Olivia McDonald // Mediafactory Blog

Yesterday, Monday 22nd of April, we had our second live show. Rose and I presented while JJ panel operated. I came into the studio in the morning feeling relatively calm- it was just going to be 1 hour of radio out of 24 in a day, and 168 in a week, that Triple R would broadcast. I also felt that while we had prepared less than our group had for the first show, we were still well rehearsed. It is really amazing how much calmer I felt after 3 or so hours of practice with Rose and JJ in the week before the show. Anyway, I felt okay. We went through the run sheet before the show, played through some of the songs etc.

When it came to 12 o’clock, my nerves were definitely peaking! Really though, I had not much reason to be nervous. The only difference between our practices and the real thing was that it would matter more if I made a mistake, but I knew that it was unlikely I would do that. I quickly felt comfortable speaking into the microphone and knowing it was going out to REAL people, not just back into our own ears never to be heard again. I think this was also because of how little time Rose and I were actually speaking; between songs, pre-recorded interviews, sponsorships and the like, Rose and I really only announced things and had the one live interview. I also think there was a good dynamic between the two of us. I’m sure at times it sounded rehearsed/scripted (because it was), but a lot of the time we added our own thoughts in the moments and said things that made it more impromptu and natural. I am glad we had everything written (even though I think I could do it just fine with dot points) because it calms me knowing there is something to say if my mind blanks! Overall, I felt comfortable and confident in front of the microphone.

I think the live interview went really well. Beth was a great interviewee, giving plentiful answers but not to the extent of rambling. I found it really easy to engage with her, and even though we had questions listed, they came up when relevant rather than in a pre-disposed order. I found thinking of the next question somewhat difficult at times because I wanted to listen to what she was saying, but I didn’t want it to be my turn to speak and for me to have nothing to ask. It was tricky to juggle the act of engaging in ‘conversation’ while worrying about what was coming next, but overall I really think we handled it well.

In terms of the pre-recorded interviews, there is definitely some things I would have changed retrospectively. We shouldn’t really have included the HoMie interview. While the content was interesting and relevant, unfortunately, the editing and final composition weren’t up to scratch. Elizabeth mentioned this in her feedback to us, saying it wasn’t of a professional standard. I had an inkling this would be the case when I first listened to the interview, but Sam said it would be broadcast quality (maybe after taking pity on my stress about the show). Looking back we should have organised a second live interview, also because it would have given Rose and myself more of a chance to gain skills in live interviewing and presenting. I don’t want to seem like I’m making excuses- but we did go with the HoMie interview because we (myself in particular) were getting rather stressed in the lead up to the show (with the feature needing to be produced simultaneously, two of the girls having pretty extreme, uncontrollable personal circumstances and the end of semester and all the work it brings, fast approaching), and decided having two pre-recorded interviews over two live interviews would be a lot easier. Which it was, but I should have challenged myself more.

I really like Dusty’s interview with James of Lemon Ceramics. Elizabeth gave us some criticism that we mentioned ‘brand’ too much when introducing the interview, which I hadn’t realised we focused on but accept the feedback and understand it in relation to RRR’s community standing. She also brought up the question of “Why James over some other ceramicist?”, implying that he didn’t have anything particularly noteworthy to say. Again, I accept this feedback but as a listener (and I didn’t have any part in producing the interview- I really was a listener) I found the interview to be interesting and relaxed. To quote my friend who listened to the show, “the interview with the ceramic dude was cool, he seemed super chill and nice”. I understand the interview wasn’t anything groundbreaking, and maybe it didn’t deserve to be aired in the middle of the day, but I thought it was a fun piece that ended our show on a light note. I also think Dusty asked some great questions and facilitated an engaging interview, so props to her.

