BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

My first day at BBC Radio Cambridgeshire started at 10:30, with a meeting with head producer Dave Harvey. He pointed out that he remembers me from two years ago, walking into his building asking for a job. Now I’m following his advice, and studying a journalism course, whist taking my NCTJ.

He placed me with Seb, the producer of the drive time show hosted by Ronnie Barbour. Seb had me putting trough calls and lining up guests for the following days show, I got to sit in and observe their one-on-one meeting before I got to go down and watch the show be broadcast live on air. Ronnie even called me into the studio briefly to talk about what I was doing with them and my background. It was a very full on, but educational first day.

The following day I was in slightly earlier to attend the morning staff meeting. Here they were discussing ideas and all collectively moaning about the new music system that has been rolled out to the regional radio stations. The news producer said, “we always want people stories” and that really stuck with me, because regional radio is all about their audience.

After that I was placed with Sara, who was given to task of putting together a package about the A10, connecting Ely to Cambridge. The package she decided on was a driving base pieced, where I was sat with her in the car discussing the problems I faced whilst learning to drive along that road. We also organised my old driving instructor coming onto air and discuss the issue he sees every day.

The recording process of this package took roughly two hours and the conversation was then edited into four, 90 second pieces. I was given a section of the clip to edit myself, so that I could get used to the editing system that they used their, although this was only a quick introduction, it was helpful to see first-hand how easy it is to clip audio together. The a10 package went live on the next morning’s show (21/08/2019).

During my second day I had chance to speak to a freelance journalist, who became freelance to try more areas within radio. She claimed that national radio restricted her and from this, she worked out that she actually prefers regional radio because there is more room for her to progress but also more room for creativity. This outlook was very helpful, and is good to bear in mind when looking into a future career path.

Day three meant another morning meeting, discussing how to address GCSE results day in a unique way compared to previous years. Trying to angle it at “how important are GCSE’s” rather than the actual results. I was placed with Andy and Charlotte, researching how this years GCSE’s differ to previous years. I got in contact with the department of Education and managed to answer the 4 questions, within 180, that I was given to look into. Setting up the basis for the next day’s show (22/08/2019).

My third day was mainly computer based, which was different to my previous two days. However, was good to experience, because in a real job there I would be doing a variety of things each and every week. After all the researching, I typed up a basic script for Charlotte to work off for the pre-rec. She could take the facts from it, but put her own spin on what she needed too.

Just from observing over the previous days spent there, its clear to see that they do all work as a team, and everyone is there to help each other in any way they can. The newsroom really works as one, despite having their own tasks to cover as well.

The fourth and final day started very similarly to the others, but shortly after Dave Harvey approached me about coming to work a paid shift for them. After a conversation about it all, I landed myself a year’s freelancing position for them, meaning that if this coming shift goes well, I can return during my holidays and cover them if they’re short. Considering I spent only four days with them, I am very grateful for the opportunity and look forward to working with them again.

After this, I went down to observe and start my BA training. I spent from 12 – 6 learning the position, and getting my BBC account set up ready for my training day on September 5th. All in all, I think my time spent with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire was a very educational and successful experience. My first official shift with them is on September 11th.