5/12/08 Episode 12: The News From The WWW - Volunteer Today!

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

Episode 11 is now available for download! Go to http://www.TheNewsFromTheWWW.org to listen!

The ad lib intros are sounding great!

Updates:

1. Website - http://www.thenewsfromthewww.org/voices.html Send me your bio and pic and I will add you to the website for the show.

2. I'm STILL working on getting the show "syndicated" to more RIS stations. I hope this week's show will be the first that is available to the syndication service.

New Volunteers are welcome and encouraged to join! PM me if you have any questions or just dive right in a post your fav news article!

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 5/18/08.

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:

A Crushing Issue: How to Destroy Brand-New Cars
Mazda Forced to Design A 'Disassembly' Line After Odd Sea Disaster
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120942873506551291.html

No Smoothie Sailing for Starbucks
http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/daily-brief/2008/04/30/no-smoothie-sailing-for-starbucks

Reusing Cardboard Postal Boxes Illegal
Shipper Must Pay To Use Old Priority, Express Mail Boxes
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/16072154/detail.html

Drivers Conserving Gas As Prices Continue To Rise
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/Drivers.Slowing.Down.2.717910.html

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)

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

I'll take this amazing story!

UNABLE TO FORGET:The remarkable story of a woman who remembers every day of her life

Run time 6:29

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136334

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

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080506/od_nm/exjewelry_dc;_ylt=AnSROqcAh2gkQnJ60f2_EHMSH9EA

You've been dumped...so do you dump the diamonds?

TRT - 3:03

John Zadikian
STILL looking for gig #1

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

Trying to get back to my weather related stories--plus, I just had some pancakes this weekend. For those of you who have a thing for maple syrup....

Weather Led To A Big Year For Maple Sugar In Southern NH

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080512/NEWS01/174102039

Dave DeAndrea · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008, 19:56 (GMT) Post subject:

I'll give this one a shot:

Follow Proper Steps To Dispose Of Medicine
3:31

http://www.newhouse.com/follow-proper-steps-to-dispose-of-medicine-5.html

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

Here we go.

"Weather Led To A Big Year For Maple Sugar In Southern NH"
Nashua Telegraph
Runtime: 4:22

Roger Baker · **Voice Talent** Joined: 04 Jun 2006 Posts: 46

So. How will YOU spend those rebate checks?....

Reality Checks
http://www.usaweekend.com/08_issues/080511/080511humor-taxes.html

Story Run Time: 5:20

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

I'll take the one about the picky postal service...
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/16072154/detail.html
Runtime: 2:48

Scott Pollak · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008, 16:45 (GMT) Post subject:

Here ya go:

"HINTS OF A RIFT AT OPEC ABOUT PRODUCTION"
Read by Scott Pollak
TRT: 4:00

Clinton Nobles · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Mar 2008 Posts: 197

I want to join in on this. I am going to submit something. Very Happy

Used or not I am just going to keep on until it is.

I have read over a lot of this and I thought this would be a good one.

http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/entertainment/tv/stories/2008/05/05/deadliest_0506.html?cxtype=rss

Edit: Here is the Article. Waaahhooo I hope you can use it.

Article Name: Brushes With Death Standard for 'Deadliest Catch' Star
Read By: Clinton Nobles
Run Time: 4:24 mins

Scott Pollak · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008, 13:42 (GMT) Post subject:

Clinton... I just went and read that article. "Deadliest Catch" is one of my favorite shows (of the honestly very few t.v. shows I watch!). Interesting article. I hope others on this forum either read it or listen to your audio version of it.

Clinton Nobles · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Mar 2008 Posts: 197

Thanks Scott. I too am not that much of a TV watcher, but I do not miss an episode of this show.

Clinton Nobles · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Mar 2008 Posts: 197

Okay I don't know how to say a couple of the names here so I am not going to read this, besides it is really short. However, I wanted to share. It is pretty amazing.

Title: 9-year-old girl's twin is found inside her stomach

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/Health_Medical/Absorbed_Twin.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

Claire Dodin · **Voice Talent** Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 400

I hope it's not too late.

Designing the solution to crime

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7398527.stm

4min20