The end at Juice...

Well, with my last day at Juice having passed it seems the past four weeks really have flown by. The Vault has now expired, with this week (although not being there myself) featuring the 'Best Of' The Vault, and then onto 'Jonesy's Jukebox'.
With my research question having evolved over the weeks at Juice, from initially wanting to evaluate how the working atmosphere affects the quality of radio produced, to focusing more on advertising and its affect on radio produced.
After speaking at length with the office manager (Vicky) it transpires that the annual turnover at Juice and their profit/loss is suprising, full details of which will be in my full report. From this I may include more details RE the companies profitability and independant and/or publicly funded radio and how the broadcasting and aired shows differ due to funding/revenue earnt/given.

MayDay bank holiday Monday

Red Alert!

Arrived at Juice this morning to be greeted by locked doors and secret passwords with the apparently imminent threat of 'G20 prostestors' walking down through central Brighton and just smashing things.

On another note, being a bank holiday monday there are three of us in the office plus the BCTJ people. The clearout last week ghas created more space but there is no way (as we were told) that we wouldnt really be bothered by them, as there is a good size gaggle nattering away.

Approaching the end of the Month..

And this BCTJ course appears to be encroaching on our space further, to the point where we've lost half our office space. A bit more organisation on my part todayh, as well as giving liz (sales worker for juice) a hand with her filing as she basically hasnt done any for about a year, and I thought it would be a nice thing to do.

Done all my usual jobs for the morning that used to take me two hous in a little more than 45 minutes now (hence blogging at 10:52 AM!) so I'll probably setup some live reads or something.

Extremely relaxed into my position here now and made completely to feel like one of the team, but already the end is in sight. Just 7 working days left at Juice!

Oh, and because I haven't shared this with you for a while - Today's Vault..

Mc Hammer - Can’t Touch This
EMF - Unbelievable
Madonna - Vogue
Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby
Adventures of Stevie V - Dirty Cash
B52s - Love Shack

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Coooorrrrect! 1990!...

All change!

Just as I was packing up to go home...

It was announced that a BJTC Accredited course in Radio Presenting willbe moving in early next week, in what I now call 'my studio' for the next 12 weeks. The course is mainly post-grad and apparently very good, but never heard of it myself (doesnt mean it isnt good though...).. Should be interesting to see how they all get on, as it's the first time in the years it's been running that they have actually used the Juice premises. Since Juice have moved to a bigger and more central location it has almost certainly made it more accessible.

Today now as well as my regualr duties I'll probably lend a hand clearing some space and generally tidying up the workspaces and studios with vicki (office manager) as there seems to be a lot to do.

More later...

3rd Week at Juice

What's in Store for me this next week?

Well to be honest, I don't know. I'll start as normal.

Arrived at my usual time and have got down to compiling 'the vault', but Steve Jones (Air name - Jonesy) who I have been working most closely with is nowhere to be seen, despite having a show to go live with in an hour and a half (although the other guys in the office are wierdly calm) .

There has been a divide!!

Here at Juice we have a copious amount of space, and have 4 recording studios, one of which has been rented out to an internet based radio station called 'totallyradio'. They also share a small corner of the one massive open plan office down on the ground floor. However, this morning a massive divider has appeared, effectively separating them from us. Nobody 'officially' knows how it got there and the guys at totallyradio didn't seem best pleased.

This is interesting considering the space we've got, it seems so unnecessary to make a little cubicle for them. There has always been some tension between the two companies, despite the gratuitous space, including complaints about doors being closed 'too loudly' etc, so maybe this is just another development in an ongoing, small-time saga..?

So another week has nearly passed...

With the shocking announcment that The Vault (This is what I live for / create from 10-10:30) will be expiring in a weeks time, to be replaced with the greater still (read mediocre) 'Jonsey's Jukebox'.
The theory is that we will contact local busnesses who will then select two songs from the 80's, two from the 90's and two from the 00's, and of course get a free plug.
A longer day today, including visiting 'Wokmania' later to further the promotion Juice are doing for them (which will include broadcasting from the Wokmania building itself..) and hopefully sampling the goods...

The vault today:


Hanson - MmmBop!
Daft Punk - Around the world
White Town - Your Woman
Natalie Imbruglia - Torn
Gala - Freed from Desire
R Kelly - I Believe I can fly

And also in that year:



Saw TV premiers of Tellytubbies, South Park and Buffy the vampire slayer
The Spice Girls launch Channel 5
Michael Jackson’s first son is born
Titanic was the highest grossing film of the year, and ever(!)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park = # 2
Men in Black no 3
Jim Carry - Liar Liar
The (questionable..) Full Monty

Good guess! 1997!!

More drama at Juice

April 21st

Just goes to show how careful you have to be when advertising things on radio, or even giving stuff away. Despite having the live reads in audio and paper form, a competition winner is now challenging what was offered in the competition. The package was told to us at Juice as a 'full house' package - and then a list detailing what this would include. However, on the website of the promoter a 'full house' package details something completely different. So now the winner has checked the website of the promoter and seen the content of the package to be different, and naturally wants the superior product. a lot of grief is sure to follow...

