If you run a college where journalism courses are offered, you have two options in terms of how you can give your students practical exposure. The first option is where you can set up a college radio station, with the intention of using it to give the students practical exposure in broadcast journalism. The second option is where you can partner with a local community radio station, to give your students practical exposure in broadcast journalism. The latter approach is what we will be focusing on, in today’s article.
That approach, of partnering with a local community radio station to give your students practical exposure, has certain advantages. For one, it is more cost-effective than setting up a college radio station. And secondly, it can give the students more meaningful exposure than a college radio station. You see, a community radio station is likely to have more listeners than a college radio station. Its operations are also likely to mirror real world radio journalism practices better than what is possible at a college radio station.
In using a community radio station to train journalists, you need to:
- Identify the specific community radio station you will be partnering with
- Approach the community radio station management with a partnership request
- Identify the students who are to train at the community radio station
- Orient the students properly, before dispatching them to the community radio station
The community radio station management may charge you a fee, for allowing your students to train at the station. These are fees that you can (usually) pay in cash, using a check, through a bank transfer, or through a credit card. Like if, having gone through the getmyoffer.capitalone.com application process you have a Capital One credit card, you can use it for the purpose. So you first respond, to get my offer from capital one. Then you use the card hence obtained to pay the fees demanded by the community radio station for the partnership in training your students.
All said and done, the most important thing is to ensure that you find a way of making the partnership between your college and the community radio station sustainable.