Preparing for Radio Studio Assessment 1

A week today is time for my first assessment of this module!

In preparation for the show, my co-host Lucy and I wrote the script for the show together. This meant multiple FaceTime calls and late-night sessions perfecting exactly what it is we would be saying, when and how. We ultimately decided what particular features and packages we would include in the 30-minute show and wrote the cues and introductions to these. We're also going to include a quiz at the end of our show, so we've written some quiz questions and lined up a contestant to participate in the quiz too - with the prize of tickets to see Take That at the AO Arena being a great insensitive for people to phone in to play.

The premise of our show is that we travel to different UK cities each week and take a deep-dive into everything from that week's location. The week of our show is going to investigate Manchester (hence the Take That gig ticket prize), and so everything in the show will be Manc-related!

We needed to make sure we each created some pre-recorded content. Our show is divided up into different sections - dialect, comedy and music. Molly conducted two interviews: one with a linguistic specialist who is currently analysing Manchester accents; and one with Toby Hadoke, a comedian who owns a comedy venue in Manchester. Lucy, meanwhile, interviewed The Covasettes - an up-and-coming Manchester band who have performed all over the UK. These three interviews give us plenty of pre-recorded content to include in our show while also providing us with a wide range of opinions and Manc contributors. For my pre-recorded section, I created an introduction to Manchester to be featured at the start of the show once we have revealed the location of that week's show. I completed plenty of research to create an educated piece that reflects the rich history of the city.

Presenting is something I absolutely love doing, especially on Shock Radio (7-8pm every Monday!!) so to be able to do it for this assessment really excites me too. I love being able to practise at every opportunity I get, and I'm really hoping that Tuesday's assessment will go well to gain some more vital experience behind the mic!

While Assessment 1 is nearing, Assessment 2 is also only round the corner. For the latter show, we're going to look at chickens. The idea came to us as we brainstormed some ideas, and 'unusual animals' was suggested. We went from there with the idea and eventually came to chickens - our lecturer loved the idea and so we've stuck with it! While we're only in the early stages of development with the idea, we hope to have features from battery farmers, a man who owns chickens as a pet, and a Nandos worker.