Tony Blackburn has been to Real Radio in Yorkshire to hand out Certificates of Achievements To Real Academy Graduates.
In total, twelve students have graduated from GMG Radio’s ‘Real Academy’ which is designed to nurture new talent and give a unique first hand insight into the radio industry.
Smooth Radio presenter Tony Blackburn was the special guest speaker at this the Real Academy’s 6th year. Tony joined the students on Graduation Day for a one hour Question and Answer session and to present to their Real Academy Certificates of Achievements.
Taking place over the last three months, each Real Academy student has completed 12 three hour sessions which have introduced them to all aspects of life at a radio station, including presenting, news and sport reporting, advertising sales and production, promotions, marketing and programming production. As well as this the group of 12 students were split into three teams of four. Each team had to produce three one-hour breakfast shows presented and produced entirely by them. The show had to including news and weather bulletins, advertisements and competitions.
During the course, the students worked alongside many Real Radio presenters including the Dixie, Pete Egerton, Daryl Denham, Ian Brannan and Real Radio Yorkshire’s programme director, Ricky Durkin as well as the award-winning Real News Team.
Among the graduates who attended from across Yorkshire was 19-year-old belly dancer and Britain's Got Talent semi-finalist, Sophie Mei. Sophie from Pitsmoor, Sheffield wowed judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan last year and showed great promise along with the other students.
Jamie Fletcher, coordinator of The Real Academy, said: “We’ve had an excellent team of students at this year’s Real Academy, the enthusiasm and commitment they have shown to the course has show true dedication. With little or no experience in radio, they all really picked the ball up and ran with it. By the standard of the work they’ve produced they all clearly have a very bright future ahead of them.”
Tony Blackburn added; “It was great to meet the students and they were a really lovely bunch of people. I really do wish them well with their careers in radio. It’s also such a great commitment to the future of the radio business that GMG Radio puts on such a course to nurture and encourage new talent.”
