My BBC Apprenticeship - In Pictures

On 30th September 2013, I started my first day as a BBC Production Coordinator Apprentice. I had absolutely no idea what the next 15 months had in store, but looking back on it now I can hardly believe how much I have been able to cram into this space of time! Now that I have graduated and completed my qualification, a Level 4 Diploma in Broadcast Production Management, I have had the chance to reflect on the abundance of amazing experiences I have had and wanted a place to log all of the incredible shows and events I’ve been a part of. So here it is – a snappy picture diary of my time as a BBC Apprentice. 

6th & 7th December

Top of the Pops, Riverside Studios

The Top of the Pops Christmas Special has always been a key feature of the Nicholson Household Christmas Day routine, so it was incredible that this was my first ever studio television experience. Here I worked as a Runner to presenters Fearne & Reggie and was delighted by just how lovely, friendly and charming they both were.

11th December 2013

Jools Holland’s Hootenanny, Maidstone Studios

In the Nicholson household, New Year is not complete without Jools Holland’s Hootenanny on the TV counting us into midnight, but in 2013 is seemed strange to be doing just that on December 11th! For the same nostalgic reasons as Top of the Pops, working as a Runner on Hootenanny was an amazing opportunity for me. Responsible for looking after any of the celebrity guests in the audience, this was my first chance to speak to some of my idols who had inspired me to work in TV and Radio, and it is these ‘pinch-yourself’ moments that you never forget.

31st December 2013

My First Credit!

As New Year’s Eve came around in 2013, not only was I looking forward to watching Jools Holland’s Hootenanny, but this was also the day that I received my first ever television credit for Sir John Tavener Remembered, a documentary looking back on the career of the late composer.

28th February – 1st March 2014

6 Music Festival, Victoria Warehouse, Manchester

My first few days in the BBC Live Music & Events team, I was thrown straight into an event and it was a brilliant way to get to know the team and to understand the workings of event day, preparing me for the many that followed! 

19th – 20th March 2014

Jo Whiley’s Sport Relief Challenge, NBH Piazza

Having watched Comic Relief and Sport Relief year upon year, watching the lengths that celebrities go to for the charity, it was great to get involved with one of the projects. Working as Artist Liaison, it was my job to meet and greet all of the show’s guests who would be joining Jo Whiley in her Perspex box as she ran for 26 hours straight to raise money for the charity! Everybody knows what Sport Relief is about and there was a great sense of team spirit surrounding the whole event, all working to achieve one goal. 

23rd May 2014

Radio 1’s Big Weekend Dance Party, George Square, Glasgow

I had the pleasure of standing in the crowd, enjoying the show and soaking up the atmosphere as Radio 1 opened its doors to 2014’s Big Weekend. Having worked on preparing the video mapping sequence that was projected onto the square, I felt a huge sense of pride as I watched the overwhelming display. 

24th – 25th May 2014

Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Glasgow Green, Glasgow

As a huge Radio 1 fan, I have applied year after year for tickets to Radio 1’s Big Weekend, so to finally be there but in a working capacity was even better than I could have imagined. As the Event Coordinator for the BBC Introducing Stage, I had worked very closely with the BBC Introducing team to plan the line-up. It was a pleasure to be able to email all of the chosen artists to confirm their spot on the line-up and to meet them across the weekend; they were all so genuinely grateful for the opportunity and put on an incredible show. Watching artists like Royal Blood, Catfish & The Bottlemen and Saint Raymond pack our little blue tent full to the brim until it was fit to burst was incredibly exciting, and they certainly did not disappoint, with many of the Radio 1 DJs quoting Royal Blood as their highlight of the weekend. 

Amidst the madness on our stage, I managed to make it out at the end of each day to see the event headliners – Coldplay and Katy Perry. As a massive Coldplay fan, it was my first time seeing the band, and they were perhaps one of the greatest live acts I’ve ever seen. Standing in the pouring rain with my amazing Live Events team singing our hearts out to Yellow is a memory I won’t forget anytime soon. 

