A Day at the BBC…

I recently had the pleasure of shadowing  BBC radio sports newscaster Syerramia Willoughby who works on a show called “Fastrack”at World Service headquarters in Bush House, Aldwych. 

I contacted Mia via face book after my university lecturer recommended I get into contact with her, not only did she accept my friends request, she responded to my message and after a few scheduling conflicts, we agreed to meet and organise a trip over to the studio.  I watched Mia look out for sports results, multi-task with numerous headlines, write her bulletins and then watched in the studio as she recorded live. Probably the most eye-opening aspect was listening to feedback from the main boss as she evaluated the team’s show, which was interesting as it’s something all journalists will have to cope with, criticism both good and bad

The radio show she works on is called “Fastrack” and focuses on predominantly African sports news. There are many radio stations out there, but I loved the variety and unique show, covering cricket to football to skiing, it was an interactive set as the presenter read out texts from listeners and I saw how much effort goes into getting a quote, result or a report from a source, it was the real deal, captivating and professional. One of the things that impressed me was the time management aspect, right down to the last second, the timing was immaculate and everyone needed to be aware and alert of time. In the end we had a little Q&A session in which she gave me some tips on how to survive as a woman in a male dominated arena. Of course I was delighted to be given this opportunity and the chance to observe the action behind the scenes at the BBC. I always thought I’d delve into print and internet Journalism only but after having so much fun studying it at university and seeing for myself how the station functions. Radio is something I’m very interested in.  I usually listen to Five Live and BBC sports but I shall definitely listen in on “Fasttrack”. I found myself a little shy and tired as I was awake with a stomach bug night before however I hope I made a good impression and would love to experience something similar to that again.  It was a busy Friday afternoon for the crew but they worked extremely hard. I found the experience incredibly insightful and would like to give a very public thank you to Syerramia Willoughby and her collogues who were all very friendly and welcoming to me. Here is a link to the website and if you’re interested…listen in

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sport/2009/03/000000_fast_track.shtml