Meeting Mr Lowe

Ash Interviewing Zane.

Zane Lowe. One of the most connected people in the industry, who knows what tunes you will be listening to months in the future.

Yet his initial talent arose out of the underground Djing scene, I like most others will firmly recognise Zane for presenting weekday evening shows on BBC Radio1. His iconic voice New Zealand/American voice is what travels echo’s the corridor as I prepare to enter the room. Not however before his PR team try and question presence.

You see not 10 minutes before I was sitting downstairs happily sipping on my VK waiting for the show to begin. I couldn’t understand the lack of turnout for such a popular guy. Being a first year BAMMJ student, my experience on the course was being inquired by the 2^nd and 3^rd years who we had joined for drinks.

It had crossed my mind that surely someone from Nerve Media or The Wire hadn’t been on the case to get a few words from Mr Lowe – and to my surprise it was the group I had been sitting with. In seconds of hearing offered to sit in on this interview – i jolted into a pace towards the backstage of The Old Firestation.

Luckily, the bouncer didn’t seem to think I was worth the effort of stopping me. So I sat gingerly on the arm of the sofa. I did wish I had something to contribute – but luckily this wasn’t my interview.

Zane rubbed his forehead as he answered question. He explains of his manic schedule with Radio1’s student tours preventing him from seeing his 2 son’s and wife. He answers questions politely and goes on to explain his DJ Hero in some depth, keeping his Radio1 career separate.

As I said this was not my interview and I suggest if you would like to watch or read the interview in full to keep an eye on Nerve Media: http://www.subu.org.uk/nervemedia

Either way…. It had to be a pretty spectacular end to my starstruck week. Speaking to Tulip on Monday, filmed for the BBC on Wednesday, Friday live interview on BBC Solent and the footage from Wednesday was aired on BBC Breakfast, News at 1, BBC America, Online and in Norway – randomly. My Saturday just completed my week.

Interview with Tulip Mazumdar - Monday 18th October

My first point of call for this article was always going to be Newsbeat on BBC Radio One. When I called I initially phoned to speak to Robin Brant the Newsbeat Political reporter – fortunately the familiar voice that greeted me on the other end of the line was recognisable for a reason.

I inquired as to the owner of the voice and to my sheer delight I discovered it was none other than Tulip Mazumdar who had answered my call. I grasped at this opportunity immediately requested the quickest of interviews.

Tulip reveals reporting

Tulip Mazumdar, is a presenter for BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat, named after springtime in Lincolnshire, she said what it takes to be a good reporter.

Broadcasting to approximately 11 million listeners, it is vital to know your audience. A story that interests one maybe irrelevant to another, for instance Tulip said “When I worked for radio Merseyside the audience was much older compared to radio 1 whose audience is much younger.” 

 “You must know the needs of your audience and how the story relates back to them.” 

But before more importantly, a good reporter must be able to have an inquisitive mind – without this you will not be able to spot a good story.

Within this a reporter must play devil’s advocate to the subject matter too. Tulip said: “We had a story on Heroin addicts being paid to be sterilized. Being impartial as well as sensitive is a must, we had a woman call us to complain as she used to be an addict but managed to turn her life around and is now a mother.”

She studied BA Sociology at Liverpool University, and created news bulletins for the SU Radio; from here Tulip gained as much hands on experience as possible at Cambridge and BBC Merseyside Radio. This led to the BBC News Training scheme, which was followed with a job with Merseyside Radio.

Enthusiasm and persistence are essential in getting your foot in the door, “You may get knocked back but you need to keep putting up.”

Rory Cellan-Jones Technology Blog

Rory Cellan-Jones AudioBoo

Rory Cellan-Jones Twitter

BU Unplugged Blog

BU News&Events Unplugged

Student's On 'Unplugged'

Broadcasted on BBC Breakfast, BBC News at 1, BBC News24 and Online.

Plug me back in please!

24 hours without media. Simple enough right? I thought so. Charlotte Gay reports on coping with the unplugged experiment and spending the day with Rory Cellan-Jones and Peter Page.

Yes like most other people my age, I am a regular visitor to Facebook, I have my phone constantly in my pocket, and without my Ipod I don’t know when I would get to regularly listen to my favourite bands – plus who likes a silent bus journey?

The idea behind this experiment was if the removal of media for a day would simulate similar symptoms of an addiction. Me? A media junkie – just desperate for my next fix? I don’t think so….

The night before the big ‘Unplug’ I sensibly switched off my phone at midnight, announced to Facebook that I wouldn’t be contactable till this time tomorrow, and reluctantly left my Ipod in my draw waiting for another day.

“GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY…” Chris Moyles voice echoes around my room at 7am – I literally leapt from one side of the room to the other in a manic bid to turn off the radio. From here on in I had a silent morning – not quite as eerie as it could have been, but couldn’t help but think to myself “This walk would go so much better twinned with a bit of Arctic’s”.

Then I broke the experiment again – thanks to my lecturer linking up to a Dvd, “Hmm – technically that time it wasn’t my fault” - that was my excuse anyway!

But I could forget all of this – I was too excited to meet the Journalist who would be shadowing us. Walking into the Media school – eyes averted from the many a news screen – I was expecting to see an entourage of techno-geeks accumulating. Instead I was greeted by two friendly faces enjoying a cup of Costa’s finest.

Rory and Peter’s smiles were quite contagious, beginning by asking after how we’d coped so far.. The three of us agreed that it was more of a change of routine –than too much of a shock…. So far at least.

From here we, of what I initially prepared to be an hour or two of filming became a day in the life of BBC correspondent. Rory explaining how he usually goes about his daily routine and his addiction twitter (at least we’re not the only ones).

I asked him if he has completed an experiment like this one before, which surprisingly he had. Although would he do it again?

“No, I don’t so – I am literally always checking twitter”

To be fair he is the technology correspondent for the BBC, so like us, I think he could empathise with our usual daily updates. Even whilst waiting in the Student Village, Rory couldn’t resist a quick recording for AudioBoo for yet another twitter update!

However just as vital Cameraman Peter, who without him – there would simply be no report. Kept almost constantly busy unpacking and repacking the luggage that is that camera equipment, he still found plenty of time to give advice on getting a great shoot.

“Shoot hard - edit easy”

Sounds obvious, but neither Rory nor Peter have large amount of input into how to final piece is put together, and of course it is not always possible to return to the scene of the shoot. No truer this words when the three of us repeated the same walk into the sunlight on Bournemouth beach at least six times!

As you can probably imagine, this is not to say the pair didn’t have an idea how the film was to be used. Informing us throughout the day the running order and narrative they planned to portray, and how many different outlets the footage could potentially be used for – it felt more like working as part of a team as the day went on. Cliché as it sounds; I can honestly say the pair were genuinely welcoming and warm people to work with

When the filming was called to a finish, it was ironic to say I had spent the day ‘avoiding media’ being filmed by the BBC. Somehow felt wrong but did still make me consciously make me think about today’s media intake. For instance, put aside our gadgets – how many of us can walk down a street without looking at the posters in windows, the films printed on buses and the fliers outside the uni gates?

I’d like to challenge some of these commentators on our recent blog’s – if it is so easy to go without media, don’t you find it a tad ironic that you are commenting furiously on an internet based form of media? Yes we can live without our mobile phones – and even the internet if we had too. But would we want to? They call it evolution for a reason – it becomes a part of our lives.