MA Sports Journalism: Week 1

Now that I’m officially enrolled and teaching has begun, I thought I would record a few thoughts about my first week as a Sports Journalism student at St Mary’s. 

Looking past the horror of rising at 5.30 AM four mornings a week, and the fight through the chaos of London’s public transport network, the start has been a very positive one. Each of the course units provide knowledge and insight into areas of journalism that will be vital to have an understanding of to succeed in the trade, and whilst Public Affairs has been earmarked as the one that’ll provide the most tedium by many, I think I’ll even enjoy that as a former History student with an interest in Politics.

One of the most important selling points of this course is the opportunity to work with, and learn from, former and current industry professionals. This not only allows us to pick up useful skills, but tricks of the trade that they had to learn the hard way. Without wishing to give too much away, as I’m paying a not-inconsiderable amount of money in tuition fees for this opportunity, I certainly learned more about conducting an interview in the two minutes spent discussing how to deal with interviewees, than I ever could watching hours and hours of polished interview footage on television.

The ultimate goal when undertaking post-graduate study is traditionally to pass exams, complete a dissertation, and walk away with a Masters in the subject of choice. Whilst all this is available, and the academic target, the style and design of this course is such that, it has been possible for students to walk away without a formal qualification and still consider their time at St Mary’s a success. Whilst I will certainly look to gain the Masters, even if only out of vanity, and to get the opportunity to moan my way through another dissertation project, I know that the course is adaptable, and that the final aim is really employment.

Aside from the make-up of the course, some interesting observations have been made. As one individual pointed out, there is a very wide mix of experiences and interests within the group, and this will not only make for interesting discussions in classes, but will also result in a wide range of topics covered on our online magazine, The Sports Gazette. Another observation shared by many of us was that it feels more like school than university. This is born out of the size of the group (19), and the fact we spend the whole timetabled day with the same group of people, rather than taking separate units, or dipping in and out of the university throughout the day.

The general consensus throughout the group has been one of excitement, and whilst this year promises to be hard work, at least it’s not accountancy.

Pure FM: My Time enjoying the Portsmouth University Radio Experience.

I uploaded the last of my radio shows from my time at Pure FM a couple of weeks ago, and as I listened in briefly to their Breakfast Show, live from The Freshers Fayre this morning, I realised that I had intended to write something for my blog about my first few months with the station, but never got round to it. I’ll try and put this oversight down to business rather than forgetfulness, but I’m not sure if anyone is being fooled.

Pure FM is the student led radio station at the University of Portsmouth, and my only regret about my experience is not joining sooner. In the course of my third year I was able to present two shows, host quizzes, compile stories and reviews for the news programme and report on sporting fixtures as part of the large-scale coverage of the Portsmouth v Southampton Varsity match. As well as the clichéd positive of allowing me to make (and in some cases invent) new friends, I also walked away with experiences that have helped shape career ambitions and a couple of awards.

My first attempt at broadcasting, The Pure Sport Show, saw me combining with another keen sports fan, and existing presenter at Pure, Curtis, and whilst at times we allowed strange tangents to develop during the show, we quickly developed a format for a show that was repeatable and increasingly professional. Even with limited and fluctuating listener numbers, the opportunity for a platform to discuss and analyse sporting incident was an enjoyable one, and along with guests, we enjoyed well-reasoned and often humorous debates. As well as a huge enjoyment factor, we also attempted to focus on the serious area of promoting and discussing minority sports at the University, including Tchoukball, a handball sport, and Roller Hockey, whose president joined us in the studio to promote and discuss the sport she loved.

This experience made us perfectly positioned to take part in Pure’s coverage of Varsity later in the academic year. Here, through match reporting, I was able to focus on more traditional journalistic skills in terms of recording scores and key match details before creating a precise report, that allowed me to be part of a very professional coverage, something that everyone at the station was proud of.

In the second semester of the year, Pure’s broadcasting schedule was restricted by events outside of the stations control, and this meant finding a slot for The Pure Sports Show was not possible, so Curtis and I moved into the world of breakfast radio to make sure we had the opportunity to broadcast. Beginning as the second best scenario to continuing our sports show, Wake Up With Richard & Curtis quickly became great fun, and the ideal opportunity to mix great passion for radio, with the urge to be as random and silly as possible. You can listen to all of these shows by following the link to my MixCloud page below, and if you do you will note our extravagant range of characters, features and the reoccurring organised chaos that were our extensively prepared for shows.

I like to think that these shows highlight the full range of opportunities available through student radio. It offers a platform to work hard at presenting skills and to experiment with creating professional and clever production. Through Pure, there was also the opportunity to broadcast on local commercial radio, allowing experience in a different setting and in broadcasting to a larger audience. The other thing student radio offers, is the opportunity to have a lot of fun, and ultimately that was what myself and Curtis were doing every time we planned another game or feature or sat in the studio for hours at a time recording strange ‘adverts’ or songs. This chaos won our show the award for Best Branded Show at the Pure FM awards, so we were clearly doing something right.

The message is clear… Whether you see a serious career ahead in broadcasting, or just want to do something fun and experimental I’d wholeheartedly recommend student radio, and Portsmouth’s Pure FM. 

Listen to my Pure FM and Express FM shows here: http://www.mixcloud.com/richardjude17/