Broadcast Voice Handbook

Rating:
Summary: Tape/Recording Quality Horrible!!
Review: Finally, a book that focuses on broadacst voice! Many reporters and prospective anchors have finished school with good writing skills, but they are not polished in vocal production or delivery. Utterback's book is a "must have" for journalism schools and news rooms throughout the country. If people are serious about getting into this profession, this book will be a resource for a lifetime. Whether it's proper breathing, script marking or delivery styles, Utterback's book enables journalists to master the skills of the craft.

Rating:
Summary: A Book that is Needed
Review: Finally, a book that focuses on broadacst voice! Many reporters and prospective anchors have finished school with good writing skills, but they are not polished in vocal production or delivery. Utterback's book is a "must have" for journalism schools and news rooms throughout the country. If people are serious about getting into this profession, this book will be a resource for a lifetime. Whether it's proper breathing, script marking or delivery styles, Utterback's book enables journalists to master the skills of the craft.

Rating:
Summary: From RTNDA - (800) 80-RTNDA
Review: September at this year's RTNDA convention. Ann S. Utterback, author of the classic manual for on-air delivery, BROADCAST VOICE HANDBOOK, has written a book for news directors, producers, GM's, on-air talent, and all news professionals. Even though stress can be an ally when you need that extra surge of adrenaline, the chronic stress of the news business can also erode your health and your job performance. BROADCASTER'S SURVIVAL GUIDE describes techniques to help everyone in broadcasting recognize stresses and deal with them in healthy ways. You'll also find a list of resources for additional help from professionals. A book like this is long overdue for broadcasters. Jeff Alan, News Director at WPTY in Memphis, sums it up: "Ann Utterback knows broadcasters and the stresses we work under. She has managed to package everything that broadcasters need to improve their lives and performances in this one book. No one could ask for a better tool."

Rating:
Summary: Tape/Recording Quality Horrible!!
Review: The quality of the audio cassette I received was so bad I couldn't concentrate on the actual content. Ann moved back and forth from the microphone which, of course, increased and decreased the microphone's "pick up." In addition, it contained a countless number of popping "P"s. However, most annoying of all, the tape sounded as if it was recorded at the bottom of a large tin can -- the tape was very flat (mono). When paying forty dollars for a single cassette tape, I expect more than merely an amateur production; I expect and am entitled to a professional production. Very dissappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Improved speaking skills - not just for broadcasters
Review: This book came highly recommended over the Voice & Speech Trainers Association list, Vastavox, so it seemed like a pretty good bet.

It has turned out to be an extremely useful and practical guide for me not just in improving how I sound over the radio, but also in teaching oral presentation skills and phonetics to university-level EFL learners.

Utterback starts with the basics, namely, how to breathe correctly, i.e. with the diaphragm. From there she proceeds to health, diet and lifestyle issues, e.g. stay away from caffeine and cigarettes; don't strain your vocal cords by coughing, clearing your throat, or yelling at sports events; and don't ruin your voice by trying to artificially lower your pitch.

Next is resonance, how to improve it, and how to correct problems like nasality (a sticky issue for many of us Mid-Westerners). The chapter on articulation includes an introduction to basic articulatory phonetics, and word lists to identify problem areas, with suggestions on what to watch out for and how to fix it.

I especially appreciated the chapter on stress and intonation, since I feel this is at the heart of good speaking, whether in ordinary conversation, as an EFL learner, or when broadcasting over radio or TV. I am adopting the idea of script marking, which I had been doing to some extent anyway, in my teaching of EFL learners, who really need to pre-read a text before reading it aloud, or they will make all their same old habitual mistakes again and again.

The chapter on 'Sounding conversational' also provided an important direction to work on. I hear lots of broadcasters getting it right, i.e. reading prepared copy as though they were just ad libbing it to a friend, something much harder to do than one might think. This chapter gives many practical suggestions on how to sound warmer and more natural when reading.

The chapters on going live and dealing with stress were useful, especially the part on how to deal with stalkers. You become a relatively public kind of person once you're on radio or TV, and this sometimes brings unwelcome attention. I now feel a bit better prepared to deal with it.

Most chapters have practical exercises at the end, like warm-ups to get you going before speaking or going on the air, which I will be coming back to frequently.

Two appendices containing survey data and advice from news directors for prospective broadcasters were informative, though repetitive - I guess this serves to emphasize that there is considerable consensus on what is really important. Finally, the last two appendices contain word lists for identifying problem phonemes and difficult-to-pronounce words. (For the latter, an online or CD-ROM dictionary with sound files is a real convenience, and much more explicit than the ad hoc pronunciation symbols used in US dictionaries.)

This book contains no frills or fluff, just lots of what you really need to know to learn to speak and read better and more engagingly. It's an incredible bargain compared to hiring a voice coach, who would certainly spend most of his or her paid time telling you what can be found in this book, and you have it as a permanent reference besides.

Rating:
Summary: Improved speaking skills - not just for broadcasters
Review: This book came highly recommended over the Voice & Speech Trainers Association list, Vastavox, so it seemed like a pretty good bet.

It has turned out to be an extremely useful and practical guide for me not just in improving how I sound over the radio, but also in teaching oral presentation skills and phonetics to university-level EFL learners.

Utterback starts with the basics, namely, how to breathe correctly, i.e. with the diaphragm. From there she proceeds to health, diet and lifestyle issues, e.g. stay away from caffeine and cigarettes; don't strain your vocal cords by coughing, clearing your throat, or yelling at sports events; and don't ruin your voice by trying to artificially lower your pitch.

Next is resonance, how to improve it, and how to correct problems like nasality (a sticky issue for many of us Mid-Westerners). The chapter on articulation includes an introduction to basic articulatory phonetics, and word lists to identify problem areas, with suggestions on what to watch out for and how to fix it.

I especially appreciated the chapter on stress and intonation, since I feel this is at the heart of good speaking, whether in ordinary conversation, as an EFL learner, or when broadcasting over radio or TV. I am adopting the idea of script marking, which I had been doing to some extent anyway, in my teaching of EFL learners, who really need to pre-read a text before reading it aloud, or they will make all their same old habitual mistakes again and again.

The chapter on 'Sounding conversational' also provided an important direction to work on. I hear lots of broadcasters getting it right, i.e. reading prepared copy as though they were just ad libbing it to a friend, something much harder to do than one might think. This chapter gives many practical suggestions on how to sound warmer and more natural when reading.

The chapters on going live and dealing with stress were useful, especially the part on how to deal with stalkers. You become a relatively public kind of person once you're on radio or TV, and this sometimes brings unwelcome attention. I now feel a bit better prepared to deal with it.

Most chapters have practical exercises at the end, like warm-ups to get you going before speaking or going on the air, which I will be coming back to frequently.

Two appendices containing survey data and advice from news directors for prospective broadcasters were informative, though repetitive - I guess this serves to emphasize that there is considerable consensus on what is really important. Finally, the last two appendices contain word lists for identifying problem phonemes and difficult-to-pronounce words. (For the latter, an online or CD-ROM dictionary with sound files is a real convenience, and much more explicit than the ad hoc pronunciation symbols used in US dictionaries.)

This book contains no frills or fluff, just lots of what you really need to know to learn to speak and read better and more engagingly. It's an incredible bargain compared to hiring a voice coach, who would certainly spend most of his or her paid time telling you what can be found in this book, and you have it as a permanent reference besides.