GROUNDWIRE COMMUNITY RADIO NEWS is a bi-weekly 29-minute news radio program featuring headlines,reports and features from the community radio sector in Canada. The
program aims to be a reliable, high-quality newscast, engaging
the audience with geographically and culturally diverse features of interest to a 
national audience.

For samples of previous episodes, visit: http://groundwire.ncra.ca

How do you pitch a story for GroundWire? 

Get your audio headlines and features heard nationwide on over 25 community radio stations.

• read the Editorial Statement at http://groundwire-communityradionews.wikispaces.com/Editorial+Policy

• Check out the FAQS below

• complete the Pitching Form here

• and participate in Post-Production.

********************Pitch FORM****************************

Your story in a sentence (who, doing what and why they are doing it)

Intro Text for Hosts/Anchors:

Names/titles of sources 

Actuality/sound clips (names and titles of persons recorded):

Translation needs:

Estimated/Approx. length:

Other information:

Your phone number and e-mail: 

FAQS:

1)  What is GroundWire?

GroundWire Community Radio News is a Project of the National Campus and Community Radio Association that airs twice a month on community radio stations across Canada. We are grassroots and highlight the voices of those not heard in mainstream news.

GroundWire is produced by a different station each edition. There is also a GroundWire Coordinator. Your piece may be accepted as is, or it may need edits. GroundWire practices collaborative editing. If you submit on deadline the producer will contact you to make any changes to the piece: either because of content or length.

GroundWire is dedicated to producing grassroots coverage with progressive perspectives on issues that engage a national audience. GroundWire's priority is to connect diverse communities from coast-to-coast-to-coast and encourage self-representation by focusing on content that shares in the ethics of human rights activism, equity, labour rights, democratic communication, information exchange and progressive political and social policy. We especially encourage contributions about:

-Labour and Worker’s Rights

-Indigenous Perspectives

-Migration, refugee and newcomer issues

-Student affairs

-Environment, Agriculture, Alternative Economy and Sustainability News

-Women and Equality

-Queer and Trans Voices.

-Prison justice reporting

-Race and Equity focus

-Poverty and Homelessness focus

-Disability/Accessibility issues

-Pro-Peace reporting

Headlines:

-with audio clip/actuality: 1:30-2:00 min

-without audio/actuality: 60-90 seconds

Community Radio Reports: A 3-minute feature exploring developments at a Canadian campus or community radio station, or in the campus-community radio sector.

FEATURES: Features must include more than one voice and at least 2 contrasting viewpoints or opinions on the issue being discussed. In addition to the pre-produced audio feature, a 10-30 second lead and extro should be submitted as text, including the story’s highlights, the name of the feature developer, and the location(s) of the story. Acceptable lengths include 3, 5 or 7 minutes.

6)  What text do you need from me?

With your pitching form, send us an intro text for the hosts to introduce your story.

With your audio submissions, please include a transcript of the report.

After we’ve released GroundWire, please join the post production call or if you can’t, send your comments via e-mail for the post-production meeting.

7)  Can we discuss the show and my contribution after its been aired?

Sign up for the GroundWire listserv at http://groundwire.ncra.ca or email groundwirepitch@ncra.ca. You’ll get a note confirming the time of the Post Production Call and Conference Call phone number. If you can’t make the call, e-mail your comments on the edition and feedback for producers and other contributors.

8) How do I get a GroundWire card?

Members of the headline team have GroundWire cards to drop with their sources. You can get one too! After three submissions (with post-production participation) you get listed as a GroundWire Reporter and we send you cards to give to future sources. Contact the GroundWire Coordinator at groundwireprod@gmail.com.

9) Technical notes:

GroundWire currently accepts content in digital formats only. Audio should be submitted in mono, as .mp3 or .wav at a sampling rate of 44.1khz, 16-bit and a bit-rate of 128 or higher and uploaded to http://www.ncra.ca/exchange or radio4all.net.

Headlines, intros and extros, and text files should be submitted as text (.txt), word documents (.doc) or rich text format (.rtf) files and emailed to groundwirepitch@ncra.ca.

Adjust the sound levels of the elements in your submission so that the entire piece rests between -12 and -6db.

EDITING: It is easiest to edit your pieces on a computer, using an audio editing program such as Audacity, SoundForge or Audition. There are lots of resources on-line for downloading free .wav and .mp3 recording/editing software, and for learning how to use it. Your local campus-community radio station may also be able to provide you with technical training, resources and assistance.

Make sure that the edits in your piece are clean.

Anything Else?

STREET LEGAL: Please ensure that your contributions are factual, can be verified by at least 2 sources and that material being presented is in no way libelous or slanderous.

No person's voice should be used on your piece unless the person speaking was aware they were being recorded for possible broadcast. Identify your sources on the air, unless the source has asked not to be identified, in which case say that this is so. Synthesizing information you get from various sources is a normal part of journalism, but plagiarism is not acceptable. If you use information from other media outlets, give them credit.

GroundWire cannot currently remunerate content providers financially, however reporters will be thanked during the program and the program provides an opportunity for nation-wide broadcast of journalistic pieces.

FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: Email groundwirepitch@ncra.ca. We’ll be happy to help you troubleshoot.

Happy Pitching! We hope to hear from you soon.

GroundWire- a national radio platform for citizen’s media.

Listen to samples at http://groundwire.ncra.ca

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More info on GroundWire:GroundWire Community Radio News balances grassroots coverage of local stories with progressive perspectives on national and international issues.  GroundWire works to encourage self-representation from diverse communities in Canada, Quebec, and in Indigenous nations, and features music from under-represented Canadian artists.GroundWire is aired oncampus and community radio stations across Canada, and is also distributed online through the NCRA and other independent media sites. 

Latest Edition

http://ncra.dnsalias.com/groundwire/