6/16/08 Episode 16: The News From The WWW - Volunteer HERE!

Austin Grammer

Episode 15 is now on-line: www.TheNewsFromTheWWW.org

Thanks again to everyone who volunteered for last week's show!

I'm STILLLLL working on the syndication service - I can't get logged into their FTP site to share / upload the show. Hopefully I can get that straighted out this week.

As always, if you have never volunteered before, we would love to have you aboard! PM me with any questions.

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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 6/22/08.

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

Cameron Thomas · Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008, 21:32 (GMT) Post subject:

I'll do this one...

"Sun Goes Longer Than Normal Without Producing Sunspots"

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080609124551.htm

John Zadikian · Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008, 22:33 (GMT) Post subject: A lot of sole

This week, I channeled my inner foot fetish for words of wisdom on flip-flops Smile

http://www.newsweek.com/id/140900

TRT - 5:27

John Zadikian

Diane Havens · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008, 02:14 (GMT) Post subject:

Mine this week:

What happened to Russert
The science of sudden cardiac arrest

Run time 5:55

http://www.newsweek.com/id/141450

Clinton Nobles · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008, 16:14 (GMT) Post subject:

Okay, so I didn't do either of the two I originally posted LOL. I found this one last night and liked my read on it better, plus it is just a cute story. You should check out the article it has some cute pictures.

Meet the Dog that thinks theres nothing Sweetah than a Cheetah
Time: 3:50

Diane Havens · Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008, 14:12 (GMT) Post subject:

Unfortunately, Clinton, I know school districts that don't rehire nontenured teachers who have been out on medical leave, for cancer -- even non smokers. Of course, they don't tell them that. And it's not even so much for the time missed -- it's for the health insurance spikes having these folks on your payroll cause.

Something is seriously wrong.

Scott Paxton · Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008, 17:06 (GMT) Post subject:

Everybody loves a good monkey story.

Here is mine.

Man And Stuffed Penguin Are Baby Monkey's Surrogate Parents

http://www.newhouse.com/man,-stuffed-penguin-are-baby-monkeys-surrogate-parents.html

Time-2:17

Thanks,

Colin Campbell · Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008, 22:13 (GMT) Post subject:

Haneen Arafat · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008, 02:17 (GMT) Post subject:

Weeks later...I'm back.

Arts Panel Members Satisfied With Changes to King Statue

3:59

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/19/AR2008061902235.html?hpid=topnews

Apparently, it's better if MLK doesn't have wrinkles.

Roger Baker · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008, 18:21 (GMT) Post subject:

Sorry guys, I'll have to pass this week. Too busy. Be back next time.
Thanks!

Cameron Thomas · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008, 19:08 (GMT) Post subject:

A little late but here it is.

"Sun Goes Longer Than Normal Without Producing Sunspots"
Science Daily
Runtime: 4:26

Colin Campbell · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008, 20:33 (GMT) Post subject:

Museum Reunites Radio and Baseball....

http://www.newhouse.com/museum-exhibit-reunites-radio-and-baseball-2.html

Running time: 4:08