Radio script: [Advertiser], “[Spot title]”

Replace the blue placeholders with your own words and delete the grey notes as you go.

Advertiser

[client name, as it should be said on air]

Spot title

[working title]

Length

[:30]

Version

[produced, live read, donut or sponsorship mention]

Stations

[call letters]

Runs

[first and last date on air]

Draft

[number and date]

The one message

[One sentence: what the listener should know or do after hearing this]

  • Mandatories: [name, address, phone, offer, end date]

  • Legal line: [exact wording from the client's lawyer]

  • Tone: [three words]

One message per spot. If the brief has three messages, it is three spots.

Word budget

Words = seconds of voice × 2.5 (about 150 a minute). Use 2.2 for a careful read. Subtract music opens, sounds played in the clear and the legal tag first.

Length

Seconds that aren't voice

Seconds of voice

Word budget

[:30]

[3 s open, 4 s tag]

[23 s]

[about 57]

Voices and sound

Voice

Age, energy, attitude

Pronunciations

[ANNCR]

[warm, 40s, unhurried, not an announcer voice]

[names and places, spelled as said]

[CHARACTER]

[age, energy, how they sound next to the other voice]

[names and places]

  • Music: [bed, sting or audio logo; licensed library track or written for the spot]

  • Sound effects: [every SFX in the order it's heard, with a length for long ones]

Script

One cue per line, in caps. Write numbers, streets and web names the way they'll be said. Name the brand in the first few seconds.

Cue

Copy

SFX

[the first sound the listener hears]

[CHARACTER]

[line]

[CHARACTER]

[line]

MUSIC

[bed in, under]

ANNCR

[the offer, the proof, the name, the number]

LEGAL

[approved wording, read at the same pace]

MUSIC

[up, then out]

Spoken words: [56] Timed read: [0:28] (read three times, keep the middle time)

See a filled-in :30

SFX: A furnace clanks on. A long metal rattle. Silence.

ANNCR: That's the first cold night, and a furnace that skipped its tune-up. Okafor Heating and Air can stop that sound before it starts. Through October thirty-first, a gas furnace tune-up is eighty-nine dollars. We clean the burners, test for carbon monoxide and change the filter. Okafor Heating and Air. Five five five, oh one six three.

An invented company. 56 spoken words, about 0:28 with the open.

Live read

For a host who reads on air. Script only what must be exact; the fact sheet covers the rest. Delete this section for a produced spot.

HOST: This [hour or segment] is brought to you by [Advertiser]. [Host's own words: one true line about their own visit or use] [the news: event, offer or product, with day and time] [name and address, said as spoken].

Fact sheet

Details

Must say

[name · date and time · price or offer · address]

Say it like

[NAME is pronounced …]

You can add

[anything true from your own experience]

Don't say

[claims the client can't prove, superlatives, prices not on this sheet]

Slot

[length, and the break it airs in]

Keep the host honest. Name the sponsor in the first line. A host who says they use the product must actually use it.

Donut and local copy

A produced open and close with a hole for copy that changes by station or store. Write each local version to the exact length of the hole.

Part

Time

Copy

Produced open

[0:00–0:11]

[music and the brand's voice]

Local copy

[0:11–0:23]

[about 30 words at most: town, street, hours, a name]

Produced close

[0:23–0:30]

[brand line and audio logo]

Station or store

Local copy

Words

[town or store]

[street, landmark, hours, who to ask for]

[26]

[town or store]

[local copy]

[words]

Legal lines

  • Approved wording: [paste it exactly as the client's lawyer wrote it]

  • Seconds it takes: [time it; long terms can move to the website]

  • Clearance: [who approves the script before air, and by when]

Before it goes to the station

  • The brand is named in the first few seconds

  • One message, and every mandatory is in

  • Numbers, streets and web names are written as they're said

  • Every sound is one the ear can name, or a line names it

  • The legal line is audible, approved and timed

  • The music is licensed for this use

  • Read aloud three times; the middle time fits the slot

  • Pronunciations and casting notes are sent with the script