3/31/08 Episode 6: The News From The WWW - Volunteer Today!

Austin Grammer · **Voice Talent** Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 39

Episode 5 is now available for download! Go to http://www.TheNewsFromTheWWW.org to listen!

I'm always looking for additional volunteers! If you would like to join the regulars, please read the instructions below! If you have questions, please PM me!

Updates:

1. Website - I would like to add pictures of our VO talent volunteers along with a short one or two line bio. Please private Msg me a good size mug shot of yourself or your avatar / caricature and your bio and I'll add it to the talent page. Please include your City, State and the URL of the website you want me to link to. http://www.thenewsfromthewww.org/voices.html I added a V123 player with "Demo #1" for each of the volunteers on my list. If you don't want me to feature your demo - let me know and I can delete it. It is set to "Demo #1" on your V123 profile so you can change it via your V123 control panel....

2. I am working on getting the show "syndicated" to more RIS stations. There is a RIS association that many stations are a part of and they run a sharing service so I'm working on getting the program on that service so more stations can benefit from your efforts! Stay tuned! - I also encourage you to contact your local RIS and let them know about the program!

New Volunteers are welcome and encouraged to join! Check out these past threads for background on this project and/or check out the website above:
http://voiceoversavvy.com/ftopic4981.html
http://voiceoversavvy.com/ftopic4876.html
http://voiceoversavvy.com/ftopic5114.html
http://voiceoversavvy.com/ftopic5186.html
http://voiceoversavvy.com/ftopic5277.html
http://voiceoversavvy.com/ftopic5314.html

Instructions:

Select a news article that you would like to read. Create a post in this thread with the title of the article and a link to the article to claim or get "dibs" on that story so no one else will take it, then record the story in Mono MP3 -6db with a sampling rate of 96 kbps 44100, and then edit your first post and add the recorded article as an attachment and add the runtime in your post so we can track the length of the program (we need one hour worth of material). Please submit your recorded article by Sunday at Noon 4/6/08.

You can pick your own article / news story. Please keep in mind that the target audience is mostly older people with vision issues who already get a lot of the mainstream news from the RIS service through other volunteers reading local and regional newspapers in addition to listening to TV. So I would avoid political and breaking news as those are already covered and change from day to day. Pick articles that will have a week or more of shelf life. Also avoid celebrity gossip, stories of a sexual nature, murder, abuse, etc. Articles that you would feel comfortable reading to someone you just met etc. Articles that are interesting, funny, clever, etc. I have a list at the bottom of this post of some recommended articles for you to get an idea of what I am talking about. Please choose / read articles that are longer than 3 min when read (not including intros). A lot of short articles can be difficult to concentrate on / listen to. Often, you may come across an interesting story or news topic on one website but it is the abbreviated article. If you search the subject of the article on Google News Search, you might be able to find a longer / more in depth article on the subject from another news source. If you can't, please pick another longer article, or, find two similar short articles and read them both and introduce them as such "here are two articles about a popular subject on the web...." "And now another article with a similar but different story". Just use your best judgment. If everyone contributed an article with a average length of 5 minutes, we would only need 12 VO actors contributing on a weekly basis to fill the hour time slot. I'm happy to pick up the slack but would rather hear from more people. You may need to lower the bit rate of your MP3 file in order to keep the file size low enough to upload to the savvy board (less than 5MB)

Here is the script I would like each person to read before reading their article in order to have consistency from one article to the next:

"[ARTICLE TITLE (for show intro montage), PAUSE]

Hi, this is [MY NAME] from [CITY, STATE] and [YOUR DOT COM WEBSITE (if applicable)] with an article about __________(short but intriguing summary about the article you chose).

PAUSE From [SOURCE], [TITLE OF ARTICLE].

[READ ARTICLE]

PAUSE, "For The News From The World Wide Web, I'm [YOUR NAME].

