The Life of a Publicity Intern

Afternoon bloggers, passersby and general members of the online community,

In this post, I shall be giving you an account of my wonderful month interning at the BBC Radio 1 Headquarters in London working for the Publicity and Press Office.

Well, where to start…what an absolutely fantastic, inspiring, challenging and awesome experience!  On my first day, I arrived at the Reception of Yalding House, the BBC headquarters, and was signed in by a very cheerful lady who told me to take a seat whilst she grabbed my soon-to-be manager. After a short wait, I was greeted by Miss Tamsin Morgan, Communications Manager in the Publicity team, who has the biggest smile I have ever seen and the best brummy accent. I felt at ease straight away and was given the grand tour of the building where I caught a glimpse of Fearne Cotton about to start her morning show (a definite highlight!). I also got alot of information about the history of Radio 1 and how record producers used to come to the building to see if their artists had made the infamous weekly playlist!

I was then shown to my desk and introduced to the rest of the team; the lovely Elin, Caren, Selina and Jason and then I was given a few admin tasks to do, but unlike other internships, this was about the only admin I was made to do all week! After the first few days, I was asked to write some Programme Information for the BBC website on topics such as the Radio 1 Big Weekend and the 30^th Anniversary of Bob Marley’s death. I loved doing this as it really threw me in to the deep end and to know that my work was going onto the website was really quite exciting.

Mid week, I was able to sit in with the extraordinary Greg James whilst he was covering for Scott Mills. If I am perfectly honest, I did not actually know what he looked like in real life and because he is so young, I genuinely thought he was also a fellow Intern until he started talking on air! After the first few words that he said, that was it, I was smitten! What a fantastic guy, he is so young yet he has achieved so much. During my time in the studio, It really made me realise how normal celebrities are and how approachable, willing to help and comfortable that they made me feel, especially Greg (swoooon!).

Whilst Greg was chatting away on air, I got a glimpse into the lives of his wonderful producers. As talented as Mr James is, he really does get endless support from his two producers who are the driving force in the shows success and co-ordination- all 3 of them, just lovely people!

Last Wednesday I was also able to sit in on the Panel meeting who decided what music makes the weekly playlist. This was very exciting as I got to preview lots of fabulous new music and also gain an insight into the ways in which they decipher which song is OUT and which song is IN!

My Internship happened to be at a very busy and exciting time with Radio 1’s Big Weekend only a few weeks away. This has meant that I have played a large part in a lot of the events publicity, especially the regional coverage from Carlisle and surrounding areas. BBC Introducing have selected ten new acts to perform at the big event in Carlisle and it was my job to make these performers known by the time they got there!! I therefore embarked on journey of building relationships with relevant local press, pitching ideas for stories about these bands to try and generate some coverage. This was an amazing opportunity for many a reason and I feel so excited and proud that I managed to get some of the bands coverage after all the hard work!

My month here has been exceptionally inspiring. The laid back and friendly atmosphere which floats around the BBC really does make you feel completely at ease, which in turn made me more successful, pushing myself to do some great things. All in all, it has been an invaluable experience, and I wish to come back here in the future….hire me?!

Peace, Love and Hugs Party People,

Olivia x