28th August & 25th September 2014

Rugby Training with KSI, James Haskell and Wasps Rugby Club

My third placement on my apprenticeship was a chance for me to take a step outside of the BBC and experience the independent television industry. I joined the Endemol Beyond team working to coordinate shoots for 3 YouTube channels, including Rulem Sports, fronted by YouTube star, KSI. Rulem Sports’ mission was to teach KSI different sporting disciplines throughout the year and I loved being a part of his rugby challenges with England Rugby star James Haskell and some of his Wasps Rugby Club teammates. I never knew what was around the corner with these shoots; one minute we’d be practicing kicking and passing, the next they’d be weightlifting one another, having a dance off or smashing eggs on each other. As unpredictable as it was fun, KSI is perhaps one of the craziest and funniest people I’ve met on my apprenticeship.

19th October 2014

Radio 1 Teen Awards, The SSE Arena, Wembley

October saw my return to the Live Music & Events team for my final apprenticeship placement. My first event back in the team, once again, is one I have applied for tickets for in years gone by but to no success. However, an event that was a dream come true soon became a nightmare… as I dropped my iPhone down the toilet!! So unfortunately no photos from the Teen Awards, but if you look closely here, you can see that Now Magazine managed to capture a snap of me on the red carpet behind The Vamps and Shawn Mendes, who I was fortunate enough to look after and manage throughout the event!

10th November 2014

Best Day Ever for Children In Need, Tendring Technology College, Frinton

This year for Children In Need, Radio 1 took over a school for the day to give them the Best Day Ever, with Tendring Technology College being the lucky winners. With a Live Lounge from Rixton from their school hall, plus Scott Mills and Greg James’ shows coming live from their classrooms and school hall too, they certainly did have an amazing day and it was wonderful to see the children, but even more so the teachers, having a brilliant time, particularly at Danny Howard’s after school disco! Having spent the days leading up to the event, coordinating travel arrangements for all of our staff, DJs and guests on the shows, it was my job to transport these guests around the school for their appearances, meaning that I would be constantly stopped my excited school children and staff for selfies; but our guests were so accommodating and equally as excited about being involved with Children In Need, making for a really special day.  

15th November 2014

1Xtra Live, The NIA Arena, Birmingham

This was my first 1Xtra event since working in the Live Events team, so was a great opportunity to be introduced to new colleagues I hadn’t previously had the chance to meet. Some of the memories that stand out from our time in Birmingham were from our team nights out, both on our first night in the city, as well on our final night after the show when we were invited to Annie Mac’s night at The Rainbow Factory. 

21st November 2014
6 Music Celebrates Libraries, The British Library

During my time in the Live Events team, I was trusted to manage an event by myself for 6 Music, working as the Lead Event Coordinator. Broadcasting live from The British Library, Steve Lamacq and his team brought the show from the mezzanine level of the beautiful building, bringing with them DJ Yoda, who explored the library’s sound archives to make a brand new track with the samples he collected. As the Event Coordinator, it was my job to bring together the venue's events team, outside broadcast supplier, marketing team and production team to ensure everyone was sure and happy with the arrangements planned. It was a very smooth operation and sounded great on air, receiving a lot of support and great feedback on social media.  

11th December 2014

BBC Music Awards, Earls Court

As my apprenticeship drew to a close, the inaugural BBC Music Awards was my final event in the Live Music & Events team, but was certainly the ideal way to end the 15 months on a total high. This was by far the best event I have worked on throughout my whole apprenticeship and it’ll take something truly staggering to top it. With a sensational line-up including Ed Sheeran, Take That, Coldplay, One Direction, Calvin Harris, Ellie Goulding and Tom Jones, you could not turn your head without catching one of the UK’s biggest music artists in your eye line. It was definitely at this event that I had the most pinch-yourself moments, especially when standing in the dressing room area to find myself surrounded by One Direction on one side and Chris Martin on the other! AND – What an amazing way to bring the event to a close and my apprenticeship to an end with a credit on prime-time BBC One television. 

18th December 2014 

My Last Day

So as you can see from all of these photos, I have had quite an adventure over the past 15 months working at some of the BBC’s biggest events, meeting some of my idols and favourite musicians, as well as making many amazing new friends. Very fortunately, I was able to share my last day with the Live Music & Events Christmas party. This team is made up of some incredibly talented and hard-working people who I completely admire and I hope I get the chance to work with them again very soon.

15th January 2015

Graduation!

