Year 7 Radio Stars and Free Thinkers
On Wednesday the 15th of March thirteen lucky students from Mrs Warr’s Year 7 English class were chosen to go on a special trip, a trip to the iconic Sage on the banks of the Tyne in Gateshead.
The event was being run by BBC Radio 3 as a part of the ‘Free Thinking Festival’ which has been going on across the week. As we walked into The Sage we were met by the sight of the ‘Pop Up Studios’ which had been constructed at the heart of the Sage. These perspex walled studios allowed passersby to see what goes on in a radio studio, we didn’t realise that it would be us who were running the studios in a few short hours’ time.
We were met by Sue, a producer from BBC radio and we were given the brief to create a piece of radio about issues that were important to us. We discussed a number of ideas, from the pitiable state of the Pop charts at the moment, to the serious issue of social justice and inequality. We decided that we would focus our programme content on the issues of bullying and racism; issues that we feel strongly about and which matter to all young people.
We used Flash recorders to interview each other and our teachers before transferring the sound files into the editing programme. We then had to edit the sound to put together the parts of the interview that we wanted to include in our programme. Sue showed us how to use the equipment and then it was up to us. Who knew that there were so many things to consider? From the irritations of the background noises of air conditioning to whether we should include the natural ‘Uums’ and ‘errs’ of speech.
We then moved into the recording studios and sound booths to record our ‘Live’ interview show. We were presenters, guests, engineers, newsreaders and producers. We all had a job to do and had to work together to create our broadcast. Presenters had a loose script to follow to structure the interview but had to make up our own questions, guests had to share their thoughts about the topics that we covered and sound knowledgeable and enthusiastic. This was all quite daunting as it all took place in those see through studios and in front of a microphone!
The Sound Engineers and Producers worked away in the adjoining room to keep us to time and to manage the ‘musical content’ of our programme.
We packed all of this into two short hours before returning to school for afternoon lessons. Sections from the work that we produced may be included in a BBC Radio 3 programme next week as a part of a programme about the ‘Free Thinking Festival’. We have our fingers crossed!
Some of us found that we had a great ear for sound editing, or that we were very focused under pressure. Others found that we were good at generating ideas and planning content and we had some very skilled and eloquent Presenters and News Readers among us.
Over all, we had a great day which we will all remember for a long time!
