to be keeping them informed! Measure the column length of the items and tot them up; usually about 140 column inches will fill 40 minutes of one side of a C90 tape, leaving enough room for signature tunes, introductions and a few readers' letters. Provide a good balance of news - parish council, county council, local stories, church news, WI news, local sport. Avoid political news unless it is a factual statement of local election candidates and give a fair balance of time to each political party.

Recording

Initially before you are able to acquire your own recording equipment it is useful to find two or three people willing to use their own recorders and capable of making a good recording.

Newsreading

Do not look for BBC accents or members of the local drama group. Ordinary but clear interesting voices are the best. During a short break in the meeting, get them to record their names and addresses on tape. This will give you a record of the volunteers and give you an idea how their voices sound on tape. Select your team with a contrast of male and female voices. Stress that newsreaders must turn up for recording sessions punctually and find their own substitutes from the reserve list if they cannot make it for their regular duty.

Copying

This is a production line job involving cleaning the old tapes on a bulk eraser, making copies on the high speed copier, testing and packing ready for despatch. It is not difficult. Half an hour's instruction is adequate and teams of two are best to start with.

If CDs are offered, then a master CD has to be made on the recording computer, which is then put into one of the units in the CD stack, with blanks in the copy positions. After duplicating there should be no need to check the copy CDs (as the process is much more reliable than cassette copying where the tape in the cassette can get damaged). The CDs then go into their (larger) wallets.

Magazine Editors

You may propose to include a magazine with your TN. The second side of the cassette can carry magazine items or features from the paper, supplemented by a serial story, cookery, gardening, local entertainment, sport or items and stories sent in by your own listeners. A good magazine editor can soon accumulate a stock of items or you can have more than one editor to give variety. It is up to you to make the most of the talent available to you.

If digital recording is the norm for the TN, making up a magazine can be an easy job, as individual items can be recorded and held in a folder identified for the particular issue of the magazine. The links can then be written and recorded separately, and the whole lot put together by pasting the individual files into the recording program in the correct order. As the program gives you an immediate readout of the time used, it is very easy to get the duration of each side of the cassette. And, if CDs are issue, a version without turnover instructions can also be put together very quickly.

Visitors

Volunteers are needed to visit the potential listener to explain what the proposed local Talking Newspaper is all about, to demonstrate how to use the cassette player and how and when to return the wallet. Get the volunteer to leave a telephone number with the listener so that they can be contacted if there are any problems.

Having explained how the TN will operate and where and when volunteers are required collect names, addresses and telephone numbers. Hopefully you will already have enough newsreaders' names on tape, collected names of editors, recorders, copiers and visitors. Then from those who have volunteered, seek those willing to help on the Committee. In addition to the officers already selected, you need between five and seven elected members, and it would be best if at least two of them are potential listeners. Co-opt your local reporter if possible and also someone from one of the local organisations such as Lions, or Rotary etc.

Arrange a meeting of the newly appointed committee as soon as possible to work out the details and promise your volunteers that you will work out a production rota and let them know as soon as possible when it will come into operation.

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