TELEVISION PRODUCTION

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Announcing is principally about speech and its presentation. It is a form of communication which deals with vocal qualities of speaking in order to pronounce words and generate meaning that can be shared commonly between the presenter and the audience.

The announcer is the source while the audience is the receiver. It means that there must be a commonality of words between those involved in the communication service. It is the comprehension of the used words that determines the effectiveness of the communication. (Owuamalam 2007:146). Communication becomes effective only when the receiver understands what the sender is saying by responding in a specific manner. This is a clear indication that both the speaker and the receiver share the same frame of reference. It is the desire to share the same frame of reference with the station’s audience that makes announcing important in broadcasting.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

1.  explain what broadcast presentation is 
2. describe who Newscasters and Narrators are in broadcasting
3.  describe the functions of the Anchorman and Disc Jockey. 

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Definition of Presentation

Presentation tends to introduce the station’s audience to the programmes that are to follow. Presentation should be done in such a way that it attracts the audiences to the station and they would want to listen to the main thing. They should desire to listen to the main story. It acts as an appetizer to the main dish.

Broadcasting stations that have competent announcers are bound to attract audiences to their programmes. Presentation is the first contact with the audience. If the quality of presentation is appreciable or remarkable, it will tend to invite the audience who will not only be inquisitive but would want to watch or listen to more of the station’s programmes.  A lot of efforts should be put into the job by the presenter so that the audience would not tune him/her out. In order to capture and retain the audience, the presenter should adhere strictly to the house style of the broadcast station. This includes the presentation language for programmes, the dress code, costume and make–up as well as the ability to use or manipulate new technological gadgets such as the teleprompter in place of analog equipment.

The presenter has to be respectful and cheerful to the audience. He has to be tactful, diplomatic and firm in his or her style of presentation. A station’s presenters who work within some or all of these guidelines are bound to be free from turning away audience members.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

1. What are the good qualities of presentation? 

3.2 News Caster

Newscasters are also newsreaders. They present news as a broadcast programme. They use appropriate language and performance skills to ensure exciting presentations to the news audience. They don’t deviate from any given script produced as news (Owuamalam, 2007:157) since they are performers as well, they are bound to conform to the directives given by the floor manager who in turn acts on the directives of the technical directors. Floor managers tend to be efficient using prompting device in the studios.

While on air, the newscaster should appear confident and the words should be pronounced distinctly and appropriately. The word, sentence or phrase stress should be placed in the right position so as to avoid confusing meaning. A newscaster who is not confident in his or her job is bound to deliver the news in a hasty manner and then make series of mistakes thereby virtually asking the audience members to tune off. 

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2

1. What are the attributes of a good Newscaster? 

3.3 Disc Jockey

Their major responsibility in a broadcast station is the presentation of musical programmes of various classes and forms, past and present. Their major work is to entertain the station’s audience by playing musical discs at the station. Their wit which adds glamour and fun to the presentation is their greatest assets in doing the work of presentation of artistes and their works in particular. The disc jockey usually has vast knowledge about artistes and their music and this is one of the reasons they normally have some reasonable comments on the music presented to the audience. The disc jockey’s main concern is to entertain the station’s audience by giving them various types of music; at times they play the role of advisors to the society in the course of presenting their music and the artistes.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 3

1. Describe the principal job of a disc jockey in a broadcast organisation. 

3.4 Anchors

The anchor men or persons are charged with the responsibility of presenting programmes such as discussions, interviews and talk shows. They may also be called moderators. They are well acquainted with each programme objective and they do a lot to motivate participation by the public. They are always knowledgeable in the subjects they handle, they are quick witted and are always quick in reasoning. This helps them share knowledge with the participants during programmes presentation. For example, a discussion programme on “Cultism in our schools” will definitely need someone who will guide the discussants in order to achieve the desired objectives. It is the duty of the anchor man to introduce various segments of the programmes and would ask discussants if they are, let us say, three or four to speak accordingly, for the three or four discussants would not be speaking all at the same time. From time to time as the discussion is in progress, the anchor may introduce or remind the audience about the topic being discussed.


At the end of the discussion, the anchor man usually summarises the viewpoints expressed in the programme by discussants. This he does so that the audience members would not lose the line of discussion and be better informed and possibly educated on the programme in question. 

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 4

1. Who would you refer to as an anchor man in broadcast announcing? 

3.5 Narrators

Narrators are presenters who give an account of a series of events in a sequential and orderly manner. They provide the information which explains situations in a graphic and interesting manner (Owuamalam 2007:158).  The presenter who usually gives the narration in documentary programme does carry the audience along and takes them through the programme by narrating the story in a persuasive and compelling manner. An example is, “The Africans”, whose narrator Ali Mazrui usually talks persuasively and in a manner so appealing that one is bound to be taken on the narrative journey with him very willingly.


The narrative given by short story tellers is done in such a way that one may think that the narrator was at the scene of the incident or event. Such narrators often re-enact and colour the story so much that it sounds real. An example is, “Tales by Moonlight”, a children’s story series featured by the Nigerian Television Authority once a week.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 5

1. What are the attributes of a good narrator? 

4.0 CONCLUSION

The major instrument used in announcing is the words which the deliverers use in communicating with the targeted audience.

The essence of announcing is to address an issue or issues that affect society. The audience to be addressed has to be identified to be addressed through research by the broadcast station. Those charged with the responsibility of making the announcement should be versatile in the language of communication. Words and phrases should be carefully selected so that the message would be communicated to the audience without ambiguity, thus satisfying the needs and desires of the broadcast station audience.

5.0 SUMMARY

By and large, announcing is based on speech and its presentation where words are properly used to achieve the desired results. In other words, the rules of grammar have to be strictly adhered to. Both the announcer and the audience should share one thing in common, that is the medium of communication used by the announcer should equally be understood by the audience for whom the announcement is meant. The message sent by the announcer would be understood by the receiver.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. What do you consider to be the cardinal points in announcing? 
2. Do you think an anchor man could also serve as a narrator? 
3. Why must a newscaster have the command of the language of communication?