Will Donelan

The all round helper!

I had seen an article on the Bradley Stoke Journal website about a local radio station that had been set up and  it was needing volunteers to run it.

I thought this would be a great thing to do within the community so I looked at BSR’s website and I became a member at the end of April 2011.

During the first week of the RSL and began helping out with the admin jobs on the station and then a few days later was asked if I would like to make a playlist up (of course I said yes!).  Lucy showed me what I had to do and how to find all the music on the data base.

Before BSR started streaming online shows during week nights and weekends, there was an opportunity to be a studio manager on weekends, so I thought I would apply to be a studio manager and I then had the training on how to use the desk and legal presentation.

Since June I have made many steps in BSR, including presenting my own show, which was a big step for me. I thought I’d give it a try and in August I did my first show featuring Your Bitter Pill (a BIG risk) but I managed to pull it off.

In the last few months I have concentrated on the technical problems with running the station!

It was challenging but it was something that I thought I’d help out on and managed to get the various problems sorted out several times and also helped  some of the other presenters to adapt to it all.

I thought I’d take a step back during the December RSL and just concentrate on studio management including all of the admin but Rich Pickins got me involved in a few of his shows reading out the travel news (First time ever that I have ever been on FM!).  It was very busy and I ended up becoming the station point of contact with our service providers British Telecom. I had to sort out the internet service issues and got it working again! I really appreciated the trust that the team put in me.

Over the first weekend in January during the “Big Move” I helped out over the whole weekend and being around till late. It was fun but challenging, especially during the move of the big red panels – which make studio 1 & 2 in the new studio

During February I co-presented  two covering show’s with Chas and we both chosen tracks which were within the music genre we liked. You may have seen a picture which was taken (a very laid back presenter – me) I thought I would chill out as it was on a Sunday and relax during the show!

I have got involved within IT with BSR which I really enjoy and mainly get emails with instructions then I just get on with it and deal with any other problems which rise while being at BSR.

I now want to follow a career within radio full time in the future, it’s hard work but also a fun experience and you should give it a try!

It’s easy to become a member… there are many things you can do within radio!!

Don’t regret not becoming a member, IT’S FUN!!