Learning Waves TY Webinars raises the profile of radio among TY students.
In September of 2020, a seed was sown at a Learning Waves board meeting, a seed that would germinate, pollinate and grow across the country. The seed was planted by the News Editor from Galway Bay FM, Bernadette Prendergast and with support from the board of Learning Waves, the Project Manager and contributors from the across sector, the seed would connect with up to 123 TY students from across the country.
In essence the idea proposed by Bernadette was to allow the industry to connect with schools and TY students during the pandemic. A series of webinars was then developed by Learning Waves Project Manager, Teresa Hanratty in conjunction with Nessa McGann from McGann Media. The webinars would inform, educate and inspire TY students across the country about radio in Ireland, in particular Independent Commercial Radio in Ireland. The programme involved a series of 5 webinars which gave students an insight into the following :
- The Irish Radio Landscape
- Breakfast Radio - Win Breakfast Win the Day
- Interviewing and Research for Radio - Interviewing the celebrities
- The Do's and Don'ts on Social Media for TY students
- Presenting a Music Show
- Imaging for Music Radio - What is it and how is it created
- Fake News - Media Literacy and why it is important
- A day in the life of a News Reader
- Award winning Sports Radio
- Social Media on Radio and why stations use it
- Selling Radio
- A day in the life of a CEO
- A day in the life of an award winning Radio Presenter
In addition to the above, there were virtual station tours where the students could see behind the scenes in a radio station. In addition to this students were provided with additional links and support in relation to college courses, websites for support and introductions to programmes across other sectors for TY students. After each webinar there was an assignment for students to complete where they could be creative in terms of ideas for radio programmes and radio content. Such was the success of the programme that 123 students from across 17 schools in the country engaged in the webinars. At the end of the series of webinars students had this to say :
'I found this course really interesting and insightful, and learned about all the different roles in radio, many of which I didn’t even know existed! With all the wonderful people we met online, it has inspired me to consider radio as a future career path'. Meg Johnson, Ratoath College, Meath.
'I thought the webinars were very beneficial and very insightful, l learnt a lot from it and i got an insight into many different angles of radio and how to get into them'. Mark Halliday, St. Enda's Secondary School, Galway
'Thank you so much for organising the radio webinars, it’s been a wonderful experience for me and really made me consider radio as my future career'. Siobhan Fitzgerald, St Conleth’s College, Dublin.
Learning Waves will continue its work on educating students in relation to the media during 2021 with additional programmes currently being developed. The success of the programmes are based on the committment of people within the industry sharing their experiences and advice. In this series of webinars, the following industry professionals shared their experiences with the students :
Gabrielle Cummins, CEO Beat 102-103 | David Hammond, Presenter, Beat 102-103 | Maria McKenzie, National Sales Director, iRadio | Andy Clarke, Presenter 98FM and Manager of FRQ FM | Dylan Connolly, Social Media Editor, Galway Bay FM | Valerie Wheeler, Breakfast and Sports Presenter, Spin South West | Louise Cantillon, News Presenter, Classic Hits | Martina Chapman, Media Literacy Ireland Co-ordinator | Danielle Courtney, Digital Media Graduate | Peter Collins, Presenter, Spin 103.8 | Nick Karkazis, Assistant Programme Director, Spin 103.8 | Martin Howard, Programme Director, Shannonside/Northern Sound | Sarah Kieran, Media Lawyer | Tara Murray, Presenter, FM104 | Aidan Power and Oonagh Carroll, Breakfast Presenters, iRadio | Nessa McGann, McGann Media | Teresa Hanratty, Project Manager, Learning Waves.