Its great having somewhere to go in the morning knowing your going to have a productive day in a place you love to be… And yeah, thats MFR.
I got into the station this morning, logged onto a computer and got ready to rock, what I mean by that is log onto OSA… which is where we deal with the Community Action Events. It normally doesn’t take that long to get through the events, checking over them making sure they have all the information we need for to put on air, once I’d done the events I moved onto stage 2 the LFT’s… these are the reads for the events to be put out in air, this is pretty easy as its just taking the events off the website and putting them into a word document for the presenters to read… Usually there’s a lot of laughter and chat in the office in the morning which can be quite weird and wonderful, from the latest office craze “Graze Boxes” or rubbish jokes, - usually from me-.
Once I had finished the LFT’S I took them through to the studio blathering to Tich when putting them into there folder…
Normally the morning is pretty hectic with everything needing done to a deadline but everyone works as a team, getting everything done with plenty time to spear for other things on the to do list.
Once the Radioskills duty’s (money minute, LFT’S, Showbiz etc) are done, I then have time to concentrate on work for the VQ… Today im working on my 1.1 ideas and Showbiz write up so I can get them uploaded to learning assistant and concentrate on other features and edits to be uploaded too. It sounds like its full on and can be quite stressful, which it can be, but there is so much help on hand and everyone tries to make it a stress free, relaxed, fun environment its enjoyable and a great place to be.

Hi my name’s Andy I’m 18 and I’m currently on the VQ for a certificate in radio broadcasting.

I’m the class clown here at MFR and it doesn’t get any easier especially when I’ve got Richard Macdonald sitting next to me. But I’ve got my head down and really tried to hit the VQ hard.

But through all this we still manage to have a bit of fun be it the MFR darts championship or just general office banter. But we still have to get normal radio skills duties done.

Normal day for me is filled with so many activities from preparing stuff for on air like the money minute or showbiz news.

We also do the event reads and event calendar on the website for the public too see what fundraising or charity events are on.

My main job is the money minute I took a liking to it and ever since I always seem to do the job which I like. We all have our normal jobs Richard is on travel some times Skye and Martin on showbiz news and Billy on events.

Radio has really opened my eyes in what I can achieve in life and will probably not go back too a normal job as it is such a busy and entertaining lifestyle.

The friend I have made here are great too but you have to remember to get things done. Because if you don’t meet your deadlines you could create a serious hick up for the presenters too fill space which they thought they had material for.

And thats a brief look at the Radioskills course through my eyes.

Hello again, it’s Richard here writing my second Blog for the NEW Radioskills website.

This particular blog is to tell you about the interview experience I had only the other day.

On Monday I got an email sent to me asking if I wanted to head down to the Ironworks, the local music venue, to interview Hadouken! I thought to myself this was a perfect opportunity as it ticked plenty of boxes for my VQ. One being an interview using a portable recorder. I started emailing the bands PR company to help set up this interview. They sent me out a package with there new album and single and put me on the guest list for the gig. This felt good!!

On Tuesday I had written my questions and headed down to the Ironworks to speak to the band. I met up with their tour manager who took me to meet them. Through out this whole time I had thought to myself I would just have a wee chat with them in their dressing room or something but then the manager told me we would have to go to the “Tour Bus”!! I immediately thought this would just be a small Transit parked round the back of the building….. this wasn’t the case. It was the classic showbiz style monster bus. I went in and met the lead singer who was a sound enough guy. I have always been told that you could get the odd interview were the interviewees ego could get the better of them. I think this was one of them.

The interview went good. It could have gone better but it went good enough. With these sort of things it’s all about the experience so I cam away from it thinking of the positives which were I now I have something to go towards my VQ and I was on the guest list.

Ha Ha Ha!

What fool asked an Irish man to write a blog? If you are close to any donkeys right now, do not read this out loud, as the hind legs will almost certainly fall off. Not sure why your computer/laptop and your donkey would be in close proximity, but you never can tell with some people…

I’m Martin, a 30 year old husband to Lyndsey and father to 4 year old Cally-Raye. If you go to MFR's website and look for the little girl with the teddy in the Cash for Kids adverts, that’s my daughter. And no, she’s not neglected, it was just a photo shoot.

In my night job I run a Karaoke business and sing with a rock covers band. I’ve been doing this for about 10 years now, after leaving University where I studied a Film Production Degree, and spent 3 years working backstage in the local theatre. So as you can see my interests and experience have all centred around Media and or Entertainment. Radio seemed a natural progression from this as I present the Karaoke shows and I have a good music knowledge from my job. Also give an Irish man the chance to be in the spotlight even for a few minutes and he’ll take it.

Since starting here, I’ve read the Showbiz News and Travel Bulletins on air, much to my friends amusement, interviewed Ian Rankin at Eden Court Theatre, and had some audio I collected used in a news bulletin. I love the whole creative process behind radio and have learnt to use programmes I would not have had access to otherwise.

I’m now well on the way to completing my VQ, (a little too far for my liking coz I don’t want this to end too soon), however that being said, I know that whatever the future brings, the experience I’ve had and gained here, will be of great benefit to me.

Awe well, back to work… and please make my apologies to the donkey.

Martin

Wow, I’ve never written a blog before, here at MFR in ‘Radio Thrills’ I’m always getting new and exciting things to put my mind too! The great thing about this blog thing is that all I have to do is write, I don’t have to learn any new computer programmes, learn to operate a studio desk, tour the Inverness streets finding interviewees for a wonderful new feature I’m putting together or produce a one hour show. Just an example of a few of the diverse things ‘radio thrills’ has had me doing, so writing should be simple!

I’ll just introduce myself. I’m Skye the only girlie of five MFR trainees and old enough to be the mother of most of the others, though fortunately I’m not related to any of them.

I’ve done lots of different and bizarre jobs in my life, so MFR ‘radio thrills’ just continues that pattern. In my former incarnations I’ve bred rabbits in Tanzania, taught stress management in Yorkshire, ploughed fields in Germany, rode camels in the Sahara, climbed to the tippie top of Kilimanjaro (just 4 times) strolled through the sandy streets of Timbuktu on many a hot day and scaled Ben Nevis more times than I care to remember. Amazingly I’ve been paid to do all of these things!

Now at MFR my nomadic lifestyle has slowed down for awhile as I learn lots of new and fantastic radio skills which I plan to use around the world, once I’ve mastered them….I’ve got awhile to go through. How do I know this? Well, our tutors here are meticulous in their feedback of all my work, pushing me to improve each day and I keep being challenged to get better.

What have I been doing today…..I’m the only one on the radioskills desk this morning so I get on with our in house MFR jobs. I scripted, voiced and recorded the show biz news that goes out on Tich’s show just after 1pm.Today I did it all in one take, a great result, which doesn’t happen everyday unfortunately. Researched and wrote the money minute stories for Tich to read later, plus share and exchange rate figures.
After a good bowl of soup for lunch and much arm twisting by Diane I at last get to write my first ever blog…