The death of radio is greatly exaggerated.

"In the last 30 years we’ve seen an absolute explosion of radio channels and stations. Within the 44 countries in the UN definition of Europe...there are roughly 15,000 broadcast radio outlets, about one for every 50,000 people. Ten years ago there were half as many." The Guardian, October 2011

The aim of this two day course is to provide participants with the resources, storytelling skills and contacts that will enable them to create long form radio documentaries. The course is global in scope and will assist participants in selling their work to broadcasters around the world.

Convened by Colm McNaughton, a multi-award winning radio documentary producer, participants will gain an insight into the stories that broadcasters around the world are looking for.

In addition participants will learn the skills required to produce an eight minute story that can be recorded and uploaded to any broadcaster from anywhere in the world, and learn about working in conflict zones where personal safety on the job and where and how to make story contacts will be highlighted.

Participants will learn:

Getting to know radio as a medium

• Comparing & contrasting Literature/Film/Radio
• Learning to listen: what is soundscape?
• The interview technique

Technology talk: what is needed to make a radio documentary:

• The recorder, microphone
• Audio editing gear/software
• An active imagination
• Developing a website, finding stories/work, making contacts, uploading files

Telling Stories:

• What is a story?
• What sort of stories work well in radio & why?
• Scriptwriting

• Finding contacts/researching/preparation
• Safe work practices in conflict zones
• Ethics
• Dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder

Writing a proposal/selling the complete piece

• What do Executive Producers want?
• Developing a global network, ABC (Australia), BBC (UK), CBC (Canada), NPR (USA), RTE (Ireland), Deutsche Wella (Germany), and more

*DISCLAIMER* AFTRS reserves the right to cancel any course for any reason at any time. In the event of a course being cancelled a full refund of course fees will be provided. If an enrollee wishes to withdraw from a course, they may do so up to 14 days before the course commences and get a full refund. Cancellations within 14 days of course commencement will incur a fee. For more information on AFTRS Open’s policies, including refund policies, please see
our policies page.