Out of everyone I have met on my apprenticeship, it my fellow Production Coordinator apprentices I can guarantee I will be friends with for life. Balancing a new job with a huge amount of coursework was quite challenging at times, but just a text or phone call away we always knew we had each other to lend a hand of support. Add to that 3 amazing people we could not have done this without - our scheme manager, Maddy, and college assessors, Gilly & Suzz. Helping to find our next placements and supporting and guiding us with our college work from Day 1, they have helped us every step of the way and continue to do so even now that we have graduated. I think we would all agree that they were fundamental in helping us to achieve 100% on our qualification and continued to push us every step of the way. So a big thank you to them, as well as to everyone I have had the pleasure of working with over the past 15 months. 

BBC Production Co-Ordinator Apprenticeship - Placement #2

I finished my previous blog post at the end of my first placement on the Production Co-Ordinator Apprenticeship with ‘but the adventure must continue’, and wow, it certainly has! Soon after writing that post, it was confirmed that I had secured my dream placement.

I have always had a huge passion for radio and have always sought out opportunities to experience this industry as it is where I have always seen myself ending up in my career. From doing work experience at BBC Radio 1 at the age of 16, to volunteering at my local hospital radio station and even attempting my own radio podcast (yes, attempting is definitely the key word there), I returned to the location in the first point in that list. Yes, my dream had finally come true and on February 25th, I found myself walking through the doors of Radio 1 on the 8th floor of Broadcasting House.

Aside from my draw to radio, I have also always been interested in working in the world of events and events management. I touched upon this in a very small way at school, organising many of our Sixth Form events including our Prom, the school talent show, a Christmas party for a local school and a fundraiser to raise money for that party; and it was this introduction to events management that inspired me to seek more opportunities in an industry that I could see myself making use of my organisational head and attention-to-detail.

So, thanks to my scheme manager on the apprenticeship, I ended up at the absolute ideal placement for me. Radio + Events = Radio Events. And here I am! To give the team their deserved full title, the Live Music and Events team in Radio Popular Music. If you’ve ever listened, watched or even been to an event for Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, 6 Music or BBC Introducing, it would have been organised by the lovely team I am currently sitting alongside now as I write this. Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Radio 2 in Hyde Park, 1Xtra Live, The Teen Awards, 6 Music Festival – the list goes on and on.

One of the best parts about this placement has been the huge amount of trust that the team have put in me. I’ve been given a great deal of responsibility which I really appreciate and respect, and for that reason I’ve made sure I’ve put 110% into everything I’ve done so they wouldn’t regret it. So hopefully they haven’t!

Within the first days of this placement, I was already on a train to Manchester to work at the first ever 6 Music Festival. I was immediately thrown into a DJ and artist liaison role and loved every minute. Experiencing such a large event within my first days prepared me to understand the coordination and logistical process that goes into achieving the end result that I witnessed in Manchester, and helped me to know how to continue whilst working towards Radio 1’s Big Weekend – a project I have completely admired.

Two years ago when the team were organising one of their biggest events to date, the Hackney Weekend, I found myself at the Hackney Academy listening to a talk given by Neil Wyatt, the Live Events Manager who was heading up the event. I was completely absorbed in everything he had to say and now I can’t quite believe I’m sitting here two years on working with the same team on the Radio 1 Big Weekend in Glasgow. I’ve done a full loop, and as much as I enjoyed sitting on my sofa at home and watching Jay Z and Rihanna on telly playing the Big Weekend that year in 2012, I have absolutely no doubt that I will much prefer 2014 and I guarantee I will stand pinching myself when I see Coldplay in Glasgow. And even more importantly, as I run around in the mud on Glasgow Green chasing after artists to get them on stage, the thought of that sofa in 2012 will become an increasingly distant one.

One of the main projects I have been involved in is the ongoing BBC Introducing programme and I have absolutely loved it! It’s a fantastic scheme that supports unsigned and under-the-radar musicians – it’s an incredible opportunity for artists trying to break the industry, and from my perspective, an equally amazing scheme to work on. I have been involved in the organisation of the Introducing stages at some of the upcoming summer festivals, including Big Weekend, Glastonbury and T in the Park. I’ve been responsible for asking for recommendations from the local shows, sending these to a panel of presenters, producers and music experts for their opinions and then contacting the artists and confirming their availability once the line-up was chosen. I have also worked with the Introducing team to decipher to final running order at Big Weekend to ensure a variety across both days. The whole process was an extremely interesting and eye-opening experience, particularly because of my love for music and what better way to spend your day than by listening to a ton of new music! Of course, that isn’t all I do but I have spent the odd day here and there just browsing through the Uploader for some fantastic new music, which there is a huge abundance of out there.

