While contemporary instructional media gain more and more attention among instructional technologists, conventional instructional media still hold great value to most classroom practitioners. The author believes that the instructional design principles applicable to more advanced instructional media, such as learner analysis, media selection, learner participation and evaluation, are also useful to conventional media. In pre-planning a radio commentary program to teach more avanced Chinese, the author argues that integrating effective instructional strategies into an instructional plan is conducive to successful teaching.