The Radio Handbook: Fourth Edition (Media Practice)

Updated and revised, the fourth edition of The Radio Handbook is a comprehensive guide to the medium of radio and the radio industry in the UK.

Featuring new chapters on social media and podcasting, this book offers a thorough breakdown of the knowledge and skills needed to work within the contemporary radio industry. Using examples, case studies and transcripts, it examines the various building blocks that make radio, from music scheduling to news values and from phone-ins to sports commentaries. The latest trends in contemporary audio practice are referenced throughout, including the increased adoption of smartphone technology, further consolidation within commercial radio, and the ongoing debate about the future funding of the BBC against the backdrop of an accelerated move towards remote working, the rise in popularity of podcasting and an ever more crowded media landscape.

Combining theory and practice, this textbook is ideally suited for students of radio, media, communications and journalism. It equips readers with the skills they need to not only produce good radio themselves, but to have the knowledge they need to become a critical friend of the medium.

John Collins is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Broadcasting and Journalism at Nottingham Trent University and a Visiting Lecturer at the Communication University of China in Beijing. His radio career began as a broadcast journalist in commercial radio before moving into the programming and management teams at Global Radio. After that he worked as a news and sports journalist for the BBC at a local and national level. The Radio Handbook is his first publication.

Arran Bee is a Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Derby. His career started as a commercial radio newsreader and reporter in the Midlands. After joining the BBC, he worked in news, sport and programming before moving into management: firstly at BBC Radio Derby, then BBC Radio Northampton. He continues to work in radio on a freelance basis. The Radio Handbook is his first publication.