First things first. Songfacts. When you’re by yourself and you don’t have anyone else to talk to, all you have is the music and your listeners. How to connect with them, tell them about the music. This was my job. Music fact researcher. Other things to include in solo links, Heart ethics “More music variety”, “feel good music”, what’s coming up, shout outs! Engage the audience. Heart is all about being friendly, not polite. Mention places, banter, keep it local!

The importance of the station identity really became evident with Pete, as he showed me how to take control of the system and all the branding that has to be used. Also the importance of forward promoting (shows and features) and directing people to the webpage. DOWNLOAD THE PODCAST etc

Pete also let me in on some trade secrets, the theory behind a perfect link, and the impact of a sweeper (station ident). He also taught me the art of back timing, which is different as a solo presenter than for say Matt and Giselle. They can just chat away, create these long 2 or 3 minute links and fill up some time, whereas a presenter on their own?? Not possible. Things like the news, and ad breaks, have to air at certain times to ensure that there’s no clashing on air when certain things are programmed to be played automatically (like the breakfast promo) and to ensure the unity of Heart Nationally. For this, towards the last 15 minutes of the hour it’s necessary to figure out any gaps in the show that haven’t been accounted for. For these gaps there are production wonders called “Filler songs”. Literally, a nice long list of songs to fill the gap.

Today has been really insightful, and really helped me with the theories behind creating a radio show and with more of the technicalities of production. If anything, today has been the most influential and encouraging. I would love to do this for the rest of my life. Heart FM Oxfordshire, this isn’t goodbye!

It was hard work for me right to the end of the day, and sadly there is still much I am to discover about the station that I simply did not have time for during the hours I was there. I have the email contacts I need, and I have an open invitation back to Heart Towers whenever I like, so I am confident I still have access to everything I need to complete the case study.

Producer Pete is taking over a presenting slot on the 29th December which he has invited me to sit in on. This will be a further opportunity to see how a show at a different part of the day is put together and how it is tailored to that audience. It will also be interesting to see how a solo presenter controls a show when there is just one personality on air.

It was an amazing teaching experience though. The celebrity advent calendar was really tough to edit, especially the last few as it was big names like Ricky Gervais, Noel Edmonds and Myleene Klass and I had to find the best bits of ten, sometimes twenty minute interviews and fit it into 1 minute 25 seconds max. This was a massive insight into the heart brand. The biggest factor in the heart brand is the feel good factor. Heart is about making people feel good. So interviews where celebrities are talking about cosmic ordering or their new baby clothing range, or even just what they’ve been up to, it isn’t necessarily going to make the cut. For a couple of the advent “doors” I had to use the podcast archive, and use the material from when the original interviews were aired which included Matt and Giselle’s responses as the response is often what creates the interest and the reaction, and what would make that 1 minute 25 seconds more feel good. For example, the very dry interview with Noel Edmonds where he talked about his local private wedding and whether or not he can tell if someone is going to win big on Deal or No Deal was cut and sliced, and for the advent edit it ends on a power out after Giselle realises she sounds like a stalker and Matt points out, admitting you sound like a stalker doesn’t mean you’re not one.

Helped Pete on the creative side with coming up for lines for the 12 Daves of Christmas (My Dad eventually agreed to claim the title of Dave number 4). This was about finding a sentence full of Christmas spirit that ended with an “ee” sound, and was obviously true to the Heart brand. Outlandish statements like “I have the biggest tree”, “I love Mariah Carey” and “Me and my kids are on the street” are examples of what made the grade!

I spent much of Tuesday, Wednesday and Today directing a video edit of the Santas on the Run charity event which is now up on the Heart website. Having spent a lot of the first half of the year editing video this was of great help, but the video footage had already been captured and I was using Sony Vegas, a program I was entirely unfamiliar with and while the end result isn’t to a quality I would have liked, it does what it needs to do!

While I’ve been introduced to Dave, Claire and Jo (the Heart target listeners), I’ve been a Heart Angel for a night, I’ve produced a lot of audio content, and even a web article, I still feel there is quite a bit I don’t know about HOW the station connects with it’s audience. And I don’t mean how to listen on FM, digital or Online.

I’ve split the station into six sections: Sales, Advertising and Promotions, Presenters and Producers, News, Heart Angels and the website. I believe from what I’ve seen that these are the six different access points at the station and the six different routes of access to the audience. I think that having separated the station into these component parts will help me to understand the different levels of interaction.

While I have spent the majority of my time with the presenters and station producer, mingled with the angels and the news team, and contributed to the website, I haven’t yet had the opportunity to get to grips with the commercial side of the radio. And as a commercial radio station, this is the life blood of the station, the literal “how” it stays on air and reaches a potential audience. Because of this, I hope to spend some time with the sales team, and advertising and promotions this week to conclude my study and perhaps find the gel that keeps the station together.

Pete’s back this week, and I’m due for a review tomorrow. I’m about 95% sure I’m not going to be asked to leave.

Today was a very miserable day at the station, and it was very difficult to find the concentration and energy to keep going all afternoon. While I’ve been really putting my all into the audio features I’ve been working on, sometimes there’s just little blips you can’t get rid of, and connections which just don’t sound right. But Pete said very early on, “You’ve got to learn to let go of perfection” because sometimes you’ve done all you can, and it’s not possible to make it any better than it already is. I think this week will be full of coming to terms with this!

