“El susurro de los libros”: magazine de radio especializado

Abstract

The idea of the radio magazine specialized in books called El susurro de los libros was born to create a radio program focused on literature. There are still few magazines of its sort in Spain, due to there are a tendency to introduce a small and short space about books within a program block which deal with different issues. Personally we think this kind of journalistic products to encourage reading and let the listener know the agents surrounding the book production, publication, distribution and promotion. It is a way of delve into the literary world as well as specialized programs in cinema given. So we decided to create a El susurro de los libros pilot program with the intention of publicizing issues as the rise of desktop publishing of books (print and digital) among first authors, the eternal battle to survive among small bookshops and department stores, the future of the paper book for the emergence of e -Book or the forums, blogs and social networks which recommend books that make up the new social reading. During the pre-production of El susurro de los libros, the management with the sources was harder than I thought. Initially we contacted by Twitter and email with writers (who did not put any problem to organize and conduct the interview) whereas with the other sources the contact was made by telephone. In the first pre-production document we considered so many sources, provided that if any could have failed, we can have enough to cover both reports and the main live interview. The content selection is based mainly on the resources at its disposal. The first report entitled "From ink to screen", required four types of sources to nourish : a bookseller, a writer self-publisher, a librarian and an editor (with ultimately not able to contact ). While the second, "The new social reading” had to provide testimonies, both successful writers as regular readers to provide their vision and personal opinion as to the final decision that leads them to purchase a book. In regard to the live interview, the new writer Elísabet Benavent was ideal to narrate and encompass the main branches that include the magazine: the future of books, desktop publishing and the power and influence of social networks in writers’ success. The estimate of expenditure required for this magazine would be determined by the available resources we had (for example, if a radio station provides us the radio booth and digital recorder, we saved those costs). Otherwise, the only expenditures that would have will be the trips to interviews (by train and bus, as these are sources of Valencia and Castellón). During magazine production, the sources were quite reduced compared to the pre-production list because many of them were unable to contact or arrange interviews (mostly with publishers and also with the new digital editing platforms). However, with these final sources (three for each report and one for the interview) we could produce the magazine without any apparent problem. For the editing magazine process we worked on "Audacity” to edit, join and shape El susurro de los libros. The first we had to do was dump the files from the digital recorder or USB to computer and from there, go and select the parts of the brutes that were considered was accord to the script of the program. In addition, we had to reduce background noise recordings voiceover, as a somewhat annoying through microphones used radio booth wafted beep. Once chosen voice cuts of each of the interviewees, we are dedicated to find background music to share the interview and reports provided to give dynamism to the magazine. It should be noted that we chose the songs based on the emotion that we wanted to instill to the listener and the topics covered. We used basic sound effects such as amplification of audio ( to raise or lower the volume of voice cuts and music), noise reduction ( as cited above) or the 4

effect that allow you to appear or vanish gradually each voice cuts, provided give a sense of beginning and end of each part of the program structure . The space provided for emitting El susurro de los libros would be on the evening, about 17:00 or 18:00 pm. We could place a radio station like Radio Nacional de España, because it has a wide range of specialized programs in many subjects. The target audience of this specialized magazine in the literary world are young people (between 16 and 18 years) and adults, because we think the language used is standard and with no formalities or excessive specialized vocabulary. This would be interested in reading listeners and know how a book is launched from the author desktop to the bookshop shelf where they buy it. The final assessment we make of this project is very positive. There have been some setbacks, for example: having to record the program header with recorder instead of in a radio booth; annoying beeps that are heard in the background during the presenter speech (due to the low quality of the recording in the radio booth, which have tried to resolve during the postproduction process); or the need for a conference record for the expert’s report " From ink to screen " instead of a personal interview. However, apart from these small details we believe the program has come forward to strive to work hard the script and the edition of the piece. It has been a very rewarding experience to see how a single person can bring up a specialized radio magazine itself, and see how the initial idea took shape throughout the various phases of work, until you hear the final product with all sources, songs and sound effects joined together. 5