Studio Assistant Review

I loved my time at 2BR so much that my placement confirmed in my mind that radio presenting and production is the direction that I want to take my career in. My time researching helped keep me updated on current world affairs, which aided my social skills. In turn, my attempts at presenting the weather greatly inmproved my confidence. Additionally, I even managed to meet a few local celebrities. Overall, I greatly enjoyed my time on work placement.

I felt very valued by my colleagues, who seemed to be incredibly impressed by the production skills I had learned on my university course. Also, I really felt that the presenters appreciated the depth of research I had undertook to make sure the information and facts they were reciting were correct and interesting.

I was always instructed on what my jobs were for each day or each week. Before I conducted celebrity interviews, I was briefed on what areas of their personal life and career I could question on and what was strictly not to be mentioned--making sure that no awkward monents were created. Before my research periods, I was advised which topics the audience usually responded well to and which issues I shouldn't investigate. Also, one of the more experienced members of staff was assigned to me as a supervisor, so I always had someone I felt I could talk to if I had a problem.

Usually, I worked at a comfortable pace all day. There was never a day I can remember where I was too bored nor a day where I was rushed off my feet. I always enjoyed my working hours at 2BR, yet I always felt I deserved my lunch breaks. Some days, I worked over-time preparing for celebrity interviews; but I never felt that I was being over-worked or taking on too much responsibility.

I felt I had quite a bit of responsibility during my work placement. Much of my research was broadcasted on air, which helped me feel that the company appreciated my efforts. Also, when I was asked to interact first hand with the celebrity guests, the company placed a lot of trust in me.

My course is based on radio journalism and producing radio shows for broadcast, thus the experiences I gained from my placement at the 2BR radio studios was essential. Furthermore, when I returned to university the following semester, my tutors were incredibly impressed with how much my skills had developed during my placement.

As is common for radio shows, the presenters in the studios were large personalities. Also, me and my colleagues were required to create a fun, lively atmosphere, thus making the show an enjoyable experience for the listeners.

When I learnt that I was to do a placement year, I applied to numerous broadcasting organisations in the hope of gaining a place at one of the more reputable company's. When BBC Radio Lancashire rejected my application, I was left with 2BR as my only viable option. In all fairness, 2BR were impressively quick in getting the placement sorted out.

From the first day of my placement, I was treated as an important member of staff; never did I feel that the company didn't trust me or neglected my work. I underwent a very thorough training process before I was allowed to conduct celebrity interviews, which I was immensely grateful for. 2BR allowed me to use their studio equipment to broadcast live on air; and contributed greatly to my radio publishing experience.

On the final day of my official work placement, I was offered a position of employment there for the remainder of the summer holidays--which I gladly accepted. I was also informed that, when my degree was finished, I could be fast-tracked into a studio engineer producer position.

I was the only placement student working during my employment peirod there, as 2BR is a small company. However, I regularly joined my colleagues for social events outside of work. If there was a local sports star due to be interviewed, we would watch his latest game. Furthermore, if there was a film star doing promo for their latest release, we would visit the cinema to watch it.

Blackburn isn't a very expensive area, so you can comfortably indulge in a large number of social events. For my residence, I rented a property with a small number of university friends for a very cheap price. There is a local student village, which I live in, which is very cheap and lively.

There are very few pubs and clubs still operating in the area of Blackburn that 2BR is located in. However, the town centre is a small train ride away; and there are numerous popular clubs and events in the town centre.

All opportunities outside of work were work-related. 2BR had regular guests so there was always films, music shows, and sports events to be viewed. However, there wasn't many social opportunities that weren't connected to work.