Whilst growing up in Cumbria, getting into the music industry became my ambition. A combination of building a magazine portfolio and reaching out to ‘Soundwave Cumbria’ has brought that dream of showcasing the best unsigned and emerging talent closer to becoming a reality.
Music has always been a passion of mine. I began by writing pieces for online music magazines ‘Mind Noise Network’ and ‘Wail Music Mag’. I have attended over 40 gigs including festivals since studying in Manchester, and have reviewed most of these for my university magazine ‘aAh!’. This has given opportunities to showcase unsigned talent. In addition to working with ‘aAh!’, I have also written for online music magazine ‘Indie Is Not A Genre’ and ‘The Pentatonic’. Furthermore, I have worked with female musician focused magazine ‘LOCK’ on both their online and recent volume in their print edition. I also managed to personally arrange interviews with some of the best new talents in Manchester for their magazine, such as ‘Baltikk’ and ‘The Monsoons’. I really enjoy picking the brains of interesting musicians. Recently, I also got the chance to interview 'Beabadoobee' and Grace Carter for ‘aAh!’. However, while interviewing artists I started to think about much better it would be, to interact with artists on the radio.
I had never tackled the world of radio before. Cue the lovely people at ‘Soundwave Cumbria’ stepping in. It was a fun and engaging session and was invaluable for boosting my confidence in that area. After working with David Roberts and Emma Dockeray I not only left with a demo I was proud of, but a newfound determination to break into radio journalism. Now, I plan to branch into this field while keeping up my work in print, so that I can continue to showcase my favourite new artists. Working for the BBC is a definite goal, especially with the BBC’s interest in new artists championed by presenters such as Jack Saunders on Radio 1. I believe that radio is even more personal than the written word. I love the idea of connecting with audiences on a deeper level as they go about their daily lives. I appreciate how well radio DJs advocate rising talent and offer opportunities for artists by choosing ones to perform on both their festival stages and their radio station.
Anything in life can only be fulfilled by hard work, however, with opportunities such as ‘Soundwave Cumbria’ helping to get your foot in the door is made just a little bit easier. I look forward to seeing what 2020 will bring and working towards my radio and media aspirations.
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