THOSE with an ear to the radio must have picked Jive FM Radio already.
It is a new radio station currently running tests on 90.9 FM on the Copperbelt.
If the station has settled for “The number one radio station” as its slogan, they better come up with something new.
The slogan is not good enough because, firstly, it has been over-recited by several other radio stations in Zambia and outside.
In an event that listeners miss the other part of that identification slogan and only pick the last part, chances are that they may be confused as to which one station among those going by the same slogan they may be tuned to.
A unique slogan is important in identifying the radio station even by those missing the earlier part of that identification.
For example, the ‘Where only the best is good enough’ slogan which is synonymous with Radio Phoenix.
Whenever that is heard, listeners easily single out that station. By that slogan, listeners believe that whatever they hear on that radio station is nothing, but good enough.
Another example is ‘Everyone is listening’ slogan which is Ndola’s Sun FM’s identification. With that slogan, listeners are made to believe that every other radio listener is tuned in to that particular station and they wouldn’t want to be left out.
‘The number one radio station’ slogan, therefore, further raises questions that might hang in the minds of listeners as to which survey declared that particular station ‘number one’.
The slogan is as over-used as the ‘Station of the nation’.
Listeners may wish to know that a survey recently conducted shows that more that six million people tune in to Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) Radio 1. Radio 2 attracts five million while Radio 4 accounts for four million.
With such statistics, listeners would be able to determine which radio station is most listened to, and claim an appropriate slogan.
ZNBC
Chililabombwe radio fans continue to complain over failure to pick ZNBC radio in that border town. For a long time now, they have written and wondered why they are left out of this public service?
Without ZNBC, community radio stations have taken advantage of that absence, and in some cases, radio stations beyond borders fill in the silence.
The situation is similar to Kabwe where listeners fail to understand why ZNBC could not transmit over the town to feed other towns with clarity?
RCV
Radio Christian Voice remains irregular. Listeners would be fed with clear transmission this day, only to break and run apologies the next day.
With four million people tuning to RCV every day, something must be done to stabilise transmission.
LUSAKA?
To listeners asking why the column fails to review radio stations based in Lusaka and beyond, be informed that compilation and monitoring of this column is done from Ndola.
Input or reports from other regions on how such radio stations are performing will be greatly appreciated.
The column previously depended on Lucy who updated us on what was happening from the Midlands, while Julius Mandaliza Phiri wrote in from Chipata and Norman from Southern Province. These guys no longer do that.
TIPS
What is an echo?
Echo or added reverberation has many uses in broadcasting.
It may be needed for a scene in a drama, it may be used to heighten some effect in an announcement or in a documentary, and it may be used in modern ‘pop’ recordings as an effect.
Echo can be produced in several ways.
The studio complex may include a special echo room, a small room with highly reverberant wall surfaces and containing a loudspeaker and a microphone.
The programme material to be echoed is fed from the control panel to the loudspeaker, picked up on the microphone and returned to the control panel. Sometimes temporary echo rooms can be rigged up at night in a broadcasting centre by using a stair-well or an entrance lobby.
Special echo units made of spring-steel wires or plates of sheet steel offer another technique for producing echo. The feed and return is similar to the echo-room method.
There are also special tape echo units consisting of an endless belt of tape and several replay heads.
A useful and inexpensive way of producing echo is by studio tape-recorder.
Since the recorder has both a recording and a play-back head, programme material can be recorded and played back at the same time.
If the recorded signal is played back and then fed for a second time to the recording head the programme material will appear to echo.
The amount of echo, or the ratio of echo to the original material, is controlled by the fader on the replay line.
This tape-echo is more effective if the recorder is used at its highest speed. Echo is a useful production device but like all novelties it should not be overdone.
The cubicle loudspeaker
The cubicle loudspeaker is generally a high-quality unit giving faithful reproduction of studio and recorded sounds. The best listening position is on the axis of the loudspeaker.
The space between the loudspeaker and the producer and his technical operator should not be blocked by equipment, furniture or other persons.
The listening level should be high enough to allow comfortable listening but from time to time in the course of a production it is useful to listen at a lower level as this gives a better idea of how the programme may sound to listeners.
Some control panels have a special dim switch which cuts the listening level by half.
An experienced technical operator will often find his ears to be as good a judge of programme levels as the VU meter.
All studios are provided with a talk-back device enabling the cubicle staff to talk to performers in the studio when the studio microphones are not switched on. But care should be exercised in the use of talk-back.
The talk-back level should be high enough for the studio artists to hear, but not so high as to deafen them.
When using talk-back speak clearly and slowly. There is no need to shout. Avoid the habit of using talk-back too often.
If, in the course of a rehearsal, you find many points about which you wish to speak to your artists note them on your script and talk about them with your artists at the end of the rehearsal, do not constantly break in on the rehearsal through the talkback.
It can upset artists and you run the risk of not hearing some important part of the rehearsal.
MULTICHOICE NEWS FLASH
For this week, we ask a question, correct answers will win readers Multichoice giveaways!
Mention any radio stations, days and times Multichoice DSTv highlights are aired?
For comments, observations and contributions; jackmwewa@gmail.com – 0955115777