Wire copy is written for print. Press releases are written for PR departments. Neither is written for broadcast. The Script Simplifier fixes that — instantly, every time.
Open Script SimplifierEvery newsroom script starts life as something that was never meant to be read out loud.
Wire copy written for print. A press release written by a PR team. Raw notes from a reporter in the field. A web article your EP just slacked you with "can we get this in the A-block?" None of it sounds like a human being talking — and on air, that's the only thing that matters.
The Script Simplifier fixes that. Paste in wire copy, a press release, your raw notes — or just drop in a URL and it'll fetch the article itself. In seconds, it hands you back broadcast copy written for the ear. Short sentences. Active voice. The way you'd actually tell the story to someone across the desk.
And here's the part I insisted on when I built it: it doesn't hand you one version. It hands you three.
Why three? Because after thirty years on air, I can tell you the same story does not get the same read at noon, at six, and at eleven. A tool that gives you one "correct" version doesn't understand broadcasting. You pick the one that fits your show, your slot, and your voice — then make it yours.
You're also in control of the shape. The Style dropdown lets you steer the tone, and the Target Duration selector cuts the copy to the time you actually have. Rundown's heavy and your ninety-second story just became a :45? Set the duration and the tool does the surgery — instead of you hacking lines during a commercial break and hoping the story survives.
Then there's my favorite feature, and the one you won't find anywhere else: Anchor Notes. Every version comes with delivery tips — where to slow down, which phrase carries the emotion, where the natural pause lives. It's the coaching a good EP or a veteran anchor would give you if they had time. Because I've been the veteran in that room, and I know most newsrooms don't have time.
So who's this for? Honestly — anyone who touches copy.
The producer in the morning meeting turning six wire stories into a show. The MMJ who just got back from a scene with notes and no time. The overnight team handling breaking news when there's no writer to call. And one I hear about constantly: the fill-in anchor handed a script cold, twenty minutes to air, trying to make someone else's words sound natural. Run it through the Simplifier, read the Anchor Notes, and walk to the set sounding like you've owned the story all day.
What it will not do is replace your judgment. It doesn't know your market, your station's style, or what your viewers went through last week. That's your job — and it always will be. The Simplifier just clears the mechanical work off your desk so your judgment is what you spend your time on.
Twenty minutes of massaging wire copy, done in twenty seconds. Multiply that across every story, every show, every day — that's the hour this tool gives you back.
County press release: MILLBROOK COUNTY — The Millbrook County Department of Public Works is responding to a significant water main rupture that occurred at approximately 4:40 a.m. Tuesday beneath Route 9, resulting in the closure of a three-mile stretch of the roadway between Ashford Road and the county line. Approximately 4,200 residential and commercial customers are experiencing service interruptions, and a boil-water advisory has been issued for affected areas as a precautionary measure. Repairs are expected to be completed by Thursday.
Logged interview — Marcus Webb, Public Works Director (break site, 11:20 a.m.): :14 — "This is a sixty-year-old cast iron main. When they fail, they don't fail small." :52 — "We've got to excavate, replace the section, pressure-test it, and then the water itself has to be tested before we can tell anybody it's safe. That's why this runs to Thursday." 1:37 — "My crews will be out here around the clock. Nobody's going home until this is fixed."
Logged interview — Denise Calloway, homeowner (her kitchen, 12:45 p.m.): :22 — "First I knew about it was no pressure in the shower. Then the alert on my phone." 1:05 — "I've got a pot going pretty much all day now. Boil it, let it cool, fill the jugs. Do it again. It's like camping, except I'm in my own kitchen." 1:48 — "My mother's ninety-one and she lives with us. So no — I'm not taking any chances."
Nat sound: excavator at break site • water in trench • kettle whistling • county alert on phone • traffic at detour. Reporter notes: detour adds ~15 min • two restaurants closed • Denise's mom detail feels like the heart of this.
IF ROUTE 9 IS PART OF YOUR DRIVE, YOU'LL WANT TO FIND ANOTHER WAY FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS.
A WATER MAIN BROKE EARLY THIS MORNING IN MILLBROOK COUNTY, AND CREWS HAVE SHUT DOWN THREE MILES OF THE ROAD — FROM ASHFORD ROAD UP TO THE COUNTY LINE. REPAIRS COULD TAKE UNTIL THURSDAY.
AND HERE'S THE PART THAT HITS HOME: ABOUT 42-HUNDRED HOMES AND BUSINESSES LOST WATER. IF YOU'RE ONE OF THEM, BOIL YOUR WATER BEFORE YOU DRINK IT OR COOK WITH IT. THAT'S JUST A PRECAUTION — BUT THE COUNTY SAYS KEEP IT UP UNTIL TESTING COMES BACK CLEAR, LIKELY IN THE NEXT TWO TO THREE DAYS.
GOT QUESTIONS? THE COUNTY'S PUBLIC WORKS OFFICE CAN HELP — WE'VE PUT THEIR NUMBER ON OUR WEBSITE.
9:15 a.m. — the morning meeting. Six wire stories just became your show. Instead of massaging each one by hand, you run them through the Simplifier and spend your morning on story judgment — not sentence surgery.
2:47 p.m. — breaking news. The presser copy just dropped and you're on the air in thirteen minutes. Paste, simplify, read. The story gets on fast — and it still sounds like a person wrote it.
4:30 p.m. — the fill-in anchor. You're covering a shift, handed someone else's scripts cold. Run them through, pick the version that fits your voice, scan the Anchor Notes — and walk to the set sounding like you've owned the story all day.
10:20 p.m. — the digital producer. Pulling wire for the late shift with no writer in the building. The Simplifier turns print-speak into broadcast copy in seconds, so the last show of the night reads as sharp as the first.
Different chairs, same clock. This is where the minutes come back.
Does it change the facts?
No — and that was the first rule when I built it. The Script Simplifier rewrites structure and tone, not substance. The output is always a rewrite of what you put in: same facts, same attribution, same story — just written for the ear instead of the eye. It doesn't add color, doesn't fill gaps, doesn't "improve" the story with things you didn't give it.
That said, I'm going to tell you what I tell every newsroom I train: you read the copy before it airs. Every time. The tool is a writer, not an editor — and no script, human or AI-assisted, goes to air without a journalist's eyes on it. If a rewrite ever shifts a nuance you don't like, you fix it or regenerate it. The byline is still yours, and so is the responsibility. That's not a limitation of the tool. That's journalism.
Can I control how long the output is?
Yes. The Target Duration selector lets you choose 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, or a full minute, and the tool calibrates the word count to match a natural reading pace. Rundown gets heavy and your :45 becomes a :20? Set the new duration and it does the surgery — keeping the story's spine instead of just chopping from the bottom.
Will all our anchors end up sounding the same?
Not if you use it the way it's designed. The Simplifier gives you three distinct versions of every script — Straightforward, Warm, or Strong — and the Style dropdown steers the tone from there. Two anchors running the same wire copy will pick different versions, make different tweaks, and read with different instincts. The tool handles the mechanical translation from print-speak to broadcast copy; the voice on top of it is still yours. After thirty years on air, I can tell you the danger to distinctive writing isn't a tool like this — it's exhaustion. Anchors sound alike when they're too buried to make copy their own. Give them their hour back, and you'll hear the difference.