Broadcast Style Guide

About Our Name

Due to the brevity and popular style of most broadcast material, use of the university's full name is usually burdensome.

For most short-form video and audio productions (less than five minutes), Virginia Tech is proper as a first reference. The full name on first reference, with subsequent references to Virginia Tech, may be used in longer-form productions.

Names and Titles

Reference to an entity within the university by its formal or informal name also depends upon the length and style of the production. The one-to-one nature of broadcast communications generally calls for informal usage. Thus, "Virginia Tech's Veterinary College" is generally preferable to "The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University."

This same approach should be followed when dealing with people. Under most circumstances, broadcast viewers and listeners are not going to be concerned with whether the subject is an assistant, associate, adjunct, distinguished, or full professor. "Professor Mary Mills" will do. Referring to the person's area of expertise, simplification remains the rule: An apparel, housing and resource management professor talking about homebuilding would generally be referred to as "housing Professor Mary Mills...."

Unless the broadcast production is aimed at an audience aware of an entity's formal name, effort should be made to, in effect, "downstyle" the name to familiar usage. Keep it simple.

Pronouncers

While we generally don't write our public relations copy for broadcast, we send that copy to broadcast outlets. If we do not include pronouncers, we end up hearing about "cuh-SELL Coliseum," "Charles STAY-gurr." Pronouncers should be included in releases to the broadcast media. Pronouncers for some common names and places around campus can be found below.

To form a pronouncer, break the word or name into syllables. The accented syllable(s) should be written in all capital letters. Be careful: if the "C" sounds like an "S," use "S" in the pronouncer. If the "G" sounds like a "J," use "J."

Sometimes pronouncers will need a brief explanation beyond a breakdown into syllables. For example, Smyth Hall. The pronouncer would be SMYTH (long "I"), as not everyone would interpret the "Y" as such.

In a state that is home to such localities as Staunton (STAN-tunn), Botetourt (BOTT-uh-tott), Tazewell (TAZZ -well), and Sweet Chalybeate (cuh-LEE-bee-utt), getting the pronouncer right for broadcast is as important as getting the spelling right for print.

Virginia Tech Pronunciation Guide

(For pronouncers on names not on this list, contact the person or Paul Lancaster, 540/231-6997 or dinosaur@vt.edu.)

Buildings, places

  • Anaerobe Lab (ANN-uh-robe)
  • Barringer Hall (BARE-in-jurr)
  • Burruss Hall (BURR-uss)
  • Cassell Coliseum (KASS-ull)
  • Cheatham Hall (CHEET-umm)
  • Cochrane Hall (KOCK-run)
  • Cowgill Hall (KO-gull)
  • Critz (CRITES [long 'i'])
  • Derring Hall (DARE-ing)
  • Dietrick Hall (DEE-trick)
  • Durham Hall (DURR-umm)
  • Eggleston Hall (EGG-ull-stun)
  • Femoyer Hall (fuh-MOY-er)
  • Fralin Center for Biotechnology (FRAY-linn)
  • Jamerson Center (JAY-murr-sun)
  • Litton-Reaves Hall (LITT-unn REEVES)
  • Monteith Hall (mon-TEETH)
  • O'Shaughnessy Hall (oh-SHAWN-uss-see)
  • Peddrew-Yates Residence Hall (PED-drew YATES)
  • Rasche Hall (RASH)
  • Reynolds Homestead (RENN-olds)
  • Robeson Hall (ROBE-eh-sun)
  • Seitz Hall (SITES)
  • Smyth Hall (SMYTH [long 'i'])
  • Torgersen Hall (TORE-gurr-senn)
  • Whitethorne-Kentland (WHITE-thorn)
  • Whittemore Hall (WHITT-uh-more)

People

  • Ozzie Abaye (uh-BUY)
  • Hassan Aref (hah-SAHN are-EFF)
  • Alan Bayer (BAY-urr)
  • Rosemary Blieszner (BLEEZE-nurr)
  • Earv Blythe (IRV BLY)
  • James Bohland (BO-land)
  • Ellen Braaten (BRAH-ten)
  • Arthur Buikema (BYE-kuh-muh)
  • John Casali (kuh-SAHL-lee)
  • Neal Castagnoli (CAST-tag-NO-lee)
  • Boris Chevone (shuh-VONE)
  • Rick Claus (KLOWSS)
  • S.K. De Datta (duh-DOT-tah)
  • Michael Deisenroth (DYE-zenn-roth)
  • Tom Dingus (DING-us)
  • Theo Dillaha (DILL-uh-ha)
  • David Dugas (DOO-gah)
  • Greg Evanylo (ee-VAN-uh-low)
  • James Fraser (FRAY-zhurr)
  • Scott Geller (hard 'g')
  • Nikki Giovanni (jee-oh-VAHN-nee)
  • Francis Gwasdauskas (gwazz-DOSS-kuss)
  • Charles Hagedorn (HAY-guh-dorn)
  • Edmund Henneke (HENN-uh-key)
  • Jaan Holt (YON HOLT)
  • Thomas Inzana (in-ZAHN-nah)
  • Dennis Jaasma (JAZZ-muh)
  • Dennis Kafura (kuh-FYUR-uh)
  • Arthur Keown (COWN)
  • James Klagge (KLAH-gah)
  • William Knocke (KNOCK-ee)
  • Theodore Koebel (KAY-bull)
  • Loke Kok (lock cock)
  • Mark McNamee (MAC-nuh-MEE)
  • Peggy Meszaros (meh-CZAR-oss)
  • Steve Mouras (MORE-iss)
  • Raymond Nebel (NEE-bull)
  • Richard Neves (NEVS)
  • William Ochsenwald (OX-senn-wald)
  • Brent Opell (oh-PELL)
  • Kathleen Parrott (PARE-utt)
  • Ray Pethtel (peth-TELL)
  • Ray Plaut (rhymes with 'out')
  • Simone Poirier-Bures (sih-MUN pwahr-ee-A bursh)
  • Kerry Redican (RED-eh-kin)
  • Charles Reinholtz (RHINE-holts)
  • Minnis Ridenour (MINN-iss RIDE-in-our)
  • Humberto Rodriguez-Camilloni (um-BARE-toe rod-REE-gezz kam-uh-LONE-ee)
  • Richard Saacke (SACK-ee)
  • Joseph Scarpaci (scar-PACE-ee)
  • Gerhardt Schurig (GARE-hart SURE-rig)
  • Edd Sewell (SUE-ell)
  • Vijay Singal (VEE-jay SING-ahl)
  • Bruno Sobral (so-BRALL)
  • Richard Sorensen (SORE-enn-senn)
  • Charles Steger (STEE-gurr)
  • Paul Torgersen (TORE-gurr-senn)
  • Thomas Toth (TOE-mahss TOTE)
  • Srinidhi Varadarajan (SRINN-id-dee vare-uh-dare-AH-zhin)
  • Richard Veilleux (VAY-YOU)
  • Peter Vikesland (VICK-iss-land)
  • Reece Voshell (vo-SHELL)
  • Peter Wallenstein (WALL-enn-stine)
  • Joseph Wang (WONG)
  • Walter Wierwille (WEAR-will-ee)
  • Robert Williges (WILL-eh-giss)
  • Roe-Hoan Yoon (RO-HAN YUNE)
  • Doris Zallen (rhymes with 'allen')
  • Bruce Zoecklein (ZOCK-lynn)