Week 1: 9th February 2017
This week we were put into our groups ready to start planning for our 30 minute show. We briefly discussed who would like to do what but only a few roles were fully decided on, we figured because we had a few more weeks to decide we wouldn’t all rush into choosing our roles.
In the afternoon in our groups, we each had to find a current news story and elaborate on it, find clips and live audio, and then piece together a 15 minute show. I may just be speaking for me here, but I think we were all slightly confused on the task and when it came to recording it, the show wasn’t 15 minutes long and it was just the two presenters, Simon and Eliza, reading the news.
Week 2: 16th February 2017
This week we didn’t do any group work. In the morning we listened to each others 15 minutes shows from the previous week, and then mid morning we had a guest speaker from BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme which was interesting. Then in the afternoon we had a discussion about the listening set for that week which was a show from BFBS, and Nikki Campbell on BBC 5 Live.
Week 3: 23rd February 2017
This week was more group work focussed which was good. We were told what demographic our talk show is going to be aimed at (male/female mix, ages 16-45) which I was happy with. From there, we chose around 8 news stories from the day and then, again, elaborated and found clips for them and recorded them into a 15 minute show. This week we understood exactly what we were doing and decided to each record our own stories, and then Lucy pieced them all together on Adobe Audition to create our 15 minute show.
Week 4: 2nd March 2017
This week we discussed the listening for that week in the morning, and then around mid morning until the end of the lecture we wen’t over the legal side of talk radio; what you can and can’t say on air, what can happen if you break these rules, and we looked at real life examples of where people had broken the law on air. Although this wasn’t very interesting and quite difficult for me to wrap my head around, I understand the importance of learning about the legal bits of talk radio. Without this lecture I wouldn’t know the rules and the consequences of what you can and can’t say/talk about. It is important to know the rules and consequences because otherwise it could be very easy to break the law and get yourself and the station in trouble without even realising it.
We didn’t do any group work this week but we have made a Google Drive and we are all active in our Facebook group chat to discuss roles and ideas.
Week 5: 9th March 2017
Today we got into our groups and discussed roles. They were easy to allocate and everyone seems happy with what they’re doing. I have been allocated the role of Studio Reporter which i’m pleased about because it means I can have a go at being on air for a bit which will hopefully make me more confident about talking on the radio. We also started coming up with ideas for what we could cover on our radio show. We even started coming up with how we could execute them (i.e into packages/OB/two way etc). I’m glad we’re finally getting to do more group work because I’m a bit concerned about how little time we have to get everything together for our live show on the 13th April.
Week 6: 16th March 2017
Today we got into our groups and came up with our first draft of what stories we want to include in our radio show and what angle we want to take on them. Also, we discussed which treatments would be most appropriate for each story. We had all morning and afternoon to work on this list of stories and then in the afternoon we pitched our ideas to Matthew. I was pleased that he liked the majority of our stories and helped us put a new spin on other stories and gave us ideas on what else we could include and how we could execute them.
Week 7: 23rd March 2017
Today our task was to do a 15 minute show with the main topic being the Westminster Terror Attacks. A few people went down to Westminster so we could do an OB from there for our show which was good because it meant we got a feel for what it will be like when we do our shows in a few weeks. As I am the studio reporter, myself and Simon had to work together on two separate stories by doing the research and then coming up with questions he could ask me. It was really good practice and I actually enjoyed doing it which is surprising considering I don’t really like being on air.
The show itself went well considering we put it all together in a few hours without really practicing and we managed to stick to 15 minutes. Over the next week or so we all need to start researching and getting in contact with people for our actual show and start getting all our stuff together, so my task is to research classic films that have been/are being remade and then I need to try and find a film critic to interview as well.
Week 8: 30th March 2017
Today we had to do a 30 minute show using whatever material we wanted to. As a group though we decided to practice with ideas that we’re using for our actual show, aside from one package which we borrowed from another group because we were a few minutes short. This meant that I had to start creating a mock package about classic films being remade and I decided that I would write a few questions, get someone else in the group to answer them, and then edit it together into a short package just to see how I wanted my real package to sound like. Clare pretended to be a film critic and answered the questions for me, and then when I was editing Lucy came up with the idea to have film soundtracks underneath and in between each question to make it sound more exciting. This was quite stressful to put together considering we didn’t have a great deal of time and I still needed to write out the two-way questions and answers, but I got it all done.
The two-way I did was also about classic films being remade and it was after the package, so Simon could ask me some background questions about remake revenue and opinions. I think it worked well and I believe it’s what we will be doing for the real thing.
The show itself went well and I really enjoyed it, although the packages were only mock ups it gave us an idea of how it could sound and also about timings for each topic. During the debrief with David, Simon suggested that during the real show, I act almost as his co-presenter in that after some of the packages, we have a quick chat about them. I like this idea because it means I will get more practice being on air, which at the moment I’m not very confident on, so I think we’re going to try that out in the pilot next week to see if it works.
My task for next Thursday is to have some audio ready to be edited and made into a package. To begin with I was quite worried that I wouldn’t be able to find someone to interview in that time that was a professional in film, but thankfully one of Simon’s friends knew somebody and I contacted him. I’m doing the interview with him next Tuesday so I’m going to try and edit the package together on Wednesday ready for the pilot on Thursday.
Week 9: 6th April 2017
This week was our pilot show and I think we all agreed it could have gone much better. The OB was a bit messy because we could hear Bernice in the studio, but she couldn’t hear us so we had to do it over the phone instead which then didn’t make it an OB. The discussion also sounded too scripted so this needs to be worked on for next week. We were all pretty stressed that day because we were messing packages and we were under by around 5 minutes and I think it was evident in our show because it didn’t sound as smooth as it should have done.
On a lighter note, I completed my package on Remaking the Classics and it doesn’t need any changes so at the moment myself and Simon are just working on the two-way and fine-tuning the questions and answers. At the moment it’s just a matter of ensuring the OB works on the day and finalising the packages before Thursday. Lucy wants everything to be completed by Tuesday, so hopefully everyone will have sorted out their last few bits and uploaded their packages onto the drive for then.
Next week is the real show and at the moment I’m feeling quite calm about it, although I know the same can’t be said for everyone in our group. Fingers crossed it all goes well on the day!
Week 10: 13th April