Well, if i'm entirely honest I should say my parting essay perhaps. And for the HOT girl ..
I'm leaving my post as the weekend broadcast journalist for my local radio station. It's been fun and a terrific experience, and who knows I may go back in the near future. But for now I'm focusing on my upcoming work with Sky News which starts Wednesday ..
So in the spirit of helping out the newby who will attempt to fill my shoes, here's the rather large note I left to help her on her way .....
Here are a few tips and words of wisdom which I hope you'll find useful as The Bay's new budding journalist. I'm certain some of the following is obvious and you'll have no trouble getting stuck in right away, but I'll scribble a few things down for you to peruse at your leisure.
So, the news operation at The Bay is a simple one, but as ever requires care and attention to detail. Especially when writing stories arising form court cases.
Unless I have a super amazing and reliable source with a story I tend to stick to reporting what the other local news outlets are reporting. Basically, this is what all news outlets do unless you're sitting on stacks of cash and can afford a tonne of talented journos like Sky and the BBC. So I mainly look at what the Daily Echo (Poole and Bournemouth), Heart-Fm, Wave 105 and BBC South are saying. It's the simplest way to gauge what's kicking off in the local area. Also check the Outlook email system for any interesting press releases which may be good to follow up.
It's entirely up to you what stories make the running order and how they are presented for the audience. As you know the weekends are busier on the local news side of things because of the football. When the season resumes we're keen to keep listeners up to date and on the button with all the latest action, results, injuries and all the rest of it. Who's hot and who's not if you like!
The teams to follow are most importantly Poole Town FC who are nicknamed the Dolphins. Sorry if I sound patronising, you may already know their nickname, either way, it's good to know when writing scripts to save you from mentioning the word Poole eight times in a story, haha. Wimborne Town Magpies and AFC Bournemouth Cherries are the other two we like to follow. They both have good webpages and in most cases you'll be able to keep up to date without even making a phone call. Poole Town on the other hand have a pretty lame website, so it's best to contact Mark Bumford who's their press guy. He's top quality and always willing to help. You can contact him on his mobile 07787600392. Also I'd suggest adding him as a friend on Facebook if you can. On occasion I've been unable to talk to him but found the game score updated on his status, always handy.
Wimborne Town are also very keen to talk to us and I speak with a chap called Ken Ferguson for the latest info and scores, his number is 07923473511. If in doubt, phone the club contact from the website and it'll take you through to the bar who are always good for the latest score. BBC Sport will always be up to date with the latest news from the Cherries camp. Speedway is also of interest to listeners and we get weekly emails from the Poole Pirates and Bournemouth Buccaneers so it's useful to give them a mention too.
ANYWAY, I'm sure I've put you to sleep or driven you to a bottle of wine, for this I apologise wholeheartedly, haha, Here's a little rundown of a typical Saturday.
Arrive, check the local news sites to get an idea of what's been making waves on our patch.
Figure out what stories merit a place in our rundown and who's playing who in the sports.
Write them up.
Print 'em out and dash into the studio to get my read on, at half past each hour :D
Banter with the DJ's and put the world to rights.
Make Rena a cup of coffee and generally chat about Female tennis players. FYI we share a mutual appreciation for Ana Ivanovic.
Local news doesn't really change a whole lot on the weekends with the exception of the sports, but obviously keep checking the Echo, Wave-105 page and the rest of it. Because if something does kick off they'll know about it.
And don't forget to check the police voice banks for updates on car accidents, crime etc.
If you can't move a story along for the simple reason, nothing new has happened, rejig the scripts after each read to try and keep them sounding fresh.
Hokay,I hope at least some of that was useful if not mind numbingly boring. Any questions feel free to drop me a line ladecosta@live.co.uk
Best of luck and enjoy!
Luke
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