About Us

Contributors Guidelines

1. Editorial Guidelines

Latino USA attempts to fill a void in public radio’s coverage of news and public affairs with accurate reporting of issues that affect the country’s 30 million Latinos.

Latino USA aims for accuracy, fairness, balance, and integrity in its reports. We seek to increase understanding of the issues, without regard to business, political, or funding interests. We strive to place events in the broader context of history and this country’s many cultures.

Latino USA’s editorial policy demands research and meticulous verification of the information presented. We try to stay away from editorial opinions, except in those pieces specifically identified as commentaries. Our aim is for Latino USA news and feature reports to contribute to a greater understanding of the issues, fairly representing all sides, while allowing our listeners to draw their own conclusions.

Material furnished to Latino USA is for broadcast and for use via the Latino USA Web site as audio and/or text files.

2. Getting Your Story on the Air

The Pitch

Call us at 800/445-4005. If we are not available, leave a brief summary of your story idea, why we should be interested, and your phone number, message line, or fax number. As an alternative, or when our small staff is busy, please fax or e-mail a story description including the story’s key points, whom you will interview, how long you need to do the piece, what time-line you propose for producing the piece, when the piece would need to air, and any other pertinent information.

One of our editors will get back to you. Again, we are a small staff, so please be patient. But feel free to call, fax, or e-mail again if you need a quicker response.

The Phone Edit

The Editor will arrange a time to do a review or edit of your script over the phone, so that any necessary changes in script, actualities, or sound can be made before you record your narration (please email a copy of the script before the appointed time for the edit). You will also be asked to have your interview "bites" and natural sound roughly prepared to play over the phone when you read your script for editing.

You should count on at least one editing session per story, and try to have the story close to the assigned length before the first session. Many reporters, even experienced ones, go through several edits, so please don’t let this bother you.

Recording Your Narration/Preparing for Mix

This should be discussed in advance with your Latino USA editor. Decisions as to where voice tracks and actual files will be recorded and/or mixed are made on an individual basis, and based on the story’s urgency, as well as on your own ability and/or access to technical facilities for recording mixing. In general, we prefer to receive elements and do the mix ourselves.

3. Production Guidelines

Field Recording

Field recordings should be made on a professional quality analog cassette or DAT recorder. Use noise reduction with analog cassettes if available. Use only high-bias/better quality cassettes. Use 44.1 sample rates for digital recording.

Use a dynamic omnidirectional shock-mounted microphone such as the EV RE-50 or Beyer M-58. Record levels should be as strong as possible without distortion. Always monitor while recording and check tape when finished.
Record at least 2 minutes of background ambiance per record location. Also, record ambiance related to a field interview as soon as possible after the interview (this is helpful in matching ambiance for transitions). If possible, record ambiance and music in stereo.

Tape

Production dubs should be flat/first generation, recorded on 1/4" 1.5 mil tape (we prefer Ampex 406) at 7.5 ips/half-track mono. Dolby SR noise reduction is acceptable if available. Do not send cassette dubs of original recordings.

If it is impossible to dub from cassette to 1/4" tape then send the original cassette with log notes. It would be a good idea to make a back-up cassette copy. Original recordings will be returned if requested. Mixed pieces must also include all program elements on a separate reel.

4. Preparation

Preparation of Elements/Sending Your Story to Latino USA

When submitting a mixed story, please send us tracks and individual elements, unmixed. You will normally be asked to mail or Airborne express your narration and story elements. Our address is:

Here is the ideal format for sending your story elements:

• all voice tracks (narration) in the order of occurrence, with about three seconds of leader or silence in between each; please leave actualities long for production purposes.
• all actualities in the order of occurrence in the story, with about three seconds of leader or silence in between each; please leave actualities long for production purposes.
• ambiance, natural sound, music, or other production elements in the order in which they are to be used.

When dubbing your actualities, please leave as much "room tone" or ambiance as is available (five seconds is fine) at the head and tail of each actuality before attaching leader. This will allow the mixed piece to sound much more seamless.

Mixing Instructions

It is important that you provide clear mixing instructions. If you’re feeding the elements electronically, mix instructions should be dictated at the beginning of the tape feed. Either way, please include clear "in-house" and "out-cues" of all actualities; designation of the points at which you wish ambiance, sound effects, or music used; and where you want any sound sources "faded-up" or "faded-down," and "fade-in," or "fade-out."

