Said “L” plates are metaphorical in this circumstance.. They also do NOT stand for “Loser”. Surprising I know!
But it is this weekend, I feel I can now remove my learner plates when it comes to knowing radio. Until this point I have been quite clueless to some aspects of the industry and it is only due to the knowledge of a brilliant mentor (you can read his blog here) that I feel I am now informed adequately enough to form valid decisions and opinions on other radio stations that put themselves out there, or in some cases don’t.
For obvious reasons I am not going to name any particular stations (that would just be silly and get me into trouble) however I will point out that I have heard a massive range of quality. I have came across “local” stations that actually do brilliantly at ticking the boxes of what a local station should be. I have also heard the complete opposite. Stations that CLAIM they are local but they are about as local as listening to a station in Queensland, Australia, when you live in Kent, UK. For some stations just a few little things will set them back on the right tracks to being local, for others, well lets just say I can be more local than them and I don’t live in the broadcast area.
On the contrary, I have also been tuning in to national stations, and even there I feel like I listen in and they could do better. Obviously being a national station it is different, the locality isn’t priority (it is there though across their regional stations in the group) but this is more faults with their content quality and delivery. As someone training to produce as well as present, I listen to parts and just think, why are you running with this? or sometimes, why aren’t you?
I have recently learnt radio is very “light and shade” some things work, some things don’t, but the balance between is essential to create good radio. (Wise words from my mentor – this should win me a gold star!) To create brilliant radio, you need to know when it is right to just dip your toes and when is right to jump in with both feet screaming; should you just brush past the subject or is it more effective if you grab it with both hands and run with no intent of stopping? Obviously no one is ever going to get this right every single time, but sometimes listening, you think, how on earth can you get the decision wrong about that? Who knows.
Now I will point out that I am not a perfect producer or presenter, I make a lot of mistakes and am still very much learning. However, I am intrigued to know what some professionals think, when they make some decisions, because the exact opposite seems so obvious to be using to me. I will add that I am glad of that though, it is great inspiration and learning tools I could not get from anywhere else.
Abiey Humphries 