After the ceramics interview was our slight techincal/human glitch, which was a pity because we were on such a good run and the show was due to end perfectly on time. Basically, JJ (who up to this point and after did an awesome job at the panel) accidentally switched the song half way through, when she meant to use the switcher dial on the other CD player. So, Home Again by Micheal Kiwanuka ended half way through. When it happened, JJ just looked at us very panicked. I didn’t realise what was happening for a moment, but then she put our mics on and Rose and I (somewhat flustered) tried to recover. Personally, I think we did a great job. So what if we make a mistake? We were honest and said there was an issue, and that we’d be going to another song. I got very worried when announcing the next song because I wasn’t sure of the issue and thought that maybe no song would play and that I would announce a song only to hear dead air and no song being played. Luckily, a song did play. Unfortunately, it was not the song I had spent a long-winded minute (trying to fill time) announcing. Fortunately, Sammy and Dusty came in, Sammy used Shazam (thank you modern technology) to find what the song was (it was one Rose had put on the CD in case we needed more songs (thank you Rose), it was just in the wrong order) and we just played the actual song I announced (Air’s track, All I Need) after the wrong song. And then back announced them like nothing had ever happened. Problem solved!

Then we were finally back on the scripted content (knew it would come in handy!) and we wrapped up the show nicely and went just slightly over time into Zero G’s slot (apologised dearly to them).

So, overall, I think it went well. And I had a fun time! I was inadvertently reminded that challenging yourself can be a good thing and that it is how you learn. We made mistakes but I see them as opportunities to learn and grow- this was the first(ish) time for us on radio, on a REAL radio station, and I think we did fairly well for the circumstances!

I would definitely like to explore producing and presenting radio in the future. And while 3RRR is a great avenue to do this, and one that may be open for people in our class going forward, I will probably lean towards getting involved in SYN first, as this is for young people and will probably be less pressure than working for RRR and creating content for such a widely listened to station. I am super thankful for the opportunity I have had though, and am so glad I picked (and got into) this studio this semester.

Also forgot to post this but cute pic of the hosts liv and rose with @bethblvd ❤️ pic.twitter.com/T1sqcBag7a

— Room With A View (@rwavRRR) May 22, 2017

Myself, Beth and Rose!

 

 

We have our first live show this coming Monday. I’m nervous but only slightly- I am not presenting or panel operating and I fully trust Dusty & Sammy (presenting) and Rose (panel operating) to do an awesome job. They have plenty of practice under their belt and we are prepared for any crisis- having extra songs & pre-records available for use in case of any last minute cancellations or technical difficulties.

I have felt that my role as ‘producer’ of this show has been somewhat lacking. It is definitely the role with the least clarity/definition of duties. This is not to say I don’t think I have been contributing equally; I just have a less tangible role and don’t feel I have gained any tangible skills as such. This is especially the case because our interviews were sourced from each of us… i.e. it was not my role as the producer to find, research, contact, and confirm 3 different interviews as we were required to think of ideas for class, and so we already had some good ideas that were then approved by Elizabeth.

Similarly, I expected to be doing more work on the run sheet as producer. I wrote the basic structure, mentioned the things the girls needed to cover when talking (time, mention RRR, RWAV, back announce songs etc), put in the songs and stings and IDs etc, but of course when it came to what they were saying, they wrote it as it would have been unnatural and silly for me to write it. Anyway, again, this is not to say I feel that I haven’t done anything. I have helped in a lot of different ways rather than one big way.

Our two live interviews for the show are:

Mark Pershin, CEO of Less Meat Less Heat:

Less Meat Less Heat is a non-profit organisation that was founded in early 2015 and is dedicated to addressing how diet can be altered to reduce the carbon dioxide a person creates. The Less Meat Less Heat initiative aims to raise awareness for people to appropriately limit their meat consumption and has named this, the ‘climatarian diet’. Mark Pershin is the CEO & Founder of Less Meat Less Heat. Coming from a background in advertising and marketing, Mark brings a unique and fresh perspective to help solve the climate crisis.

The girls will talk about the aim of their app, “The Climatarian Challenge”, why they chose this platform, why the climatarian diet is important, why eating less meat is important etc. The girls have been using the app so they can add a personal touch to the interview and talk about their experiences with it.

 

Oliver Clark, of the Melbourne Swordcraft Club

Swordcraft is a live action role play and battle game, where players bring medieval battle from fantasy video and tabletop games to life. The Swordcraft group which Oliver roleplays in, practices every Tuesday in Royal Park. The group are split into teams/groups and sometimes pairs, to mimic battles that may have taken place in the middle ages.

