How to share with the Northwest News Network
Sharing a story with the region? These guidelines are for station and freelance reporters who contribute material to the Northwest News Network server, which is operated by PRX. Following these steps will ensure your stories get broadcast far and wide.
STEP ONE: GETTING ACCESS TO N3’s SERVER ON PRX
1. First, you will need a PRX Exchange account. If you don’t have one, you can create a free account here.
2. Once you have an account, request to join the Northwest News Network group. Go here and look for a link to request to join the group.
3. Ask an admin (a station editor or your news director) to approve your request.
4. Log into the Northwest News Network web interface: http://networks.prx.org/. You may be presented with a drop-down menu asking you to choose a network. Choose “Northwest News Network” which should take you to the server.
STEP TWO: PREPARING YOUR AUDIO
1. Your story should include a generic outcue, with no station ID. Example: “I’m Joe Smith in Portland,” or “I’m Joe Smith reporting.”
2. Audio files should be .wav file format (44.1 kHz, 16 bit, Mono)
3. When you name the audio file, please include some version of date, your initials, and slug if possible. Example: 031823DW_RadioStory.wav
4. If you do two versions of a story, please include different tape in each story
STEP THREE: PREPARING YOUR SCRIPT
1. At the top of your script, please include: a headline, your name, your station, the date, your editor’s name, the name of the audio, all in [brackets]
2. Include your member station’s name in the host intro. Hosts must credit member stations for their wraps and features, and for any version of an enterprise or investigative story.
3. If your spot has a soundbite, spell out the full name of the speaker in the script and also add a pronouncer if needed. Please transcribe the soundbite if possible.
4. In your script, put [brackets] around anything that is not to be read by a host.
STEP FOUR: POSTING YOUR STORY
1. Login to the N3 server http://networks.prx.org/ (instructions above).
2. At the home page, click the “add audio” button in the top right and upload your audio.
3. In the boxes on the left, add a HEADLINE and your host LEAD.
4. In the FULL STORY box, upload your ENTIRE STORY. In this box, include everything: the headline, the host lead, the body of your story, etc.
5. Fill out the bottom boxes, and make sure that your station is shown in the box at the bottom. If not, click CHANGE ACCOUNT and change to your station call letters. DO NOT export to NPR.
6. Click the POST THIS ITEM button in the lower right and you are done!
FORMATS:
Features: These stories run 4:00 minutes including a host lead. Our features take a regional approach in a conversational public radio style. We place a heavy emphasis on gathering on-the-scene sound with in-person interviews.
Spots: These run up to 1:00 minute including the host lead. They are meant to run in the newscast and are usually timely. However, we work hard to create spot news that can “keep” for a few days so that stations have material to run during slow news times, such as Monday mornings.
We produce four types of spots:
• Wraps have reporter-narrated copy “wrapped” around a soundbite.
• Cuts and copy are stories written by the reporter but read by a station host, with a soundbite from a newsmaker. Cuts and copy should run no longer than :45 seconds total
• Voicers are reporter-narrated with no soundbite.
• Debriefs are like a cut and copy in which the cut is the voice of the reporter.
• In addition, we will take superspots. These are spots that run longer, 1:15 to 2:00 minutes, tailored for newscasts or short feature segments. However, be aware that not all stations will run superspots.
Revised 3/21/23