Having spent the last 12 weeks learning the nuances of community radio and all the required planning that has to go in to making an hour long segment cohesive and interesting, I feel that I have come out of Room With A View (R.W.A.V) with a stronger enthusiasm and skip set for competently running a radio program.
Enrolling in to R.M.I.T University, radio production and feature documentaries were amongst some of the seminal reasons for joining the Media cohort.
I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to work with Kyla Brettle (Radio’s New Wave) and Bruce Berryman (R.W.A.V) in order to refine my audio production skills. Having learnt a lot of invaluable experience from these two monitors, I am certain that I have made the right choice in universities and humbled for the lessons they have taught me.
R.W.A.V has offered me the experience to pursue a serious passion of mine and has affirmed my dreams of one day presenting on radio at either a local or national level.
Learning how to operate a console and program in all the required sponsorship announcements, music and stingers has been one of the highlights of the semester. This experience has allowed me to not only become confident in my skills, but enabled me to grow to now be able to handle multiple microphones, levels and user inputs to broadcast a more complex and engaging show that captivates audiences.
Coupling this technical aspect, was the requirement to source and secure interviewees for the programs. This condition of R.W.A.V forced me to break out of my comfort zone and pursue ideas that I not only found engaging, but ones that the listener would find enthralling too. Having to source, secure and flesh out concepts, then send them to the station manager for approval – enabled me to get a better idea of my audience and the type of material that the station liked. It also helped me on a personal level as I was made to become extroverted and confident in my skills as a researcher and presenter to not only connect with the interviewee, but also present a strong piece.
Working with Aisha, Amalia, Bek and Laura has been an absolute pleasure and has enabled me to connect with a broad range of people that I normally thought I wouldn’t have. They have been a solid team and have helped me become more confident in my Media skills, whilst also helping me grow as an individual. They have been reliable and trustworthy and have not only pulled their weight, but pushed everyone to strive further and do better.
The studio hasn’t been an easy ride though. Having to constantly think of material, script narrations, program consoles, choose appropriate music and edit audio – I haven’t had a chance to relax for the last semester. This isn’t to say it hasn’t been enjoyable! I think that R.W.A.V has given me a great insight into radio.
The highlight for the whole Studio was the feature piece that our group worked on. Getting the opportunity to create a piece that we can be proud of is a huge achievement by all. I am personally humbled to have had the opportunity to create a social justice piece that could potentially spark change to an industry that is in dire need of a shake up. I am also emphatically grateful to have had the chance to interview some incredible people that are making a positive influence in the world and that have made me think about greater issues than I normally would have.
The feature piece took a lot of work to complete with countless kilometres traveled to record ambient sounds and interview & then the countless hours scouting music and foley sounds to complement the dialogue. This is only compounded by the time required to mix and edit the whole piece.
I am very happy with everyones efforts and even more pleased with how the piece turned out. I think that we, as a group, worked well on the feature and have an audio piece that we can comfortably hang our hats on.
I am grateful for all the experiences and opportunities that R.W.A.V has granted me throughout the semester and cannot wait to get back on air and have another session in the studio – being a part of the community radio secure that helps sculpt melbounre.