The following was written by Maryam Adhikarie on her blog about her experience as an intern. (Reposted with permission)
It has been months since I updated my blog and it feels really good to get back into the swing of things. Consequently, a few months ago I applied for my first ever real Journalistic job in media. I’d never ever thought any sort of job would change me as much as a person as working in the media industry.
Just finished my 1st year final assignments and rushed over to catch a ride to head over to an interview I never thought I would have gotten. With no prior experience to what an actual interview entails I sat sweating on the seat taking a look at the surroundings and tried not to look like this was my first time.
Think of any police, bad cop, good cop type of scenario where they interrogate the suspect. It felt and looked like that with the interviewer asking questions and the room with the glass windows. I was very unsure on how to behave and the teenager in me at the time could not stop fidgeting. It was a process that I felt took an eternity.
I got the golden phone call, and soon was in training alongside my newly wed colleagues. Thrown straight into editing as much sound as we possibly could. It was a painstaking process of editing sound that I assure you no intern liked, however, it would benefit us immensely later when it came to collecting sound.
From editing we were taken outside, which we appreciated. What we did outside was collect sound from people on the streets. A basic question on current affairs asked to as much as people as you can get on record, called a Vox Pops. This is where we learnt how to approach people properly to get there opinions on anything such as sex, sport, politics to circumcision.
I thoroughly enjoyed asking people out on the streets on there opinions about things. It showed me a different perspective on things and made me more knowledgeable about how people think, enforcing the fact that not everyone thinks the same. There are instances where I would not agree with what the person is saying, however, I would reiterate in my mind that it is not my job to disagree, my job is to get a balanced story.
A balanced story is not something I was well equipped for when I started. I had to learn what a balanced story entails. There was so much learning that had to be done, not that my first year of Journalism did not prepare me enough, it is that there is certain things you have to learn in the field when your are thrown into the deep end.
University in essence is a safety net, you can make mistakes, whereas in the media industry or more specifically radio, your name as well as the company is on the line and that is where the pressure comes from. You repeat a year or a module if you fail at University and that is really no ‘biggie’, but in the media industry if you do mess up you may not have a job the next day and no media company would want to hire you after that. Protect your name.
Radio, specifically, sounds pretty easy when you listen to it, however, think of radio as a piano keyboard, anyone can sit down and press down onto the keypads but how terrible will that sound to the ears. You need to know what you doing and it does takes loads of practice. This is called engineering.
Watching presenters engineer for themselves, playing jingles, playing sound and multitasking was an honor to watch. I laugh as I write this sentence because I soon had to engineer for myself and that was, personally, for me, the most difficult but the most rewarding when I knew how. I felt like a puppet controlling the air waves and controlling what you heard, it was and will probably always be the best.
In the couple of months that I was there, news was pouring out of every corner and it would be overwhelming at first. But, overtime you would get familiar with the influx and amount of work put in to bring out your best story. You would learn how to work alongside people. I learnt that you wont be an expert at first everything takes time, some more than others, have patience.
Other than hardship, stress and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, you also get to meet fellow presidents, ministers and politicians. Particularly in radio, because of the type of radio station I worked at you get to meet loads of different types of people from chefs to singers and dj’s, you really get a nice blend.
As we celebrate our 21st birthday, we are running a pledge drive during our birthday month – from the 1 – 31 August 2016 – where YOU can make a donation towards our work.
As a non-profit community radio station, we call on former interns, staff, volunteers, board members, NGOs/CBOs, artists, musicians, designers and companies who have benefitted from our broadcast and training services to contribute towards making a difference in the lives of others.
Through such donation, you will contribute to the continued existence of Bush Radio, and also make the opportunity available to others to benefit from Bush Radio’s services.
Our bank details are as follows:
Bank: Standard Bank
Name of account: Bush Radio Training Account
Account number: 07 119 4185
Branch name: Mowbray
Branch code: 051001
Address: 37 – 39 Main Road, Mowbray, Cape Town, 7700
Swift code (for foreign donations): SBZAZAJJ
If you would like a receipt for your donation, email the proof of payment to donate@bushradio.co.za
For more information, please do not hesitate to contact us on 021 448 5450.
Metalloid Lab Productions is proud to present the launch party for D.N.A -the new collaborative album between their in-house producer, Arsenic and the gifted MC, YoungstaCPT.
Both Arsenic and Youngsta raised themselves on hip hop and it has, as a result, become entrenched in their D.N.A. At it’s core, the album pays homage to genuine hip hop that remains true to it’s purpose and has been untainted by commercial interests. With August 2013 marking the 40 year anniversary of this incredible genre, there is no better time for the release of this sincere celebration of hip hop.
The night will also act as the official launch of our small sound and music company, Metalloid Lab Productions. We will therefore be showcasing some of the amazing young artists that we are currently working with.
Date: 29 August 2013
Venue: Ragazzi Live Bar (7 Loop Street, Cape Town)
Time: 8:30pm – 1am
Cover Charge: R30
Just in case you didn’t notice, what with all the confusion caused by 2012 being a leap year, tomorrow is the 1st of March and this brings a programming change for us at Bush Radio 89.5FM. For the past few months Ruth Molteno (from The Dank!sh) has been holding down the fort while we develop a new team to run the Morning Cruise from 9am – 12pm.
