Specialist radio experience courtesy of Fire FM Radio

After seeing one of my lecturers walk into university with a Fire FM t-shirt last week, and this being the one station I listen to the most while in Bournemouth, I immediately enquired as to why he was wearing it. Did he work there? Did he ever work there? Who did he know?

One of the key things you need to do to become a successful journalist is ask questions, almost to the extent of badgering someone. So when he let me know his mate was a specialist DJ with a weekly Friday night slot on Fire FM, my eyes lit up. This is something he must have noticed too, because instead of having to ask for a day there, he asked for my contact details. Just three days later, I found myself last night sitting in one of these shows.

The DJ last night was purely amazing. Simon Sinfield's Pure Fire slot on Fire FM just got one more regular listener as of last night. I've seen DJs work live before, but watching this guy spin records, mixing for three solid hours, whilst still managing to the the typical radio-y things like put in a few intros, shoutouts, even advert breaks (to accord with the station's policies) was almost effortless for Simon.

Simon himself was a really, really good guy. To say he knew his stuff would be an understatement - everytime I wanted to ask a tricky question to him, he'd answer with a good, hugely informative answer that left me wanting more (although, being a live DJ, often as I was about to ask more he put his headphones back on and began flicking switches and pressing buttons to mix in a fresh song).

I didn't truthfull know what to expect when I visited Si last night, but from what I've seen, from what I've been told by Si, and from what I've also heard on radio, I'm more than glad that I visited Fire FM during one of their specialist hours. Simon definitely knew his stuff, as did Niall Maloney - a daytime presenter who overlooks nighttime (specialist) shows - when he came in briefly during Si's three-hour slot. Both men were well-informed with all things radio - they knew the ins and outs of the studio, their target audiences they had down to a tee, and comparisons with other local and national radio stations were all too easy to identify (and possibly deferentiate from) for these two presenters.

Fire FM have a quota to meet when going on-air, and have pledged to have a certain amount of specialist hours of music per week. Shows like Si's therefore are, technically speaking, there to fill a quota. But knowing this made me realise that this is a really, really good thing. The slots are at perfect times in terms of their audience's needs. By this, I mean a mainstream, commercial listener wouldn't want to listen to dubstep or dance music at 8am on their way to work, but come 1am when they're the only ones awake it's a perfect time to acquaint for them.

The office itself is surprisingly small. The entrance as such was merely carpet, one desk, and a phone. Walk upstairs, past the toilets, and there's six more desks - four used for news and advertising means - and a few processing units that helps put the show on air. You've then got two studios - one main one and one used primarily for news or pre-recorded shows, and that's it. For a station that attracts ~250,000 listeners, the place in which they do it reminded me more of a pirate radio station still trying to break through. Fire FM obviously don't need the glitz and the glamour if what they're producing works, and it does. By that, I mean that Bournemouth University's student radio studio space is almost if not the same size as Fire FM's.

What Si taught me last night about radio journalism I'll take with me for a long time yet. Whether it is a field I want to get into is unclear to me yet, but with so much new information flooded into my head I'll definitely be able to take a closer look into what part of the industry I would want to break into. Specialist shows, involving live audience interaction and live mixing, is far far different to the typical newsreading slots I had on Nerve* FM at BU, and out of the two, Si made me realise the opportunities that await if I did want to explore radio journalism.


For what came from a lecturer wearing a t-shirt from a radio station, I wouldn't believe that just four days later my blog would detail my experience at the said station. For now though, all I can say is thank you Si for the experience I had, and come this Friday, 9pm, by radio will be glued onto 107.1 Fire FM.