So that production instructions are clearer and easier for us to follow, please adhere to these naming conventions for script elements:

Tracks = T1, T2, etc.
Acts = A1, A2, etc.
Ambiance = AMB 1, AMB 2, etc.
Music = MUSIC 1, MUSIC 2, etc.

It makes it easier to follow your script if you use CAPS for instructions and reporter narration. Actualities in lower case.

Cassette Submissions

If your submission is on cassette tape, please specify whether or not the tape is Dolby encoded (i.e., Did you have the Dolby switch "on" of "off" during recording? And, if your machine has both Dolby B and C, which did you use? We generally prefer Dolby B).

Specify counter numbers for the beginning of each actuality and the type of machine you got the counter numbers form. This can provide us with some sort of reference when searching for the actualities to dub.

Also, when it may be necessary to record voice tracks on cassette, be sure to leave about a three-second pause between when you engage your machine in record and when you begin speaking. Should you make a mistake while reading, pause three seconds before continuing your read.

If you dub your actualities from one cassette machine to another (which we would prefer you not do), please include any ambiance or room noise that is available at the beginning or end of each actuality.

If you have an edit that doesn’t work absolutely right, leave it. The computer is much more precise than the blade.

Leave as much ambiance on either side of your actualities as possible. If there is no ambiance at the end, leave it a little long. It sounds better to fade out than to have an abrupt cut at the end (or at the top) of an act. On this note, always try to record and send us some room ambiance for each location.

You don’t necessarily need to leader your cuts or have elements on different reels. All we need are your cuts in order on one reel.

If possible, please use email to send scripts. The address is lusa@npr.org. If you have an email address, let us know.

If you know of any web sites related to your piece, please provide the URL so we can add it to the Latino USA web site.

Also, whenever you produce a piece with music, we need to have the following information for each piece of music:

a. Name of song
b. Composer or arranger
c. Publisher or record label
d. Performer
e. Licensed by

Media Formats:

a. Analog cassette
b. DAT
c. 1/4" tape
d. AIFF or Sound Designer II files (16 bit @ 44.1kHz)
e. Iomega Zip (the disk will be returned)
f. FTP (contact Walter Morgan at wlmorgan@mail.utexas.edu)

5. Fees & Payment Processing

First-time contributors will be asked to do their first piece on "spec" (i.e., you will be paid if your finished story is accepted for air). You should come to an agreement with Latino USA at the time of your story assignment.

Otherwise, payments are as follows:

• News Spots (voice only): $40.00
• News Spots (with actuality): $60.00
• Features: $60.00 a minute
• Kill Fees: if a piece does not air (for any reason which is not the fault of the reporter), a kill fee of 75% will be honored.
  

How do you get paid? The University of Texas at Austin requires each vendor to submit a Payee Information Form (PIF). This form documents the vendor’s tax identity.

Your first payment (nor any subsequent payment) cannot be processed until the PIF has been received by Latino USA and recorded by the University of Texas at Austin Office of Accounting.

This is the only time you will need to submit this form. You will however, need to inform Latino USA of any address changes because the address you list on the PIF is the address to which your check/s will be sent.

If you are conducting business as an individual or sole proprietor, in addition to the PIF, you will need to furnish a copy of either your social security card or a photo ID. If you do not have a social security card, any picture ID (including your passport) will suffice. Your PIF, and thus your payment, cannot be processed without this copy.

The PIF form will be mailed to you or faxed (upon request) to you by Latino USA when your first assignment is confirmed. The sooner you return the form of Latino USA, the sooner your first payment can be completed.
Note: Latino USA is funded largely in part by grants. It is from these grants that we pay our reporters. Each grant has a specific time period and termination date (usually August 31). After the termination date, no funds can be spent from the grant account.

If, for any reason, the required documents are not provided by the termination date of the grant from which you will be paid, we cannot guarantee your payment.

An invoice is required for each payment. Most reporters do not submit them because until their work is edited and mixed, the amount of payment is not certain. To accommodate the reporter, Latino USA prints a generic invoice for all payments. The invoice includes all relevant information about the payment and is maintained on file.

How long does it take to get paid? Assuming all paperwork is in order, allow three weeks from the broadcast date your work was used to receive payment.
We encourage you to ask questions about payment at the time you negotiate your work with Latino USA. This is particularly important if there are special or unusual circumstances concerning your situation (where to send check, citizenship status, who to make the check out to, etc). The production staff works very closely with the administrative staff in assuring that payments are honored in a timely manner. The more information exchanged early on, the better the chances are that everything will flow smoothly.