ALICE WASS
Exploring Media

This week has been busy as the Rhema Theatre Group came in for two days to record a Podcast. It was nice to see everything that I organised come together and all run smoothly. I would have liked to be more involved during the actual recording, but due to the amount of work I had to do, it was not have been practical, and my role in the Podcast was more organisational.

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I have been doing recordings for the Prayerline Appeal, and editing them into finished audio pieces. I have also been organising and completing more audio recordings for Anne’s Sunday show, in a section called ‘The Wall’. I record anyone who is living in the USA, as the time zones never work with Anne’s schedule. This has helped me to improve my scheduling skills as I am now used to working with big time differences. I really enjoy doing all these recordings and using all of the equipment. I am still doing a lot of editing for Soundcloud, however this week I have also been cleaning up old content and taking down audio which should not be available on Soundcloud, which was a lengthy procedure.

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I have continued to help with Ruth’s guests, both hosting those who are live in studio and organising new upcoming interviews. I am trying to find more live interviews for February to make Ruth’s job easier reducing the editing required in a short time frame. I am finding new ways to source potential guests and hope through building good relationships with our current guests these may lead to more interviews.

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I have continued my Presenter Training this week. On Tuesday I tracked my first ever 3-hour solo show, some of the audio needed multiple takes as it is much harder than one would imagine. I had a lot of fun doing the recording but there is a lot of room for improvement. For example, my lack of confidence could be heard in my voice and I did not sound comfortable going in and out of voice breaks. Also, it occasionally came across that I was so focused on what I was saying next that I stumbled over my words, something that does not happen when I am talking normally. Samuel was really helpful during the recording and gave me useful feedback during and after. I would love to try preparing and tracking another show in the hope that I would be able to improve.

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Other training, I had this week was for ILM. This session was discussing ‘Developing Yourself as a Team Leader’ and one of the exercises encouraged us to look at qualities we recognise in ourselves and getting others to give their feedback on us. This activity helped me to see how others at work see me and how there may be qualities I wish to enhance. Overall the feedback was really lovely and encouraged me in my confidence.

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This week I experienced my first work place issue! The system for booking guests for Ruth’s show involves me researching both online and via magazines and newspapers for Christian testimonies. We also receive potential guests from other people at UCB and occasionally listeners give recommendations. There is another show at UCB, on a different station, which similarly relies heavily on interviews. It became apparent that there has been some tension with the other show regarding some of the interviews which we were booking in. This involved the issue that the other show had previously covered similar stories and they were disappointed that we had not shared with them some of the interviewees which we had featured. I only became aware of this when one member of staff became quite stressed. This resulted in both sides going to the Head of Radio to share their concerns. I discovered the problem when an email was sent out to those involved in both the shows. At first the situation upset me a lot, as I had never come across conflict in a work environment and did not know how to react to it. However, I now plan to try and work with the both sides to try and find a solution which will satisfy everyone. This situation, even though it is unpleasant, has helped with my professional development. It has taught me how to handle conflict within the office, and also helped me to be more thick skinned when it comes to things other people say. I am hoping that working through the issues with the other show, will also help teach me more about reconciliation and improve my problem solving skills as we all seek to find a solution. I am not totally surprised that this issue arose, as in creative industries people are very passionate about their work, and UCB lacks clear communication links between the presenters and producers of the radio shows.

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With no more upcoming major projects I am interested to see how the next few weeks play out, and hope to avoid any more issues with other staff members.