NBS radio news graduate, Dave Earl, went straight to the national station, TalkSPORT, after his course. A professional tennis coach and an aspiring comedy performer, Dave’s now one of TalkSPORT’s senior producers: the award-winning Alan Brazil Breakfast Show is part of his brief. Here are his thoughts:

When my alarm goes off at 3.30am, I wish I’d listened more in school and was now a brain surgeon. But after about ten seconds of pondering the frontal lobe, I change my mind and thank God I didn’t listen to those teachers because I’ve ended up with a great job: producing the biggest commercial radio show in the UK. We’re on between 6am and 10am every weekday morning and we have recently won ‘Best Radio Show’ award at a back-slapping trophy night …… somewhere or other! I can’t remember!

The set-up of the show is all-important. It’s called preparation and it’s essential even on a station as informal as TalkSPORT. The station relies heavily on choosing the right topic for a phone-in debate, and then finding great guests. We’re about being relevant and controversial. Sometimes we’re blessed with a story which is absolutely right for TalkSPORT and which lands in our lap: Steve McLaren leaving the England job, for example. But, other times, we need to make the news and source the best guests.

After choosing the right topic/s for Alan, we producers get down to the research. There’s never enough time. We then structure the show so that as many angles as possible are heard. Alan’s Breakfast Show is four-hours long so we have plenty of opportunity to ‘air’ many perspectives and to move the show on. Good news judgement and good contact are essential because new news stories break regularly whilst we are ‘on air’. We then have to find new contributors – eye-witnesses, experts and so on.

Our production resources are okay but nothing like the BBC at breakfast. We don’t have the licence fee! So, behind the scenes of the breakfast show there are three researchers working during the day to book programmes. Whilst the show’s on air, there are two presenters, (both brilliant, they say) one senior producer (Me!) , two assistant producers and a technical operator to push buttons!

All of us have a very clear idea of the typical TalkSPORT listener. We like to think that we know what they’re doing and thinking and we design the editorial and produce the show accordingly. Are most of them really in white vans?

We producers also need to know how Alan and his co-presenter, Ronnie Irani, the former Essex and England cricketer, will react to various stories. Which topics grab them and generate their enthusiasm and passion? When stories break, we need to brief them quickly and make sure they ask the right questions.

How did I start after graduating from the NBS three years ago? I began by answering the phones. I saw plenty of people come and go but I had the right attributes and personality, so I stuck at it. First, I loved the station and the atmosphere. Second, I am a news and sport junkie. I’m also calm and flexible by nature. I have a great contacts book. I’ve got a good news judgement and I’ve always been able to make decent split-second decisions.

Catherine Whale found herself starring with ‘soap’ celebs in panto in Peterborough this Christmas. Already a well-known local personality because of her Morning Show on Lite FM, she morphed seamlessly from radio dj to Princess Sweetpea in Jack in the Beanstalk. And, she’s says, she’s never had so much fun – behind the mic and on the boards. Catherine trained to be a radio dj at the National Broadcasting School. Here, she writes of her journey.

When I sent off my application for the Presentation and Production Course at the National Broadcasting School, I never would have imagined that it would lead to a night out with David Beckham, a face-to-face encounter with Tory leader, David Cameron, and a lead role in a pantomime alongside well-known TV personalities.

How wrong was I! Since graduating from NBS, I’ve worked for a number of stations up and down the country as a presenter and broadcast journalist. I’ve reported from courtrooms, gone undercover to investigate stories a la Donal McIntyre, spoken to listeners from all walks of life and interviewed celebrities whose posters I used to have on my wall as a teenager.

Glamorous? Showbiz? To a certain extent it is, but I’d be lying if I said that it’s all been plain sailing.

Long hours, missing out on social events with friends and family, covering shifts at late notice, staying in B&B’s which could easily be mistaken for Bates’ motel in Psycho, waking up at the ‘hour ridiculous’ to work on a breakfast show…it might not sound like everyone’s cup of tea but when a ‘job’ doesn’t actually feel like ‘work’, when you get up in the morning looking forward to the day ahead, it’s no wonder that the industry is so competitive.

I’ve lost track of the number of times that I’ve sat in the studio, pinching myself, to think, I get paid to chat and play music for a living. At school that sort of behaviour would end up in detention!

Salary wise, I can’t afford a Porsche yet… but, I can honestly say, there’s nothing else in the world I would rather be doing.