It is apparent that the tardis-like building Juice currently broadcasts and produces from os benificial. The space is unreal and there are (at best) 5 or 6 of us in an open plan office space that would easily house 30 or 40 members of staff. working your way up the building (through again, a very wide and open staircase) the theme of 'light and airy' is continued, which again does bring a more relaxed feel. Staff have commented on how the large amount of space has positively affected their creativity, and affected their ability to work and happiness in the job. The only place it gets slighhtly cramped is in the studios, but there is still more than enough room for the one, two or three presenters at any time. the only problem being - the air-con in studio 2 stinks of fish, and the window is broken.

Today's vault for you all..

Before I was born, but still many epic tunes. Again, pushing it a little with the tracks I intend to play, but hey, it's all good fun.


David Bowie -Lets Dance
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Eddy Grant - Electric Avenue
Human League - (Keep Feeling) Fascination
UB40 - Red Red Wine
Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams



Also in this year..


In transport… Seatbelt use for drivers and front seat passengers became mandatory in the UK

In TV - the debut of the A- team

Madonna released her first ever album after signing to Warner Brothers

In a local sporting landmark, Brighton & Hove Albion faced Man U in the FA Cup final – forcing them into a 2nd leg in the days where it was still in place after a 2-2 draw, before getting trounced 4-0 in the return match.


Starwars VI - Return of the Jedi # 1

Bad Boys (One) was released, and Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. Superman III, starring Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor and Margot Kidder was also released in this year.

The most unfortunate but hilarious James Bond film title - Octopussy


So what was the year?












Again, WELL DONE!

1983!!

So after the weekend...

Overall a very productive, informative and generally enjoyable week last week. Settled in well and still got a list of things to do before the day is done. Looking forward to the coming week, seeing more of the juice 'factory' (although I'm pretty sure I've got a good, comprehensive knowledge of how it all works now). Might get released with the juice car (either a mazda MX5 convertable or a Suzi Vitara Wideboy...) in the coming week but I'll keep you posted. The last production assistant has gone AWOL with the juice mx5 (lost his position here at Juice while still in posession of the car, and they havent been able to get hold of him since...) so I think they are keeping an extremely beady eye on the Vitara...

Had a good hand in picking the songs today, and the phones went mad (well, four callers - ha) for our daily competition (today actually a pretty good prize - a pair of tickets to the new WWE RAW in London (o2 arena).

Found out we've got about 60,000 regular listeners on the daytime show (my main working area).


So..
Tracks for todays Vault...

Rembrandts - I'll Be There For You
Simply Red - Fairground
Coolio - Ganster's Paradise
Michael Jackson - Earth Song
Bobby Brown (feat. K-Klass) - Two Can Play That Game
and finally
Bjork - It's Oh So Quiet


And also from that year...

The OJ Simpson Trial begins on Live Tv, and Austria, Finland and Sweden enter the European Union.

Hollyoaks premiers on channel 4

Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson tied the knot

After a six year hiatus, the James Bond franchise returns with Pierce Brosnan’s 007 debut in GoldenEye

Toy Story = # 1 film

Batman Forever # 2 – Jim Carey and Tommy Lee Jones and the villains

Also saw the brilliant(?) 7even and the 2nd Die Hard Film – with a vengeance, and the not so brilliant Jumanji and Ace Ventura – When Nature Calls.



Can you guess which year?















That's right, 1995!



Thought I was pushing it a bit playing MJ - Earth song AND BJork - Oh So Quiet within a half hour, both rather 'marmite' songs, but generally a positive response.

Got 1983 tomorrow. It's always easier to decide which songs to play if they were actually released when you were born, but I'm sure there will still be some 'tunes' in there...

More on the production side today, and met 'bigbossman', Juice's MD. Everyone is still very friendly and they haven't got sick of me yet, although I've got a good routine going now. Particularly dry news day today (although is it ever going to be a 'wet' newsday when all you have to glean things from is The Sun, The Star, The Mirror, Metro, and the local rag, The Argus..?) . Also made a few pretty awesome sound beds on Adobe Audition which is pretty ace as should be using them later.

First few days at Juice

So, I arrived back in Brighton after a long (and uncomfortable) journey back from Falmouth in the audi (haha ruthless, unecessary plug there) and readied myself for an early morning start, on the bank holiday monday.

Upon checking my emails on sunday evening it transpired that I was not required to be in on Monday as most things are pre-recorded and there wouldn't be anyone in the office anyway.

Undaunted, I showed up bright and early on tuesday morning (well, the required 10am) and was greeted by a small, but apparently efficient and friendly team. I expected myself to be nervous, but following my interview with the team several weeks earlier I knew where the offices were and where they broadcasted from (North Street, Central Brighton incidentally) and had briefly met the team.

Basically I would be shadowing 'Jonesy', the new-ish daytime show (12-3) host. so far I have made not one cup of tea or coffee, but have assisted in general show production, including production of 'The vault' - a slightly cheesy 6 track / 30 minute feature where a year is selected at random from 1979-2009 and the required amount of song s must be sourced, a long with information, facts, soundbytes (from TV shows/films) from that year. The listener must then text/phone/email in with which year they think it is.

Also familiarised myself with the majority of the radio equipment which I feel more than happy and competant to use. Basically now walk straight in each morning and get down to it, with a few more tasks each day.

Now compiling some newsa items, the vault, recording tracks onto 'cuts' to be used for broadcast, and even recording a few things myself. 4 days in, going well.

More tasks / different duties await me next week I'm sure, but for now, I must go. Gotta cue up that next track...