kimmymoss

First off– I had planned to cover a story that my dad did on WTOP, since he’s one of the morning anchors there from 5 to 10 a.m. every weekday, but unfortunately, I didn’t really get to a radio in time for that this morning.  So I decided to go to wtopnews.com and go into the archives of audio clips to find a story I could use for this assignment.

I came across a story by Kristi King titled “April’s Hot Weather.”  Since I ran in the 90 degree heat this afternoon, it seemed the perfect topic for me to choose. It can be found here: http://wtopnews.com/?sid=628055&nid=524 

How it was told on the radio: King blended sound from a diner, presumably cooking scrambled eggs, to highlight how hot it was outside, while delivering a brief report on the hot April weather.  She also incorporated quotes from people about the weather, including those with positive and negative attitudes toward it. 

Aspects of aural writing I heard: Kept sentences short, emphasized the immediate and used creative attention getter (so hot eggs could burn outside). 

How it was different from how a print journalist would have written the story: It was very short and brief, and didn’t go into great depth.  It had sound from interviewees, which obviously a print journalist would not have been able to do.  Also, a print journalist would probably not have drawn a connection from the weather being so hot that you could scramble eggs outside.  But in radio, it’s catchy and interesting.