As today was our first radio show this semester, the way our Newsday was structured – differed from the rest of the week.
Roles:
Newsreader: Charlie Scrase
GROUP A
Editor: Yasser Iqbal
Deputy Editor: Miriam Rafo
Newsroom Producer: Adan Wardhere
Reporters: Uno Baker, Josh Mbu, Pedro Bisso, Yasmine Taviot
GROUP B
Editor: Marinka Gamtsemlidze
Deputy Editor: Saffron Cuts
Newsroom Producer: Alessia Sasso
Reporters: Kika Kubanova, Juliana Onetti, Mahira Begum, Jada Scott
GROUP C
Editor: Isabella Erlicher
Deputy Editor: Georgie Blackwell
Newsroom Producer: Arun Matharu
Reporters: Ellie Phillips, Craig Fergus, Ameera Raidhan
Summary:
Our day started off with a zoom meeting at 10 am, where we were informed of the structure of the day and what we were expected to have produced by the end of it We were also told of the guest speaker who would be working with us throughout the day on zoom to ensure that our radio bulletins are of the best standard possible. We were also introduced to the groups that we were working in for the day and Vanessa issued each group with a radio station and time slot that they should produce their radio content for.
GROUP A – BBC World Service (must include at least one soundbite and one short package) FIVE MINUTES
GROUP B – BBC Radio 2 (must include at least one soundbite and one voicer) THREE MINUTES
GROUP C – The BBC Minute (must include two soundbites and a music bed) ONE MINUTE
At 10:30 am, the guest speaker Audrey joined the call and we were given a presentation on radio content and how the news bulletins for each radio station differ due to the different audiences they attract. We went through the type of content an audience expects to see on each station and the typical audience profile of these stations.
After the presentation, we were split into the groups we would be working in for the day and set about researching news stories for our bulletins. As I was placed in group B, my group set about researching the target audience for BBC Radio 2 where we found out that 82% of the station’s listeners were aged over 35. This was important for us to know as it meant that we would have to take this into consideration when choosing our stories. Audrey had also informed us earlier in her presentation that BBC Radio 2 listeners tend to be an educated audience, who are more interested in regional news and are concerned about their own jobs in addition to children’s and grandchildren’s jobs. This was also a very important thing to consider when choosing our stories.
Once we were confident that we knew who our target audience was, we set about choosing our news stories. After a lot of pitching and deliberations, we decided on the following stories:
Scottish restrictions to be announced – Jada
Children to have access to experimental puberty blockers – Jada
First two females to ever share the Nobel Peace Prize – Juliana
Bounce Back Loan causing taxpayers to lose money – Mahira
Trump’s Aides testing positive for Coronavirus – Alessia
We each set about gathering audio and writing up scripts in preparation for our editorial meeting with Audrey at 2:30 pm. Myself along with the deputy editor Alessia then worked together to sort out the following running order for the show:
- Trump’s Aides testing positive for Coronavirus
-
Scottish restrictions to be announced
-
Bounce Back Loan causing taxpayers to lose money
-
Children to have access to experimental puberty blockers
-
First two females to ever share the Nobel Peace Prize
Myself and the rest of our group members then had a meeting with Audrey at 2:30 pm to discuss the bulletins we had selected for the show and whether or not they would appeal to our target audience. Here is the feedback we gathered from the session:
- great stories that work well with the audience
- consider swapping the top two stories once Nicola Sturgeon speech is out
As the Nicola Sturgeon announcements were not made until an hour before we went live, I kept on top of it by watching her speech and making notes as often as I could. Once her speech was over, I headed to IRN to grab an audio clip and put together the rest of the package approximately 30 mins before our bulletin went live. Once this was done, we waited to hear our bulletins on the air to gather feedback from Audrey, Vanessa, and the rest of the class.
The bulletins were streamed in the following order:
4.00pm – GROUP C
4.15pm – GROUP B
4.30PM – GROUP A
At 4:40 pm we gathered together on zoom and discussed all of the bulletins. The main feedback for my group was positive as our stories and coverage were both executed really well and appealed to the target audience. The only advice we got in terms of improving our bulletins would be to have stated where the NHS trust was based on the transgender puberty blocker’s story. As this was our only criticism, if we were to do the project again, I would not change anything apart from that!
