The News From The WWW - 7/28/08 - Epsoide 20 - Volunteer Here!

[Austin G]

Episode 19 is now on-line: www.TheNewsFromTheWWW.org

Thank you for volunteering!

As always, if you have never volunteered before, we would love to have you aboard! PM me with any questions.

---------------------
Instructions:

1. Select a news article that you would like to read (see guidelines below).

2. Create a post in this thread with the TITLE / HEADLINE of the article and a LINK / URL to the article to claim or get "dibs" on that story so no one else will take it or read a very similar article for this episode.

3. Record the title, intro script, article, and close script and save it as a MONO MP3 -6db with a sampling rate of 96 kbps 44100.

4. Edit your first post and add the recorded article / MP3 as an attachment and add the total run time / TRT in your post so we can track the length of the program (we need one hour worth of material).

5. DEADLINE: Please submit your recorded article by Sunday at Noon 8/3/08.

Guidelines for choosing a news article:

As a VO actor you have to read other peoples scripts all day - here you get a chance to read what you want / what interests you! 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 and regular radio. Please 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. Choose articles that you would feel comfortable reading to someone you just met etc. Articles that are interesting, funny, clever, etc.

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. 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!

Script:

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
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are some good places to look for news articles:

The Drudge Report
DRUDGE REPORT 2008®

Yahoo News Most Popular Stories
Most popular news stories as ranked by readers of Yahoo! News

Newhouse News Service
Newhouse News Service - Home

AP Wire Top Stories from the New York Times
Associated Press News - Top Stories from the AP - The New York Times

[Austin G]

EXAMPLE POST:

I'll take this article:

Asylum's Renaming Insults Advocates
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...TAM&SECTION=US

EDIT:
MP3 attached
Runtime: 6:34


(I edited out the bulk of the story so you can quickly hear an example of the script)

[Diane Havens]

Hi, Austin -- so happy you've found us here!

I'll do this one: Phones Without Homes Run time 7:15
http://www.newsweek.com/id/149256

[Clintonnobles]

Doctor Grammer I presume?!

So nice to see/hear you again. I have been scouring the glob searching for the perfect article and I will find it soon I know. Once again great to be able to help.

FOUND!!!

Shrew Identified as world's hardest drinker . . .
Time: 4:22

Shrew identified as world's hardest drinking creature - Times Online

[Colin Campbell]

I need to go off and find an article to read. Is Sunday still the deadline?

[cira]

Austin, thanks for keeping me in the loop.

I have been literally slammed with work lately, but haven't forgotten about the WWW. I'll be back to volunteer very soon...hopefully on the next go-round!

Blessings,
C

[JohnWeeks]

Hi Ausin,
Good to see things back to "normal"!
I'll take this story this week:
Vinyl LPs In A Groove Again, But Oil Prices Loom
Newhouse News Service - Vinyl LPs In A Groove Again, But Oil Prices Loom
Runtime 4:54

Also, in case you were able to use the ABBA story I did a few weeks back, here's that one. I modified the line about the movie being release "last Friday" to say "recently".
I don't have the link though.

"Can Science Explain why ABBA is so Catchy?"
Runtime 3:40
It's from boston.com

[ScottPaxton]

Austin,

I am so glad I found where you moved this great project. It is unfortunate what V123 did.

Here is my story for the week.

Asphalt Goes Green With Shingle Recycling
Newhouse News Service - Asphalt Goes Green With Shingle Recycling

Thanks,

Scott

[Lee Gordon]

Originally Posted by ScottPaxton

Austin,
I am so glad I found where you moved this great project. It is unfortunate what V123 did.

Please note that in another thread on this forum Steven from Voice123 acknowledged that they had made a mistake in cutting Austin's post over on their site and invited him to re-post it. Also on the Voice123 board, Dave DeAndrea has placed a link back to this thread and it has remained there, undisturbed.

[Roger Baker]

Hi Austin,

Thanks for keeping this going. I will be posting mine later in the week.

Here's mine, I hope it's not too late.

http://spotlight.encarta.msn.com/Features/encnet_Departments_Elementary_default_article_Kick edOutPreschool.html?GT1=27001

Run Time: 6:14
Thanks!