主播大秀

Harvey Church, Broadcast Engineering Apprentice tells us what it's like starting an apprenticeship at the 主播大秀 in the middle of a global pandemic.

When starting the application process late in 2019 to be a broadcast engineer, I never thought I would end up firstly with a job offer and that the entire process would start over zoom.

On my first day, I spent my first hour learning to wrangle a new computer then spent the rest of the day meeting the other apprentices and members of the wider 2020 cohort. My first introductions were from the Scheme Manager and Co-ordinator.

The two week induction was great, but took time to get used to within the remote setting. Social interactions that I normally cherish were hidden behind a tiny video box on my screen. I often found myself questioning whether it’s normal to wave goodbye on video?

There were a few meetings where no one had their video on. There was nothing more terrifying than seeing a blank screen of faceless icons. I’ve found a good icebreaker has been asking what people did for their lunch hour, but I now realise that only has a limited time window to work!

Re-learning how to learn

In a world without Covid-19, my commute would have been an hour on the train to New Broadcasting House in London, but for the time being it’s 10 steps down a flight of stairs and a mad dash to the kitchen table. I suspect this will be for the foreseeable future. This is currently the way university lectures and apprenticeship training at 主播大秀 Wood Norton have also been delivered.

Wood Norton training is delivered online and it’s a massive highlight for me! Other apprentices have raved about their weeks there, so expectations were high however changes to ensure safety meant it was transitioned online.

The instructors might say they’re not good camera operators, but I can say that I received an excellent virtual tour around a radio and TV studio. Even if it was not in person, the usage of multiple camera shots, wireless mics and in-depth insights made me feel like I was almost there.

We moved through a variety of content as they tried to give a good a picture as possible; I did feel a little drowned in key words and the broadcast engineer’s equivalent of legalese. With a few more university lectures under my belt and looking back after few weeks, I am grateful they did not glaze over things. They offered plenty of time for questions and were contactable to help clear any queries.

I have been lucky to have been able to meet most of the other apprentices in person, twice! Once for university induction and a second time for a few days of practical coursework. In person teaching involved camera lens and lens testing as well as the opportunity to create a mock news program. The segments were based on fairy tales – often to comical affect with several John “Snows” (Game of Thrones and Channel 4) used in the weather segment.

Looking to the future

We have placements scheduled to take place in January 2021 which will make a nice change of tone to what has overall been a very slow year before joining 主播大秀.

When this is all over, I doubt that I will miss so much Zoom as there is something a little soul draining about watching a screen for so long. It might be the new norm though, so I have picked up a few techniques to help make a zoom session as productive as possible!