Over the last year and a half, I’ve been working for the new, on-demand hospital radio service, Ysbyty Ystrad FM, providing and uploading content for patients and those further afield. The purpose of this essay is to reflect on my time working on the radio station, and understand how my experience has enhanced my employability skills.
The sheer amount of lessons and abilities I’ve learnt and developed during my three years as a student have enabled me to become a motivated, confident, and passionate journalist, with an urge to discover and share important stories. As well as my employability qualities, I’ve expanded upon the relevant industry skills needed to become a good journalist. For that reason, I’ll always count myself lucky to have studied BA Journalism at the University of South Wales.
Developing from a content contributor to a content manager at YYFM, I’ve witnessed my radio and television packages advance into professional work suitable for licensed broadcasting at university. In addition to this, I’ve been given a platform to share these on the radio station, all whilst making countless connections within the industry. I’ve seen an increase in my confidence, I’ve advanced in various ways that have all contributed to making me the journalist I am today. Since being presented the idea of being involved in October 2020, I’ve kept in close contact with the team throughout the past eighteen months, planned my own content, discovered interesting interviewees who’d be brilliant for patients to listen to, and presented my own, innovative ideas to the group. As a result of these practices, my ability to organise and manage time was put to the test, definitely a hurdle that I successfully overcame after only a few weeks of working.
An asset that has benefited me throughout university, placement and aspired career, is that I’m a fluent Welsh speaker. This has proven to be a great advantage throughout the past three years. I grew up in Crymych, Pembrokeshire, a prominently Welsh language area, where English is rarely used. Only when I moved to Cardiff did I realise how much of a strength being bilingual truly is. Of all the YYFM contributors, I’m the only fluent Welsh speaker, and so I happily took on the role of creating Welsh content. The first piece I did was speak to Welsh actor, Rhodri Evan, about his role in The Pembrokeshire Murders on ITV, as well as Crymych resident, Lowri Jones, who lived in the area and vividly remembers the crimes as they played out.
Due to the situation Covid-19 caused, both interviews were conducted over zoom as this was at the height of the pandemic. This enabled me to develop skills I wouldn’t have usually thought to improve during my time at university. I practiced remote communication as we needed to adapt and be flexible in order to overcome the challenges of the global emergency. I accepted the following few months would consist of continuous learning, as we were forced to accommodate with the shift in the world, and as a result of the continued impacts of Covid-19, and the way in which the field of Journalism is evolving, this has been a vital skill which will only come of more use throughout my desired career.
I’ve always prioritised having awareness of my weaknesses as an important part of my reflection, both in a personal and working environment. This is so I may make conscious effort to improve my skill set. Self-direction and independence are two abilities I’ve always struggled with, and before working for YYFM, were something I never thought I’d so quickly improve. We were all forced into a situation where finding our own way was the only option, meaning I had to research, discover and conduct my own interviews, learn to further my editing skills through trial and error, and grow a social media platform to gain an audience and enhance engagement in my work.
Looking to my involvements within YYFM, before the first of March 2021, I knew I had to produce something for St David’s Day. Throughout my time at university, this was by far my favourite piece. I witnessed a whole community get involved, share their views, and celebrate what being Welsh means to them. The participants’ ages ranged from four to twenty one. Schoolchildren sung the national anthem and a song surrounding Saint David himself, with their voices giving faith and hope the Welsh language is in safe hands. Both schools, along with the community, loved the piece and thanked me for including them. This allowed me to develop my communication skills, as well as interpersonal skills, as I was challenged with speaking to a range of organisations, local people and families. Within this, I had to arrange key details proving essential to the event, which furthermore enabled me to develop my independence, as previously described a weakness of mine, supporting me to work upon this area of my professional development. I’m extremely glad I reached out to my old primary and secondary school for their input, it’s a piece I’m very proud of, and one I’d always present as one of my best. I experienced a community unite in their pride, and I thank YYFM for firstly giving me the chance to do this, but for also giving me a platform to share my work.
Another example that I feel shows my strengths is presented when the Urdd were celebrating 100 years in January 2022. I returned to Ysgol y Preseli as they, along with many other schools across the country, attempted to break a new world record. My role as interviewer and producer allowed me to develop my professional skills within editing and modifying, this proving to be a paramount point within my progress. The campaign was to upload the most videos of people singing the same song on social media in one hour, and they succeeded. I felt a sense of unity and pride once again, and I thoroughly enjoyed returning home, where people really admired the work I was doing.
Subsequently, when revisiting my time at YYFM, it’s no surprise that I’ve realised the sheer value of community. We won a special recognition award at the University Health Board for our work over the past eighteen months, with staff and patients sharing the enlightenment it’s brought to their daily lives. The feeling of giving back to a community is something very special, hearing both feedback from the hospital as well as the impact my work had on the place I grew up. It’s been an extremely rewarding experience.
