Radio Scoring

Glass on music:

Generally the kind of music we use is more emotionally neutral. Its goal is more to keep a sense of motion, to keep things moving. And to underline the turns in feelings. I’m not against manipulating feelings. The whole job is about manipulating feelings. If you don’t get in front of that and embrace it with a big bear hug, you’re not doing your job as a radio producer. You just don’t want to be all corny about it.

I like music. When I’m looking for a piece of music to play under a radio piece, I often look to movie soundtracks.

As do many others. I hear a lot of Mark Mothersbaugh’s work from Rushmore and The Royal Tennenbaums on This American Life and (not surprisingly) Wiretap. Also, I often recognize music from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Amelie underneath CBC radio promos. Soundtrack music is so often instrumental, and because it’s usually written to play under voices, is perfect underneath radio stories.

So I was delighted today to read about the release of The Life Aquatic OST. The reviews look good so far.

Other instrumental music I like for scoring:

• Paul Haslinger’s tracks from The Girl Next Door
  • Lost in Translation
    • Desperado
      • Beastie Boys’ In Sound from Way Out! </ul>

Lappy 486

Just watched this week’s Strongbad, all about Radio. Brilliant.

Private Misener

Two job shadows this past week – one with Kevin Trudell at CFMX, and another with reporter Kevin Misener (no relation) at 680 News.

And more and more, I’ve been thinking about working in the private radio world. I came to Toronto last year with my sights set solely on the CBC, and I’m now thinking otherwise. Starting in the privates might not be such a bad idea. Every CBC exec I’ve talked to is looking for reporting skills and hard news experience. And though I’ve done several short doc pieces (morning show fare), I’ve never done any real “reporting.” And short of actually doing it, there’s no real way for me to get that type of experience.

So if the CBC won’t hire me without these skills, why not try to get a job at a place that might help me develop them? Like 680 or CFRB? From what I’ve seen, private radio deadlines would be great for someone like me. Having to churn out a report every 30 minutes is tough enough, but having to tell the same story several ways in under 40 seconds each time – well, that’s enough to hone anybody’s chops.

A prof at Dalhousie once told me that the best way to get good at reading is to read, and the best way to get good at writing is to write. I think the same holds true for radio.

I’d love to do an internship at 680 (in addition to Metro Morning) – it would be a great way to see the inside of a newsroom on a regular basis, and it wouldn’t look too bad on a resume either. But, once again, because my program doesn’t have a mandatory internship policy, I can’t intern at 680 because of insurance issues.

However, I did do a couple of demo newscast reads at 680 with a woman named Anne Lavrih. She was wonderful, and apparently she’s going to play my demo for the higher-ups when they’re looking to staff the new Rogers News/Talk station in Halifax. Plus, Kevin mentioned to me that there might be spots available as an audio editor at 680. So all hope isn’t lost.

I’m feeling like I need to focus my energies, but I don’t know where. In many ways, it’s the same question I’ve always had – do I stay or do I go? And now on top of that, another question – public or private?

CBC RSS

Hurrah! Finally, RSS feeds from cbc.ca. I’m subscribed to Canadian News, World News and Arts News, plus the regional Toronto and Nova Scotia feeds.

Right now it seems to be headlines only, no summaries. But it’s still a whole lot better than the old headlines service. I subscribe using Bloglines. You can subscribe to my site, too.

Finding a job when I graduate

Soon, my thoughts will turn to demo reels and resumes. Last year I peppered the east coast with shiny discs, and looking back, I wish I’d known about Broadcast Dialogue’s Broadcast Directory Search. It lists Canadian radio stations geographically, and gives you contacts, staff listings, corporate ownership information, and the date the info was last updated. Lots of private radio contacts, but sadly, bare-bones CBC info.

But… the CBC publishes a little pamphlet called Wondering Where to Find Us: Frequency Guide 2003/2004. The information is almost identical to the frequency guide online, with an important exception: CBC production centres have an asterisk next to them. So, if you’re looking for a job as a CBC Radio producer, it’s probably a good idea to know the names of the higher-ups at these stations.