London Met Journalism students put their skills into action at newly equipped radio studio
Date: 23.03.2015
Third year BA Journalism students from London Met have started a six-week series of radio and TV news shows to be broadcast live from their newly equipped studios.
As part of their course work, the future reporters are putting their skills into action, arranging the shows from scratch, interviewing, editing and reporting – all live.
The radio shows began last Thursday and will include news from the local area, interesting guests in studio as well as radio packages which the students have prepared during the week. The shows will be live tweeted and streamed online at Holloway Express news website.
New equipment
London Met invested £15,000 to re-equip and up-grade the radio facility last year enabling students to gain vital studio experience with new digital equipment, including Studer1500, an on air digital mixing console.
“Industry standard digital equipment like this, and the NewTek Tricaster in the nearby TV studio, are essential tools in equipping students for the fast moving media industry,” said Richard Evans, Senior Lecturer in Journalism who was part of the team overlooking the process.
To be fully prepared for live shows, students can work on their radio-vocals in Voice Training sessions with professional presenters, and have been assigned their own IT technician to help them with the high-quality equipment and latest technology.
"Students learn so much from running a live show. Bringing in guests, editing audio, writing scripts and managing the pressure of a live studio environment are part of the increasing range of skills employers tell us they’re looking for in graduates.
“Several of our students have gone straight into jobs in the broadcast industry,” Evans said.
Students enjoying the pressure
One of the biggest benefits of the live-exercise for students is the very real pressure of a live show. Hannah Polly Thompson, who worked as the editor of the show last week, said:
“Being the editor for the Met Radio show was a rewarding, yet challenging role to take on.
“I found that being organised was the key to making it work and that communication is vital when managing a team of people.
“All in all I really enjoyed the buzz you get from hearing a live show go well. I was really pleased with the outcome and thought my team worked really well under pressure.”
You can tune in for Verve radio on Thursday at 12. The live link will be posted on the Holloway Express website, here.
For more information about studying journalism at London Met, visit the website here, or follow the MetToday radio on twitter @MetTodayRadio. You can also follow @LondonMetJournalism for other updates.
