I have previously struggled to enjoy the studios that university has had to offer. I have found them lacking in relevance to the media industry and what I want to accomplish in the future. Room with a View, however, was a completely different story. I loved this studio, from my incredible group, to the physical experience and independence we were granted at the station, this studio was exactly what I wanted from my course. My regrets lie only in my own efforts, as my group was simply incredible throughout the semester. Over the time that I have been studying the studio, my experience and skills have improved and grown, as each new assignment presents its own set of unique challenges and experiences.

Opening Weeks

The beginning of the studio was a few weeks of mainly administrative work. Having already had experience in radio, I found this to be overall quite reductive only because I had trained at SYN before. Where I realised I was truly lucky was in my group for the assessment, the girls were all amazing and I wouldn’t have nearly enjoyed the class as much without them. In week 2 we were finally able to tour and learn how to operate the panel at the Triple R studios. It was here that it dawned on me that we really were entering into a professional environment, and that we were expected to produce professional content. This was a challenge I had never really dealt with in a studio before, so I was feeling the nerves at this point.

Demo

 

The next few weeks saw us putting together the demo. I put my hand up to host for the first show and therefore the demo, and I’m glad I did. I had done radio before, so I was confident in my ability to talk on air. The response to our demo from Bruce and Sam was wonderfully positive, and their happy reactions made me feel more confident going into the first show. One thing I was especially pleased about was that my team members had created a relaxing and calming environment to work in. This meant that when things did go wrong when we were recording the demo, we felt relaxed enough to think quickly and handle the situation.

Interview

 

Our next assessment task was an individual one that required each student member to put together an individual interview. My interview was with Roj Amedi, a former refugee from Iraq and current writer and refugee advocate. Roj was someone I was utterly impressed by, and therefore I was extremely nervous going into the interview. However, I think I was lucky that she was so kind and helpful and warm in the interview. This meant that I could relax and just treat the interview like more of a conversation. This had its negatives as well however, Roj and I spoke for so long that the interview ended up going 20 minutes overtime. This led to editing the interview to be quite a task and me submitting an overtime interview. I think in the future I could try and streamline the interviews I do whilst I am recording them, so that I don’t have these issues again.

Show 1

As previously mentioned, I had the role hosting the first show, alongside my classmate Jessica. We were naturally nervous going into the day. However, as soon as the first introduction had been completed, we felt immediately comfortable. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Jess on the show, I felt as though we had great chemistry. We were also blessed with Sally’s excellent panel work, which greatly helped us along the way when we encountered technical difficulties. During the show, an issue with the studio system meant that problems were constantly occurring with sponsorship cueing. We were forced on the spot to deal with it, and I think it taught a great lesson that sometimes no matter how much you prepare a lot of problems will be out of your control. How your skill is determined, is how you prepare for those unexpected problems that you can’t control.

Feature

Our final assessment task was the submission of a 5 to 10-minute feature on a given topic. After some deliberation, our group elected to focus on the sustainable fashion movement. We looked at both op-shopping and industry shopping, and the various problems each of them gave way to. I’m immensely proud of the feature that our group put together, listening back, it’s an incredibly professional piece of work and special commendation should go to Natalie especially, who edited the piece brilliantly. My regrets in the project lie with my own work. I simply did not get involved in the creation of the feature as much as I could have been. My role was pre-production, setting up interviews for my group members. However, given I didn’t receive any responses from those I interviewed, I ended up feeling quite useless, and wish that I had shared the load a bit more.

Room with a View, in summary, was a thoroughly enjoyable subject. I was happy to be in a class with my friends, but even more happy to have met and be inspired by such incredible group members. I was enthusiastic about each task and excited to go on air when we did. The class has also helped me realise that radio is something I can see myself being involved in as a career. It’s exciting and dynamic nature is something that really excites me, and I look forward to taking the lessons I’ve learn from the studio into my future studies and activities.