Curriculum Vitae

I am an enthusiastic and highly-motivated reporter, producer and news presenter with seven years’ experience. Most of my career has been spent in busy regional newsrooms, most recently at a television channel in Manchester presenting and reporting for daily live news broadcasts.

VIEW PRINTABLE VERSION (*.pdf file)

Employment History

Channel M Television - News Reporter, Producer & Presenter: (August 2008 to present day)

As well as producing and presenting bulletins during the three-hour breakfast show and anchoring the half-hour lunchtime news I have spent considerable time researching, filming and editing news and feature reports. During my time at Channel M I have:

Reported on a wide range of stories, putting together packages on the swine flu outbreak, the arrest of a Manchester charity boss abroad on suspected terror charges, and the death of actress Kathy Staff.
Generated original and exclusive stories making sure that through maintaining good contacts I can ensure Channel M is ahead of the competition for breaking headlines first.
As part of a fully converged newsroom developed stories to work across different platforms including print, online, and radio as well as television.
Become an experienced news desk producer taking decisions on breaking stories, redeploying reporters and rewriting programme running orders, often while presenting the programme live on air.
Produced and presented special extended coverage of major stories including the result of a ballot on congestion charge proposals for Manchester and a live discussion programme for the 2009 Budget.
Developed the lunchtime news format which was newly launched to coincide with my appointment.

Real Radio Yorkshire - Senior Broadcast Journalist: (February 2003 to August 2008)

As one of the team’s most experienced news reporters, bulletin readers and programme producers I put together both pre-recorded and live material daily. Some highlights from my time at Real Radio included:

Reporting both live and pre-recorded reports, while securing the best interviewees and persuading reluctant contributors to tell their story accurately and with sensitivity.
Producing a 40 minute documentary about terminal cancer patient Jane Tomlinson including exclusive material I got during my time reporting live from the end of her charity bike ride across America.
Developing my skills as a court reporter most notably covering the whole of the trial of David Bieber, the former American bouncer who murdered Leeds police officer Ian Broadhurst.
Coordinating and leading a 12 week training scheme for students interested in commercial radio.
Being nominated as IRN Reporter of The Year in 2007. As a senior journalist my reports also featured heavily on the team’s winning entries in the Arqiva Commercial Radio News Team of the Year award.

Previous Radio Experience

Following my graduation I worked as a Broadcast Journalist at Minster FM in York. As well as freelance work and work placements during University at The Pulse (Bradford), Radio Aire (Leeds) and Yorkshire Coast Radio (Scarborough) I also completed placements at the BBC including time at Radio 1’s Newsbeat and Radio York.

Real Life Media Productions - Researcher (work placement): (September 2000 to March 2001)

My time was split between development and production. After a period working on new programme ideas I worked as a researcher on programmes currently in production including ‘Medical Horrors’ and ‘The Lee Bowyer Story’, both for Channel 5, as well as an interactive DVD for a community project.

Education & Qualifications

University of Leeds (Bachelor of Broadcasting with Management: Class 2:1 (Honours): (September 1998 to June 2002)

Taught in co-operation with BBC Training, this four year course gave me a good foundation in both television and radio production techniques. Modules studied included:

Media law and ethics.
Responsibilities of broadcasters taught through BBC Producers’ Guidelines.
Single and multi-camera filming and editing both on location and studio-based.
Researching, planning, scripting and producing documentaries.
Management including personnel, marketing and economics.

Whitby Community College (A Level Examinations: Summer 1998)

English Language (A) - Mathematics (B) - Geography (B) - General Studies (C)

Whitby Community College (GCSE Examinations: Summer 1996)

2 x Grade A* - 6 x Grade A - 1 x Grade B

Skills & Abilities

Technical skills:

I am an enthusiastic computer user and enjoy learning new computer systems. In my previous job I was responsible for setting up the newsroom software to ensure it helped the newsroom operate as efficiently as possible. Some improvements which I suggested to the software developers were also built into the system. I have good experience of the following programs used in TV and radio newsrooms:

Final Cut Pro: Television news editing software.
ENPS: Electronic News Production System.
Adobe Premiere: Video editing.
Adobe Audition: Audio editing.
Burli: Dedicated newsroom software.
RCS Master Control: Radio playout.
Scoop: Dedicated newsroom software.
Dalet: Audio capture, playout and editing.
Dave News: News text and audio editing.
EncoDAD: Audio editing.

Languages:

I have a basic working knowledge of French and German.

Health and safety:

I have previously completed first aid and fire marshal training courses.

Driving:

I have held a full driving licence since 1998 with no endorsements.

Other Interests

Web design:

In my spare time I develop websites, most recently one for a freelance photographer. These are mostly designed using Macromedia Dreamweaver though I do have experience of editing raw HTML and CSS files. I have also got considerable experience updating websites using online content management systems.

Scouting:

My main hobby is running a charity as part of a small team to organise twice-yearly Scout competitions. Since 2002 hundreds of young people have taken part in our Apex Challenge events. As well maintaining the competition website I am the Charity Secretary.

Graphic design:

I am a keen graphic designer and my interest in this area has proved useful both at work when developing graphics for TV reports as well as for my out of work web design and Scouting projects.

Running:

I enjoy running and regularly take part in races to raise money for charity including the Great North Run and several 10K runs. Completing each one sets me a tougher target to beat the next time!