Sound on Tape (SOT) — Definition
Sound on Tape (SOT) is a recorded audio or video clip of an interview subject speaking that is inserted into a broadcast news package — the moment the audience hears directly from a source rather than the reporter.
What Is Sound on Tape (SOT)?
Sound on Tape — universally abbreviated SOT in broadcast newsrooms — is a recorded audio or video clip of an interview subject speaking that is edited into a news package. It is the moment when the audience hears directly from a source — an executive, a witness, an official — rather than from the reporter's voiceover. SOTs typically run 8–15 seconds and are the most carefully selected elements in the editing process.
In a news package about a new sustainability initiative, the reporter's voiceover sets the context, then the editor cuts to a 10-second SOT of the sustainability director saying: 'This is not about compliance — this is about rethinking how we design products for a circular economy.' Those 10 seconds are the only part of the 30-minute interview that survived the edit. Every other sentence ended up on the edit-bay floor.
For media-trained executives, SOT is the currency that matters. A 30-minute interview produces at most 15–25 seconds of SOT in the final package. Every answer must be engineered to yield a usable SOT — short, self-contained, quotable, and message-aligned. The question is not 'How do I answer this?' — it is 'What 10-second SOT do I want the editor to choose from this answer?'
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