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“This is ����ý Radio 4, it’s 5 o’clock and time for PM with Evan Davis”

[Greenwich Time Signal]

Sam – Studio director

“Okay, here we go then…”

Matt – Studio director

The studio director is the operational role behind everything you hear on the radio.

Cassie – Studio director

You’re really that link to making sure what the producers and editors want their programme to be, actually happens.

Evans Davis – Presenter

Studio directors are incredibly important to presenters. We really don’t know a lot of what is going on – who is on the line, who isn’t turning up. So, we rely on that key relationship with the studio director to keep us informed.

Sam – Studio director

In the cubicle, we’ve got two operational staff. One of them is the studio director which sits here and one of them would sit behind me at the mixing desk and that’s a job that we also take on as part of the studio directing role.

Cassie – Studio director

And this is a great chance to really bring some creative flair to the programme.

Matt – Studio director

You’re actually pressing the buttons. So, you’ll be fading guests up, you’ll be EQing them, adding compression where necessary.

Wayne – Senior studio director

When you go from once piece of audio to another, you don’t get something that sounds really loud and something that seems quite quiet. It just all seems… level.

Cassie – Studio director

A studio director begins with some prep time to go through the running order, chat with the producers…

Matt – Studio director

You might look after some pre-records, testing lines…

Weidong – Studio director

If somebody sent in an audio that’s heavily distorted or it’s really noisy in the background, they will rely on you to do a bit of sound engineering to sort of solve those problems before they go on air.

Matt – Studio director

When you’re on air, if you think of it as a liner going across the ocean, it’s making sure the ocean liner stays in one direction and it doesn’t start swaying off.

Weidong – Studio director

…so, the studio director know what’s going on next, the presenters know what’s going on next…

Evans Davis – Presenter

Presenters don’t want to know too much, but they do want to know enough.

Weidong – Studio director

Even though they’ve got ten million questions in their head, it’s our job to tell them “time’s up”.

Sam – Studio director

There’s lots of audio coming out of different speakers and the presenter might be trying to speak to you, the editor might be trying to speak to you. Fundamentally, you need to make sure you communicate in a clear and concise way.

Weidong – Studio director

…and you need to be quite unphased when things happen.

Wayne – Senior studio director

How well do you listen to stuff? Can you detect when things are too loud, too quiet?

Matt – Studio director

Our job is a real team player type of job.

Emma – Studio director

You have to be able to be a problem solver.

Wayne – Senior studio director

You’ve got to be able to organise, and you’ve got to be able to stay calm.

Emma – Studio director

I didn’t do my A-levels, I went to college and did a BTEC in Radio Production instead.

Sam – Studio director

I did a Politics degree, which isn’t particularly relevant to this role, but I think it shows that you don’t necessarily need formal qualifications to do this. I think a bit of work experience is helpful, so I did quite a bit of student radio whilst I was at uni.

Rob – Studio director

I think that the best SDs (studio directors) are the ones who understand the stories that you’re covering because it means that you can spot things.

Emma – Studio director

One of the most interesting parts of the job is when you’re working on those big breaking news stories.

Rob – Studio director

I did PM on the day of the Bridge attacks. That attack started unfolding at 3 in the afternoon, somewhere around then. PM is on air at 5, the entire programme just went out of the window.

Emma – Studio director

I worked on the World Service the day after the Capitol insurrection, and, you know, it was a really intense programme, and then at the end of the two hours you kind of sit back and just… take a bit of a breath, and you’re like “okay, that is one of the good ones!”

Matt – Studio director

“Wow! That was incredible! and there you are broadcasting to millions of people.

Sam – Studio director

We work across a whole variety of output…

Cassie – Studio director

…so, you might start by directing a flagship Radio 4 programme…

Matt – Studio director

…and then running the desk for a 5 Live programme or…

Wayne – Senior studio director

…Newsbeat, which goes out to Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network. Loads of fun, very very lively programmes.

Sam – Studio director

I work on the Global News Podcast, which has a really big reach.

Wayne – Senior studio director

I do sound on TV as well, for the News Channel and World TV.

Matt – Studio director

Some of the World Service programmes we do are really high level and listened to by millions of people…

Sam – Studio director

…so, they might be going out on air at 1 o’clock in the morning, that’s because perhaps the Asian audience or the American audience is listening to them.

Emma – Studio director

So, you get very used to, you know, being in the building at 3 o’clock in the morning.

Evans Davis – Presenter

Studio directors are incredibly important to presenters. That direct channel of communication with someone who knows what is going on and able to let us know where we’re going – incredibly, incredibly important. Because you really need someone to hold your hand.