The News From The WWW - 1/19/09 - Epsoide 44 - Volunteer Here!

[Austin G]

Episode 43 is now on-line: www.TheNewsFromTheWWW.org

Thanks to everyone who volunteered last week!!! We had almost a full hour of programming!

Baby Update: 1+ days from the DD! No signs of baby yet. Mom is still feeling great!


If you have a chance, please go edit last week's post and delete your MP3 file attachment in order to conserve precious server space on Voice-Overs.com

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

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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 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 1/25/09.

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
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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

The Consumerist (great blog on consumer topics - read the article their blog posts are talk about)
The Consumerist: Shoppers Bite Back

[Roger Baker]

We'll all be thinking about you Austin. I hope everything goes great. Keep us posted!!

Here is mine for this week:

Back to the Future: Does Life in the 21st Century Live Up to the Hype?
FOXNews.com - Back to the Future: Does Life in the 21st Century Live Up to the Hype? - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News

Run Time: 7:42


Thanks!

[John Zadikian]

The heir to the G Dynasty is nearly here!

I'll take this story on autistic kids: SketchUp: Why Kids With Autism Love It | Newsweek Health | Newsweek.com

TRT - 7:25

I'll do this one, too, about how watching skirt lengths can determine how the stock market might perform in '09:
reportonbusiness.com: Long skirts and red lips? Investors beware

TRT - 6:00

[Colin Campbell]

Was my Sully story (last post, last thread) too late?

[ranalanricard]

Here is my offering for this week;

Bush cuts sentences of Ramos, Compean
Agents convicted of shooting smuggler will be released from prison March 20.
Bush cuts sentences of Ramos, Compean

TRT 2:46
TRT 3:29

The Food and Drug Administration has identified a company in Georgia as the sole source of the scourge.

http://www.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090121/hl_nm/us_salmonella_usa_1



Ran Alan Ricard

[Diane Havens]

Here's mine, but not likely to record it until Saturday:

Don't Forget the Owls
RT 6:09

The Latest in the Search for Wisdom | Newsweek Culture | Newsweek.com

[spartacus]

I'll try this one.

5 Ways the Cellphone Will Change How You Listen to Music | Epicenter from Wired.com

TRT 8:39