The BBC Academy Podcast

Denise Roach talks to three radio studio managers, Ian Deeley, Bob Nettles and Ian Painter, about why the studio manager is so integral to speech, news and other radio recordings. They give their tips on sound recording and editing for anyone wanting to create great sound, whether they’re a radio producer or a bedroom based podcast maker. The panel also talk about routes into the studio manager role, and explain how there are many similar career paths in the commercial sector, including working with audio outside of radio altogether.

The second of two podcasts on storytelling for natural history programmes. Ben Toone talks to the BBC Natural History Unit's Jonny Keeling about storytelling for children's programmes and Steve Greenwood about BBC Two's Natural World series. Ben also talks to the BBC Academy'€™s Hazel Marshall, who teaches storytelling acoss the BBC. She gives her take on why storytelling is important, the process of finding a good story and offers some tips for programme makers.

In the first of two podcasts on storytelling for natural history programmes, Ben Toone talks to producers James Honeyborne, Verity White and Rupert Barrington of the BBC's Natural History Unit in Bristol, who all worked on one of the unit’s most celebrated landmark series, Africa.

With the likes of Mary Beard and Lucy Worsley now appearing regularly on air, this week's podcast hears from three guests who examine the challenges of being an expert woman in the broadcast industry. Denise Roach is joined by experts Tina Miller, Charlotte Connelly and Sally Marlow, who each found themselves in the spotlight after attending the BBC Academy Expert Women event. They tell us about their experiences, give some advice and talk us through what it takes to be an expert woman on TV and radio.

With the likes of Ricky Gervais now moving to producing content exclusively for YouTube, and with global companies like Intel and Toshiba funding social media driven dramas, many in the traditional broadcast industry are asking 'Where next for drama and fiction in broadcasting?'. BBC Academy did its best to provide a few tentative suggestions in its latest open forum, the Fusion Future Fiction day, held at BBC Broadcasting House last week. The day set out to explore how technology, emerging themes and audience habits are changing the art, craft, science and business of storytelling on screens large and small, and BBC CoP went along to hear the questions, debates and ideas put forward.

For many programme makers and viewers, the word 'archive' conjures up images of flickering black and white footage and grainy recordings dug up in a dusty library. But good archive can come from many sources and offer productions a rich and immersive window onto the past as well as giving contemporary stories a new perspective. This week, Denise Roach talks to radio producer Heather Davies, freelance producer and director Nico Wasserman and senior researcher Amanda Keir about the varied and often challenging world of using archive in your production.

Making the break into paid, professional radio can be hard. So if you’re broadcasting on community, student or hospital radio or producing your own podcasts, how do you get into paid employment in the sector that you love? Sophie Lording gets some tips from radio presenter Sean Thorne, freelance comedy producer Dave Cribb and BBC Radio's James Cook, Maggie Ayre and John Byrne at the Student Radio Association's training in Bristol.

What are the secrets of successful independent budget film making, and if you're not born with a silver spoon in your mouth, how do you take your fledgling film to the next level? Simon Smith is joined by film makers Dominic Brunt, Marc Price and Chris Jones, who share their experience of the many decisions film makers need to make about kit and post production and offer their advice to budding film makers on how to get those distribution deals, film festivals and competitions.

Controller of BBC Information & Archives Sarah Hayes, senior media manager Elaine Narrie and freelance director of photography Chris Jones join Simon Smith to discuss the challenges of managing your media successfully. Digital files offer huge potential for film-makers to access and share material on an unprecedented level and to collaborate around content from the early stages of a project. Yet that potential can only be realised if teams put some sort of media management plan in place from the outset of a production.

Science presenter Michael Mosley and development producer Helen Docherty talk to Sophie Lording about how we can make engaging science television. They discuss how to find and develop an idea, finding the right format and presenter and how to communicate the science in a way that the audience understands without dumbing down the subject.