Radio Wanno - Communications, Broadcast and Events Assistant

 PRO A full-time creative job at HMP Wandsworth in London
Posted 9 October 2018, 7.10am edt

Job Title: Communications and Events Assistant, Radio Wanno.
Reports to: Head of Communications and Events
Hours: 37 Hours
Salary Minimum: £27,062 - £30,096
Location: HMP Wansdworth, London.

Who are we?

HMP Wandsworth is the largest prison in England and Wales. Our learning centres create a safe environment where adult offenders can focus on rehabilitation.

Radio Wanno is our multi-award winning community radio and media literacy project broadcasting to HMP Wandsworth. And our new ‘Event Space’ is an exciting and innovative hire space project based inside a prison.

These projects reduce reoffending while rehabilitating the participants while working with partner organisations.

Radio Wanno reduces reoffending. It achieves this in two ways.

First, our accredited training programme in partnership with Novus provides employment skills including literacy, numeracy, IT, communication, confidence and self-worth.

Second, through the programmes made by our participants which create awareness for the vital interventions, education and workshops that link into the reducing re-offending pathways.

Radio Wanno is a community radio station and a vital communication tool within the establishment.

The project and its participants have won over 60 media awards from Community Radio Awards, EVCOM / IVCA Clarion, Mind Media, Koestler Arts and The Radio Academy.

Radio Wanno is the proud owner of a Radio Academy Nations and Regions award for Station of the Year for London & the South East, a Butler Trust Award and an IVCA Clarion Champions Award.

And we’re about to launch our ‘Event Space’, which will mirror the successes of the Radio Wanno project.

What we're offering?

Our communications team deliver our radio and events space projects while managing our communications strategy. We’re seeking someone exceptional to be a part of that team.

This role is not your every day media job; no two days will be the same. There is a focus on radio but you’ll be involved in our events space and communications activity too. It will include radio production, working with prison based presenters and producers, writing for a newsletter, scheduling the output of Radio Wanno, adding text copy to the internal display system, booking a client in to our events space or setting up a presentation on our 60 inch wide screen TV’s… And that’s just a snippet of what we do.

A key part of this role is working with the men in our care to help turn their lives around. You will have the opportunity to grow, develop and meet challenges, while making a real difference to people’s lives.

You will be working alongside our Communications and Events Manager, media tutors and our participants to help with daily production schedules and administration needs of the communications department.

Prison radio is a truly inspirational area of the media industry, we’ll provide training linked to work in a prison and you’ll become a part of a dedicated and award winning management team.

Who are you?

You already have some experience in radio production and you’re great at organisation and administration. Your IT Skills are great and ideally you know how to use Adobe Audition and have editing skills. It would be great if you know your way around Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator too.

You have either studied media and or radio at University or worked as a volunteer in community radio sector and seeking the next step on the ladder.

Alternately you are someone who has bags of experience and keen to work in our sector of the industry.

You are a self-starter who is comfortable working autonomously and to deadlines. You have the ability to engage with people at every level, from our prison-based participants to people who work within the criminal justice sector.

In return we’d like you to pass on some of your skills to our participants. You’ll be involved with programme making as well as some admin roles at the project supporting our project management team.

Role responsibilities

• To support the Events and Communications Manager and Radio Wanno project team and the project tutors.
• To work alongside our prison based radio producers / presenters providing advice and guidance while helping to create daily content.
• To provide admin and general project support to the He Events and Communications Manager where needed.
• To manage Radio Wanno’s programme archive.
• To help programme the station output and the in-cell information screen.
• To help develop and listen to key content ready for broadcast.
• To help ensure all broadcast ready content complies with HMPPS Prison Radio Guidelines and Radio Wanno broadcast policies.
• To put into action research and evaluation visiting prisoners on the wings, talking with partners and stakeholders as a part of the evaluation strategy.
• To help create and manage a community of prisoners on the wings who actively engage with Radio Wanno.
• To help manage the application and addition of new music to the Radio Wanno Playlist.
• To collect programme material from the wings and other departments in the prison.
• To work with other communications and events projects where applicable providing similar duties.

What we're looking for...

• Good radio production skills – you’ll know how to create radio packages, pre-recorded programmes and be happy using Adobe Audition.
• Some events experience, but this isn’t vital, the ability to adapt and learn is important.
• You love music and have a broad taste and understanding of genres but specifically the current UK new music scene and trends. Our listener likes including dance (house), pop (chart hits), rap, grime, desi-beats, hip hip, indie, rock, reggae and dance hall.
• Knowledge of how radio is used as a communication tool with an understanding of the wants and needs of the listener for targeted content.
• You must have a good understanding of editorial issues, especially in the area of compliance. It would also be beneficial to understand the basics around Ofcom’s broadcast codes.
• Experience of writing copy for a newsletter would be seen as an asset.
• Excellent attention to detail, organisational, administrative and communication skills is a must.
• We’d like you to have tip top IT skills; you don’t have to know everything but a good standard with office software as well as a better than good understanding of Adobe Audition.
• You need to be happy to work with prisoners, because that’s what we do.
• You’ll need strong influencing and negotiation skills as well as resolve when working under pressure and in disparate surroundings.
• You should have a flexible approach and the ability to plan your work to meet deadlines, because a prison is an ever-changing environment.
• You will have experience of building partnerships, working in teams and have experience representing organisations when required.