Advice From Hack To Student

Alan Soady’s career in Radio has gone from strength to strength. He has worked for Radio Tyneside, BBC Radio Kent and Galaxy Radio in various locations. When I finally get to speak to him, he’s in a busy BBC office in Marylebone. The building he’s in has been besieged by a media scrum, following a meeting between the BBC director and Jonathon Ross over his phone messages to Andrew Sachs – a hot media topic at the moment. I get the feeling staff there feel harassed by the fact that they have been effectively blocked in for several hours, and are anxious for the press mob to leave. Alan seems to find the whole situation amusing, “A friend of mine who works for Sky News is outside, waiting for the Director to come out. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s sneaked out the back, but someone should really go and tell them that he’s gone, otherwise they’ll be out there for hours.” He barely stifles a laugh, and something in his voice tells me he’s not so concerned that he’s going to go outside and tell anyone anything.

At just 29, Alan is a Senior Broadcast Journalist at BBC Radio London. An impressive title for someone who has only been in radio for six years, though he is quick to tell me, “Officially I’m just a Broadcast Journalist really but for a while I’ve been acting Senior Broadcast Journalist.” He pauses to think, as I ask, what should I say then? “Oh, go on… Just say I’m a Senior Broadcast Journalist, that’s what I’m doing at the moment anyway”

When we get down to the nitty gritty, Alan is full of ideas about what makes a really good journalist. “There’s no such thing as a dictionary definition of a good reporter. There are different types and they are good in different ways. Some people are really good at getting exclusives and digging into stories, and others can take boring content and make it into a creative and original piece.” He recounts two journalists which fall into these categories and continues, listing key skills which he thinks are essential for journalists, “Confidence and intelligence helps, and you have to be sharp. In broadcast you need to have the capacity to bullshit. You need to think on your feet, as sometimes you go live and know very little about the story. I can’t think of a better word to describe it, you literally just have to bullshit sometimes.”

“I think the most important thing is to be friendly to people, whether they are the press, PR people or just interviewees. People will trust you and you’ll get a lot more out of them if you are open and friendly, you won’t get very far if you approach people aggressively.” We end the conversation after a lengthy 20 minutes, and I put the phone down feeling positive and enlightened. Clearly being friendly and open is something that Alan fully endorses in his own work.

A Life In The Day...

I generally wake up at 7.30am, as I like to feel unpressured about getting ready. I get dressed, go downstairs, have toast and a cup of tea with my parents, and I take my tablets as we discuss who is doing what during the day. Sometimes my sister joins us, and we’ll talk about her night out or what she has planned for the weekend. After breakfast I spend at least 30 minutes staring at my reflection and trying to make myself look decent enough to go out in public. I check my emails and some forums that I belong to, and listen to some music. The music differs depending on my mood but recently I’ve been really into INXS, Duran Duran and Depeche Mode.

I’ll take one last look in the mirror before I set foot outside the house at about 8.45am. If I’m not feeling too confident I’ll put some shades on and add another layer of clothing. My mum drives me to the tube station, and I wait at the end of the platform for the train. I have done the journey so many times I know exactly where to stand on the platform to get the right train carriage so I don’t have to walk far when I get to King’s Cross. On the train I’ll sit on the seat nearest to the door, so that I don’t have to sit next to TWO random people. I put my music on and do my best angry face; that way there is no way that anyone would possibly want to speak to me or irritate me. The journey usually goes without incident but occasionally I get stuck in a tunnel because of “a person under a train”, which is annoying at the best of times.

When I get to Elephant and Castle it’s about 10 o clock. I cross the road and have a smoke, pondering life and being pretentiously philosophical inside my head. I get into the London College of Communication and queue up to get a coffee at the Costa café. I barely have to utter words; I always have a Mocha, the staff know me so well by now. I put two sugars in – brown, not white - and find myself a comfortable seat. By now my friend Jamie has arrived. He sets up camp with me, and we spend the next half an hour gossiping and bitching. He always has a new boyfriend, a new script idea or something-or-other that he’s excited about, so I listen intently to him talking.

We go upstairs at about 10.30am and sign in with our tutor. The rest of the day is filled with brainstorming, storyboarding, filming, debating, interviewing actors or making props, depending on how far along we are with our project. Sometimes we have a lecture; they tend to be really boring, apart one where the lecturer was naked (though he clutched a newspaper around his crotch so as to protect his dignity) on stage with a cabbage on his head. That was possibly the most surreal teaching experience I’ve ever had.

At lunch time – around 1pm – me, Jamie and some other friends from my class will go to the cafeteria and grab a bite to eat. We’ll sit at our legendary Costa spot so we can spy on people and talk about the people in our class or how our work is going. I usually leave LCC at about 4pm. Generally we don’t really have working hours, so sometimes if I am fed up I leave earlier, or if I’m grafting away I don’t leave till about 7pm. I’ll get home at about 6 in time to have another cup of tea with my parents and then eat dinner. Usually we have chicken, as I hate fish and lamb, and my sister doesn’t like beef too much. We sometimes have a family TV session where we’ll watch Heroes/Grey’s Anatomy/Desperate Housewives. Otherwise, I spend the rest of the night on internet forums and Facebook, playing computer games like The Sims, or learning PHP and working on some websites I’m making.

I have trouble sleeping, and am easily distracted, so I will get to bed no earlier than 2am most nights, and then I’ll get up at 7.30 again.