Writing for radio

In radio we paint our own pictures: it is the 'blind medium', cheap, portable, reaching the literate and illiterate alike; even one person with a microphone and recorder can broadcast. The listener is a co-author.

Radio news is written for the ear: everyday words, the Subject-Verb-Object pattern, about 13 to 14 words per sentence, headline first; present tense and active verbs; repeat the name instead of an unclear 'he'; avoid jargon and repetition.

History: a private radio service began in Madras in 1924; the Indian State Broadcasting Corporation was renamed All India Radio in 1936 and Akashvani in 1957.

Numbers: give ages as adjectives, round large numbers ('nearly three thousand' for 2999), prefer 'half' to 'point five'. Broadcasters mark pauses with slashes, brackets or dots and check pronunciation.

Radio features and documentaries mix commentary, interviews ('voxpops'), sound effects and music; radio drama relies on dialogue and sound ('The War of the Worlds', 1938; 'Tinka Tinka Sukh'). Community radio is of, by and for the people; Anna FM (2004) was India's first campus community radio.