Week 9: Room With a View- live on air

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Today, we had our first show for Room With a View. Unfortunately, there has been a few issues with our show. I had arranged the interview with the Lupus foundation, and they contacted me with a cancellation yesterday at midday. They had offered to arrange a phone interview with a volunteer from the organisation with someone from Sydney. I immediately contacted Elizabeth and Sam for approval, which I promptly received. I was a little proud of myself for fixing this problem, as I felt completely responsibility for this cancellation, as this organisation was my idea in the first place. It taught me for next time to make it very clear that we need an in studio interview for Room With a View.
We all came in at about 10am to make sure that we had a few practices before going live on the air at 12pm. I think that the practices went well, and included a fake interview. I was thankful for this extra time, as it allowed me to practice how to conduct a phone interview.
Unfortunately,  I feel that I did not perform my best whilst we were live to air. I think I allowed my nerves to get the better of me. I confused myself in the beginning, and accidentally turned off the Room With a View introduction. I was very embarrassed by this, and I tried to make sure to not make any mistakes like that again.
I think that my reaction times were slower than I would have liked. I think that I did too big of pause in between songs and talking and sponsorship announcements.
I think that my reaction times were slow, and there were various parts where I think that I needed to improve on. It was frustrating at the time, because I knew exactly what I was doing wrong and how to correct it. It was nothing like the demo, and I think I need to practice the skill to performing to an audience live to air. It is a much different environment than I expected, and I am looking forward to improving this skill.
However, I was quite pleased with the paneling skills involved in my phone interview. It was a concept that was very new to me, and I think I did quite well, considering the fact that I had only did it the first time only two hours prior.

Week 8: ANZAC day practice session

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Today, myself and my group held a practice session for the show next week. I am fairly confident for our show next week thanks to the feedback that we gained back from our demo, but I think that it is not helpful to be over-confident before going to air.

 

I did have some issues in the relaxed environment. It meant that I lost attention to when the song finishes, means that there were several moments of silence throughout the practice recording of it. I am hoping that this means that I will make sure that I will not do this when we are live to air. I am very glad that we held the practice session, as I had some trouble remembering to play from the user input. We have decided that the easiest thing for our group is to play the songs from an iPhone. It means that we have more selection in selecting the songs and less trouble finding the songs that we want to play. The only difficult part from my view as the panel operator is making sure that I turn off the device before the song goes on to the next track in the playlist. I am hoping that this will mean that I concentrate on every detail necessary.

Week 7: Room With a View

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Over the weekend, I received confirmation of an interview with Lupus Foundation for our radio show in Week 9. There is an international Lupus day that falls a week from our show, so I feel that it would be appropriate for our show ever since we received the confirmation from Elizabeth. I am keen to start drafting questions relatively soon, although I will not be presenting.
The voice exercises that we did in class were interesting… they reminded me of childhood drama classes. I have always had an issue with how my voice sounds, so hopefully if I present in the second show, I could use it to hopefully make a difference.
I think this week my group will want a rehearsal for the radio program. I am hoping to improve my panelling skills. We are missing another Monday class next week due to ANZAC day, so I think that it is the ideal time to run a practice session. I think that Bek and Pat need to work on presenting with one another, and I am really keen to practice the skill in paneling. Although I feel confident with how everything is placed, it is more of an automatic skill that I want to gain. I want to be able to press buttons without thinking about it, and I understand that it is a big ask in a short amount of time with a new skill, I just want to make sure that I am as knowledgeable as possible for when we go to air on Week 9.

Week 6: Room With a View

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This week’s focus was on defamation laws in radio. To be honest, it seems a little more complex than I initially thought it to be. But at the same time, if our group is careful and word the questions correctly to warrant no attacking responses, I think that we will be fine.
As for feature ideas, I like the idea of doing a piece on what it would be like on the Autism spectrum in regards to sensitivity senses. I think that this would create a very interesting and informative sound piece, as we could record exemplified sounds to show people what it might be like to live with these highly sensitive senses, and behaviour in response to this.
I also offered the idea of the Lupus Foundation for a possible interview subject for the show. I think that the Hitchcock interview subject is unavailable, so we need to find some new topic areas and subjects to send to Elizabeth for approval.

Week 5: Room With a View

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This week we gained feedback from our demo made the previous week. I was responsible for the panelling, and was told that it is nearly broadcast quality. This is a huge surprise to me, as I was self-conscious about the levels and the amount of dead air. I feel that with a little more practice, that our group should be successful when we first go to air. At this stage, we all feel to keep on the roles as we did last time.

Although, I would love to host and be responsible for social media at some stage. At this stage, though, I am aiming to send Elizabeth some more ideas regarding interviews. It is difficult to find a strong idea that Triple R has not done before or one that would be appropriate for Room With a View. My initial idea was to interview someone who runs the Alfred Hitchcock appreciation club, but I am concerned whether the tutor who runs this would be comfortable with being interviewed. I also had the idea of pre-recording an interview for local animal rights groups or perhaps a farmers market.

