UCFB student Billy Farris recently completed a valuable one-week work experience with the popular sport radio station talkSPORT, where he worked as an assistant producer on their show Drivetime.
The BA (Hons) Sports Business & Sports Broadcasting student was responsible for researching talking points for the show, writing scripts and editing archive footage.
Asked how the opportunity to work for the radio station came about, Billy said: “My first year at UCFB taught me the importance of putting yourself out there and creating as many opportunities for yourself as possible. I contacted talkSPORT in January enquiring about potential summer work placements in radio production and I was able to send them some of the work I had done at UCFB alongside my CV.”
UCFB aims to provide all of its students with the qualifications and skills necessary to establish a successful career within the football, sport and events industries.
Adding how UCFB better prepared him for his placement with talkSPORT, Billy said: “I feel my first year at UCFB gave me a head start. Working on news days prepared me for the buzz of a live newsroom. Skills such as writing and editing that I’ve learnt in the last year also allowed me to make an impression on those at the station.”
Billy’s aspiration upon graduating from UCFB is to form a career within television and radio production, something which his experience with talkSPORT will definitely help him to achieve.
He added: “For five days I was surrounded by top professionals such as Jim White, Darren Gough and Sam Matterface, who all treated me like a full-time employee. I’m now talking with talkSPORT about potentially freelancing there in the future, which is proof of the opportunities just one work placement can open up for you. It also allows you to put what you have learnt at UCFB into practice within a real, high-pressure workplace.”
