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WINGS: Women’s International News Gathering Service has been covering the global women’s movement and related issues for community radio worldwide since 1986. WINGS is weekly. To see and listen to our most recent programs visit https://wingsradio.org/wordpress. You may also listen to the archives.
To be added to our email list, email wingsradionews at gmail dot com.
WINGS Reporter/producer guidelines
Basics:
Queries can be sent to wingsradionews at gmail dot com.
WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service is a weekly English-language syndicated radio program by and about women around the world. We have been covering the global women's movement - in the broadest sense of that word - since 1986, with the collaboration of primarily women producers who work in noncommercial media (community radio, public radio, film and video, freelance, and podcast).
Focus: WINGS focuses on women's voices, expertise, analyses, aims and achievements, in the context of feminist and other world-improving movements. We endeavour to leave the listener with at least some element of hope!
Non-Exclusive. Items specially produced for WINGS are wonderful. However, WINGS does not require an exclusive, so feel free to pitch previously aired material that can be adapted.
Topics. We cover everything from the hyper local to major, International news, but all within the context of international interest. This means that programs are framed in terms that listeners in other countries can relate to and understand. Frequent topics include: grassroots organizing, human rights, environment, law, politics, labor, economics, international relations, sexuality & reproductive rights, cultural survival, and technology. WINGS doesn't use essays, editorials, publicity pieces, or self-help features. Occasionally we accept drama or humour.
Voices. The heart of a good WINGS story is women from the countries covered speaking for themselves. We want well-recorded, clear, intelligent, passionate statements, whether in the form of speeches or interviews or vox pops. (A good speech can be just as exciting as a documentary, and a lot easier to produce! Be sure you have permission from the speaker and/or the event producer to use.) Sound from an event can be a plus. Non-English speakers can be included with translation.
Translation. The WINGS translation style is to use significant chunks of the original voice - especially sections that reveal emotions and character. We don't like the original running noticeably under the translation for very long, because it interferes with listenability on low-power stations - instead, we may use sequential translation or fade the original out and bring it up during pauses (help with this will be available).
Music. Unless you have cleared the rights, please do not include pre-recorded, copyrighted music. Always supply with the program the name of the music piece, the performer, and the album or web source if any.
Recording - technical: Audio will end up as mono 44.1 mHz. If you can submit it that way, it saves work. We archive as .wav and release the shows in both 320 kbps and 128 kbps mono mp3. We can work from wav, aiff, mp3, ogg, or mp4 - however, at smaller sampling rates, sound quality may be too compromised. We welcome Zoom recordings if all parties are adequately miked and non-speaking participants are muted (or very quiet).
If you are doing field interviews, either find a quiet spot or use a cardioid microphone and hold it so that it is pointed away from ambient noise sources. Headphones can be helpful - microphones pick up many sounds our ears typically ignore. Too much background noise can render your wonderful interview unusable.
If you are not trained in audio recording, please bear in mind that you cannot get a good radio recording from the back of a lecture hall. Suggestions for miking a talk include: get a line out from the mixing board (arrive early and be polite to the technician!), or sit near a loudspeaker and point at it with a cardioid mic. Email wings@wings.org to consult in advance if you have questions. [If you want training for free, check out your local community radio station!]
Narration. Narrator scripts should be brief and factual, helping the listeners with information and context. Clarify even common acronyms and any jargon or slang. Many intelligent listeners have only vague ideas of world geography and politics; you may need to fill in info about the country you are covering.
Be specific about dates - not "last month" or "this year" - WINGS does not control station broadcast schedules and programs may be aired far in the future.
Avoid narrator editorializing. If you start telling the listeners what is good and bad, it creates a sense of bias that can easily backfire. We are offering voices and ideas they likely have not heard before, and they will be weighing that against whatever they already think they know. Present what your subjects say clearly and maintain a narrator stance of journalistic objectivity to give them the best chance to be fairly heard.
Introduce your speakers (before or after their voices are first heard) and back-announce if the segment of their voice is longer than 90 seconds or so. Be sure you can correctly pronounce their names! And try to get a clear current title or job description if relevant. (Please note down the correct spelling of each speaker's name and affiliation and send along with your program, for the program description.)
Tone of voice. There are many styles of narration - we like: interested, clear, and slightly warm.
