2024 Evaluation

The main goal of my FMP This year was to present and further develop my Breakfast show I host on AIR 107.2. 

I Came up with the idea as I already present the show so decided that I wanted to help further develop the show and improving it to help grow the audience. It’s also a good way to make sure I’m not stretching myself and doing too much as it’s something I would’ve already done but wouldn’t have improved 

Initially I planned to do 6 days a week and do the Saturday show however to help with time after thinking about what would suit me best and allow me to work me as well as possible with less stress, I dropped the Saturday show so I was only doing weekdays to allow me to have some downtime but to also plan and produce my show to a high as possible standard. After doing this I created my project proposal, a project pitch that I recorded in a studio here in the academy and filled in a BIF (Better Ideas Faster) Document to help me think and come up with stronger ideas to help me further develop the idea and make something better. 

Once I had done the documents and was set on doing the show, I then did a range of research into radio & breakfast radio. Looking into the history of radio and the styles of radio, I also looked into breakfast radio & the types of other breakfast shows and why they do well, I took mental notes so that I had ideas for future and myself. Lots of it was done by looking into YouTube videos and old web archives of shows, I also sent an email to a few people in the industry to see what they also had to add, however I did this near the end of the project so didn’t have time to collect many responses.  During this research time I also looked into AIR’S Target audience where I came to the conclusion it’s 16-30 year olds who live in Weymouth & Portland and listen to the radio in the morning. 

I created a form for AIRS Audience to fill in to help me get a better understanding of them, in what they listen to, their age demograpichs to see how well that matches what AIRS audience is.

After I did all the research and I was happy I had looked into everything I had everything I needed, I started making the show and thinking of ways to further develop it. Unlike TV, radio isn’t scripted however it is structured, once I started I realised I don’t have a proper show planner so each show was a bit of a jumble sale. This is where I decoded to make the show planner where I can plan and organise each show and keep a bank of content to use in future weeks and shows. This planner helped massively as the shows now ran a lot smoother. It also made it a lot easier for me to come up with new ideas as I knew exactly how they would fit in the show.

The show was recorded daily on Myriad Anywhere v5 (More Explained In Research & Practical Skills) This helps to edit the show, seuge it (where I can tighten songs to help the show flow better), and sort all the playlists properly by adding more songs or changing what’s already in the log. Each morning using the show planner template I found find content and put it in the plan, I would record the show as live in the studio with the content from the plan, I would aslo monitor the WhatsApp for mentions. The show worked well this way as it allowed me to be fast paced but still have the content I found the listeners like.

 I took on a lot of the feedback I left myself on the last FMP, But this year still taught me a few key points and things to avoid in the future 

1-Plan my jobs for the week in advance or even spend the first bit of each day planning what needs to get done and when so that I can get work completed quicker.

2- Make processes more simple, we have a lot of complicated procedures sometimes taking up extra time, so by streamlining it would speed things up allowing me to work faster.

Looking back on the project i wish i could have added more new features to the show to help further develop it and gain more exposure. However i do agree with other pupils that I wouldn’t have had time to do it, as my week was filled with the show and my admin air jobs. If I had done it, I would’ve probably put less work into the overall show meaning that what I had wouldn’t have been as high quality.

If I was to do this project again I would seen more time focusing on the show and the style of it as a times I thought it may have been seen as a bit of a jumble sale, doing one thing one minute then something different not long after. I would also try to get feedback from industry professionals on the final show to help improve it and see what they would advise me.

Doing my weekly evaluations gave me a bit of a chance to think back and reflect on the project and my progress for the project, they were also a good way to help me plan and structure my weeks and the future weeks as well. I was also able to identify problems, log them and find solutions. I was also able to see what I had accomplished and what I still needed to do. This helped me to stay focused and motivated. 

One thing that went well in this project is the fact that I managed to improve my breakfast show reach, and engagement as well. I can now use my show and everything to help market myself as a presenter/producer. An improvement I could have made is spending more time on the doing the show as lot of it was put into planning instead of presenting, meaning the planning was there but I could’ve spent a bit more time on my presenting skills helping it sound a bit better and stronger on air.

My top tip to anyone thinking about doing this would be to think, plan your time and do it properly. That way you make sure you cover everything correctly and it’s done efficiently. 

I suggest planning what you want to do and when and stick to it so you have goals to follow to make sure it does as well as it can, it was something I noticed early on and had to get better at.

During this It also came clear as I remembered from last year that the planing of the shows plays a huge part in it, without planning the shows I feel it may have been a bit of a messy show like it was before and could cause future problems.

I Am very happy with this project overall and think it went very very well! Personally, I think the way I structured it, and chose to do it. I think it fits and suits the target audience and the project plan/brief where it was set so wide but also appeals to the younger demographic it works well and suits them as it appeals to myself and fellow students I spoke to. Im Proud of the product I have created and the overall project.