Local journalists get world-class TV training

Bush Radio 89.5FM, in partnership with the Deutsche Welle (DW) Academy, is currently holding a 6-day Community TV and Local News training course (23 – 28 May 2011), for various participants with the aim of strengthening their skills as community television journalists.

The enthusiasm of the trainers, Birgit Keller and Martin Schönian, co-ordinator Christopher Springate and the participants is creating an infectious excitement that can be felt by all at Bush Radio’s studios.

Christopher Springate

Christopher Springate, the course co-ordinator said: “To be specific, we intend to enlighten the participants with their reporting, writing, researching, filming and editing skills.”

Birgit Keller said that as the trainers they are not doing the course to have the participants do things in a certain way, but rather to show them how it works. She also added that they are keen to show the participants how to manage current affairs in order to get ideas on how they can improve.

Birgit Keller

Participants are from various television and radio stations including Bay TV, CTV, Soweto TV, Radio KC, Bush Radio, Community Video Education Trust and the Oguni Solidarity Forum.

Lebogang Kubyane from Soweto TV said: “I am extremely impressed with the course and what it has to offer. The trainers are great people and it is comforting to know that I am able to learn new and interesting things everyday.”

The course started off with a general introduction and ranges from activities like editing vox-pops, writing for television, “on-camera” work and production editing.

Martin Schönian said, “The reason for the course being aimed at community journalists is because they have the responsibility to voice the communities’ opinions more often as opposed to commercial stations. Therefore they need to be highly skilled to do this task.”

Martin Schönian

Birgit Keller gave the final word on the participants and hosts: “I am really impressed with the participants. They are truly bringing forth a great amount of energy and good ideas. I also need to add that it is interesting to be at Bush Radio. The friendly staff and warm welcome which we receive creates a warm and good atmosphere for all.”

Related Posts:

Lights, Camera, Action

Cementing partnerships – Bush Radio and Deutsche Welle

Video DIDN’T kill the radio star

What do; Jack Parow, Illuminati Getuies, Byron Clarke, Zaki Ibrahim, Kesivan Naidoo, Tutu Puoane, Taxi Violence and Katherine Traut all have in common?

They are just some of the artists you can listen to and watch on the Bush Radio Zoopy site.

For the past while we have been documenting some of the artists who have come up the stairs to the station and have been willing to throw in a performance or two.

We have been putting up things like of our public service announcements or anything that we thought may make good visuals like our Buy Nothing Day advert or Shiraaz’s adventures with a duck.  We’ve also put up some audio like Nelson Mandela’s first press conference after his release.

Remember to keep coming back and checking out what we have been up to at the station

!!! You can check out the videos on your cellphone by going to the mobi version here. !!!

If you would like to share any of your videos with us, please mail ideas@bushradio.co.za

Why Wednesdays makes everyone Mal

Wednesdays are becoming popular for not only for its Maak Victor Mal slot but also for its general craziness. This morning was nothing unusual for the team but we thought we would share some of the happenings in studio with you.

Victor and ZDF's Ulrike Eichnin going through shot sets

Today the Breakfast team were joined by Stan1 for an interview and performance promoting his new single as well as Taxi Violence who trekked in for the Maak Victor Mal segment and played their track , Devil ‘n Pistol live.

 

The guys were also joined by Leole-Ann Francis from the Cape Town Festival and then Victor and Shiraaz received a surprise call from Zaki Ibrahim who is performing at the festival.  

Click to hear international recording artist Zaki Ibrahim

Capturing all this madness unique to the breakfast show was Ulrike Eichin from Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) – a public-service German television channel, who along with other colleagues are working on a unique documentary covering the lives of South African’s in a 24 hour cycle.

Looking back, marching forward

It has been a busy few months since we started the Bush Radio blog with WordPress. We hope that this platform has brought you more ways to interact with the “mother of community radio in Africa”.

Click on the links below to have a look at some of posts over the past few months and let us know how we can improve your station.

Also remember you can check out our facebook group and Zoopy page, for more pictures and videos.

July 2009 – Lending a helping hand

August 2009 – The Dream Big competition

September 2009 – Shiraaz finding his Africaness, 10 days / 10 presenters and Gugs Youth Radio etc

October 2009 – Launch of the news Bush Radio site and Deutsche Welle training at Bush Radio

November 2009 – Radio in Zimbabwe and Selling your soul

December 2009 – Our pledge drive (on-going) and MKK 2009

2010 is bound to be an exciting year!

Sell your soul

Buy Nothing Day is an international day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists globally.

In the current economic climate, Bush Radio asks everyone to think about their spending and remember those who don’t have any funds to spend.

This is a follow up to our 2008 video http://zoopy.com/q/fxh .

*Another campaign for awareness around global issues was the station’s anti-war stance, which drew lots of interest.

Cute and Feathery

For the past two days, online and mobile social media community site Zoopy.com (Update: Zoopy no longer does user generated content and we’ve switch to a YouTube Channel) has featured two videos featuring Shiraaz Ismail . Shiraaz hosts the breakfast show on Bush Radio with Victor J. CLICK ON PICS TO WATCH THE VIDEOS.

We are not sure why, but we think the cute and funny factor may help. On a serious note Shiraaz wanted to highlight that many young people need to learn the national anthem.

Bush Radio uses zoopy.com YouTube.com to promote the work of artists as well as some of the video productions it is involved in, like the work of the CREW , during the annual Media Kidocracy Konfrence. It is also a way in which the interns at the station get to experience the intergration of media.

Mariachi, TNT and Tour guide gone crazy

Shiraaz running through the building like a bat out of hell, a hip hop outfit call TNT and Cape Town’s own mariachi. There are three new videos on the Bush Radio Zoopy YouTube Channel site check them out:

Click to interact

Bush Radio would like to invite listeners and supporters to choose how you would like to interact with the station via our various online platforms.

If you go to the www.bushradio.co.za you will now see different ways of enjoying the Bush Radio experience. Stay in touch and help make your station better.

Lights, Camera, Action

Lights, camera, action! Those were the words that were often used at the Deutsche Welle (DW) Journalism Community Television training hosted by Bush Radio for the past two weeks.

Maggie Nyaunda from CTV checks her equipment while Timothy Ncube from Bay TV looks on

We had the opportunity to watch the participants, taking pictures. Bush Radio interns also made cameo appearances in some of the pieces they were working on.

Participants came from Bay TV, from Richards Bay, Cape Town TV, based in Cape Town, Soweto TV from Soweto and Tshwane TV from Pretoria.

DW trainers, Patrick Benning and Frank Norden said they want to empower the participants from community television by giving them training and how to make good television.

“When one thinks of television you always imagine the glamorous life, you forget it involves hard work, like not having enough equipment and working volunteers” said Benning.

Bill Mbuyi of CTV gets down to the serious business of editing

Zanele Mthembu who is a producer from Soweto TV agreed with Benning. Mthembu added “there are difficulties that community television faces everyday, like people not pitching up for interviews”.

Working for a community radio station is similar to a community television station. Both share similar challenges, shortage of staff, no funding, lack of advertising and over worked staff.

Some of the videos that Bush Radio has been working on are available on Zoopy. Youtube.