I’ve learnt important lessons during my time at the radio station. I interviewed Gillian Nuttall, the Chief Executive at Melanoma UK, as we made an effort to bring attention to skin cancer, and warn people of the signs. This was such an insightful interview, my eyes were opened to so many things I other wise wouldn’t have thought twice about. When there’s an obvious development in the interviewer themselves, these always evolve into some of the best interviews. We reached the goal, to raise awareness, and I felt very grateful to have been able to conduct this interview, as not only did we achieve the result we wanted, but I gained a lot from my involvement.
Whilst at YYFM, a cause that quickly became important to me, was providing patients with an escape. Therefore, this made me eager to create something that could distract patients when they needed it the most. This is when the Speaking Welsh series began. I teamed up with a fellow YYFM contributor, Lauren Evans, and we decided I’d teach her Welsh. I was aiming for a natural, laid back series, and wanted to avoid making it static and scripted. This is because, if an episode is overwhelmingly language based, it may limit the listener’s ability to take everything on board, let alone stay entertained. By slowly making our way through the language, in between different conversations, it keeps the audience captivated and engaged, along with ensuring a higher possibility of the audience developing their Welsh skills. In my opinion, and from experience, It’s the best and most effective way of learning.
The episodes allowed me to further develop my editing skills as I made my way through over an hour’s worth of audio each time, altering them into thirty minute episodes. This further ensured they were “short and sweet”, to enthral our audience, giving them the correct amount of new information to process. Subsequently, we received frequent feedback from the listeners, expressing their enjoyment of the episodes. This was highlighted as being especially due to how natural and easy-going they were, obviously a big motivation boost for both Lauren and I, as a substantial amount of effort goes into creating a series and it was lovely to know we firstly had listeners, but that people were also extremely fond of our work.
Following a year of working with YYFM, and previous students who volunteered having graduated, the role of content manager became available. Both Lauren Evans and I decided we’d split this role between us, as the work involved was very constant and alongside university, it would be easier to split the position. The role meant I had to manage weekly broadcasts, assuring all episodes, posts and tweets were published on time. We had meetings every fortnight, where I’d update the managers and other volunteers on where we were with uploads, and what interviews were to be broadcasted next, additionally discussing possible interviewees, episode ideas and trends. Due to our meetings being fourteen days apart, and new interviews being uploaded to YYFM’s dropbox weekly, I often felt overwhelmed keeping on top of it all. Consequently, I decided to create a weekly schedule. This shows my organisation skills, but also my ability to understand my limitations and adapt to difficulties.
I made my way through the dropbox full of patiently waiting episodes, spoke to the manager, Steven Davies, regarding any interviews that should be prioritised, and decided on a schedule based on this. I eventually decided to upload an interview every Monday, the Tales Around the Teapot series to be uploaded on Wednesdays and Cassie’s Classic Film Reviews to take charge on Thursdays. It was very time consuming, as there were countless amounts of material to get through, but I created a clear agenda with both mine and Lauren’s name responsible for uploading every other week, to keep a fair and organised plan.
Moreover, I’ve created an array of contacts during my time at YYFM, which I know will be of big use to me in whichever path I choose to take. I’ve already received messages through linked-in complementing my voice, and my infectious personality – evident in the Learning Welsh series, suggesting I head towards a role where I can practice this, which is something very flattering and reassuring to hear.
Diana Parsons, the drive behind YYFM’s first original series, Tales Around the Teapot, has displayed the importance of striving to work hard, to me. Since September 2021, I’ve helped her get her story telling series on the road, with myself now uploading an episode at 3pm every Wednesday. Planning and time management are two key skills I’ve developed since collaborating with the Teapots. Diana would send a timetable of episodes for the six weeks that followed, I would schedule each one, write briefs and prepare the weekly tweets. Each Wednesday at 3pm my phone would remind me to share the newly published episode on twitter, whilst Lauren took charge of our Facebook. I completed this same process with Cassie’s Classic Film Review series. I communicated endlessly with her surrounding when and how frequently she wanted her episodes to be published, was there a schedule she wanted us to follow, and advised her on what to say and how to sound her best when recording the introduction. She really appreciated my support, whilst I realised exactly how much I was grateful for this leadership role, as my independence and self-confidence flourished. I then passed on the reigns to Lauren, who broadcasted Cassie’s latest episodes every Thursday.
Taking a managing role with YYFM, and having felt the sense of community and unity, has influenced my decision to choose a career path in radio, specifically local radio. Since I turned fifteen, I’ve worked many different jobs, with the large majority of them being an all for one environment, with no appreciation of others’ work nor effort. YYFM has opened my eyes to an institution that respects others, recognises hard work and accomplishments, and is understanding of every individual’s situation. Integrity, respect, honesty and leadership are four values I will utilise in any situation I find myself in, with those only having developed as a result of my time at YYFM.
Alaw John 