Audio Highlights
Our audio just gets better and better with several regular features starting to hit their stride:
Suzie Wilde has now completed six Wilde Walks. They’re short first-person accounts of Suzie’s country strolls with her labrador, Raine. Such a simple format, yet so delightful because of Suzie’s air of wonder and her way with words.
Richard Marks now provides a weekly weather outlook for the Petersfield area, drawing on his archive of local weather records and his knowledge of our town’s microclimate. He was right about the recent rain.
Thanks to our connection with Informed Choice, through Shelley McCarthy, we have introduced a weekly Money Minute presented by Martin Bamford. It’s full of information to help you manage money better, whether you have investments or simply want to keep on top of the daily cost of living.
Alan Cosh secured an invitation to a launch event at the workshop and showroom of Sheet-based Lanzante. The company holds a place in motorsport history and Alan’s report captures the sense of awe at the facility from neighbours and enthusiasts alike. Already, it’s our most listened-to report.
An absolute highlight, however, is the report by Nina Vennis from the Beltain Festival at Butser Ancient Farm. Nina’s piece conveys brilliantly all the energy and colour of the festival.
The festival organisers loved the report so much they “embedded” it on their own website…
How embedding works
Any report we make can be embedded on the websites of other organisations thanks to the OmnyStudio audio publishing platform. It’s a great way to get our stories out to a wider audience so make sure you offer this opportunity to interviewees and partners.
Our podcast
Thanks to everyone who auditioned for the podcast presenter roles. What amazing talent we have in Petersfield. After a lot of listening we can now confirm that the launch presenters for the show will be Claire Vennis and Joff Lacey.
Claire and Joff performed really confidently in the auditions, demonstrating true human curiosity in the interviews and an ability to present with punch and authority in the menu sequences. We just hope they get on well together!
We discovered lots of hidden talent in the process and others will have opportunities to present too. For example, Mandy Parent will introduce our local music segment and James Robbins will host sport.
The show will be called The P Pod and it promises to be bursting with everything Petersfield.
The name came from one of the suggestions in our Ideas Magnet and it reflects the fun and freshness of our project. It also tests well around our volunteers and with the industry pros we’ve consulted. Media branding specialist Charlie Mawer says it’s “just sweet” while Richard Gaisford calls it “clever, simple and memorable”.
Fundraising and impact
The team has completed a creative brief for the graphics we need to launch the podcast. Local designers Paul Martin and Nick Pye have kindly agreed to work on the look and feel of the project with us.
The fundraising and impact team is writing a prospectus to help potential sponsors understand our project and the value it can offer to the community and to their business. This is important work to help fund our project’s ambition.
If you know of a local business owner or private individual who may like to support our project financially please email team@petersfieldradio.uk
Distribution
On one level, radio is simple: you make stuff people want to hear and then put it in a place they can get it. It’s the second part of that equation we’ve been working on recently.
As a result, you can now hear our individual audio stories in a number of popular places including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify. Wherever you get your podcasts just search ‘Petersfield Stories’ or use this link from your device: https://podfollow.com/petersfield
One of the reasons for doing this now is to test ways we can distribute The P Pod, once it’s released. If you see something that doesn’t work or text that’s wrong please feed back to team@petersfieldradio.uk
Microphones
We now have four RØDE microphones and a multitrack recorder. This means we can record round-table style discussions with up to four particpants.
James Sutton, Stephen Martin, Dave Bowers, Colin Brook, Alastair Stewart and Tim Concannon spent last Friday evening learning how to rig the RØDE microphones and make recordings using the multitrack device.
Any of them can rig the kit now, so if you want to record an indoor discussion (Suzie’s book club idea springs to mind) then contact one of the gentlemen named above.
We’ve also made a geeky guide to using the equipment.
Schools Audio Day
Wednesday 26 June sees our four partner schools come together for a day of audio learning, hosted by Bedales.
We’ve secured audio producer James Stodd and accomplished radio journalist Jonathan Richards. Together with our project’s Stephen Martin they will help 20 students develop news writing and reading skills and learn how to write and produce effective radio promotional trailers.
This work is central to the social gain we aim to drive in the local community. In an age of fake news, learning radio technique can help young people distinguish between disinformation and fact, and develop skills that grow their future potential in Britain’s creative industries.
The Schools Together website carries more information about our work with local schools.
Social events
TPS Quiz and Curry Night
Don’t forget to join our Quiz Team for the event at TPS next Friday. Email dave@petersfieldradio.uk if you’d like to be part of it.
Suzie’s book launch
Our talented volunteer Suzie Wilde launches her latest book this Wednesday at One Tree Books on Lavant Street. Grab a ticket if you want to be part of the event.
That’s all for now – don’t forget that everything around you is a story. Take the initiative and, like Alan and Nina, get out there and make great radio.
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