We are pleased to announce that starting on the first of the month, Victor J, Somie and Winslow will lead a new-look Morning Cruise on 89.5FM.
The Morning Cruise is your mid-morning dose of that extra special something you need to jump-start your day. The team will still bring you daily inspiration, interviews, did-you-know facts, the important jobshop, career tips, topic of the day and more – but now with triple madness!
Who said mid-morning radio is only for background music and should be boring?
Some more info on the team:
Victor Jantjies
Returns to the Mother of Community Radio and brings his experience of hosting the breakfast show on 89.5FM (remember that show?) and will guide the team as their skills develop.
Chisomebi “Somie” Emma-Iwuoha
Somie is a digital junkie with a love for social media and all things music-related. This Nigerian native has been living in Cape Town for the past 11 years and has adopted the lifestyle and culture of the city – including Afrikaans!
Winslow Schalkwyk
Winslow is a performance poet and creative-writing facilitator who lives in Ravensmead. He has performed at various venues in Cape Town and has a passion for words and sound – and he’s ready to use the power held by these elements.
On the 13th December 2011 at 8pm on Connected 2 Jazz ((13 December 2011 at 8pm), Nigel Vermaas will be paying tribute to the late Zim Ngqawana (25 December 1959 – 10 May 2011).
Bush Radio will also be flighting the features produced as part of a successful co-production by the station and the German international broadcaster; Deutsche Welle (DW) in August 2011. These programmes were made available to all radio stations in South Africa and are still available for free download.
During this week you can catch the following interviews:
Lusanda Bill: YHUUU sis what are you doing here? Pic courtesy of Aarni Kuppamakki
As part of our partnership with the German national broadcaster – Deutsche Welle, Bush Radio had the opportunity to connect one of it’s trainees with an experienced radio and multi-media producer for the South African part of a large international co-production on Fair Trade. From the 22nd August to 9 September 2011, newsroom trainee, Lusanda Bill was selected to join Aarni Kuppamakki from Deutsche Welle in exploring what Fair Trade means in South Africa.
The completed productions are being distributed to all community radio stations in South Africa and can be downloaded via the links at the end of this post.
We asked Lusanda to document her experiences:
Being selected by Bush Radio to be part of a co-production on Fair Trade between Deutsche Welle was a great honour. I must say I had no idea why management chose me. My guess is they probably wanted to get rid of me for three weeks. *wink*
Fair Trade was a word that I did not use in my daily vocabulary. So when I was told that the topic was Fair Trade, my confused face popped up. My initial definition of Fair Trade was “fair trading between countries”, well in the three weeks that I was doing the production I found out how totally off the mark I was.
Lusanda out in the field - Pic courtesy of Aarni Kuppamakki http://bit.ly/nc0Wk2
I had some fears of doing the production and many questions: Would I match up to the standard of an international production? Would I understand the topic fully and be able to interpret it for Bush Radio listeners? And would I cope with the travelling and editing that would be involved?
My partner for this co-production from Deutsche Welle was Aarni Kuppamakki and we had been in contact via emails, sharing our ideas about the production. My job before he came was to set up as many interviews as possible beforehand. When Aarni and I finally met it was off to work from the first day. It was great to work with someone with so much passion and experience.
The best part of the whole production was the travelling – I loved what we called our “road trips”. We travelled to Stellenbosch, Citrusdal, Franschoek and Simons Town. The best experience was when Aarni and I went shark cage diving. Now shark cage diving is not a normal activity for most black people in South Africa.
A funny story that had everybody in stitches, even at the Bush Radio office, is when I arrived at boat, one of the crew, who has worked on the boat for six years, took one look at me and said – in the loudest voice possible – “YHUUU sis what are you doing here, you are the first black person I have seen here in a long time!”.
But you are probably still asking yourself when I will share the meaning of Fair Trade? Briefly, Fair Trade is when a premium is placed on a commodity like wine, bananas, fruit, tea and coffee. In South Africa it’s mostly wine that is Fair Trade, so for a bottle of Fair Trade wine 50 to 60 cents of the total cost would be the premium.
Lusanda and Aarni present their final productions to Bush Radio MD, Brenda Leonard and Marco Schmitt of the German Consulate
On average a bottle of Fair Trade wine costs R39.99. The premium goes to a separate bank account and is managed by the Joint Body of elected worker representatives and farm management. The premium cannot be paid out in cash, so in most cases it is used to improve the lives of farmworkers.
Let me share some interesting facts about Fair Trade: The joint bodies of Fair Trade certified farms received a total of R10,4-million in Fair Trade premiums in 2010 and most of it was used on education. South Africa is the only country that has Fair Trade Tourism. Fair Trade farms are audited annually which normally costs between R15 000 to R20 000, depending on the size of the farm.
Overall the whole experience was amazing and a great learning curve. I am a better journalist and a happier one after conquering one of my fears, sharks.
To listen to the three features produced by Bush Radio and Deutsche Welle click below to download:
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Bushradio 89.5 FM 