On The Treadmill
As you might imagine I left Sunderland at the end of term in early June looking forward to a relaxing summer holiday break. On my way up the east coast main line I had images in my mind’s eye of beach parties, barbecues in the back garden and long lie-ins. The reality has been somewhat different.
I started a full time job at Radio Orkney while trying to juggle the tasks of getting my student radio station on air next month, writing articles for Living Orkney, seeing friends as well as finding time to visit the rest of my family who are, as usual on Auskerry. I am by no means complaining as I feel very privileged to be doing a job that is both thoroughly enjoyable and highly beneficial to my career progression. Nevertheless it is hard work and at the end of the day I often struggle to find the energy and motivation to start working on my other projects.
The experience of having a proper job and living alone is proving to be a real eye opener. It's giving me a good idea of what I can expect when my time in the cosy cocoon of student life comes to an end next June. I am finding that keeping on top of everything I need to do is like a treadmill. I start the weekend thinking that I'll be able to get stuff done that's been piling up all week; but just as I feel I have got the decks cleared it's Sunday night again! I go back to work on Monday morning feeling that I haven't really got anywhere. Is this what most ‘grownups’ feel?
I like to keep busy while I’m at uni because I don't like being idle and I can see that I'm not going to get anywhere in radio if I don't get down to some graft. Despite my various jobs such as the radio station, podcasts, being a student ambassador and my various writing commitments, my lifestyle down the road usually involves quite a bit less work than all my current activities in Orkney.
I'm glad I'm getting a preview of what I can expect after university as now it won't be quite so much of a shock to the system. All I can say at the moment is well done to everyone who manages to juggle jobs and family all year round!
Having mentioned my commitments to our student radio station in Sunderland I thought it might be interesting to give you a bit of an update on how things are progressing. At the moment we are trying to finalise the schedule for the two weeks which we are on air for, get some promotion done to raise our profile in the community,( which will in turn help us to gain advertising), and encourage local groups and individuals to provide us with programme content.
One of the most frustrating things has been the process of going through people’s demo's and show proposals. I have to say that the general standard being sent to me by wannabe presenters is pretty poor for both the actual audio demo's and the supporting show proposal paperwork. Some people have handed in a reasonably professional sounding five minutes of audio accompanied by some neatly typed details of the proposed show, feature ideas, previous experience and contact details for the people concerned.
Others seem to think that an unlabeled CD in an envelope with an almost illegibly hand written sheet of A4 containing only a few sentences is going to cut it. To be honest I don't really know what action to take.
Obviously I want to do as much as I can to help these applicants both as a fellow student and also in my capacity as station manager. Should I be as encouraging as possible and put them on air however bad their demo? Whilst part of me can see we are a small student station here to provide students like me with their first experience of radio, the other part of me thinks that I should be running as professional a station as possible and to encourage students to think that sloppy demos will get them a job in the real world is far from helpful.
I would be willing to bet that several of the people who have submitted demo's will never get a job as a radio presenter. Some people have just been unlucky with their voice and lack a bit of charisma, but the biggest problem seems to be people who just don't have their hearts in radio. Many of them seem to be just in it for a bit of fun. That's fine, but usually this uncommitted attitude doesn't result in good radio and is therefore frustrating for everyone who wants the station to sound as slick as possible.
On the other hand I don't think it's my place to tell people they aren't very good – What do I know! Therefore I'm just going to have to try and help people to do the best they can and hopefully they will either improve or decide for themselves that being on the air isn't for them.
Finally this month, I have been interested in recent news that the government wants to increase to 21 the age at which young people can buy alcohol in pubs. I don't think they have thought it through very well because I'm convinced that people who use alcohol as a fuel for irresponsible behaviour will continue to do so regardless. Furthermore I think being treated like an adult and being allowed to drink in pubs helps many young people to learn to take responsibility for themselves in this area. I know from my own experience, turning 18 was seen by many as a ticket to a drink-fuelled funfare. As I soon discovered, the reality is somewhat less exciting and I think it would be a mistake for the learning of this important lesson to be put off any later than 18.
