For small radio stations, especially those outside the US, the shooting at a Trump rally this weekend may not have been cause for action. After all, most are music led stations covering local communities and not usually the first thought for breaking news.
Listeners would expect national news/talk stations to react to major news events whether domestic or international, subject to editorial judgement, and in the UK some handled the shooting incident better than others as James Cridland covered in a blog post.
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Back to small stations though. While the expectation of covering this story by breaking into a music show is low, stations should have a policy for how to decide what action should be taken when major news events occur.
Part of the decision process is considering audience profile. If it’s 11.15pm on a Saturday night and your station is playing dance classics (maybe aimed at a younger audience), you might decide to do nothing with a story such as the shooting.
For some other formats, you might still not break into the show, but you may decide to take additional news bulletins, especially if they are not usually included in this part of your schedule.
If your show is live, careful handling is required. Presenters should ideally be given swift guidance on what to do – or not do – regarding ‘breaking’ the story and any further mentions. Sometimes, especially with inexperienced presenters, it’s better to say nothing than make a mess of it.
Local stories
For major news stories, it’s highly likely that your audience will find out about from social media or a message from a friend.
For national/international stories, they are likely to then go to national media for more details. This is a race you cannot win.
But community/small commercial radio may be the place that people may expect to hear more about something major happening locally. This could be traffic, weather, news, or sport.
How would you cover this?
I have heard “we’re only a small station with a volunteer team” and I get it. But you haven’t been forced to start a radio station aimed at your community, so wouldn’t you want to do all you can to provide a service as good as you can?
I’m not suggesting that you try to offer a rolling news service when something kicks off in town, but even with limited resources there are things you can do.
At the very least, if a major incident is affecting your listeners’ lives or may do, then:
- Be able to record short updates and drop them (remotely) into your playout system. Even something as simple as “[INCIDENT] has happened, you can get the latest news by following [OFFICIAL SOURCE]. You may not be able to provide deep coverage but at least you are acknowledging the incident and signposting to help. These announcements could be pre-recorded and kept in the system to cover the most likely types of incident.
- Include updates on your social media, even if this is sharing posts from official sources
- Try to reflect actual listener experience. Scan socials for comments and maybe ask for clarification or further comment from those posting.
If you have presenters whose shows are voicetracked, are you able to get them to re-record at least a few links?
A pre-recorded breakfast show on Monday morning that gives no mention of something big that happened at that weekend locally (or nationally like the Euros final!) would seem a bit odd.
Can you establish an ‘emergency responders’ team among your volunteers? People who can:
- Remote-record updates or get to the studio at short notice
- Update social media
- Source information
Rewarding
I can honestly say that the times when the unexpected happened have been some of the most exhilarating and rewarding times on air. Instill this in your volunteer team as stepping up to provide enhanced radio service in emergencies takes the station to a new level.
When I was running programming at Andover Sound in Hampshire, UK, we were a small commercial station with a paid, but small, team.
On one occasion I remember well, it started snowing late at night and I was due to be on the breakfast show in the morning. I decided to drive to the radio station so that I would be there to provide the essential service I knew listeners would need.
When I got there, the news editor had also come into the studios (we hadn’t planned this) and we put together some things that we needed for the morning. He lived locally and I was grateful for a bed in the spare room rather than my original plan to sleep on the office floor!
The 5am drive back to the studios was hairy! Only a 5 minute drive normally, but a little longer this time given the snow and ice on the (mostly) deserted town’s roads.
Over the next 12 hours or so, a team of three or four of us that were able to get to work provided information and a shared experience with a community disrupted by the weather.
We did a rolling service of traffic information, school closures, details about hospital, pharmacy and other essential services that were disrupted, weather updates, and more. Listeners were more than happy to interact, providing a great picture of a community trying to cope.
Post-breakfast we switched to a format of music, punctuated with updates and information on an ‘ad-hoc’ basis. This wasn’t about keeping a normal sounding show on air with updates, the format was scrapped and the music was there to fill until the next piece of information.
By lunchtime, things changed. Schools were closed, parents weren’t at work, and the tone of the output was about what people were doing.
With only a few people available to provide content, it was a long day. But we got the information out there and listeners were grateful.
Prepare today
It could be that your station never has to cover a major local incident but being prepared should be on your urgent list of things to do.
Nobody knows when something will affect their community and each incident will require a unique and evolving response, but at least having the ‘first steps’ mapped out is a good start.
Have a plan that every member of your team knows and can easily access, including:
- What to do/not do when a report comes in – on and off air
- Who to contact – have a list so that there will always be someone available
- How to handle the first few hours on air
- Framework for ongoing programming
Even if you don’t have a detailed plan in place, at least basic details will mean less panic and a more measured and credible approach.
