WGXC-90.7 FM
WGXC Style Guide
Feb 14, 2012 10:58 pm
WGXC Style Sheet
WGXC Style is the way we, collectively, assemble text in all WGXC public documents, fliers, posters, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, and other forms of written word. The goal is the present the reader with a consistent text that is reliably easy to understand.
WGXC, generally, uses AP Style, with the exceptions noted below. WGXC also recommends “The Elements of Style” for concise, clear writing tips.
BYLINES "Staff" bylines are used for all almanac items, and any single-source aggregation story. Individual bylines are used for multiple source, or long-form stories.
PUNCTUATION INSIDE QUOTATIONS WGXC keeps punctuation makes inside quotation marks. Final punctuation is followed by one space, only.
SERIAL COMMA WGXC uses the serial comma. That means, when there is a list of three things (such as oranges, apples, and grapes) there is a comma placed between the second thing and the "and."
DATES Refer only to numbered days, write Sept. 22, not Sept. 22nd.
RADIO SHOW NAMES Refer to individual wgxc.org pages for spellings of any WGXC radio show. Use quote marks around WGXC radio show names. The WGXC magazine shows are called "WGXC Morning Show" or "WGXC Afternoon Show."
WGXC MAGAZINE SHOWS The WGXC magazine shows are called "WGXC Morning Show" and "WGXC Afternoon Show," and are managed by staff.
LINKS Post direct links to all sources whenever possible. Please name the writer and publication if basing an item on one specific story. Do that at the beginning, and then reiterate a link to the original publication at the end of the item. If the item is an amalgam of several sources, or totally original reporting, link to as many facts or sources as possible. Always link to as many facts and sources as possible, and always be very clear about attribution.
TAGS Please create as many tags for each article as possible. Do not create a tag if one already exists; an existing tag will load as you type it. Do not use titles in tags: It is Andrew Cuomo not Gov. Andrew Cuomo or Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Do not tag "Senator Kirsten Gillibrand" or "Representative Kirsten Gillibrand," just "Kirsten Gillibrand." In posts, WGXC does use appropriate titles, just not in tags.
Approving/Adding Events to WGXC website
WGXC events are texts to be read on the air by announcers. Edit for brevity. Only include essential information. Do not include superlatives, this is not advertising copy. Events are for announcers to read, so rely on the link or telephone number to let readers find more information.
All entries need editing. Do not let the person promoting the event put the name of the venue in the title. “Little Red Riding Hood at TSL” is redundant. The location field tells everyone it is at TSL. That does not need to be in the headline. Take out words describing how great something is, and leave in the words necessary to tell someone what something is.
Instructions by each section:
First, is the event already up? Check and see.
ACTIVE
Button must be checked for event to be live on website.
NAME
A very short name of the event. Change when necessary. Do not include name of venue. Do not say “Concert” say “Lex Grey / Pitchfork Militia / Mark Patton.” Do not include a long sentence. Do not include a name that includes a colon; cut it off, or use the second part, whichever is more appropriate. So just “Windham Octoberfest” and not “Windham Mountain’s Octoberfest and Skeeball Tournament” or "Windham Octoberfest: 2013" Again, just because the person organizing the event gave it an incorrect or misleading name, you still need to fix it here. We list artist names, or the specific name of the art exhibit, not “Art Opening” or some other generic name. Only WGXC show titles can have colons in title, with the guest names or show subject after the colon.
If it is a WGXC radio show, the style is name the show, follow with a colon, and then list the guests, separated by commas. So:
@Issue: Don Moore, Sarah Sterling, Ellen Thurston
If the show is about a concept, it could be:
@Issue: School Busing
If there is no guest or concept, the date goes after the colon:
@Issue: 20120801
Dates are listed in descending order year-month-day. 20130922
ONGOING
If an event occurs over more than one day, click the ongoing button. Very important.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Brief is the main word here. This is a one-graph description, with three sentences at most usually. Remember, this is text for someone to read on the air. Remember, the location, time, date and other information are already included. Do not repeat the venue or date here. Do not include the name of the radio show. It is already there. Do not say, “This week on @Issue with Victor Mendolia we interview....” All of that information is already listed. It is redundant. Do not list the same text over and over again. It is redundant. Just the facts: who is performing/speaking/talking about what. Take out any information about how great the artist/performer/speaker is, and let the facts let the listener decide for themselves. These should be as brief as possible. Do not include prices or other money issues, let the link do the work.
