Overall experience @ 6towns radio

Considering I went into my work experience at 6towns with no expectations, I am more than pleased with the opportunity that I was given. I only spent 6 days ironically at 6towns and Dan managed to cater all of my needs, by putting me in an overwhelming variety of different shows with different hosts. However the show which I enjoyed the most would have to be Lucee Clarkes 'Radicals Rising' show, as it was more catered to my needs for what I aspire to do in the nearby future. I also enjoyed the Slagg Brothers show as their feature was a different planned out theme each week. The week in which I happened to be in was in their 70's British Rock feature. On the other hand, you also have Dan Townleys enthusiastic breakfast show, which plays some good tunes and some embarrassing ones as well to say the least... Every member of 6towns radio are lovely individuals, and I didn't feel uncomfortable or not at ease around any of the presenters.

I'm still shocked that I went on air on my first day, even if it was just me saying;

"I'm ok thank you, how are you?"

Or...

"Morning"

I'd definitely recommend going out of your way to get some work experience at 6towns radio as it is a fun and friendly environment to be in, and you're surrounded by supportive presenters that make you feel at ease. When you're on air, it isn't as terrifying as you may think, as the presenters converse with you on the show, and it just feels like you're having a casual conversation. Therefore, if you have any interest in having a future which is relative to music I would 100% recommend that you do it at 6towns. I contacted them via phone and e-mail. Here are their details -

Phone : 01782816362

E-Mail : studio@6towns.co.uk

To look at further contact details just visit their website -

www.6towns.co.uk

Thank you to all of the members of staff for having me, it has been a pleasure X

 

Radicals Rising @ 6towns Radio - 05.07.15

After completing my Mon-Fri week sitting in a variety of different shows, Dan offered me something a little bit different to do on Sunday... On Sunday, Lucee Clarke does a show called 'Radicals Rising' where she interviews bands and plays local musicians on her radio show. Considering I'm aspiring to be a music journalist, this would obviously help me out a lot as I can get a taste as to what it is like to interview musicians. Lucee told me to do some background research on the bands in which we were going to interview, and prepare a few questions that I could ask them on air.

Before anybody came into the studio Lucee put me on air, and we spoke about the local musicians Magna Collider's gig on the Saturday. We also spoke about the local Stoke music scene, my blog and who I was there to support at Magna Collider; I was there to support my friends band 'Part-Time Insomniacs'. Lucee's show runs from 16:00-18:00, so at 16:15 Joe Symes & the Loving Kind entered the studio. Joe Symes & The Loving Kind are from Liverpool, so they said they didn't particularly have a good trip up to Stoke, due to the rain. First of all they played a live tune on the radio, and it was called 'Fools Talking'. They used; bongos, an acoustic guitar, backing vocals and obviously the main vocals. However, they oddly sounded like Oasis/Beady Eye - leading that to be another question to add to my list. They said how they have written an impressive 160-170 songs, and they like all of their songs to be very diverse. Joe Symes & The Loving Kind said how they like a change of genre between albums, for instance; this new album that they have brought out is a lot more heavier compared to their first album, and their new single which they performed is a taste of what  is yet to come on their next album. Lucee asked them why they decided a sudden change in genre and they said it "just happened, it was a natural thing." The songs which inspired their new & heavier stuff were 'Falling Dawn' and 'Love is the Reason'. 

Questions 

LC - "What is your favourite track?"

JS&TLK - "It changes all of the time, and it depends on the gig; according to the audience. However, at the moment it must be our new songs, 'Call Out To You' & 'Fools Talking'. 'Every Day, Every Night' is also one of our favourite tracks."

At this point, Lucee asked me if I had any question for Joe Symes & The Loving Kind. Therefore I obviously asked them they were influenced or perhaps inspired by Oasis... I know that there are many mixed opinions out there on the Gallaghers, but considering they played at Noel Gallaghers after party I thought it would be ok to ask them this question. However, they didn't respond very well to it, they looked rather insulted and they were very defensive on my remark. I do not regret asking them this question, as it was good to get a taste of what it's like to have a difficult band, and how to over come their response. Lucee took over, and changed the subject completely - which I obviously appreciated.

LC - "Considering you have got a lot of fans in the US, which venue would you like to play in?"

JS&TLK - "Perhaps Whisky a go go in LA, as The Doors played there. Or House of Blues in 

Chicago."

LC - "Where would you be dying to play in the UK?"