Example:

"City Council Outlaws Skateboarding In Downtown: Youth Unhappy, (PAUSE) Hi, this is Homer Simpson from Springfield, Illinois and homersimpson.com with an article about how one small town is dealing with a skateboarding hooligans. PAUSE From the Springfield Gazette dot com, City Council Outlaws Skateboarding In Downtown: Youth Unhappy" {STORY} "For the News From The World Wide Web, I'm Homer Simpson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are some good places to look for news articles:

The Drudge Report
http://www.drudgereport.com/

Yahoo News Most Popular Stories
http://news.yahoo.com/i/964

Newhouse News Service
http://www.newhouse.com/

AP Wire Top Stories from the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/aponline/index.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are some articles I have come across in the last few of days that I would recommend if you are unsure what to read:

I haven't read much news in the past week - been working on some other projects - You are on your own this week! Be Creative! Smile

Thanks again everyone!!!!

Austin Grammer · **Voice Talent** Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 39

EXAMPLE POST:

I'll take this article:

Asylum's Renaming Insults Advocates
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LUNATIC_ASYLUM?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

EDIT:
MP3 attached
Runtime: 6:34

(I edited out the bulk of the story so you can quickly hear an example of the script)

Cameron Thomas · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Dec 2006 Posts: 479

I'll try this one I just saw today...

"Civilians Handle Minor Duties for Strapped Police"

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080331/a_civiliancops31.art.htm

Diane Havens · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 1281

I'll take this one:
Man-made molecules reverse liver cirrhosis in rats
Run time 2:59

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080331/lf_nm_life/liver_japan_cirrhosis_dc;_ylt=AklkL7SwmoMrDN.VROGrhlYDW7oF

Cameron Thomas · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Dec 2006 Posts: 479

"Civilians Handle Minor Duties For Strapped Police"
USA Today
Runtime: 3:55

Scott Paxton · **Voice Talent** Joined: 22 May 2006 Posts: 187

I will take this one.

Armless Man Shows Students What's Possible

http://www.newhouse.com/armless-man-shows-students-whats-possible.html

Story Length-2:40

Thanks

John Weeks · **Voice Talent** Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 186

I'll do this one...
Credit Cards Go After College Students
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/college/2008-03-30-credit-cards-college_N.htm

TRT 4:23
4:19 without billboard

John Zadikian · **Voice Talent** Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 42

I'll do this one about ML King's driver looking back at 1968

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/22/mlk.driver.houck/index.html

Total running time: 3:50

Scott Pollak · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008, 15:35 (GMT) Post subject:

I'll be reading an article from money.cnn.com (one of my favorite websites) about "Tracing Autism's Roots"

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/31/magazines/fortune/autism_roots.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008040104

Cira Larkin - Studio 53 · **Voice Talent** Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 497

Here's mine:

"Who Are We? New Dialogue on Mixed Race"

Run time: 8:13

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/us/politics/31race.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Colin Campbell · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008, 20:27 (GMT) Post subject:

For these files, saving at 48k, 44.1 mono mp3 as Cira's file above is encoded is perfect for Internet use straight voice.

Keeps the file size reasonable but still with acceptable quality.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008, 20:31 (GMT) Post subject:

Well then, here's mine. I just e-mailed the 128k file to Austin since it came to over 7 mb.

Here's the 48k version at 2.86 mb.

From Fortune magazine / money.cnn.com
"Tracing Autism's Roots"
TRT: 8:19

Colin Campbell · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008, 20:53 (GMT) Post subject:

There ya go. 2.9 meg and it sounds fine.

Colin Campbell · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008, 00:16 (GMT) Post subject:

"Army Does About-face on Soldier Couples in Iraq."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/04/01/combat.marriages.ap/index.html

Running time: 5:25

Craig Koepke · **Voice Talent** Joined: 31 Dec 2006 Posts: 422

I have a friend with severe Tinnitus. I think I will go with this story.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/health/research/01tinn.html?em&ex=1207454400&en=476a388718513912&ei=5070