Pace. WINGS is heard in several countries and covers speakers with a wide range of accents in English. We are also presenting unfamiliar and complex ideas. For all these reasons, your program needs to include thinking space, so please do not speak too fast or edit too tightly.
Fact-checking. Keep an ear out for errors of fact a speaker or interviewee may have made. If in doubt, check it out - you may want to check several sources. If you find an error of fact, leave it out. Fact-checking is also useful for writing your narration script - look for reliable sources of coverage or references to add valuable contextual information. This may include an organizational website, the presenter's online bio, or news coverage - if any - that can clarify dates, names, titles, and also any opposition perspectives that may be informative to mention.
Length. WINGS is a half-hour program, with a target length between 28:40 and 28:50. About a minute is taken up by our sound logo and closing credits, so we are looking for content between 27:30 and 28 minutes. Feel free to submit somewhat longer pieces on spec and we can edit or discuss how to edit for WINGS.
Editing: If you do shorten the piece yourself, please avoid these common problems: cutting out the breaths or cutting breaths in two; cutting off the starts or ends of consonants (or vowels); keeping something with bad sound because you love the content so much.
The Art of Structure: Remember that it is important to have something both relevant and interesting at the start of a program, so people don't turn off the radio, and to think about how the content builds from one piece of information to another, and from one emotion to another, so listeners will stay tuned in and learn something.
WINGS final cut: WINGS reserves the right to make adjustments on submitted pieces.
Payment: We are grateful and reliant on donated audio from some of our sister feminist radio programs and podcasts around the world, and we donate in support of such programs. In a good year, WINGS has a tiny budget specifically for compensating women producers. For freelancers, payment is in the range of $200 to $300 for a half-hour, (and half that amount if the show is issued again during the lifetime of the producer). The variation depends on the originality, complexity and completeness of the program submitted.
Payment is upon release of the program
Shorter Features: We do collect shorter features. However, WINGS' use of them is dependent on having enough appropriate stories to fill a half-hour.
Queries can be sent to wingsradionews at gmail dot com.
P.S. The WINGS website uses an image with each program posted. Often that's a photo of the subject and/or the cover of her book, a still from an event, or a screenshot from a video. We can't pay for commercial images. If you have contact info for your subject or her webpage, that can help us find and request permission for an image that works.
Queries can be sent to wingsradionews at gmail dot com.
WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service is a weekly English-language syndicated radio program by and about women around the world. We have been covering the global women's movement - in the broadest sense of that word - since 1986, with the collaboration of primarily women producers who work in noncommercial media (community radio, public radio, film and video, freelance, and podcast).
Focus: WINGS focuses on women's voices, expertise, analyses, aims and achievements, in the context of feminist and other world-improving movements. We endeavour to leave the listener with at least some element of hope!
Non-Exclusive. Items specially produced for WINGS are wonderful. However, WINGS does not require an exclusive, so feel free to pitch previously aired material that can be adapted.
Topics. We cover everything from the hyper local to major, International news, but all within the context of international interest. This means that programs are framed in terms that listeners in other countries can relate to and understand. Frequent topics include: grassroots organizing, human rights, environment, law, politics, labor, economics, international relations, sexuality & reproductive rights, cultural survival, and technology. WINGS doesn't use essays, editorials, publicity pieces, or self-help features. Occasionally we accept drama or humour.
Voices. The heart of a good WINGS story is women from the countries covered speaking for themselves. We want well-recorded, clear, intelligent, passionate statements, whether in the form of speeches or interviews or vox pops. (A good speech can be just as exciting as a documentary, and a lot easier to produce! Be sure you have permission from the speaker and/or the event producer to use.) Sound from an event can be a plus. Non-English speakers can be included with translation.
Translation. The WINGS translation style is to use significant chunks of the original voice - especially sections that reveal emotions and character. We don't like the original running noticeably under the translation for very long, because it interferes with listenability on low-power stations - instead, we may use sequential translation or fade the original out and bring it up during pauses (help with this will be available).
Music. Unless you have cleared the rights, please do not include pre-recorded, copyrighted music. Always supply with the program the name of the music piece, the performer, and the album or web source if any.
