Broadcast Year 1 Reflection

The end of the year has been reached! Today the whole of broadcast sat down and we all reflected on how we think we did.

 

On a personal note, I believe I worked hard this year and achieved a lot. My confidence in myself and my practise has grown and I am looking forward to starting my final year at BOA.

 

Did I do enough?

 

Yes and no. I know I cut some corners on a few things (Don’t tell Mr D that 😉 although I think he already knows) and I probably could have done more in terms of blog work throughout the year – which is what I want to try and improve on next year. However, I feel as though I took full advantage of the radio facilities, as a bright eyed and bushy tailed student arriving in September, that was my main goal and I feel I achieved that completely. This year I co-hosted the breakfast show, and that for me has been the most valuable learning experience of the year. My confidence from that has came on in leaps and bounds considering I was so into radio when I started but so scared to actually go on air.

 

Can I do more next year?

 

Potentially I think I could do more in terms of my filming and photography as it seems a waste of my skills to completely ignore them for another year; but for radio, I believe I did just the right amount, if I was to take on anymore I don’t think I would get any class work completed. I tried my hardest to take advantage of the radio opportunities presented to broadcast but would like to try and put myself forward a little more for the TV opportunities as I feel I would learn a lot from them.

 

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This part of my reflection I have completed upon return to BOA in September. This is because over the summer I did a range of different broadcast style activities to practise my skills with and I wanted to see if they would have an impact upon my future goals.

 

So saying that have my goals changed?

 

I am unsure. I love radio, there is no doubt about that and it is what brought me here to BOA in the first place. However, the more filing and photography I do, the more I wonder if its what I should continue to do in the future. I have always had a very strong interest in cameras and their uses, so after the summer using them more, I am starting to reconsider my goals and career options. Honestly now I am very confused, so a good sit down and think is in order for me.

 

What can I do better to improve my chances?

 

I believe to improve my chances I need to continue to work hard and take advantage of as many opportunities as I can.

Can I remove my “L” Plates now?

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.

The new Touch FM is born

Hands up who was listening to Free Radio for their phantom announcement this morning?  ..I can see a few hands there in the back.

Now hands up those who were listening to Touch FM and Oak FM to see what happened after 65 hours of Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody on repeat? …Yes, I was one of those too!

So finally the moment we have all been waiting for, 10am on Monday 24th March 2014. The end of three days’ worth of Queen on repeat. So did what we expect actually happen? Of course it did.

After an hour or so of ponder and a dabble with another fellow radio head, we came to the conclusion a station similar to Jack FM were coming to the Midlands, and essentially that has happened. For those who didn’t know Touch and Oak already, the stations were ran as so…Breakfast show in a morning, music throughout the day, drive time show in the evening, voice tracked by a breakfast jock. Not the most exciting schedule I know! But now, after an incredible stunt, which myself and many others I know have loved following is over, it feels great to say we have a slightly “Jack FM” formatted station has been born from the Midlands. It is also intriguing to see a little bit of competition emerging for the likes of Free Radio who currently dominate the Coventry listenership.

What does this mean exactly?

Well…First off, focus on breakfast, create a mind-blowing, all out amazing breakfast show, and then…music, and lots of it, with well thought out and executed sweeps which narrate the day without the need for a presenter. Why? Because it sounds good, clean, sharp, and sophisticated. Then pop in a drive time show that sounds just as good as breakfast to get the listeners home. And now what? Completely own the minds of all those in the broadcast region of Coventry and Loughborough and storm the radio scene.

So after such a brave move of 65 hours continuous Queen and this exciting new relaunch of the station, I am very much looking forward to seeing what other tricks, our friends at Quidem, have up their sleeves for Touch and Oak FM in the coming months. Or should I now say the new Touch FM!

And for those of you who may have happened to miss it.. Here is the audio of the relaunch on Oak FM…

https://soundcloud.com/abiey/oak-fm-relaunch-audio

Seized? Say What?

A normal Friday night is spent listening around to radio stations right? Oh just me?..  Looks as though it was only me who heard this then..

https://soundcloud.com/abiey/seized-at-17-05pm-21st-march

For those of you now confused, this is the broadcast at 17:05pm this evening from Touch FM and Oak FM which are both radio stations based in Loughborough/Coventry.

Okay, so I admit I didn’t actually hear it live, but my gosh would I have loved too! To go from happily singing a bit of NaughtyBoy and Sam Smith to having a creepy voice telling me that the station has been “seized” and I have to come back at 10am on Monday? What on earth is all that about? The best part is, since 17:05 on 21st March when the “Seizure” took place, the only think being played out on the station is the timeless classic Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody. Weird I know…

My question is, can they really play Queen until 10am on Monday? It appears so.

It is currently 1am on Saturday 22nd March as I write this, and guess what, 8 hours into the “Seizure Game” as I am going to call it, they are still playing Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody, with the same creepy sweep every two plays. Gutsy? I think so. Especially when they are going completely all out, not even taking the news at the top of the hour or half past.. I wonder what Ofcom will have to say about that one.

I believe this is an incredibly brave move on Touch and Oak’s behalf and it appears to have been received very well.. so far. But could have easily gone one of to ways. The consistency over their social media and their website is very smooth and very well thought out. I have to give them credit, someone there has been very clever indeed! But my major question is.. What is this all in aid of?

My answer to my question so far, is I absolutely have no idea whatsoever; what I do know though, is I am going to be checking back in with Touch and Oak at various points over this weekend to see how they are getting on and I will most definitely be listening in on monday at 10am to hear what goes down after this brilliant stunt.

If your wanting to check this out yourself their website is – http://www.962touchfm.co.uk/

and their two twitter feeds are here – https://twitter.com/962TouchFM

https://twitter.com/oakfmradio

The Christmas German Market is here!!

My favourite time of year, Christmas, and today saw the opening and start of the 13th Annual Frankfurt Christmas Market in Birmingham City Centre. Now I know it seems pretty early for Christmas but with Thanks Giving coming up for all you Americans out there, it really is time to be getting into the spirit of things, it is only about 37 days away after all.

Every year I visit with family, I visit with friends and I even go there by myself to enjoy the stalls, the food, the atmosphere and everything else they have to offer. A brilliant event I would encourage anyone not to miss, so why would I miss opening day?!…As a radio team at B2 we decided we were going to cover the prestigious event with photos, videos, interviews and a live show!

Myself and the radio team made our way through the crowds at the market to the top end in Centenary Square, armed with cameras, recorders mics and sofourth to get all the coverage we needed. Here we started with some arial pictures of the market taken from the top of The New Library of Birmingham which was amazing too. We then made our way through the market taking lots of pictures and conducting interviews for the live radio show we were doing!

As usual, the market was good, the sausages even better and the beer top notch. The atmosphere there really is something else and in conjunction with the good company of friends there really is nothing better to get in the spirit of things. We enjoyed hitting the stalls to buy gifts and treats for family and friends and even had a cheeky trip on the carousel all followed by a relaxing drink and a well earned sausage.

The eventtruly is brilliant and I would recommend to anyone to go, it doesn’t feel like christmas if you don’t! Some of my photos from today are on my photo blog, or on the B2 radio website so below I have posted a link to both, make sure you give B2 a listen too if you can!

B2 Radio: http://www.b2radio.co.uk

My flickr photo blog: http://www.flickr.com/photos/abieyhumphries