A news bulletin must be well constructed to keep listeners interested. Every word must have a purpose and there should be no wasteful words or expressions which don’t add to the meaning of the story. The words used must also be understandable – there’s no point in using language which may not be understood by your audience, particularly as many of them are listening on the move or while doing other tasks. A news bulletin should be clearly paced throughout; slow at times to allow the listener to catch up and fast at other times to pick up a slack in interest.
It is normal to choose a lead story to start the bulletin and then build the rest of the programme around it. This lead story will be the one that most grabs listeners’ attention.
The way the bulletin is constructed will depend to some extent on the style of your station; serious national broadcasters will probably use more serious stories delivered in a slower more deliberate manner whilst youth-oriented music stations may prefer a lighter brighter tone with stories about popular culture. Within a bulletin, it is also usual to give greater prominence to some stories than to others.
Short pieces of music are often used to announce the beginning of a bulletin and to link together different parts of a bulletin; these are known as stabs or stings. They should be brief and dramatic and they should ideally echo the opening theme that will be heard at the beginning of the bulletin.