Rhedwyr mewn Radio
Radio is an important sector, made up of national, local, commercial, community, hospitals and student radio stations with Restricted Service Licences (RSLs). That said, radio employs surprisingly few people - some commercial stations have fewer than 10 members of staff.
Most people who build careers in radio start as volunteers or on work experience, so there are few openings for Runners. Only the very largest contributors to the industry (e.g. BBC Radio 1) employ regular Runners and most of these come via the BBC's central work experience scheme.
Many national and local stations absorb work experience students or volunteers into their teams. In some independent radio stations there are Runners who help out producers with a view to becoming producer's assistants. Broadcast Assistant is a more common entry-level role.
Skillset works alongside The Radio Academy and other relevant organisations through the Radio Skills Development Forum (RSDF).
Runners say
"It's quite physical - I'm always running between buildings."
"It's a great way to learn about radio processes. People are helpful if you are prepared to put the work in, and help out in your own time."
"It's essential to be really organised - you have to prioritise all of the time. It helped that I really knew my way around the BBC."
"It's completely different to TV - much smaller scale - and very hard work. Much more demanding than a TV Runner job. I'm the only one doing all the hospitality."
"Most of the time I'm dealing with CDs, clips and sound effects for production teams. I deal with all the post - loads of demos. There's a lot of admin."