6/2/08 Episode 14: The News From The WWW - Take 2! :)

Austin Grammer

Unfortunately we came up about 30 min short on content last week and I personally got side tracked with my new business and didn't have time to even edit together the articles that were posted.

I'm reposting for Episode 14 volunteers. If you missed out on your chance to volunteer last week, here is your chance to still be in episode 14!

Thanks to those of you that did post articles last week. If you want to post again on this week's thread that would be great, or if you want to take the week off, that would be OK with me.

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 6/1/08.

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
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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
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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:

Sweden turning sewage into a gasoline substitute
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/27/business/greencol28.php

U.S. border agents, lured by the other side
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/27/america/27border.php

Some US farms outsourced to Mexico
http://beta.ph.news.yahoo.com/ap/20080527/twl-mexico-offshore-farming-1be00ca.html

Uganda's children work on dangerous rock pile
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080601/ap_on_re_af/uganda_children_on_the_rocks;_ylt=AtiydzdH.3bPtIhfFJJ0IVwDW7oF

John Zadikian · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008, 16:21 (GMT) Post subject: Do the twist

Austin...

Thanks for your efforts with such a great service. FYI...I can put together some additional content if you're ever in a pinch, so don't hesitate to ask.

This week, the topic is tornadoes...and so many of them!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24845723

TRT: 4:37

John Zadikian
Go Red Wings!

Scott Paxton · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008, 16:24 (GMT) Post subject:

Keep up the great work Austin.

I'll repost this from last week.

Civil War-Inspired Quilts Comfort Military Families

http://www.newhouse.com/civil-war-inspired-quilts-comfort-military-families.html

Time-2:04

Thanks,

Roger Baker · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008, 16:26 (GMT) Post subject:

I will add this one to the list:

Let Wal-Mart Fix US Health Care
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/LetWalMartFixUSHealthCare.aspx

I will have it posted later
Thanks!

Cameron Thomas · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008, 16:41 (GMT) Post subject:

I'll try to get back on track this week too with this article.

http://www.newhouse.com/geothermal-prospector-hopes-to-tap-volcano-5.html

Cheers,
Cameron

Cameron Thomas · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008, 17:12 (GMT) Post subject:

Here we go...

"Geothermal Prospector Hopes To Tap Volcano"
Newshouse News Service
Runtime: 6:11

Scott Pollak · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008, 17:23 (GMT) Post subject:

I, too, bailed last week. I guess in a weird way I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one.

I'll read an article I was ECSTATIC to see on money.com this week, GM to quit building large trucks and SUVs:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/03/news/companies/gm_announcement/index.htm?postversion=2008060311

Diane Havens · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008, 22:39 (GMT) Post subject:

I've been busy, but I'll do another one:

Is EF the new IQ?

Run time 7:59

http://www.newsweek.com/id/139885?from=rss

Scott Pollak · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008, 00:20 (GMT) Post subject:

Here ya go:

GM Announces closings of 4 Truck and SUV plants
Scott R. Pollak
TRT: 4:31

Clinton Nobles · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008, 18:40 (GMT) Post subject:

Okay forgive me everyone, but this week I am getting over a cold so mine isn't going to sound up to normal standards I would think. I did my best to compensate for it, but blah lol

Here is my article Very Happy

Name: Gamblers' shuttle gets terrorism funds
http://www.gazette.com/articles/security_36642___article.html/bus_ramblin.html
Time: 5:43

Hope you like it.

Here is the link

http://voiceoversavvy.com//files/ramblin_120.mp3

Clinton Nobles · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008, 18:41 (GMT) Post subject:

I'll try to get another one tonight.