Fifty Iranian broadcasters took part in an ABU workshop last week to improve their feature making skills. The workshop, held in Tehran to coincide with the International Radio Festival, showcased prize winning entries in the ABU Prizes Contest, and taught IRIB broadcasters about best practice in making radio features.

The workshop, conducted by Australian broadcast trainer Steve Ahern and Radio New Zealand drama producer Adam Macaulay, included training in the areas of Drama, Documentary, Children’s programming, and other radio genres.

IRIB broadcasters present at the workshop heard tips such as, “layer your program like a painting, there should be background, a middle ground and foreground sound.” Producers should mix the audio in a way that creates these layers of complexity in the program, without overwhelming the story. Complexity with subtlety in audio mixing is the key.

After listening to examples of good quality drama, course participants also discovered that dialogue must be written naturally and delivered in a way that sounds personal and real.

Steve Ahern introduced workshop participants to his evaluation tool, which he calls The Ahern Worm, as a way for broadcasters to actively listen to the work of their colleagues and give a higher level of critique and constructive criticism.

Adam Macaulay played participants an example of his award winning radio horror drama about the Maori equivalent of the Yeti, and explained the production and scripting techniques used in the program.

The two day workshop was well received by all broadcasters who attended. They now aim to make even better features which will achieve high results in next years ABU Prize Competition. 

(Note: Steve Ahern is editor and co-owner of this website)