Programme comments - not the same thing as programme details
It is one thing to report what you hear in a programme, in the form of supplying programme details, but another to comment on what you heard . Although stations have set down guide-lines in the past for sending in reception reports, this has rarely included advise on what to listen out for. To a certain extent this is probably the station's fault, rather than that of the listener. Suffice to say, stations are interested in your reaction to the programme. To assist you in filling the 'programme comments' section of the report with feedback which will be of use to the station, and make your report stand out from the rest, we've listed a few questions that you might care to ask yourself while a programme is running.

Please note: These questions are only intended to suggest points to look for. It is up to you to put the answers into a readable form. Simply writing down the answers is not sufficient, as stations won't know what the questions were!

1. Did you tune in to the station expecting to hear a particular item or style of presentation? Did the station present the kind of information you wanted or did it seem irrelevant? (Remember though, that some stations have different specialist programmes on different days of the week. Give the station a fair hearing before complaining that they are ignoring a particular topic of interest).
2. Programmes consisting of short items of up to 4 minutes each can either be very interesting or extremely boring. If you tuned in to this style of programme (a magazine format) did the whole programme interest you or did you find only a small part was relevant? Did it sound too much like short unconnected stories connected by someone saying 'Now here's something from...' and then: 'That was...', or was there a theme to the whole programme?
3. Did music fit into the programme being broadcast, and was it of the style you enjoy? Was reception reasonable over shortwave radio, or were quiet passages lost in interference? (Remember that what the producer in the studio listens to on a hi-fi speaker, and what you hear at the other end of a shortwave radio, 1000's of km's away, may be two entirely different things.)
4. Did you feel that the item being presented was complete, or that you were being told only one side of the argument? Did the item change your mind on a particular topic? If so, why? If you found an item hard to believe or confusing, mention this, as the producer is being paid to get a message across! The listener judges how successful this has been done.
5. Was the item being presented too short or too long? Did the presenter sound interested in what he was reading (in some cases the presenter is the author of what she/he is reading). Was the speed of presentation too fast or too slow for easy shortwave reception?
6. Will you listen again? If so, what items interest you and what topics do you suggest the station should cover. If not, why not?

   
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