Work Club 2022-2023 (Manchester)

The Gaydio Academy Work Club, in partnership with Manchester City Council, delivered radio and work skills training, peer support and mentoring to help jobless people from Greater Manchester find secure employment and training. All participants benefited from one-to-one support, work experience and volunteering opportunities.

Each intensive round of training delivered five informal training sessions over a single week at our Manchester Academy HQ. Training focused on:

Course Layout

1. Introduction to radio and how to become a radio presenter

2. Show content

3. CV skills workshop, job search & news presenter skills

4. Other roles in radio & music

5. A one-to-one session exploring the next stage progression tailored to participant's specific needs, including the creation of a three-minute demo for future use.

Radio Demo

The end goal of this week was for each participant to produce a short demo that they could take away with them. The demo was designed to be similar to a Gaydio presenter's delivery (Opener, Sense of the Day, Competition Read), with an additional added news piece to finish off. Below is Jake's demo:

News Demo

During one session, participants took part in creating a news report from scratch and recorded this live. Taking current news stories, they constructed a journalist layout to present this on-air. Individually, they recorded then edited this down to the final feature. Please see below one example created and voiced by Rhys:

Testimonials

• I'd like to say a huge thank you to Lee for everything this week and giving me placement and opportunity. I've learnt a whole new skill set and alot about radio industry too and that's all with huge huge thanks too you. I honestly can not thank you enough for your time and dedication put into all of us during this course
  
  Participant from course
  Manchester
• Lee and the Gaydio staff are a force to be reckoned with. They know their stuff and you truly believe you are in good hands with the knowledge you receive valuable and very informative delivered in a fun way that makes you take every bit in. If I could I would go on every course Gaydio holds. Definitely made me want to join and work in radio more. Enjoyable from start to finish and hopefully I have made friends for life with the staff and other students. You feel when you attend you are joining the Gaydio family. I look forward to coming back in for a catch-up.
  Participant from course
  Manchester
• The atmosphere at the Gaydio Academy is absolutely positive and vibrant compared to anywhere I have been. It helps when everyone at Gaydio is friendly and evoking positive vibes, including the employees working at Gaydio. The course tutor, Lee, is friendly, patient and helpful. I learned more about creating C.V.s, which the job centre failed and didn't bother to teach me about over the years. Lee is gracious enough to give me feedback and tips on how to improve my C.V.
  Participant from course
  Manchester
• I learned more about what actually goes on behind the scenes when it comes to recording and going on live on the radio. Furthermore, I learned that radio is another method for distributing journalism which I didn't know about before joining the course. I highly recommend this course to anyone who dreams of getting a foot in the radio industry or have grandeur dreams of being a full-fledged, professional journalist in the future.
  Participant from course
  Manchester
• All very good. Extremely informative and engaging well with all the students. Thank you again.
  Participant from course
  Manchester
• An exciting and extremely helpful course filled with tips, skills and great advice to advance your professional career. Excellent👏👍💯
  Participant from course
  Manchester
• I have been a part of many courses over the years and I found Lee to be personable, knowledgable and really encouraging. I learnt a broad mix of elements that make a radio station, so it's not just about presenting. Invaluable course and can't thank Lee enough!
  Participant from course
  Manchester
• Mega cheers for today Lee. Loved it and I like your training style. It didn't feel like a course at all. Considering some of the courses I have been on working for the Police before I retired. Some of them can bore you to sleep, Haha But seriously thankyou. After I did the bit recording I felt a sense of like ‘hell yeah I can do this if I work on 'X', 'Y' and 'Z’ So thank you!
  
  Participant from course
  Manchester