LONG DESCRIPTION
This field is only active for Wave Farm or WGXC events. And then it only shows up when you click on the actual event. Superflous information can go here.
URL
Always put a URL in this field. There is always a URL you can use. This lets us put less information in the “Brief Description” field because the reader can always follow the link for more information.
ADMISSION
Ignore, this has zero functionality.
EXTRA ARTISTS
unknown
START DATE
START TIME
END DATE
END TIME
TYPES
Choose “community calendar event” for any event not solely organized by free103point9 and/or WGXC staff. So a Spotty Dog show qualifies. But it is also a “WGXC Hands-On Radio Event” and a “free103point9 Online Radio Event.” Making something a “WGXC Event” means it gets in the sidebar listing of every page of the website.
RELATED FILES
Generally, this is going to be “1086” the WGXC logo. Always attach the WGXC logo to every WGXC event. You will see, it makes them pop out on the WGXC calendar page. You can also attach other images or sound files here. So PSAs or PROMOs or last year’s audio file, or whatever.
LOCATIONS
Always check if the venue already exists in our system before creating a new “location.” Events can have more than one location. If it is a WGXC event on the radio, it should always have “1186” here. Spotty Dog events should have multiple locations: Spotty Dog, Wave Farm Online Radio, and sometimes on WGXC 90.7-FM. These are locations where one could encounter the event.
CURATORS
Usually this can be ignored, but, especially for art events, it is useful.
ARTISTS
Always add artist names. When you interview Bill Hallenbeck, find the Bill Hallenbeck artist number, and add it here. That way, in ten years, there are 30 interviews, 16 photos, and 45 listings of events that included Bill Hallenbeck. Yes, add the WGXC hosts who interviewed them here too, but it is much more important to create and maintain artist pages for anyone interviewed ever on WGXC. Please regularly adding names here. Always search and make sure artist/person is not already in the system.
RELATED WORKS
Usually this can be ignored. It is mainly for artists who have appeared on free103point9 LPs and CDs.
RELATED EVENTS
If an event, like the Greene County Youth Fair, is annual, you can link to all the old youth fairs and connect all the pages.
WGXC Style is the way we, collectively, assemble text in all WGXC public documents, fliers, posters, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, and other forms of written word. The goal is the present the reader with a consistent text that is reliably easy to understand.
WGXC, generally, uses AP Style, with the exceptions noted below. WGXC also recommends “The Elements of Style” for concise, clear writing tips.
BYLINES "Staff" bylines are used for all almanac items, and any single-source aggregation story. Individual bylines are used for multiple source, or long-form stories.
PUNCTUATION INSIDE QUOTATIONS WGXC keeps punctuation makes inside quotation marks. Final punctuation is followed by one space, only.
SERIAL COMMA WGXC uses the serial comma. That means, when there is a list of three things (such as oranges, apples, and grapes) there is a comma placed between the second thing and the "and."
DATES Refer only to numbered days, write Sept. 22, not Sept. 22nd.
RADIO SHOW NAMES Refer to individual wgxc.org pages for spellings of any WGXC radio show. Use quote marks around WGXC radio show names. The WGXC magazine shows are called "WGXC Morning Show" or "WGXC Afternoon Show."
WGXC MAGAZINE SHOWS The WGXC magazine shows are called "WGXC Morning Show" and "WGXC Afternoon Show," and are managed by staff.
LINKS Post direct links to all sources whenever possible. Please name the writer and publication if basing an item on one specific story. Do that at the beginning, and then reiterate a link to the original publication at the end of the item. If the item is an amalgam of several sources, or totally original reporting, link to as many facts or sources as possible. Always link to as many facts and sources as possible, and always be very clear about attribution.
TAGS Please create as many tags for each article as possible. Do not create a tag if one already exists; an existing tag will load as you type it. Do not use titles in tags: It is Andrew Cuomo not Gov. Andrew Cuomo or Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Do not tag "Senator Kirsten Gillibrand" or "Representative Kirsten Gillibrand," just "Kirsten Gillibrand." In posts, WGXC does use appropriate titles, just not in tags.
Approving/Adding Events to WGXC website
WGXC events are texts to be read on the air by announcers. Edit for brevity. Only include essential information. Do not include superlatives, this is not advertising copy. Events are for announcers to read, so rely on the link or telephone number to let readers find more information.
