The enhancement of radio news with voice reports and actualities : An experimental study.

There is a strongly held belief among broadcasting practitioners and educators that the credibility and appeal of radio news programs can be enhanced by the inclusion of actualities and voice reports.

A hierarchy of credibility and appeal effects was hypothesized based on four modes of presentation. The hierarchy stated that credibility, appeal, and recall effects of radio news would array themselves in the following order, from high to low: voice report with background sound, voice report with no background sound, actuality, and news anchor-only mode of presentation.

An experiment was designed using 145 undergraduates attending The University of Tennessee, Knoxville as subjects. The subjects were randomized into four treatment groups and exposed to a short radio news program containing one of the experimental modes of presentation. Immediately following exposure, the subjects were asked to complete a questionnaire which measured their recall of the stories and their assessment of the appeal and credibility of the news program as a whole.

The results failed to support the hypothesized hierarchy of effects. There were no significant differences among the four groups in levels of recall, credibility, or appeal.

It is concluded that, despite the widespread belief in the credibiiity-enhancing power of actualities and voice reports in radio news, this research was unable to find any evidence to support that belief.