JS&TLK - "We haven't played in Stoke yet, but we have played in London with Bloc Party & Alt J. We would love to play at Glastonbury."

ME - "Where do you see yourselves in 5 years time?"

JS&TLK - "At Glastonbury and living comfortably..."

LC - "If you could have anything in your dressing room, what would you have in your dressing room?"

JS&TLK - "Flask of tea, a subway, a crate of Fosters (Joe Symes said Fosters, however his friend begged to differ)... or a better quality beer."

At 17:00 Revolver entered the studio, and surprisingly they had been listening to the show before they even came on! Revolver are a 5 piece band from Birmingham, and this was their first ever time having an interview on radio and they were very appreciative of Lucee sparing her time. They all met at school apart from Dan, and they created the band 2 years ago. Their main influences are Oasis, Kasabian and The Jam. Their best gig so far was their first album launch in February. They said it's because they had a positive reviewer on their album launch and they stood at the back, rubbing their chin. However the reviewer was the least of their concerns, they said it's more nerve-racking trying to get the crowd to come to the front and dance. They also played with blossoms, on the other hand they said how it was an experience getting changed, as they had to get changed in the corridor - meanwhile the blossoms had a nice dressing room to do their changing in.

I asked Revolver why did they choose that particular beatles album for their name, and they were very surprised that I gathered that was the reason they were called Revolver. They said that when Oasis split up, they thought that a Liam Gallagher would call his new band a Beatles-inspired name. However, obviously he picked beady eye, so they saw that as a flash of flight & decided to call themselves that. They also said they've got their very own Bez!! (Happy Mondays) as they have a guy who comes to every single gig called Pete who break dances, and dances at the front at EVERY GIG.

Revolver were a really nice band to interview as they spoke a lot, and I thought that they were really genuine guys. They are supporting the Milbrookes @ The Rainbow in Birmingham on the 29th of September, so if you're heading that way pop in to go and see them!

I really appreciated this experience as it is what I hope to do in the future, and I got a taste of it first hand. Lucee also gave me some tips too, which were obviously very helpful. Thank you ever so much for letting me sit in and participate in on your show Lucee, it is very much appreciated. X

6towns Radio - 03.07.15

So today I got in the studio for 7:50am, as I was on the breakfast show with Dan. Max and Ruby. This was show day. We agreed that Dan would do the first half an hour of the show then Me, Max and Ruby would do half an hour each until the show commenced at 10am. When it was my turn to do the show at 9:00am I panicked, because there was so many things to remember with the controls; yet they are so simple! Dan assisted me with the mics; I did the music and jingles and obviously introduced the songs, and I also kicked off a conversation for 5 minutes or so. Surprisingly, the time went ever so fast.

The songs that I played within my half an hour were;

• The Libertines - Don't Look Back Into The Sun
• The Stone Roses - Sally Cinnamon
• Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
• Amy Winehouse - Love Is A Losing Game
• The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
• Happy Mondays - Kinky Afro
• Oasis - Cigarettes & Alcohol

As you can see, I only managed to play 7 songs within my half an hour - when you listen to your favourite songs, time goes ever so fast anyway. Therefore I was surprised at how fast the time passed by. The feature that I discussed was "Things That Annoy You, But They Shouldn't" and I asked the listener on the radio to phone in/tweet or e-mails us, in response to "Things That Annoy You, But They Shouldn't" - and then we had people tweeting back saying about; incorrect punctuation and incorrectly spelled signs etc...

However; when Ruby was doing her set, the next presenter couldn't make it in. Therefore we are now covering their set too!! On the other hand, I'm less nervous and more excited, now I know what I'm doing! This has been a very captivating experience and I'm glad I had managed to get the opportunity to be apart of it and I've met some amazing people along the way, this has definitely been an experience that I'm never going to forget. I will also be assisting Lucee Clarke on 'Radicals Rising' on Sunday 05.07.15. This will be interesting as I will get to watch her interview some bands and I am also getting given the opportunity to ask the bands some questions which I'm also looking forward too. I would definitely recommend getting in touch with 6towns for some work expeirence if you are planning on having  a music-related career. 

