The Ups and Downs of Creating and Presenting a Show

 The Ups and Downs of Creating and Presenting a Show

Across my three years at University studying Media Production, in each year I have been involved in a radio or podcast production that I have taken a lead in either presenting, producing or doing both. In each of these projects, there has been a varying degree of success, and each taught me very different but valuable lessons and skills from both the many failures and the many successes.

My first-year radio project was the first time I had stepped into the broadcasting world and the first time I had ever tried presenting, whether that be radio, TV or any context. It was a lot of firsts and taught me a hell of a lot of skills, from the clarity of which I had to speak, the preparation required for that clarity and keeping the pace and conversation taking place at a good and entertaining point, the preparation in case of things going wrong whether that be technically with something out of my control or having a ready panic pile for a show that comes to a close early to stay in time and remove the issue of possible dead air which is a radio sin. And, despite having all this new information to take on and learn, it was a huge success. I felt so comfortable and lacked the nerves I thought I’d have, especially considering this wasn’t a prerecorded episode, actually live on the University’s radio. The experience really was the take-off point for my passion for being involved in live broadcasting. After this, I also did a presentation for our live TV assessment first year, and as I will later discuss pushed me to want to create a podcast for my third-year collaborative project. Despite the successes and joy the show brought me, it obviously wasn’t perfect. We had an interview with a guest on the show from a men’s mental health charity. I had conducted interviews in a journalistic manner before for my work with yourlocalpaper, but this was a whole new ball game. My co-host, Louise, I felt, had much better prepared questions for a show that was going to air, whereas I felt mine were rooted in the teachings of a journalist looking for quotes for an article. It was a strong learning curve, and during that interview, I began to move off script from what I had prepared and let the conversation flow more naturally, which I found worked better and is an approach I have taken into my future endeavours. Obviously, still have prepared questions and points to go over, but don’t fear allowing the conversation steer itself where it wants to go, as that can be where the best and most interesting stuff is.

After the success of my first-year project, I was very excited in my second-year to again work in a live radio broadcast setting and have more freedom with what the show could be about. With this freedom I mind and the opportunity to explore a new role, I was a producer with the intention of creating a sports radio show that could feel closer in tone of discussion to a podcast like the Ripple Effect by James Lawrence Allcott than the sensationalism of most sports radio networks today. I was very excited for the show and its preparation. It was to air in the lead-up to December 2024, which was a hugely exciting time for sports with the World Darts Championship, the F1 season rounding up, Fury Usyk 2 and the ever-busy football calendar. I had prepared heaps of information for my presenters, found a guest, wrote questions for the public for them to ask for our vox pops and had a prepared quiz segment as a game/competition was required to be included in the show. Despite this preparation and excitement on my end, things began to unravel. I found my responsibilities routinely piling up to the point where I was presenting again. I was interviewing with our guest, I was presenting our F1 audio package, and I was hosting the quiz. I was fine to a certain extent with doing so, I enjoyed presenting my interview skills had developed from our first year show, so the segment flowed smoothly, and the audio package was well researched and entertaining, but do to my now split obligations, my producing skills and time to ensure we were hitting our beats across the show and keeping in time became harder. The experience taught me the value of saying no and having to be more stern with people, as if I hadn’t been so willing to cover work and responsibilities, I could’ve taken the time to develop more in my skills as a live broadcast producer and grow my feedback and communication skills further. Even with these issues, the show went well, and the taste it gave me for sports broadcasting cemented my passion for it.

This now brings us to my third-year collaborative project, which at the point of writing is ongoing and has proved the most challenging of these broadcasting projects. My idea for the project was a show called Pubcast. It would be a podcast but also a YouTube channel, which would be a multifaceted hub for podcasts and videos discussing pub culture, sports and having long-form entertaining videos similar to those seen on channels like ChrisMD. While this wouldn’t involve the live broadcasting aspects I had enjoyed in radio and the thrill of speaking live to an audience I wanted I would be presenting, and the enjoyment from storytelling and engaging with an audience would still be felt. Not only would I be presenting, but I would also be producing the show, partly due to a lack of help from other members in the group and also because I was excited to bring to life a project I had been hoping to develop and create for quite some time. My responsibility skills over the last project and this as producer have immensely increased as leading a team, sourcing guests and filming locations and being the figurehead for episode ideas and doing all my own research have well prepared me for the future for many different tasks and roles. Doing the podcasts while similar to radio is different, as you are rather than talking and engaging with your listening audienc,e attempting to engage and connect with your guest or cohost and allowing the listener to feel they are joining and listening in to the conversation with the context of that for this podcast to be listening in to a conversation between some mates at a pub. This has again expanded my presenting and interviewing skills to the point where, in front of a camera or microphone, I feel I now know exactly the persona and aspects of myself I present to the audience. Despite the excitement and personal success I felt I had with presenting and speaking to guests, the overall project has proved challenging. There have been constant issues with footage and audio during production, and a lack of integrity when shooting with members leaving shows early during their production and constant interruptions. These issues have begun to steer me away from group endeavours, aligning with the issues faced in my previous radio project in my second-year. While that initial success set me on a path to broadcasting these challenges and setbacks are steering me away from these kinds of opportunities and are encouraging me to explore solo ventures in the future. So, hopefully these are just minor issues, and I will rediscover my passion for presenting and live broadcasting.