Curriculum Vitae

I am an enthusiastic and highly-motivated broadcast journalist with more than six years’ experience, most of that time in a regional radio newsroom. Working on major breaking stories that have dominated the national news has become second nature. In March 2007 I was one of four finalists in the IRN Reporter of the Year award. Most recently I have moved from radio into television news and currently work as a breakfast news producer and presenter at Channel M in Manchester.

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Employment History

Channel M (Breakfast News Producer & Presenter: (August 2008 to present day)

I currently work as a breakfast news producer and presenter for Channel M in Manchester. The station is a dedicated channel for Manchester available on terrestrial, cable and Sky. This followed a successful placement at Channel M during which time I produced several packages which were broadcast on the evening news programme. These involved me directing my cameraman, recording pieces to camera and editing the reports.

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

I became one of the team’s most experienced news reporters, bulletin readers and programme producers. As well as daily news bulletins and extended programmes I produced a major one-off radio documentary. One of my particular skills is court reporting having covered several cases of national significance. Some of the highlights from my time at Real Radio included:

Becoming an experienced desk editor, setting the agenda for the newsroom, deploying reporters, producing two daily flagship news programmes and reacting to breaking news.
Reporting both live and in pre-recorded packages and two-ways, while securing the best interviewees and persuading reluctant contributors to tell their story accurately while breaking original stories first.
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.
Deputising for the News Editor in his absence. This involved running the newsroom, managing the team and commissioning reports, giving me the freedom to make my own decisions.
Dealing with any mistakes that may have been made by the rest of the team when I was the most senior journalist on duty and helping to train new starters.
Coordinating the Real Academy training scheme. After recruiting and selecting the 12 students I spent three months teaching them about programming, presenting, news, marketing, sales and production.
In 2007 I was nominated as IRN Reporter of The Year. I won the Journalist of the Year award at the GMG Awards 2005 and Yorkshire Employee of the Year in 2006 and 2007. My reports also twice featured 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 for six months. As well as some 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 some 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. As well as submitting programme ideas to Commissioning Editors I spent several months researching for programmes. These included ‘Medical Horrors’ and ‘The Lee Bowyer Story’, both for Channel 5, as well as an interactive DVD for a community project. The research included finding interviewees, planning schedules, producing crew call sheets and logging footage.

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 (Advanced 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. I am responsible for setting up the newsroom software at Real Radio to make sure we get the most out of the system we have installed. Some improvements which I have suggested to the software developers have also now been built into the program. I have good experience of the following programs used in TV and radio newsrooms:

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

Health and safety:

I am a trained first aider and act as an "Appointed Person At Work" to deal with accidents as they happen. I am also a qualified fire marshal responsible for fire safety and emergency evacuations.

Driving:

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

Other Interests

Web design:

I use some of my spare time to develop websites, most recently one for a freelance photographer who sells her own pictures and undertakes bespoke commissions. These are mostly designed using Macromedia Dreamweaver though I do have some experience of editing raw HTML files. I am also responsible for designing and updating the news pages on Real Radio Yorkshire’s website using an online content management system.

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.

Running:

I recently took up running for the first time since leaving school. Completing the Great North Run in 2 hours and 2 minutes has set me a tough target to beat in the future.