You can contact 6towns via:

E-Mail - studio@6towns.co.uk

Number - 01782 454180

Twitter - @6TownsRadio

Facebook - 6Towns Radio

To tune in just search : www.6towns.co.uk/listen.html

Or download the App : 6 Towns

6towns Radio - 02.07.15

Today was another late start at 10am, however because I came in a few minutes early I managed to intervene on the discussion we had; in which Dan was appalled at us all for not knowing the Group 'Five'. Also I managed to hear the last of Ruby's five guilty pleasures, which was rather entertaining. At 10am I sat in with the Slagg Brothers, which was an experience to say the least... No, I'm only joking! Dean, Dom and Noel are lovely, such a funny bunch of blokes! They have a theme every week, and this week it was British 70's Rock. I recommended several songs that appeared amongst their choice of 25.
My choices were;
Boys are Back in Town - Thin Lizzy.
Ace of Spades - Motorhead.
Who Are You? - The Who.
After the many different topics that they discussed on the radio, once we finished at 12pm we had a quick picture; I was bewilderingly unaware of the 'I <3 Justin Bieber' sign ok.

6towns Radio - 01.07.15

Today was a short and sweet day. I had a late start at 10am and an early finish at 2pm. Me and Ruby did the final show planning and discussed which artists/songs we were going to play when we were going to take over Dan Townley's breakfast show on Friday. We also negotiated what features we were going to include and we decided on Ruby playing the 'Yes or No' game and I was going to have a open conversation about 'Things That Annoy Us, But They Shouldn't' and get the listener involved. Then at 12pm-2pm I sat in Rich 'The Man' Hughes show, which was covered by Tom Carlin. I enjoyed this set as it played loads of music that I'm into and there wasn't a lot of typical hits on there, 6towns has such a huge selection of music choices due to so many different presenters; there is a real variety.

6towns Radio - 30.06.15

Today at 6towns we had another early start at 8am, therefore we were on the Dan Townley breakfast show again; from 8-10am. On the breakfast show I exploited my top five guilty pleasure songs which were eventually played later on in the show. My top five guilty pleasure songs that I had chosen were; James Blunt - 1973, Taylor Swift - Blank Space, Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk, James Morrison - You Make It Real and to close off my fantastic choice of guilty pleasures was James Blunt - Goodbye My Lover. Yet again Dan ended up playing three of my song choices from the same artist in a short period of time, due to James Blunt - Bonfire Heart following my two chosen James Blunt songs. On the other hand, they weren't back to back like the Stone Roses were yesterday. However this time he was even more displeased as James Blunt doesn't tend to be everybody's cup of tea... After that Dan did a phone interview with Pat Monahan, the comedian which was intriguing ...Nice bloke, however I still beg to differ on his overwhelmingly positive opinion on Stoke-On-Trent. Later on in the day Dan showed us how to use the controls for when me and Ruby take over the breakfast show on Friday the 3rd of July - which should be rather interesting...

6towns Radio - 29.06.15

I am an aspiring music journalist, so therefore I decided that perhaps it would be a good idea to get some music-related work experience. I rang up a few places; 6towns radio being one. I was excited, all the while simultaneously incredibly anxious. So this morning I woke up at 5am as there was no way that I was going to be late. (There is no chance  that I am going to create a bad first impression!) This resulted in me ending up in Burslem almost an hour early. After waiting around and getting to know the area at 7am, it was time. I was greeted with a friendly welcome from Dan; the breakfast show host from 8am-10am. Once I had taken a seat downstairs we were shortly accompanied by Ruby, who was also here to do work experience; this made me feel a lot more at ease. We had a small introductory chat about what the hosts do at 6towns and about the building ect... Then we saw Dan introduce the breakfast show. Later on, when me and Ruby began to gain some more confidence and felt a bit more at ease, Dan played the game 'Guess the Year'. If you don't already know what that is; it is where the host picks 5 songs from a specific year and the listener has to contact the radio station, guessing the year. For instance, in my case; I picked the year of 1989. Dan picked 5 songs and I persisted that The Stone Roses should be among the 5. Therefore 3 of The Stone Roses songs were unusually played back to back, as I requested. Dan played - 'I Wanna Be Adored', 'Fools Gold' and 'This Is The One'. Instead of playing only 5 songs, I'm not sure if Dan noticed but he actually ended up playing 6! Oops! Surprisingly, I actually went on air! I don't know whether it was the warm environment or the relaxed atmosphere, but something made me oddly feel really comfortable. I didn't really know what to expect in all honesty, but I definitely did not expect to go on air on my first day! I didn't mind it though, because I felt overwhelmingly comfortable. I guess now, I'm just intrigued and excited to see what the rest of the week ahead of me is going to consist of.