The third interview is a pre-recorded interview that Sammy did with Simon Starr of Birding Australia, in which they discuss brid watching and the threats of bird and duck shooting.

 

We have recorded our demo! Our group went into to do panel training and have a play around in the studio two weeks ago, and by the end, we felt comfortable enough to book a session in a studio to actually record our demo. So we went into Triple R again on Monday after class to record our demo. Because we were going to be the first to record, Sam suggested that we might be the first to go to air. We decided that we may as well- everyone felt that they’ll be practiced enough by then, and so it’s only a matter of locking in our interviewees. We’d already done most of our running sheet in class, but we still did a lot of polishing when we got to Triple R. Dusty and Sammy (the presenters) each assigned which sections they would speak in. The running sheet ended up being pretty scripted in the end, apart from the interviews. I’m not sure if this is a great idea because we really want to avoid it sounded scripted. They actually spoke very naturally, in the end, so we’ll see what we decide for the running sheet for the real show. Overall, Sammy and Dusty sounded pretty good and Rose picked up the panel really quickly (despite her initial hesitation- she is great at it!)

We got a lot of good practice in the studio but thought it would be best to come back a third time to actually record the demo, especially because Sammy had to leave early (and was presenting). We still tried to record ourselves in this practice session but unfortunately, we didn’t export the file correctly so it ended up being half a file, and so we couldn’t listen back to it. This wasn’t a major problem- we just thought it would be good to have more material to reflect on and consequently improve. But we thought it was a good lesson for the next time- export file properly!

So, we booked another session for today- Friday (24th of March). We went in, mucked around for a bit, collected some CDs from the library so Rose could also practice using the CD player, and made some more adjustments to the run sheet. At 12 PM exactly, we began recording our demo. All in all, it went great. Dusty and Sammy bounced off each other naturally, our interviews were succint but dynamic and Rose’s transitions on the panel were delightfully smooth. We were so happy after we finished, and went back to listen to it. But… we realised we’d been recording the studio that was going live to air, and not our demo at all… So maybe I remember everything going so well in that demo attempt, because we lost it and so I never got to actually listen back and hear all the average bits. Anyway, it was very frustrating, especially when we’d already been in there for hours.

Unfortunately, I had to leave because I had class in the city. The other girls stayed and recorded another hour, which meant they had to vary from our run sheet a bit because I was one of the interviewees on the run sheet (and in our previous 2 unrecorded demos). They still kept the structure of the songs, and the stings and IDs, but the talk segments were different (and a bit messier) than planned. Paired with my abscence and the frustration after the failed recording, the final demo was not our finest hour of practice (but still pretty decent I reckon). The main lesson, which we will really stress to other groups, is to check and double check that it is recording! Overall a long and somewhat frustrating process, but we finally have a demo to reflect on, and ultimately use to improve before April 10th, our first show!

Today we visited the 3RRR studios for the first time. We got a building tour and had a brief walk through the panels and how to use them. It was really interesting to actually see the studios, albeit daunting knowing that we’d be broadcasting live there in a matter of weeks.

We also found out our groups and had a chance to share our interview ideas, first within our groups and then to the class. My ideas were:

• Manager or volunteer at Less Meat Less Heat, a non-profit organisation dedicated to raising awareness of the environmental impact that the production and consumption of meat (specifically beef and lamb) have.
• Teacher or staff member at the School for Student Leadership, a selective term-long program that Year 9 students from government schools attend, that has 3 campuses and is looking to establish two more due to the success of the program.
• Top Arts student (exhibiton opens later in March)

 

Room With A View is my first studio as part of my media specialisation. I’m really looking forward to it to explore the field of radio and get some hands-on experience with radio production. While I have never been involved with the production of radio, I love listening to it and find that the strength of audio as a storytelling device is really fascinating.

Today’s class was a great opportunity to find out the interests and experience of my classmates. We were briefed on the course structure and the assessments. I didn’t have a very clear idea of what the main setup of the studio was before this class, so I’m really glad I do now. I’m really looking forward to working on our own radio show, and I feel very lucky to be able to broadcast on 3RRR.