We had the joy of running our first Room With A View on 3RRR Radio on Monday 25th April 2016, the Anzac Day public holiday when nobody else was in the studio (god forbid we need any guidance).
Dream Team with comedian Juan Miles
In preparation we’d arrived at the studio much earlier than our air time to go over our plans in case of any last minute trouble-shooting. Our interviewees all arrived early before aired also which was very convenient.
Weeks and weeks before Anzac Day, we pitched a large list of ideas to Elizabeth McCarthy, the program manager. As producer, my role was to perform all this correspondence, reaching out to people we’d like to interview, organising and booking our studio sessions at Triple R to practise making radio together: panel operating, recording, presenting, improv, queuing up music/ sponsor announcements etc
My biggest strength in this role was my ability to communicate and seek out information from my team and outside sources in order to pitch our ideas to prospective interviewees as well as the program manager and make sure we were meeting our deadlines. I also handled the social media and the obligatory live-tweeting. It was helpful that the team contributed to gaining interviewees. 2/3 interviewees were known to Tyler and Phong from prior work, so they were able to get in touch easier and their chemistry was evident on the air. Susita researched extensively for medical expert contacts and was able to get in touch with Dr Hunt, who proved to being a lovely personality despite talking about serious themes on our show.
My weakness was stress from keeping track of deadlines, constantly following things up and feeling a lack of security when something didn’t go according to plan. My team helped overcome this from being a big issue though by staying in touch, being honest and everyone contributing where they could.
Phong Nguyen, our music master
We had 6 original interview ideas: these are the ones that ended up on the show:
1. Video game as art: The unconventional new medium Melburnian writers and visual artist are exploring
Interviewee: Marigold Bartlett, local video game developer and visual artist – also working an historical Anzac themed game
2. So you want to do stand up: On how to get into the Melbourne stand up comedy scene
Interviewee: Juan Miles, Argentinean-born stand up comedian who has performed in over 8 countries, is now based in Melbourne and performing at this year’s Comedy Festival. He’s part of social circles of comedians from interstate and overseas who are here for the comedy!
6. Cluster Headaches: The worst type of pain human can suffer
Interview: Doctor based in Melbourne who specialises in cluster headaches and chronic migraines: Dr Hilary Hunt