Magazine gear reviews and radio interviews - bought in or pre-recorded?

[Globalti]

So here are a couple of questions that the CC collective brain can probably answer for me:

Magazine gear reviews: A good example is the rucsac review in the current edition of Cycling Plus. Do the magazines do these reviews themselves or are there people who go out, beg or buy all the kit then test it, photograph it and sell the findings as a package to magazines?

Radio interviews: I've long suspected that some of the interviews you hear on R4 for example are pre-recorded; a researcher rings up the subject then later the programme presenter reads out the same questions while somebody plays back a recording of the answers. This would take the pressure off the presenters and allow for editing; for me the biggest clue is that the interviews lack a normal beginning and end and some of the little glitches and hesitations you would expect in a normal conversation and you never hear the subjects or the interviewers arguing or talking over each other. This is obviously different from the phone-ins where a couple of people with opposing views are live on air and the discussion can get quite heated.

Anybody care to enlighten me?

 

[Rob3rt]

With regards reviews, they are usually supplied with the goods either to keep or to review then send them on to the next reviewer. A lot of bloggers these days also get similar treatment.

From DC Rainmaker:

After my testing is complete and my review is written up these products head back to their respective companies.

 

[Arch]

Well, at Velo Vision, we were generally sent stuff to review (I say 'were' only because I don't work there any more). Bikes and big stuff were loaned for review, the smaller stuff tended to be given.

I can't say for sure about the radio, but when I was on You and Yours (remotely from the York BBC studio), they told me they'd come to me, I wasn't to mess about saying hello, just to come in with my point, and answer questions as posed. This is what I did. It might have sounded pre-recorded to you, since I had what I wanted to say well prepared, and was ready for questions. I lost out a bit, because one of the other guests in the studio in London was the head of The Ramblers, and he... well, rambled and took up more time than he should have. Some people are just better able to answer concisely and clearly than others.

I know that in TV they often film an interview with the camera on the interviewee, and then afterwards, film the interviewer asking the questions again, and nodding in responce to the answers - this is called 'the noddies'. It means an interview can have some variety, with only one camera. Your idea of recorded interviews is more or less the same as this.

It doesn't matter, unless they explicitly claim something is live when it isn't, I guess.

 

[Arch]

Oh, and I know that in Cycle magazine (the CTC mag), readers send in reviews of stuff they've bought themselves....

 

[notthebuzzard]

Globalti

As editor of Cycling Plus I guess I'm in a good position to answer your questions! First up reviews: We use a mixture of our in house Tech Team - led by tech editor Warren - and a group of trusted freelance testers. All of our in-house staff and freelancers have been riding and testing bikes and kit for years so have tons of experience as to what makes a good, bad or indifferent product. In the case of the rucksack test, that was done by Justin Loretz - he's worked on the cycling titles here at Future since he was out of school. (And he's now well past his teens...) The tests we run are planned by Warren and myself and the products are then selected and called in by either the tech team here or the tester. And then? Well, they get tested over several weeks, sometimes even months. Oh and photography - that's either done here by our own studio or one of our brilliant freelance snappers.

And radio interviews? Well, I've done a few in the last months - mainly to do with some American bloke. My most recent was on Radio 5 Live on Friday and that was no prep, straight into questions, make it up as I went along... Other times we pre-record the interview which then gets edited to remove all the ums, ahhs and swearwords... However, these don't usually have pre-sent questions so it's off the cuff. Of course, I prepare for the interviews by researching the subject if I'm not 100% clued up! Finally, I'm doing a TV interview on Wednesday - a talking head type thing - and I've been sent some videos to watch and questions beforehand...

Hope that makes sense!

Rob