Basic TV Reporting, 2nd Edition

Phone-ins

Phone-ins tend to be thought of as a recent popular phenomenon. Although it is a technique more appropriate to radio, where hours of cheap programming can be obtained by asking listeners to ring in (often at their own expense) on all manner of subjects, phone-ins have a long history of exposure on television as well. (BBC Archives record a television phone-in for a Party Political Broadcast in July, 1954).

Series of phone-in programmes have been established, many a skilful mix of part studio-based, part telephone questioning. Politics, social and consumer affairs, and listeners’ letters are just a few of the topics which lend themselves readily to the treatment, and once you have been enrolled as a host, voluntarily or otherwise, you ...