Recording - technical: Audio will end up as mono 44.1 mHz. If you can submit it that way, it saves work. We archive as .wav and release the shows in both 320 kbps and 128 kbps mono mp3. We can work from wav, aiff, mp3, ogg, or mp4 - however, at smaller sampling rates, sound quality may be too compromised. We welcome Zoom recordings if all parties are adequately miked and non-speaking participants are muted (or very quiet).
If you are doing field interviews, either find a quiet spot or use a cardioid microphone and hold it so that it is pointed away from ambient noise sources. Headphones can be helpful - microphones pick up many sounds our ears typically ignore. Too much background noise can render your wonderful interview unusable.
If you are not trained in audio recording, please bear in mind that you cannot get a good radio recording from the back of a lecture hall. Suggestions for miking a talk include: get a line out from the mixing board (arrive early and be polite to the technician!), or sit near a loudspeaker and point at it with a cardioid mic. Email wings@wings.org to consult in advance if you have questions. [If you want training for free, check out your local community radio station!]
Narration. Narrator scripts should be brief and factual, helping the listeners with information and context. Clarify even common acronyms and any jargon or slang. Many intelligent listeners have only vague ideas of world geography and politics; you may need to fill in info about the country you are covering.
Be specific about dates - not "last month" or "this year" - WINGS does not control station broadcast schedules and programs may be aired far in the future.
Avoid narrator editorializing. If you start telling the listeners what is good and bad, it creates a sense of bias that can easily backfire. We are offering voices and ideas they likely have not heard before, and they will be weighing that against whatever they already think they know. Present what your subjects say clearly and maintain a narrator stance of journalistic objectivity to give them the best chance to be fairly heard.
Introduce your speakers (before or after their voices are first heard) and back-announce if the segment of their voice is longer than 90 seconds or so. Be sure you can correctly pronounce their names! And try to get a clear current title or job description if relevant. (Please note down the correct spelling of each speaker's name and affiliation and send along with your program, for the program description.)
Tone of voice. There are many styles of narration - we like: interested, clear, and slightly warm.
Pace. WINGS is heard in several countries and covers speakers with a wide range of accents in English. We are also presenting unfamiliar and complex ideas. For all these reasons, your program needs to include thinking space, so please do not speak too fast or edit too tightly.
Fact-checking. Keep an ear out for errors of fact a speaker or interviewee may have made. If in doubt, check it out - you may want to check several sources. If you find an error of fact, leave it out. Fact-checking is also useful for writing your narration script - look for reliable sources of coverage or references to add valuable contextual information. This may include an organizational website, the presenter's online bio, or news coverage - if any - that can clarify dates, names, titles, and also any opposition perspectives that may be informative to mention.
Length. WINGS is a half-hour program, with a target length between 28:40 and 28:50. About a minute is taken up by our sound logo and closing credits, so we are looking for content between 27:30 and 28 minutes. Feel free to submit somewhat longer pieces on spec and we can edit or discuss how to edit for WINGS.
Editing: If you do shorten the piece yourself, please avoid these common problems: cutting out the breaths or cutting breaths in two; cutting off the starts or ends of consonants (or vowels); keeping something with bad sound because you love the content so much.
The Art of Structure: Remember that it is important to have something both relevant and interesting at the start of a program, so people don't turn off the radio, and to think about how the content builds from one piece of information to another, and from one emotion to another, so listeners will stay tuned in and learn something.
WINGS final cut: WINGS reserves the right to make adjustments on submitted pieces.
Payment: We are grateful and reliant on donated audio from some of our sister feminist radio programs and podcasts around the world, and we donate in support of such programs. In a good year, WINGS has a tiny budget specifically for compensating women producers. For freelancers, payment is in the range of $200 to $300 for a half-hour, (and half that amount if the show is issued again during the lifetime of the producer). The variation depends on the originality, complexity and completeness of the program submitted.
Payment is upon release of the program
Shorter Features: We do collect shorter features. However, WINGS' use of them is dependent on having enough appropriate stories to fill a half-hour.
Queries can be sent to wingsradionews at gmail dot com.
P.S. The WINGS website uses an image with each program posted. Often that's a photo of the subject and/or the cover of her book, a still from an event, or a screenshot from a video. We can't pay for commercial images. If you have contact info for your subject or her webpage, that can help us find and request permission for an image that works.