KBIA Sample Script
*KBIA sample script, with jargon deconstructed
Bite/Actuality or Ack: an excerpt from a recorded interview, news conference or speech, included in a news report.
Track: A reporter’s recorded voice track for a wrap or spot.
Reader-bite: a news story that includes anchor script and a sound bite (reader-bites are also called a “cut-and-copy”).
Wrap/Spot: a news story that includes a live anchor intro that leads into a reporter’s pre-recorded news report.
Slug: the name given to a sound bite or story
•KBIA slugs include a word that identifies the story and a four-digit date
•Total slug (word and date) should not be longer than 13 characters
•never use your last name as a slug!
•Example:CASINO0121
The story was done on January 21, and is about a casino
TRT: total roll time; the length of a sound bite.
OC: out cue; the last two or three words of a sound bite.
**Reader bite example**
01/21/13 (DATE)RESCUE0121(SLUGDATE)John Smith (NAME)
A stranded hiker is safe this morning1 after spending a hot night trying to get off the side of a San Francisco cliff. Rangers say the man was taking a sunset walk2 near Eagle’s Peak at Baker’s Beach when the tide unexpectedly rolled in … leaving the hiker stranded. The fire department and coast guard helped with the rescue effort, which began at about eleven o’clock3 last night.
Firefighter4 Dan O’Brien says finding the man was one of the toughest parts of the rescue.
RESCUE0121TRT:15OC: on a ledge
“We spent all night looking, and looking.Helicopters came in, boats came in. We had given up hope, and then a little boy saw him jumping up and down on a ledge.”
The coast guard used its5 helicopter and a ship to light the area, while fire crews led the man across some rocks and up a nearby trail. Doctors are treating the hiker for minor injuries and dehydration.
1 Started with “today” side of story
2 “sunset walk” is a nice detail
3 use “last night” instead of p.m. and “this morning” instead of a.m.
4 “firefighter” not sexist term “fireman”
5 as a unit, “coast guard” is an IT, so is a team and crew
*Thanks to former KBIA News Directors Sarah Ashworth and Catherine Welch for this sample