We were delighted to welcome Juliette Ivie (NHEHS 2009) back to school as part of our Careers Spotlight series. Juliette is a radio producer and presenter who has worked for the BBC, including producing for Annie Nightingale on BBC Radio 1, as well as delivering mixes for BBC Sounds and BBC 6 Music.

Juliette explained to the students how she fell in love with radio as a teenager, listening to it while doing her homework in her bedroom but only considered it as a career when she was at Leeds university studying History. She got involved in their student radio and gained huge experience, coming up with show ideas, presenting and ended up being programme controller! On graduating, she successfully applied for an internship at Six Music and, since then, has worked on lots of different types of radio shows such as the Radio 2 breakfast show as well as late night specialist shows.

As a producer, Juliette is responsible for ensuring that the output of any radio programme she works on is produced to a high standard. She creates the running order, writes the scripts, creates the content for shows and works with presenters to ensure that the show is as good as it can be!

Juliette shared her excellent top tips which were to gain as much experience as possible, be persistent (but not annoying!) and to be enthusiastic! She encouraged the students to throw themselves into whatever opportunities come their way, particularly getting involved in university radio and even setting up a university radio station if they find themselves at a university without one! She also advised to seek work experience, not only at large corporations like the BBC, but to try smaller companies where it’s more likely to get hands on experience earlier on.

Thank you Juliette for such a fascinating insight into the world of radio broadcasting!