| Willipedia is now back online as of 5/5/2019 |
| It has been several years since Willipedia closed. Please help get it updated! |
| Go to the Willipedia 2.0 Project to learn more. |
Changes
→Song Matching
==Guidelines for beginning question-writing==
And finally, when you get a good on-air idea, write it down, write it down, write it down! People are always having great ideas and then forgetting them before they reach their email. That's sad. Don't do that.
-[[Laurie Brink]], 2004
==Guidelines for slightly more advanced question-writing==
This one's simple - the most entertaining part of a question should almost always be the answer. Eating 67 squid is hardly more interesting than eating 52 squid or 74 squid, but eating 67 squid *is* more interesting than eating 67 cheeseburgers. ''Think of the answer as the "punchline" to your question, and organize it accordingly.'' After all, if you're going to wait the length of a song to hear an answer, you want it to be worth the wait.
-[[Laurie Brink]], 2004 (Heh, I'd forgotten I was the person quoted here for this.) A couple more brief, potentially useful tips: * Write questions for themselves rather than as a way to achieve song-matches you want to make. That doesn't mean you can't have songs you want to find an excuse to play, but if you wouldn't ask a question if it didn't give you an excuse to play your favorite song, it probably isn't a very good question. Remember that if there really isn't a question it could possibly go with, you can always play your delightful song during the 2 AM break. (You can also make a point of trying to hunt down an interesting Trivial fact that could go with your song - for example, in the most recent contest, I really wanted to play a particular song that involved an astronaut. So I spent a few hours reading about the moon landing until I came across a piece of information that was interesting, funny, and not common knowledge. Bingo!)* Having the team vote on questions is a good way to weed out the weaker ones and end up with a contest that you know a variety of people will find enjoyable. I have what I think is a pretty good system for this (which I think I may actually have stolen from Des Devlin, but I'm honestly not sure anymore) that I'm happy to share if people want it! - an older, more decrepit Laurie Brink, 2017
== Song Lyrics and the FCC ==
'''Someone should review and revise this information as necessary, according either to FCC rules or having a DJ confirm these rules with WCFM.'''
Find out WCFM's regulations and procedures regarding obscenities in lyrics from the WCFM general manager. Songs with explicit lyrics will be limited to the wee hours of the morning, and should be preceded with warnings of inappropriate material by the DJs, so warn them in the schedule of songs and questions you give them. Typically, obscene lyrics are acceptable before 6 AM, so long as the standard obscenity-warning is played on air periodically. Assuming you are no longer using WCFM for your broadcast (which, these days, you're probably not) these rules do not apply. It is, however, good form to try to avoid excessive obscenity in the first couple of hours of the contest, since older generations of Trivia players have been known to let their children join in the fun. Radio edits of most songs can be found online, and if not, it's very easy to go into Audacity and insert your own silence/bleep/humorous noise where the explicit lyrics would otherwise have been.
== Other DJ Duties ==
Because of WCFM's recently closer relationship with the FCC, DJs must ID their station hourly (?) and also provide regular weather reports during broadcast. Find out the rules for this as well, and consider reminding the DJs in your On-Airs sheet.
This, too, does not apply if you're not using WCFM.
== Song Length ==
Team Deine Mutter ist eine Geekenwehrmachtstaffel strove to keep all songs between 2 and 4.5 minutes long. The idea is not to have a song go on for too long but also make sure the teams have enough time to call in and make their guesses.
Many teams in recent years have opted to edit songs which are too long, to bring them within the recommended length guideline listed above. On rare occasionoccasions, teams have looped songs to make them long enough to use. The "sweet spot" as far as song length is generally considered to be right around the 3-minute mark, but having some longer songs is perfectly fine. (You probably don't want to play the full-length version of "American Pie," though.) Any songs less than two minutes long should generally be accompanied with a warning to that effect when the question is read, so that teams know they have to hustle when getting you the answer.
== Song Matching ==
In general, a good song match gives oblique hints to the answer and may also relate, by song title or artist, to the topic or to the answer.
Also, given that Trivia goes on overnight, keep as many of the songs as you can perky and peppy. Save extra-peppy songs you don't have a good match for to have played play during the 42:00 a.m. break.
===The Perfect Williams Trivia Song===
Song: "Grits Ain't Groceries" by Little Milton
Another good goal to shoot for is the "double match", in which the song and/or artist contain TWO useful clues to the Trivia answer. These are tough to write, but rewarding when successful:
Matchfully yours,
Steve Homer, 2004
=== Opinions Vary ===
