Ideal day vs the reality of a broadcast radio reporter. Is it what you think it is?

Everyone wants to have an ideal day at work.

Just imagine how much fun it would be if everything turned out perfect.
If there was no traffic.
People responded to emails on time or at all.
Turned up to meetings instead of cancelling them.
And problems would get solved quickly and efficiently every single day.

What would your ideal day at work look like if you could make it happen? And what does it actually look like in reality?

We caught up with Gavin, born and bread kiwi, originally from Auckland, New Zealand, now a reporter at english broadcast of the local radio station in Bratislava, Slovakia to find out for you.

Here is what every day should be like

Gavin Shoebridge

“My ideal day would be having no traffic on the way to work, and arriving to an inbox full of replies from people I’ve contacted for interviews.

I would also love it if the studio was ready for me without waiting, for me to read my scripts so that they can be rendered and broadcast promptly.

Lunch on my ideal day would be at 12:00 noon and with no queue at the cafeteria, and on my ideal day, I would have an interview after lunch, giving me enough material for another report to start on. My ideal day would be full of things to cross off my to-do list.”

And this is what every day is like

“In reality however, I find myself waiting for the traffic to die down from home, which means I have to leave later, which means I get to the office later.

Consequently I have less time to prepare scripts for reading, and that means there’s the chance of a fact being incorrect or me not reading it correctly.

This also leaves less time for editing, which means I don’t have time for lunch, and then I end up working late to get through my to-do list. It only takes one thing to go wrong and it can ruin the schedule for the rest of the day.”

So here you have it. Being a radio reporter requires strict discipline and very good time management.