4/21/08 Episode 10: The News From The WWW - WOW The 10th!!!!

Austin Grammer

Episode 9 is now available for download! Go to http://www.TheNewsFromTheWWW.org to listen!

Congrats Everyone! We have made it to 10 episodes! (11 if you count the pilot!) Thanks again to all of our great volunteers!

Updates:

1. When reading your into to the story, please ad lib a little summary of the story, don't just say "....with a story about [TITLE]...". Ad-libbing a short little summary (it doesn't have to be much) makes each segment sound friendlier and easy going. You can also inject some personality into it if you want or say why the story is important to you or something. Whatever you think is appropriate.

2. 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....

3. I am STILL 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
http://voiceoversavvy.com/ftopic5503.html
http://voiceoversavvy.com/ftopic5566.html
http://voiceoversavvy.com/ftopic5606.html
http://voiceoversavvy.com/ftopic5645.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 4/27/08.

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
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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:

'Disneyland' comes to Baghdad with multi-million pound entertainment park
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3802051.ece

Robotic vigilante: Homemade 'Bum Bot' patrols in Atlanta
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080423/ap_on_hi_te/apfn_bum_busting_robot

Blind homeowner captures intruder
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080421/NEWS02/804210409

Florida lawmakers debate offering a Christian license plate
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9083RK80&show_article=1

World Bank backs anti-Aids experiment
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c391a1ce-12ee-11dd-8d91-0000779fd2ac.html

Guantánamo drives prisoners insane, lawyers say
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/26/america/gitmo.php

Austin Grammer · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008, 16:54 (GMT) Post subject:

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)

Diane Havens · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008, 17:14 (GMT) Post subject:

My pick this week:

New approach might strike at the core of Alzheimer's disease
Run time 5:21

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/31470/title/New_approach_might_strike_at_the_core_of_Alzheimer’s_disease

Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008, 17:17 (GMT) Post subject:

And since my Earth Day article didn't get uploaded in time for last week, I'll be one of the first for THIS week....

"Reduce your Carbon Footprint"
From Newhouse News
TRT: 5:03

John Zadikian · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008, 17:26 (GMT) Post subject: Happy 10th!

Bringing science to life in Joisey Smile

TRT - 4:14

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24318419/

John Zadikian
STILL looking for gig #1

Roger Baker · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008, 17:29 (GMT) Post subject: Story

Here's mine for this week:

Common Gas Pump Problem Cheats Drivers, Stations
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352721,00.html

Thanks

Story run time: 6:14

Cameron Thomas · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008, 18:24 (GMT) Post subject:

How about this one?

Gene Therapy Experiments Improves Vision in Nearly Blind

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Vision-Restored.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

John Weeks · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008, 23:51 (GMT) Post subject:

I'll take this one:
"Blind Home Owner Captures Intruder"
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080421/NEWS02/804210409
Runtime: 2:40

Haneen Arafat · Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008, 14:51 (GMT) Post subject:

I've got:

Stutterer finds his voice in speech competitions

5:28

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-stutter30apr30,1,5797341.story?page=1

Claire Dodin · Posted: Sat May 03, 2008, 12:28 (GMT) Post subject:

The man who re-grew a finger

4min05

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7379745.stm

Scott Paxton · Posted: Sat May 03, 2008, 19:06 (GMT) Post subject:

I dont want to miss out on No. 10. Here is mine for the week.

http://www.newhouse.com/kitten-lucky-to-be-alive-2.html

Thanks,

Cira Larkin - Studio 53 · Posted: Sun May 04, 2008, 14:57 (GMT) Post subject:

Here's mine:

Raw Milk Straight from the Cow

Run time 6:00

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1736713,00.html

Cameron Thomas · Posted: Sun May 04, 2008, 15:35 (GMT) Post subject:

Here's mine.

Gene Therapy Experiments Improve Vision in Neary Blind
Associated Press
Runtime: 6:02

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Vision-Restored.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Colin Campbell · Posted: Sun May 04, 2008, 20:30 (GMT) Post subject:

Ipods in schools...

http://www.newhouse.com/schools-put-mp3-players-to-educational-use-5.html

Running time: 3:30

Scott Paxton · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008, 01:31 (GMT) Post subject:

I had to put down my 10 yr old cat Chleo...sorry I couldnt make the deadline. Oops

Scott