Money may not be able to buy
happiness, but for a total of £25.95, I got through the doors and into BBC
studios, and really, that’s close enough for me.
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| The outside of BBC Birmingham's studios. Photo by Yasmin Jaswal |
I managed to keep my emotions in
check and didn’t burst into tears (of joy) when I walked through the sliding
glass doors into the BBC Birmingham headquarters. I want to say it’s because
I’m an adult who’s in complete control of my emotions, but in reality I think
it’s because I was expecting something much larger and obvious.
Instead, the studio is on the
third floor of The Mailbox, a building made up of different office spaces and a
lot of high-end shops I wouldn’t expect anyone earning a journalism salary to
be able to afford. It’s definitely not what I had imagined the home of one of
the biggest broadcasting companies in the world to look like, even in the (somewhat) smaller market of Birmingham. I’m not the only one who
felt that way. A man actually walked in and after looking around for a few
minutes said, “I saw the beautiful display of flowers in the window and came
in. I had no idea it was a TV studio.”
I ended up in Birmingham after a
last-minute decision to take a BBC tour. I would have booked a tour in London’s
studios, but when I checked on the website, that idea was shot down with a message
that read, “We’re sorry but the tour of BBC
Broadcasting House in London is no longer operating.” Later on I found out this
was probably because most of the filming previously done at the BBC
Broadcasting House had been moved to Manchester. Such a shame.
Originally, I had planned to be
at the Birmingham studios sometime during my trip, because through the magic of
social media, I found out I shared a mutual friend with one of the radio
personalities who works there. Unfortunately, despite connecting ahead of my
visit, that all fell through, and it wasn’t looking like I’d be able to ever
get into my dream newsroom – even as a visitor.
So I took matters into my own
hands, and on Monday night I booked the £9.95 ticket for the Tuesday morning
tour. I also found a fairly cheap round-trip train ticket to Birmingham (instead of
paying something ridiculous like £48 one way, I paid a total of £16. Talk about
savings!). It was a small expense considering the experience.
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| The view on the main level of the studio. Photo by Yasmin Jaswal |
After walking around the fairly
small first floor in awe for about 10 minutes, I finally started interacting
with the other people on the tour. There was a lovely couple who watched and listened to
BBC programming and had always wanted to be part of the tour, and a journalism
student who was on the same wavelength as me – she said her plan was to come on
these tours every week and harass the people she saw until she got a job.
The tour was informative and in-depth (kind of like the BBC's programming), and
we got to see the newsroom, the BBC academy (where all new employees receive
their training), the web area (the majority of online content is produced at
the Birmingham location), the main studio where BBC Midlands is filmed, the
gallery (where the crew who help put together the news broadcasts are during the show), the
radio studios, and even the room where the engineers work.
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| News desk for the BBC Midlands program. Photo by Yasmin Jaswal |
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| Partial view from the producer's chair in the gallery. Photo by Yasmin Jaswal |
What struck me the most during the
tour was the fact that despite all the similarities, there are quite a few
differences when it comes to creating news broadcasts at the BBC compared to Canadian
news organizations.
Some of these differences are
minor. For example, at my current workplace, we use Burli to record, edit and
produce our newscasts. At the BBC, a program called RadioMan is used for radio shows.
One of the major
differences is the fact that for every story aired, the producer is required to confirm the details it by contacting three verified and trustworthy sources. Until
this happens, the organization cannot share the information. That is definitely
not how we do things at my current news station, although it is something I’d
be willing to put into practice.
My favourite part of the tour?
Um, ALL OF IT. Duh.
Okay. I really did have a favourite part. When we all went to see the gallery, we were told to sit in
whatever seats our hearts desired. I was first in the room, so I had first
pick, and I chose the seat that gave me a good view of everything. After we’d
all settled in, our guide started explaining how news happens, and the roles of
each person in the chairs. Turns out, completely by accident, I’d sat in the
producer’s chair. After that came out, I contemplated refusing to leave my spot until the
BBC got me to sign a two-year contract as an employee, because Hello, this was
fate. Instead, I just shared a photo of my very excited self in the seat on Snapchat (along with many other photos from the tour).
By the time the tour came to an end,
I hadn’t managed to run into anyone who could get me a job there. I did,
however, get rid of any bit of doubt I had about my dream. While it’s next to
impossible, it’s what I want more than anything at this point in my life. And
that’s enough to make me work harder than ever to make it happen.
Because let’s be honest; I can
fork over £10 for a tour, but getting a job with BBC
London would be priceless.
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