Suggestions for information to include in show posts on the KDRT home page

At some of the Thursday evening DJ meetings this winter, among other times, we've talked about what makes a good post for the show files that appear on the KDRT home page.

So, I wrote a list of suggestions based on my years trying to interest readers in the stories we posted at the papers where I've worked. KDRT isn't a newsroom and it isn't formal, so I'm not suggesting a bunch of Thou Shalts ... but this is a list of proven practices that will help listeners find and enjoy your work.

NOTE: I do suggest a small style change in here, namely, to Drop the Policy of Capitalizing Most Words in Titles. In my view, the style is stilted, mildly confusing, and archaic. But that's a call for the KDRT steering commitee, or whoever decides such things.

If you have questions, please feel free to ask!

thanks,

Bll Buchanan

Host, Davisville

                   Suggestions for information to include in show posts on the KDRT home page

Goal of show posts: To describe the episode, and to help people find a program or episode that interests them

Reality: Most people don’t read these posts. They scan them, just long enough to decide if they want to listen or move on.

Confession: I stray from these suggestions as much as anyone. I have to fight my tendency to write long, and/or to believe that people will read something simply because I put some thought into it.

Readers/listeners — which is to say, most or all of us — protect our time ruthlessly. These posts have a second or two to interest readers/listeners. So, we need to make it easy for them to learn what we're offering.

Suggestions for title line:

                                         Name of show, Feb. XX, 2021: Short description with key words

Why this information?

•     Name of show aids recognition. It helps people who know the name of the show to know that they’ve found it. Also:
•             Naming the show each time helps people learn and remember the name (kind of like station IDs)
•             It helps search engines find the episode
•     Date: Include it to help listeners who sort or organize by date. (“I forget what the title is, but it came out last week.” “Nahh, it’s not in the current Thrasher. Check the dates. I think it was last month's issue.”)
•     Key words: These set your show apart from the millions of hours of other shows and podcasts out there.

A few other ideas for the title:

•     Don’t state the time of day the show airs (unless it’s unusual or a one-time thing). If the reader is seeing this on your show post, then they already have the show. Listing the hour isn’t essential enough to take space in the title.
•     Aim for short. Five or six words (after the colon) is ideal
•     Use the most precise, conversational language that fits your subject.
•     Our official style is to Capitalize the Words in the Title … but I vote to drop it. Using caps is confusing (technically You Don’t Capitalize Articles or Conjunctions, Such as “the” or “and,” but That Looks Arbitrary), sounds stilted and formal, and even archaic. Most magazines, newspapers, sites, etc., don’t use the caps. We’re scrappy, informal, experimental, weird. None of That Fits with Capitalized Titles.

Text under the title:

•     Lead with a description of what this episode offers
•     Try to write short (long is OK as long as most of the length is not on the main KDRT page)
•     Check spelling and grammar
•     Beware of unintended.     spacing and rando punctuation,.

Images:

•     Don’t violate copyright
•     Choose one visual idea for each image
•     Make the image fill the frame. These images appear about the size of postage stamps. They’ll look stunted and crowded if they contain a lot of text or visual complexity. Close-up shots … of people, things, icons … can look pretty good.