In Broadcasting, your goal is to read news or commercials as if you were a radio broadcast announcer. You’ll prepare a different performance for each round:
Round One: Commercial
After receiving a fictional commercial, you will have three minutes to prepare how you will deliver the commercial. After the three minutes are up, you will read the commercial script exactly how it appears.
Tips and Tricks:
To practice, Google examples of short commercials and practice reading them. This is a commercial, so have fun with it! Use inflection to emphasize important parts, and present information in a way that catches attention. Remember, enunciation is imperative in broadcasting.
Round Two: Student Prepared News Script
Before the tournament, you will create a news script that includes up-to-date news stories with an original sign-on, sign-off, and an approximately 15-second commercial. The total time of the script should be three minutes
Tips and Tricks:
This is the only prepared round of Broadcasting, so take advantage of it to practice and polish your script! Include news stories that are relevant and/or interesting to listen to and be creative with your commercial and sign-on/sign-off. Rehearse reading your script several times to practice enunciation and voice inflection.
Round Three: Tournament Prepared News Script
You will receive a news script prepared by the tournament. You have fifteen minutes to practice how you will deliver the news script. You cannot alter or cut the script except to add a sign-on, sign-off, and transitions
Tips and Tricks:
Have a sign-on/sign-off prepared before the tournament. Hint: You can use the same ones from round two. As always, keep in mind the importance of enunciation and voice inflection. Since movement and eye contact are not important in Broadcasting, your speaking voice is everything!
Quarterfinals/Semifinals/Finals: News Program
You will receive a packet of news-copy, and you have thirty minutes to edit the copy down to a five-minute broadcast that includes a sign-on, sign-off, transitions, and an impromptu commercial based on a prompt.
Tips and Tricks:
Bring a stopwatch with you to the tournament to pace yourself. The proctor will give you time signals of how much prep time you have left, but a stopwatch will help you keep track of how much time you have left and how long your script is reading. Cutting the script down to five minutes is the trickiest part, so tackle that first before moving on to creating a short commercial. Aim to spend no more than twenty minutes preparing your news program and ten minutes practicing.
For more detailed practicing tips, check out the KHSSL handbook (Broadcasting starts on page 16).