I started work experience in Phoenix FM in the second week of February 2022. I started here as I enjoyed and as part of the work experience module I was taking, I had to work 12 weeks in a field in the media industry. I applied to Phoenix FM because I thought it would be interesting and be something that I would like to pursue in the future. I thought this because when I was in a PLC course for Music Performance & Sound Engineering, I also had to do 60 hours of work experience. During this time, I worked in Dublin City FM. This was another radio station, but it was situated in Dublin city. Phoenix FM was a lot closer as it was in Blanchardstown centre above Subway. It was closer than my college campus.
While working here, I learned a lot. I learned how to schedule shows while the shows were live on the air. I learned how to brainstorm a promotion for a show or event and a quick way to write a script. I also had the chance to make my own show, whether that be pre-recorded or live. I decided to do a pre-recorded show because if I messed up it could be easily edited and re-recorded if need be. At first, I was doing a show by myself. I was basing it off a segment of “The 2 Johnnies Podcast”. The segment was called “Dear Johnnies”. In this, listeners write in about their mad stories or experience and whichever one the johnnies like the most get a 2 Johnnies Podcast mug. But after the first week, my friend contacted me and asked if I wanted to be a guest on her show. We realised we had very similar ideas so we just said that we would be co-hosts and work on our show together. The show we would get inspiration from would be “2 Hot Takes”. In this podcast the 2 people read out posts from the sub Reddit page – r/AITA. After they discuss whether the person is wrong or not. That’s why we decided to call the podcast “Am I Wrong”. An episode will be released every Friday after half 12 and I can’t wait for you to hear it.
By Cian O’Dwyer