There was also lots to prepare for the run up to Christmas. Not only Christmas versions of all the regular Ramps and Sweepers and Promos (which had to be painstakingly entered into Genysis and checked), but also all the Breakfast show features. Heart FM have a returning feature called “Sleeps to Santa” which is a daily updated countdown to Santa’s visit. This is downloadable through the website, very popular with children, and a great interactive feature. Although incredibly annoying, the audience really seem to connect with this. There will also be a “12 Daves of Christmas” which starts this week, a customized tale of 12 Daves (rather than Days) in the run up to Christmas. The Daves are all Breakfast show listeners. There’s also a Celebrity Advent Calendar.

Last week I also wrote an article for the Heart FM Oxfordshire website, detailing all these exciting things the station will be broadcasting during the festive period. It is soon to be updated with a video and Christmas Cracker joke poll! 

Check it out here: http://www.heartoxfordshire.co.uk/Article.asp?id=1607001

The Heart Angels are not celebrities, but they are the face of the station and of the Heart FM brand. In being a Heart Angel you are representing the station in person. Any contact the listeners have with Heart, it’s not likely to be a chat with Matt and Giselle, or any of the other presenters, it’s likely to be a chat with the Angels. They are the point of contact for the station, the bridge between the broadcasters and the audience. This therefore involves some serious responsibility to not screw things up!

(I was paid for my 3pm to 11pm shift! Which means I can happily admit means I am a Heart employee. Very exciting.)

On Monday, first things first, 8.20 am a Small Talk feature I had edited was broadcast on Heart FM! I then had to archive the show for the podcast, I had to organise and execute a vox pop about Christmas and I had more small talk features to edit.  I also had to organise the running order for the breakfast show the following morning. These tasks have now become my responsibility, as much a part of my daily routine as waking up at 5.30am! I’m feeling very much a part of the Heart FM Oxford team. Because so much of what’s broadcast is organised in London, the Oxford team is fairly small, which has made it really easy to get to know everyone, and get to know what they do and how it all fits into place.

On Tuesday I had a session with the news team, where John first introduced me to Jo, Dave and Claire, the Heart FM Target listeners who are central to everything that’s broadcast. If they wouldn’t be interested in hearing what’s going on, then it shouldn’t be broadcast. He showed me the different systems they use to write and record the news (NewsMatrix and Splice), he ran me through the different places they get the news from (Sky subscribers) and how important unique ideas are to coming up with interesting news stories. Ellie, the other member of the news team, recently discovered that her Satnav pronounced a local town wrongly! Brilliant story! He then made me construct my own 90 second bulletin, including weather. Although not before having to reply to an email to secure a pass to see the Queen in Oxford in a couple of weeks time! It’s all go go go at Heart Towers!

Although he was impressed with my bulletin, he pulled up issues with sensationalist phrases like “mourns the loss” and “axe the bid”. He also reminded me of the necessity to write the news in a present perfect progressive/future progressive tense, not took place, but is taking place or will be taking place. The news has to seem as current as possible. John also stressed the importance of showbiz news for heart. There has to be areas of light in the shade of war and disease and natural disaster. Showbiz is a very important aspect of Heart news.

Next week Pete has the week off, and Jim the Oxford Angels co-ordinator is taking his place as breakfast producer. He has given me the extra responsibility of editing the breakfast promo alongside all my other tasks. The breakfast show finishes at 10am, and the promo has to be done by 11am. There are three promos to do, the sponsored promo, the promo for before 12am and the promo between 12am and 6am. This is a massive responsibility, which I am very excited about.

I’m also very proud of the tea and coffee skills which I have developed, and now believe to be exceptional.

Having been at the station now for a little while, I have come to the conclusion that I will be opting for the question that looks into how a media connects with a specific audience. Heart is aimed primarily at 30-39 year olds, with a wider target ranging from 25 to 44. I am very interested to explore how Heart reaches this audience in a successful manner. Especially considering how new Heart FM is to the area having taken over Fox FM just over 18 months ago.

First of all, whilst waiting to be greeted by Pete, all 4 of the people who passed through were lovely, checking I was ok and being looked after in a surprisingly genuine manner. Brilliant.

Then I met Pete, and he’s a little bit cool. Very friendly, very chatty. There’s a lovely casual air about the building, the kind where you can walk about with a mug of tea in your hand! Pete talked me through the kind of things I’d be doing, what I could get involved with, the opportunities that would be available. Basically the sky’s the limit.

He seems very passionate about Heart as a company, not seeing it in a bad light (as I sort of had, that it’s taking away local radio identity) but that it’s a good thing to be 1 of the 55 Heart stations nationally. That in itself it provides an identity, and while a lot comes from London it is still kept pretty local.

After recently finishing part time work at Marks and Spencers, where a lot of disgruntled staff have lost faith in the ethics and loyalties of the company and do not enjoy the working atmosphere or the way things are run, it’s very refreshing to walk into a working environment where people are clearly very happy. While the novelty of being at a radio station seems to have worn off on Pete, I don’t see it fading for me for a long time.

I will be working 5 days a week, predominantly with Matt and Giselle (and Pete) on the Breakfast show, also with archiving and podcasting and Breakfast show promos. Got to be in for 7.30 tomorrow; that’s a 5.30am start.

I don’t even mind.