Charles Parker Radio Day 2016

The 2016 Charles Parker Day took place on Friday 18 March at the Bower Ashton Campus of The University of the West of England, Bristol.

The 2016 Charles Parker Day was held on Friday 18 March at the University of the West of England in Bristol, and took “stories” as its theme. It explored different ways of telling stories in sound. From turning stories into song, songs into stories; from listening to stories from our local community to hearing stories from around the world in languages we don’t understand; stories from the creative minds of writers to stories from the listeners themselves.


An account of the day

Stories Re-Told 

Nic Millington, the CEO of the Rural Media Company, gave an update on a new project which uses original stories from the Charles Parker Archive to help the travelling community connect with their heritage through oral testimony.

Untold Stories 

The Bristol based executive producer of BBC Radio 4’s The Untold, Miles Warde, explained the ideas behind a new series of programmes presented by Grace Dent, which unearths compelling stories for contemporary Britain.

Songs into Stories 

From Mr Blue Sky to Nimrod the award-winning BBC Radio 4 series Soul Music explores the emotional heart of a piece of music.  Producers Karen Gregor and Mair Bosworth demonstrated how a song inspires them to find a powerful set of interviewees to explore our emotional responses to music. 

International Stories  

Producer Ellie McDowall, from Falling Tree Productions, introduced us to her new project – Radio Atlas – a new way of experiencing, and making sense of, radio features from around the world.

Stories into Songs  

The Radio Ballads produced by Charles Parker, Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger introduced the listener to a new way of telling a story – turning interviews into songs.  Peggy Seeger explained how they did it and why she is still creating songs out of conversations.  Bristol based composer Jennifer Bell is also turning interviews, actuality and sounds into song using new technology and compositional techniques.  They discussed two different ways of turning ordinary voices into extraordinary music.

Community Radio Stories  

Caroline Mitchell (founder of Bristol’s FemFM) talked to Peter Lewis (The Invisible Medium), Sangeeta Dewan (BCFM) and Diane Gray (Hive Radio) about the appetite of community radio for stories and the different ways they are told in the expanding world of community radio.

Listeners’ Stories  

With just a mobile phone, an app and a story to tell Miles Warde returned to explain how you can get your own content on the BBC as part of a new programme coming out of the BBC in Bristol – Outsourced Radio.

Stories in the Mind  

Radio Drama producer Alison Crawford and senior audio supervisor Iain Hunter guided us through the making of the radio drama Cavity by deconstructing and reconstructing the SADiE editing session.

New Storytellers – The Charles Parker Prize 2016

John Goudie, Editor, Documentary Unit, BBC Radio, announced the winners of this year’s prize for the Best Student Radio Features.

Feedback from the day

 

“It was a wonderful day, very informative. My favourite part was Songs into Stories, as it gave really good tips on how to get good interviews. And it was a special treat to hear from Peggy Seeger”

“The awards go from strength to strength and the quality of work is always positive – the BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast validates the contribution that these young people make to the medium.”

“There was so much in the day that I walked away inspired as ever. Look forward to next year.”

 

“The day was well balanced for students and those interested in Charle’s legacy to radio and audio production. I feel that looking at similar production in contemporary media was good – particularly Soul Music and Eleanor’s work. It is always good to remind ourselves of Charles’s own work and the archive too.”

“Just wanted to say that it was a real honour to share the stage with Peggy. What an inspiration. I am really grateful to have been included.”

“I had to work for most of the day so could only make it for the session that I did with Iain Hunter so I’m afraid that I can’t give you feedback on any of the other talks. It was a very attentive audience though and I was impressed by the work of the students that had been nominated for the award.”

 
 
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Photography by Mike Hale

Take a look at our photo gallery, please note that clicking on this link will take you to Google Drive

 
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