A 2-day workshop was organized for Radio Romania (ROR) in Bucharest to train the Heads of News, Editors-in chief and Editors from Radio Romania headquarters and regional stations on the specificities of Newsroom management in medium-sized Radio broadcasters.
Illustrations, exercises and discussions allowed the participants to build their own knowledge on these key issues.
This workshop was conceived in line with Radio Romania’s corporate objectives to prepare a new schedule and organization of the News.
18 professionals benefited from Patrick Nussbaum’s extended expertise.
– “I enjoyed the lecture on competition, and its impact on the radio programmes.”
– “The overlook over the Swiss methodology was very interesting: many examples of the Swiss model can be successfully applied in Radio Romania.”
– “The interaction with Patrick Nussbaum was stimulating. He has a very special gift for explaining, communicating values and interacting with his audience.
Patrick Nussbaum, Director of the News Department at Radio Suisse Romande (RSR), set up 4 practical modules:
Module 1
Radio in its media environment
A review of its competitors in the market, the applicable standards and the codes of procedure
Module 2
Organization of the Newsroom
Organizing the different topical and editorial services, journalists & foreign correspondents. A day at “la Première”, the successful generalist channel of RSR, set-up of studios.
Module 3
The information and the choice of topics
Audience & research, the tone of radio, work methods, quality criteria to select a topic.
Module 4
The Newscast, the journalists and the digital process
Changes in the tasks and roles of the journalist, the DAB revolution.
Patrick Nussbaum, Director of the News Department, RSR, Switzerland
“I believe in change: keep the fundamentals but improve small steps at a time through innovation so that the audience feels positive about the change. We never stop at the radio, we can reshape an information / news item or put it in another perspective. Traditionally, radio had inherited from the written media culture which was simply transposed to radio. But since then we, RSR La Première, have evolved, we have released emotions and empowered the audience.
The aim is to have a stronger radio personality for the morning programme with short, reactive and rapid sound. The idea is to have different rhythms short, long – and not to stick to orthodoxy. We should feel the human touch, the liveliness. This is why we have redesigned the studio into an open space with small groups of tables. It is like in theatre. No static and aseptic radio: I want people to be around, to be heard talking, laughing, living at the radio.
La Première (RSR’s channel one) has a 42 % market share. Paradoxically, some years ago everybody had announced the death of radio and the absolute victory of the Image.
R adio is successful because it captures today’s atmosphere with humour, information and debate, with a strong set up. In the media today, we are overwhelmed by raw information, and added value to this is definitely needed. We bring in laughter, interactivity, and the voice of the audience & people. We have freed on-air audience participation”.
