As mentioned, I have learnt a lot from my work placements. My work at Markettiers has taught me many things as I have had many different roles at the company, from radio desk operator to researcher I have learnt a lot in these roles. What has helped me most in regards to my individual audio project has been the understanding of how to pitch to potential commissioners

It was only when applying for a commission that I realized I still had a lot to learn regarding commissioning process.

I decided to approach Talksport with my idea, Talksport has been increasing interested in covering more of the social issues around sport over recent years https://talksport.com/football/721150/people-just-dont-get-it-talksport-presenters-react-to-white-lives-matter-banner-saying-it-proves-the-uks-anti-racism-fight-has-only-just-begun/)

As a result of the stations attempts at diversifying their brand I thought this would be the type of show they would be interested in. I got in contact with Talksport about my idea who expressed an interested in the idea of the show but told me I needed to have more of an idea as to which direction the documentary was going to go in. For example, was I going to cover just the Qatar world cup and the issues around it or more about football in general and why there hasn’t been any openly gay players in the English game.

This highlighted to me areas I needed to learn about commissioning process.  Ideas need to have much more of a format before being presented to a commissioning team. The show/shows in question need to have a stronger structurer from an earlier stage in the commissioning process. I was also aware from my work at Markettiers that in the professional environment I would have to tailor my script around different companies as different radio stations have different core values and target audiences, but I wasn’t aware of how different they would need to be. The BBC for example has a traditionally middle class audience whilst Talksport has a more working class audience, When speaking to head of Talksport Lee Clayton, he explained that many of the stations listeners would be under 40 may have never heard of Justin Fashanu and that if/when I mention him in my piece I would have to explain who he was and why he was important to the documentary. Lee’s point was very valuable to me as it was a good reminded that the audience are not ‘experts’ on a lot of subjects I will be making content about when I enter the work place so setting the scene and explaining the context around what has been included is vital as it informs the listener and in turn that keeps them engaged and more likely to stay listening to the show/radio station.

My main work experience has been at the broadcast media company Markettiers, I have done a variety of different roles here one of them as a researcher. Research work I have undertaken includes why Facebook isn’t as popular with Generation Z as other forms of social media and looking into why cancer the majority of cancers in black men is under reported. As I have undertaken research into a variety of different topics and subject for work, I knew some of the key aspects for my piece would have to include, making the piece engaging, topical and to potentially more opportunities for content on the subject further down the line. I wasn’t aware of how topical it would have to be, again when speaking to Talksport they gave me the example that even though BLM and taking the knee is still done before all games in England, they wouldn’t just make content on it as there has been plenty of coverage both positive and negative about it and many people were tired of the debate and unless a new angle could be brought up on it, they were unlikely to cover the issues in depth for a while.