BBC Local Apprentices: The first few weeks

All 46 BBC Local Apprentices apprentices have now finished their initial training and started work at radio stations across the UK and Channel Islands.

We caught up with apprentices Karson, Kasseem and Sophia to hear their stories so far, which ranged from interviewing celebrities and the public to working radio cars and presenting live on air.

Week One: Karson Browne, BBC Radio Foyle

From the moment I stepped off the plane onto Northern Irish soil after seven weeks spent training at the BBC Academy in England, right up until the moment I crossed the threshold of BBC Radio Foyle, I had envisioned a multitude of different ways that my first day at the station might unfold.

Maybe I’d walk in and pitch the best idea the station has ever seen and begin my steady rise to Director General of the BBC. Maybe I’d stand knocking on the door aimlessly, whilst everybody inside hides under the tables in a quiet hush waiting for me to turn away.

Maybe I’d just be sat there in the background watching everybody go about their jobs as if I weren’t there, or maybe I’d be welcomed with open arms because, up until that point, everybody had to make their own tea.

But one thought that never crossed my mind was that within the first hour I’d be out on my own getting ready to interview James Nesbitt.

After the breakfast team’s morning meeting, I was sat having a play with our editing software when Elaine the presenter called me over. She told me she had a job for me: that I was to interview Jimmy Nesbitt.

I was standing on the historic walls of Derry (who happened to be celebrating their 400th birthday), when I was introduced to Mr Nesbitt. He was happily taking selfies with a gaggle of excited school boys and girls. Throughout the interview he continued to take selfies with the pupils and I think I might have photo bombed a couple of them.

I concluded the interview, slightly in awe that I’d managed to make it through without fainting or deeply offending him somehow.

When I got back to station, I had my first experience of editing my own work. My interview went out on breakfast the next day.

Week Two: Kasseem Khuman, BBC Coventry and Warwickshire

It was nearly time for the switching on of the Christmas lights in Coventry, and I was asked by the producer of the drive-time show if I thought I could handle doing a live report/two way about the lights. I immediately accepted the opportunity and I thought to myself, “Yeah! My Mum and Dad can hear me on the radio now…”

I went out and had a peek about the town square 30 minutes before I was due to go on air. I took in the sights and the smells and spoke to a few locals to get to know why they had come to watch the lights being switched on. This was really good and it actually put me in the Christmassy mood.

I got back to the radio studio about 15 minutes before I was going live and now my nerves were hitting me. Thoughts of “what if I fail live on air?” or “I can’t do this!” were running inside my mind. I felt it was getting real now.

BBC Coventry and Warwickshire’s political reporter offered some words of advice to help ease my nerves, saying that I should relax and see the listeners as people who can’t smell and are blind. I needed to describe the smell and where I was, and “just have fun with it”. This helped me so much - I felt prepared to do my job.

I went live on air twice, speaking to the audience about the Christmas lights and it was the most amazing thing to happen to me so far in this job.

Week Three: Sophia Lanciano, BBC Radio Gloucestershire

I am now into the third week and I’m starting to feel very much an active member of the team. I am officially on shift this week as the late afternoon apprentice broadcast assistant. Slowly but surely the buttons, systems and processes are sinking in and I am feeling more confident as each shift goes on.

I have been trained to use the Verve vehicle now (it’s a vehicle with a large satellite on the roof). I took it out on my own the other day to interview some other apprentices. Being in Gloucestershire, it is full of hills and narrow lanes – so it was quite an adventure but the Verve and I made it back in one piece with the audio that went to air the next day.

I feel successful in completing the work that I had been given. The opportunities I have had have given me the chance to show my colleagues what I can do and this has increased their confidence in me. I have more items to report on this week and I’m finding that if they are short of someone to send out they feel they can rely on me to get the job done. This makes me feel valued within the BBC Radio Gloucestershire team.

For me, I believe it is as much about the little triumphs, like successfully putting a call through to the studio, as it is the bigger triumphs, like getting a full package on air. Both are great achievements in their own right considering that I hadn’t even stepped foot in a live studio three weeks ago!

There’ll be more from the apprentices on the Academy website throughout the year. You can keep up-to-date with the latest via Twitter using #BBCLAS or via iPlayer Radio