I’ve also done a spot of writing for the BBC Introducing blog each week, listening to some more fantastic music that has made it onto the Introducing slot on the Radio 1 playlist and then writing about it. This job just gets better and better.

From working on 6 Music Festival, to Big Weekend in two weekend’s time, I’ve also been fortunate enough to work on Jo Whiley’s Sport Relief Challenge, the Radio 1 Academy, as well as looking ahead to Glastonbury, T in the Park and Radio 2 In Concert with Kylie this week!

With just days to go until I get on the train to Glasgow, the anticipation for the festival is building on the 8th Floor and across Glasgow it seems. Everybody is extraordinarily busy but also incredibly excited for the weekend and I feel truly inspired by the team I’m working with, with brains that can be best described as Big Weekend encyclopaedias! The creativity, organisation prowess and dedication of everybody working towards the event is admirable and I feel incredibly lucky to be doing my dream job surrounded by these people.

Onward to Glasgow!

 

The BBC at Festivals

With a breadth of media outlets attending the UK’s festivals each year, there is one broadcaster who stands in the forefront with the greatest presence at the country’s summer events. As one of the largest broadcasters in the world, the BBC is representing the British media worldwide, with their coverage of such events providing overseas viewers with a sense of our first-class festivals to rival the European and US counterparts like Snowbombing and Coachella.

As summer is fast approaching, the impending festival season is becoming increasingly anticipated, as it does year upon year. It is with no doubt that most of us will be unable to attend all of the festivals we wish to, resulting in relying on television, radio and online sources to provide us with all of the excitement from the events.

Over the upcoming four months, the BBC will bring us coverage of four of the top UK festivals, including what can arguably be described as the ‘Power 3’ of festivals.

Glastonbury, T In The Park and Reading & Leeds festival are undeniably three of the biggest music events of the calendar both in size and popularity. With multiple stages, there is something for everybody, with the BBC’s broadcasting outlets providing a sense of this.

In 2013 and post-Olympics Britain, the technological availability and advancements that the BBC are open to has allowed for an increase in output, which these festivals will make use of.

BBC Online was subject to a vast expansion in 2012 in order to show numerous events at the London Olympics. These capabilities will spread to this summer’s Glastonbury Festival in Worthy Farm, Somerset from 26th to 30th June, with plans in place to have cameras streaming live footage on its digital media players throughout the entirety of the weekend.

A statement released from the BBC at the start of the year by then Acting Director General, Tim Davie said, “[Our] ambition this year is to offer music fans unprecedented coverage of live music.”

“On desktop, mobile, tablet and connected TVs, we will bring BBC audiences closer to the music they love by offering a full performance or festival-goer experience for those who can’t be there.”

Not only do the BBC deliver content to viewers, they also deliver in providing festivals with highly sought-after performers. The ‘BBC Radio 1 & NME Stage’ at Reading & Leeds Festival as well as T In The Park is a renowned attribute of the festivals’ line-ups, presenting attendees with an abundance of the artists that listeners are accustomed to hearing every day on Radio 1. Fans of Bastille, Skrillex, Alt-J, Jake Bugg and BBC Sound of 2013 winners, Haim, will be pleased to see such acts at Reading & Leeds on the Radio 1 & NME Stage on the weekend of the 23rd – 25th August.

The long-standing BBC Introducing scheme also comes alive during festival season, with Reading, Leeds and T In The Park holding a stage specifically for the programme, which seeks to highlight and support under-the-radar artists into the public eye.

The BBC’s festival coverage will all commence on in the last weekend of May, when Radio 1 take their annual Big Weekend to Northern Ireland. This year the event will take place in Derry-Londonderry and for the first time, the festival will consist of three days of music starting on Friday 24th May. Olly Murs and Two Door Cinema Club are the only acts announced so far, with the rest of the line-up being announced at the start of May. All we do know is that the Main Stage will focus on dance music, with other stages being run by Radio 1’s sister-station, 1Xtra, and In New Music We Trust.

From delivering a vast extent of coverage of the summer’s hottest festivals, to organising their very own, the BBC are the leaders in supplying the nation with the musical highlights of the year. Without them, we would be left very out of pocket in our quest to experience the musical moments that they manage to deliver to our eyes and ears through the media.