Week 4 Easter Monday: Room With a View

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The demo is complete today, which is a relief. We had two pre-recorded interviews (as the assessment indicated) but I feel that we struggled with the amount of time we had. We decided to improvise, by the end, and I feel that we were successful. I think that we need a little more practice with the running sheet- although it was good and displayed the allocated time slots, it was more the fact that we needed two minutes for intro, when actually it was scripted for a minute. I am not concerned though, this is the purpose of the demo is it not?
Panelling wise- I was quite proud of myself. To be honest, I do need a little bit of practice. It was hard to be constantly on top of everything. We had to rely on an iPod for music, so to line that up with the required commercials and triple R recordings was a little stressful at some points. But I really did enjoy panelling, and would like to do it again when we are on air. I feel that I was successful in letting everyone know how much time they had left, and tried my very best to act as if we were live to air (I did this by informing presenters when the microphones were on, and indicating when the song would finish.)
I think I need a little bit more practice with the panelling and a little bit of help of maintaining the levels.
Unfortunately, due to the Easter break, Laura was not avaliable, which meant that she selected the music for the show. Amalina came home earlier to make sure that she helped out as her role as producer. I think that so far, the group is communicating (thanks to a private Facebook page) and working well.

Week 3: Room With a View

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Today we ended up going to Triple R again.
It was somewhat surprising to hear that we needed an hour for the demo. I was under the impression that the demo was only 6 or 7 minutes long, but it seems that I was thinking of the interview. To do a whole practice session for the demo, running at least an hour long, is somewhat intimidating. Whilst waiting for the green light to go to Triple R, we had a group meeting. Although I really would like to try presenting and paneling at some point, I felt that it was important for me to learn the skills of paneling. I feel that I am somewhat confident on it; thanks to the visit to Triple R studios a few weeks ago and the practice session that my group had on Labor day.
The interview is concerning me a little. I wasn’t sure what would be an appropriate interview would be used. I didn’t want to contact anyone from an organisation, because I do not want to waste the time for someone for a piece that may not even go on the air. Pat, however, suggested using interviews that he had done recently and another one done at an orginisation that he works for. I think this was a relief for everyone involved, that we had two definite interview content for the demo next week. We have booked the studios for Easter Monday next week (which means that we miss another class), so hopefully this demo goes well.

Week 3: Room With a View

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This week, we did not have classes due to Labor day. So myself and my group booked a studio the previous week to become more comfortable in the environment. I think what we did during our first studio session was incredibly helpful for all of us involved. We all worked together to gain a better understanding of the panels, and also tested out our voices on the microphones. Although we did have an introduction into the panels last week, I found it incredibly useful to discover for myself what exactly each button on the panel does. It seems a lot less intimidating now than it was last week; the amount of buttons and the environment made the information a little difficult to take it all in.

Week 2: Room With a View

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Exploring Triple R studios certainly was a very interesting day. Learning the basic steps of paneling was, however, a little intimidating. Although my group has arranged a practice day for next week on Labor day, I am a concerned about how this will fair out for me. I know the basics such as the microphone, but there were so many little details, such as playing music from a laptop, or selecting one from the music library.
The speaking skills were incredibly helpful today- the only difficult part is remembering to put them in action. This included a straight back and projecting the voice, making sure that your mouth is right next to the microphone but not touching it and speaking clearly and somewhat slowly. When I was younger, I was very self-conscious of my own voice (oh the irony of focusing on radio); I feel that I must remember to speak slowly and enunciate the words being said. I also think that I would need to widen my vocabularly- I think it would be frustrating for the audience and for others if I used the same words over and over again (perhaps I should carry around a theasarus- or is that cheating?)
In terms of ideas- it was wonderful to get to know my group a little more today. We all seem to be in the same boat with regards to ideas for interviews, and that we all seem to be intimidated by the idea that it can be anything at all. However, by the end of the day, we started to process a few ideas that may lead to a successful show. Hopefully the private facebook group means that this will happen sooner rather than later.

Week 1: Room With a View

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In the first lessons of the first week, there was a celebration in finding out that the classes are to start later than expected. However, I am hoping to remember that the classes start at 9:30 rather than 8:30.
I am a little bit concerned regarding my ideas for a feature. At the moment, I am thinking about exploring the Turkish community in Brunswick and its history. It is difficult, because I want to be creative with my idea and select an issue that no one has ever thought about before. As I see my career in journalism, I would like to interview someone for the feature and base it off that. Unfortunately, due to the time frame, I think it would be difficult to achieve some of my ideas, such as interviewing someone from a women’s shelter in a piece regarding domestic abuse.
It was quite interesting to learn about the software that we will be using throughout the semester. However, I am used to programs such as Wavelab (which I used last year in second semester) but from memory- it would be a somewhat similar format.
I am looking forward to exploring triple R studios next week, I am liking the idea of learning how to panel. I think this would be fantastic experience long-term, although I do find it a little intimidating, as unfortunately- I am not the best at the handling of technology.