KCRW's 8th Annual 24-Hour Radio Race
1. Create your team
2. Get the theme
3. Make Radio!
4. Submit your piece
Race starts June 13th
KCRW’s 8th Annual 24-hour Radio Race starts 10 a.m. PT Saturday, June 13, 2020. Get your beauty rest because we’ll be spending 24 straight hours together making audio this summer. And by together, we mean apart.
Whether you’re a seasoned news reporter, a freelance audio producer or someone who wants to try radio for the first time, this (friendly) competition is a way to get your creative audio juices flowing. Every year, we’re blown away by participants who continue to move the audio format forward. Newbies and audio veterans alike.
The goal: To make a four-minute, nonfiction audio story overnight. You can create the piece from anywhere in the world. Join as an individual person or as a team of your creation. Just remember: Stay safe and have fun.
We’ll air the top three winning pieces on KCRW. And don’t forget: the Radio Race is more than just a competition. It’s an opportunity to produce the most original piece of radio anyone will hear in 2020.
Think big, people!
Registration closes 3pm PT June 12, 2020.
Race starts June 13th
$1,000 contract for the piece to air on KCRW, one-year PRX Producer Account, one-year Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) Membership and Talent Directory listing, KCRW swag and a professional broadcast studio setup courtesy of Blue Microphones (featuring Yeti X professional USB microphone, Compass boom arm for perfect positioning and Radius III shockmount designed to isolate mic from ambient vibration). Plus a one-year subscription to Descript, a podcast production software.
$500 contract for piece to air on KCRW, one-year PRX Producer Account, one-year Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) Membership and Talent Directory listing, KCRW swag and a streaming studio setup for your desktop courtesy of Blue Microphones (featuring a Yeti USB microphone, Radius III shockmount and the Compass premium microphone boom arm). Plus a one-year subscription to Descript, a podcast production software.
$300 contract for piece to air on KCRW, one-year PRX Producer Account, one-year Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) Membership and Talent Directory listing, KCRW swag and a Yeti Nano USB condenser microphone courtesy of Blue Microphones. Plus a one-year subscription to Descript, a podcast production software.
Featured on KCRW.com, plus a Talent Directory listing with the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) and consideration to publish on PRX remix, PRX's XM station and radio show featuring stories and podcasts.
$100 contract to air on KCRW for the piece that resonates most with KCRW’s David Weinberg, host of Welcome to LA. He will choose one winning team that tells a story with a strong sense of Los Angeles, a story that captures the essence of one person and/or place in this city of dreamers.
$100 cash prize and KCRW swag to the team who makes the best use of social media using Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and any other social media platform to document their 24 hours doing the #RadioRace.
All participants who COMPLETE the race will get a free KCRW Membership.
A team can be you, or you and a friend, or you and five friends, as long as you are collaboratively working on a single piece that will be submitted under a single entry. Each team should register only once ($12). You should deputize one person to register. BUT we will ask for contact info for each team member.
If you didn’t write it and don't have permission to use it, you shouldn’t use it. However, if you're in a public place that has music blaring, that's OK! You can use the sounds of your environment. Creative Commons is permitted, as long as it's fair game via the license presented.
The piece must be produced, recorded and edited within the 24-hour time frame. Sometimes the stars align and the theme will perfectly mirror some brilliant piece you’ve been sitting on for months, but this isn’t the forum for that. The Radio Race is about invention and ingenuity, and we want you to maximize both! Archival tape is permitted, but special consideration will be given to teams who record the majority of their sound on Radio Race day.
You don't always have to physically be somewhere to get good tape. Consider phone calls, audio diaries and tape syncs. Find noisy things in your home or around your neighborhood (wear a mask!) — and look for moments and active tape, because it’s all around you. Check out these tips on getting good tape from home.
Each piece should be nonfiction and based on real events. And you must include the following credits at the end: "This piece was produced by _________ , as part of The 24-Hour Radio Race from KCRW's Independent Producer Project." This must be INCLUDED in your four minutes total running time.
Reach us at IPP@kcrw.org or via Submittable. And be sure to sign up for the Independent Producer Project newsletter to get updates and insider info here.
Submissions will be judged on four categories: creativity, storytelling, technical skills and incorporation of the theme.
Yowei Shaw produces and reports on stories for NPR’s Invisibilia. She was a 2014 United States Artists fellow, and has been honored with a National Edward R. Murrow and Third Coast Documentary award.
Bob Carlson is a producer, host and editor. If you're a KCRW listener, you've heard his work on shows like Good Food, Guest DJ Project, and now UnFictional.
Jane Marie is a Peabody and Emmy Award-winning journalist and co-founder of the podcast production company, Little Everywhere. Before Little Everywhere, she produced This American Life for nearly a decade.
John Asante has worked on podcasts for companies like Sony Music, WeTransfer, and Spotify. Previously, he produced podcasts and radio pieces for Stitcher, WNYC, and NPR.
Benjamin Riskin a podcast producer, business person, and lawyer. He's an avid listener and vocal critic, and a big fan of sentences that start with "what if?"
Race starts June 13th