This blog is my Audio CV, containing clips from some of the great radio shows that I have been lucky enough to get involved with over the past few years.
My first foray into radio came with a week-long internship at XFM, on the Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show. In addition to carrying out general office and runner duties (i.e. mailing prizes to competition winners and making cups of tea), I also developed and presented features live on air. The highlight was an interview with Chas Hodges from "Chas n Dave". Using my digital editing skills and knowledge of industry standard equipment, I have produced a mini-podcast containing the highlights:
I then completed a Foundation Course in Radio Broadcasting at University College London Hospitals with my mate Ad. The course provided me with an overview of radio broadcasting and practical skills training. I learnt about radio show production and structure; acquired basic editing and post production skills; and gained some technical systems knowledge. Below are some highlights from our show reel, where in-between playing classic pop songs, we talked about such diverse and important subjects as Coronation Street, MPs' expenses, Sheffield, festivals, 80s films, football and music:
After this, I joined Whitechapel AM at Royal London Hospital as a Programme Assistant. I take requests on the wards and over the phone and work as part of a small team to produce a live show every Wednesday. I am currently being desk trained on the station's computer play-out system (Myriad) with a view to having my own Pick n Mix music show. Here is a short clip featuring some highlights from the Wednesday night show (including an impromptu Barnsey rap and the radio exclusive of the Postal Strike version of "Please Mr Postman"):
Whitechapel AM is one of the UK’s most awarded hospital radio stations. Dale Winton and Fiona Bruce have both presented there! Last December, our show was filmed by BBC World for a documentary on hospital radio. Check it out (you'll probably need your Spanish dictionary but it's worth watching, if only for my Christmas jumper):
The experience gained at Whitechapel AM helped me bag a four-week internship as a Broadcast Assistant at BBC 6 Music, where I recently worked on the George Lamb Breakfast Show. As well as fetching George Lamb's porridge (with extra honey, banana, blueberries and raisins), I learnt a massive amount about professional radio production. I researched and created features; organised phone interviews; wrote production notes; greeted guests; carried out digital editing and basic production; updated the website; supported the production team and presenters; and was responsible for music reporting and other administrative tasks.
One of the features that I was in charge of was "Tips for the Weekend". I had to find quirky events going on around the country and then secure someone from the best event each week to speak to George live on air. I managed to get Darth Vader one week. Here are the best bits:
One of the best bits of the job was writing production notes for guest interviews. My favourites that I worked on were Peter Hook and Paddy McGuinness:
I really enjoyed working with George Lamb, Marc Hughes and the team and it was an honour to be one of the last interns before they left 6 Music (the photo at the top of this blog is me with George and Marc). I got on very well with them and got quite a few mentions on air (sometimes as Jo Good, who they said I look like!) My choice of shoes even got turned into a feature on the show. On my last day, George praised me as “an amazing BA… one of the nicest, smartest, humblest… coolest guys we’ve had on the show”:
6 Music is a fantastic station and I know from personal experience that it is run by a relatively small team of extremely talented and dedicated people. It was great being part of the team for a while. And it is brilliant news that the station is to be saved. Who knows, maybe my face will be on the radio or part of a production team again in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment