some basic guidelines for submissions
practicals:
framework:afield program submissions should be exactly 57 minutes in length and ready for airing, with no further introduction or information required for the listener. i will attach a general intro and outro to your submission, providing your name and URL, and general info about framework. any further information important for your listener to know must be within your audio.
you can submit programs on physical media to the regular framework address, or online as uncompressed or high quality mp3 files (320 kbps minimum). send us a download link, or share a dropbox folder.
i will also need an image (from which i will edit a square icon and a 3×1 banner), and a short write-up about your show, to be included in the playlist and posted on the website. this can be any length, and include either commentary, a playlist, or both. i’ll want to have this before the show is aired, so i can send out the playlist as close to broadcast as possible.
content:
firstly, i’m sure i don’t have to point out that framework is a field recording based show, so whatever you propose should have some relation to field recording, phonography, found sound. my own views about what this may include are very wide, so don’t hesitate to push the boundaries. as for what you do with them: i have some very specific ideas about what i will and will not broadcast. obviously the point of this exercise is to end up with a very diverse base of programs, featuring material that i wouldn’t have been able to broadcast on my own. that’s why i give you complete control over what you make – format, structure, content – it’s all up to you. BUT – this is not an opportunity for an artist to air the new 57 minute composition they’ve been working on, or to advertise their new releases. i won’t go as far as saying, “don’t play your own music”, but use your judgment. if you’re mixing your favorite records, for instance, don’t play your own. play us what you like, and what has influenced you. if you’re working with your own recordings, maybe try to get some other people involved, or do some interviews to contrast your recordings.
think about it this way (and this is the key, i think) you are making a piece of radio-art, not a cd. if what you end up with is a beautiful composition that could be your next release, then something is wrong. think about what makes radio a specific form (and this is a subject on which i’m open to hearing your observations, as i’ve been thinking about it for a long time already) – information, for a start, for a new or uninitiated audience. interviews, descriptions, explanations, stories, situations – things that make listening to your show a specific one-time event, for a listener who may never hear it again, whether by choice or not.
one very basic way of achieving this, a piece of advice that most contributors, to my dismay, choose to ignore, is text. your show probably has a conceptual basis, and the only way the audience is going to understand what it is, is if you tell them. 99% of your audience will never look at the website, or read the playlist, and a large portion are completely new to this kind of sound. you might want to make them comfortable, and voice/text is a good way to do this. it doesn’t necessarily need to be informative – it could be abstract, found text, poetry, but think about ways to keep your audience listening. most of us don’t generally work with text, but remember, this is radio, and it should be an opportunity to work differently from your norm.
oh yes, and one other thing: the only broadcast rule that is imposed upon me is no offensive material! this basically means no swearing please, but it could extend to thematics as well – again, use your judgement. if you’re unsure, ask me.