Commonwealth FM

In October 2003, CSV radio trainees in Bristol were given the opportunity to produce and present their own 2 hour programme. They broadcast on one of the drivetime slots of a month long RSL called Commonwealth FM, organised by the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum. The trainees decided to highlight some of the other areas that CSV works in, such as the Volunteer Programme and CSV Environment, as well as taking the opportunity to present pre-recorded and live features about subjects of interest to them personally. Those involved used the experience to gain some of the units towards their Open College Network qualification in Complete Community Media, focussing on radio production.

Chris Powell

Chris was the main presenter of the 2 hour show. He interviewed several live guests and generally held the programme together. This was his first experience of live broadcasting, and here’s a short example of how he got on.

Chris Baker

One of the Open College Network units that Chris needed to pass was in research and interview techniques. Rather than organising something pre-recorded, he decided to take the plunge and present his interview live, with local band The Harry Browns.

Graham Thomas

Graham also decided that he’d like the challenge of conducting a live interview, and an interesting interview with vintage radio and gramophone enthusiast Geoffrey Harrison was the entertaining result.

Gary Gardiner

As well as learning about radio production with CSV, Gary went to a weekly group called Games Galore. As part of his training course, he was keen to produce a pre-recorded feature explaining what the group’s all about.