All entries need editing. Do not let the person promoting the event put the name of the venue in the title. “Little Red Riding Hood at TSL” is redundant. The location field tells everyone it is at TSL. That does not need to be in the headline. Take out words describing how great something is, and leave in the words necessary to tell someone what something is.
Instructions by each section:
First, is the event already up? Check and see.
ACTIVE
Button must be checked for event to be live on website.
NAME
A very short name of the event. Change when necessary. Do not include name of venue. Do not say “Concert” say “Lex Grey / Pitchfork Militia / Mark Patton.” Do not include a long sentence. Do not include a name that includes a colon; cut it off, or use the second part, whichever is more appropriate. So just “Windham Octoberfest” and not “Windham Mountain’s Octoberfest and Skeeball Tournament” or "Windham Octoberfest: 2013" Again, just because the person organizing the event gave it an incorrect or misleading name, you still need to fix it here. We list artist names, or the specific name of the art exhibit, not “Art Opening” or some other generic name. Only WGXC show titles can have colons in title, with the guest names or show subject after the colon.
If it is a WGXC radio show, the style is name the show, follow with a colon, and then list the guests, separated by commas. So:
@Issue: Don Moore, Sarah Sterling, Ellen Thurston
If the show is about a concept, it could be:
@Issue: School Busing
If there is no guest or concept, the date goes after the colon:
@Issue: 20120801
Dates are listed in descending order year-month-day. 20130922
ONGOING
If an event occurs over more than one day, click the ongoing button. Very important.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Brief is the main word here. This is a one-graph description, with three sentences at most usually. Remember, this is text for someone to read on the air. Remember, the location, time, date and other information are already included. Do not repeat the venue or date here. Do not include the name of the radio show. It is already there. Do not say, “This week on @Issue with Victor Mendolia we interview....” All of that information is already listed. It is redundant. Do not list the same text over and over again. It is redundant. Just the facts: who is performing/speaking/talking about what. Take out any information about how great the artist/performer/speaker is, and let the facts let the listener decide for themselves. These should be as brief as possible. Do not include prices or other money issues, let the link do the work.
LONG DESCRIPTION
This field is only active for Wave Farm or WGXC events. And then it only shows up when you click on the actual event. Superflous information can go here.
URL
Always put a URL in this field. There is always a URL you can use. This lets us put less information in the “Brief Description” field because the reader can always follow the link for more information.
ADMISSION
Ignore, this has zero functionality.
EXTRA ARTISTS
unknown
START DATE
START TIME
END DATE
END TIME
TYPES
Choose “community calendar event” for any event not solely organized by free103point9 and/or WGXC staff. So a Spotty Dog show qualifies. But it is also a “WGXC Hands-On Radio Event” and a “free103point9 Online Radio Event.” Making something a “WGXC Event” means it gets in the sidebar listing of every page of the website.
RELATED FILES
Generally, this is going to be “1086” the WGXC logo. Always attach the WGXC logo to every WGXC event. You will see, it makes them pop out on the WGXC calendar page. You can also attach other images or sound files here. So PSAs or PROMOs or last year’s audio file, or whatever.
LOCATIONS
Always check if the venue already exists in our system before creating a new “location.” Events can have more than one location. If it is a WGXC event on the radio, it should always have “1186” here. Spotty Dog events should have multiple locations: Spotty Dog, Wave Farm Online Radio, and sometimes on WGXC 90.7-FM. These are locations where one could encounter the event.
CURATORS
Usually this can be ignored, but, especially for art events, it is useful.
ARTISTS
Always add artist names. When you interview Bill Hallenbeck, find the Bill Hallenbeck artist number, and add it here. That way, in ten years, there are 30 interviews, 16 photos, and 45 listings of events that included Bill Hallenbeck. Yes, add the WGXC hosts who interviewed them here too, but it is much more important to create and maintain artist pages for anyone interviewed ever on WGXC. Please regularly adding names here. Always search and make sure artist/person is not already in the system.
RELATED WORKS
Usually this can be ignored. It is mainly for artists who have appeared on free103point9 LPs and CDs.
RELATED EVENTS
If an event, like the Greene County Youth Fair, is annual, you can link to all the old youth fairs and connect all the pages.