Broadcast Logbook - Radio Feature Package

I decided to look at non-league football teams competing in the FA Cup, as at the time of broadcast it was the weekend of the first round ‘proper’. As such, I focussed on Tooting and Mitcham United, a non-league side who had been draw agaisnt League One Stockport County. I took the angle of the ‘dream’ of the underdogs and elected to aim my piece at the News Xtra audience.

To ensure my piece was suitable for the target audience, I listened to Newsbeat on several occasions. I realised that their packages used short, sharp sentences, sandwiched between lots of interview clips, with a music bed underneath, which is how I produced my piece.

Additionally, to appeal to the young audience, I also elected to use clichés (“The magic of the FA Cup”), puns (“Postman Matt”, “First class deliveries”) and a ‘cheesy’ song to add an element of fun and light-heartedness.

The song ran for the duration of the piece and was used as upsound after my introduction and to close the package. I felt my choice of music acted as a narrative through its lyrics.

The only problem with the song choice was the length of the introduction before the chorus came in. It meant that in order for my spoken introduction to fit over the music, I had to rush which made my words quite difficult for the audience to take in.

The cue for my package didn’t give much away and so maintained audience interest. I decided not to name the team I’d be focussing on, so fans up nationwide stayed engaged by guessing which side it may be.

I began my introduction with a Chelsea v Manchester United reference, which was the big game that weekend. By doing so, I involved fans of top-flight clubs and offered a stark contrast to the non-league teams. This was enhanced further by the mentioning of non-league players having normal jobs, such as plumbers and PE teachers. This brought a sense of reality and I felt it added interest by showing that these players are just average people who the audience could relate to. This reinforced the challenge they had ahead and enhanced the excitement.

I included commentary from Tooting’s game in the previous round to add colour, background information, excitement and crowd atmosphere and it helped lead to the forthcoming clips.

These clips weren’t as clear as I’d hoped as I interviewed them from their mobile phones, whilst on the team coach. I should have signposted this to add atmosphere and explain the poor quality. Also Matt York’s piece had a clipped edit at the end but unfortunately this was necessary due to background noise.

Towards the end, I put the emphasis on the fans, as this was another trait I’d noticed on Newsbeat, who tend to interview supporters rather than players/managers.

I felt my package was appropriate for the target audience and did the job of a feature. I continued to establish my ‘voice’, which I had been developing over the course of the newsdays and although there were a couple of improvements which could have been made, I was happy with the end product.