BBC news programme recognises LJMU student broadcaster

Oli’s lifelong interest in music and radio programming has paid off. A recent graduate of the Audio and Music Production course at LJMU, Oli has been nominated for an award in the Student Broadcaster of the Year category for BBC Radio 4 Today programme’s Student Journalism Awards. Out of thousands of entries, Oli’s work was chosen by Radio 4 presenter, John Humphrys and Deputy Editor of The Times, Emma Tucker.

Using the production and journalistic skills gained from both his modules and his work placement at CBBC Newsround, Oli created and submitted a documentary about the popularity of the Big Band sound of the 1930’s as well as storylines for other Newsround pieces including an autobiographical documentary about his experiences coping with albinism.

He explains how his childhood hobby developed into a career aspiration: “I have always enjoyed radio; I use to make tape recordings in my bedroom as a kid presenting shows and borrowing my mum’s records – mainly Queen! At college I also had a spot on the in-house radio station. When I was at university I looked at other aspects of radio rather than just music programming. I got to grips with pitching ideas and researching subjects thoroughly to create my own documentaries, even using the technical skills I built up to experiment with immersive 3D sound for radio.”

Upon receiving his invitation to the awards ceremony at the BBC’s headquarters in London he said: “I am absolutely thrilled, it is a wonderful privilege to get this far knowing that my work has been recognised by well-respected and experienced journalists. It has given me a huge boost of confidence so much so I am coming up with new ideas and I have also been invited to attend seminars such as those taking place at Google News in London.”

If, like Oli, you’re interested in finding out where studying media technology could take you, take a look at the courses within the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering. The Liverpool Screen School also offer courses in journalism.

Photo: Oli with ITV newsreader Charlene White.