The Inspire Series Episode 3: Alice Young
Guest: Alice Young – Instagram, X, LinkedIn
For episode three we’re joined by radio news presenter Alice Young @radioaliceyoung. Winning awards for her work on the air, Alice can be heard across Global, presenting breakfast news on Heart radio (@thisisheart) and evening broadcasts on LBC News.
With our hosts Freya Shaw and Marine Saint, we hear how Alice found her voice on the air, the routes into commercial radio and how sports reporting is increasingly inclusive for women.
For more, head to the Women in Journalism website: https://www.womeninjournalism.co.uk/
Produced and edited by Marine Saint and Freya Shaw
Music: John Abbot, City Phases, courtesy of Epidemic Sound
Be sure to tune into Alice presenting news on Heart and LBC News here :
https://www.globalplayer.com/catchup/lbcnews/uk/7UN7tHTa/
Marine Saint: 00:00:05
Welcome to Inspire the Women in Journalism podcast, where we speak to the best female voices in the industry, charting their breakthroughs, career triumphs, and challenges. We are producers. I'm Marine Saint.
Freya Shaw 00:00:20
And I'm Freya Shaw. Across each episode, you'll hear from a different woman who's making waves in journalism. We ask our guests what has changed in the media industry, their career highs and lows, and how they navigate being a woman in journalism.
Marine Saint 00:00:28
Our show will also feature exclusive round table discussions between inspiring women from every beat and background in the media.
Freya Shaw 00:00:49
For our third episode, we are joined in the studio by Alice Young, Heart Radio's national news presenter and presenter for LBC News. Alice was recently awarded for the second time National News Reader of the Year for Commercial Radio.
Marine Saint 00:01:00
Alice, welcome to the podcast. Congratulations on the award. And to start things off, can you tell us when you decided to be a news and radio presenter and journalist, have you always been drawn to radio over other forms of journalism?
Alice Young: 00:01:15
Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. It's a joy to be here. I think I have always, so I grew up in a real radio environment. Both my parents worked in radio, so I was always kind of immersed in either having the radio on in the house or seeing what a radio studio looked like. My house was kind of covered in vinyl records growing up, so it's been really cool to, I guess on the flip side now being in the radio world.
And to be in, working in commercial radio is really exciting. I think it's amazing to, to be able to bring news to people, on radio and yeah, it's really, really exciting. I think I always love the way that radio is accessible to so many people in that you might be in the car with someone or you might be in someone's kitchen when they're cooking their tea.
That in comparison, I guess to TV where someone's gotta really sit down and and watch a program. I think it's amazing to be kind of just a constant with someone in their daily life.
Marine Saint 00:02:18
So interesting to hear how you grew up surrounded by radio as well. I wonder then what your first steps into radio, where in terms of getting experience when you are a student, what did that look like for you?
Alice Young 00:02:30
Yeah, so about halfway through my master's degree in journalism, I was really keen to look for opportunities to get involved in local radio in any way that I could. So I actually, my first job in radio, I would wake up at half past one in the morning. I would drive into a little radio newsroom on the outskirts of Leeds, and I did some news reading for a company which did lots of different bulletins for radio stations all over Europe. There might be kind of community stations or some stations in the UK as well. So I would wake up and I would do the news reading until nine o'clock. So I'd do this kind of early breakfast shift. In fact, it finished just before nine o'clock because I had to then jump in the car and race to university to get to my first lecture, and then go into uni for the morning as well.
And then come off the back of uni and, and crack on with the rest of everything that I was up to. So it was really busy. I definitely didn't do that every day, but it was a great entry level job into the world of radio and an amazing opportunity to learn how to write news bulletins, to learn how to read news bulletins really kind of hone my craft as I was studying.
So that was amazing. And then as my degree kind of came to an end and I was looking at freelance opportunities, I started working at different radio companies and did some reporting, did some news reading, and then landed a job full-time in radio before the end of my course, which I was really proud to do and, and was then breakfast newsreader for, for local stations in Leeds, which was really, really exciting.
Freya Shaw 00:04:05
Yeah, I mean, how did you find that transition from, from local radio and sort of Leeds to London? Like, was that an easy, smooth transition for you or was there any struggle there with that?
Alice Young 00:04:16
Local journalism or local radio was an amazing place to start. I read on lots of different stations from kind of doing the news, in Cumbia to Leeds, to South Yorkshire and North Yorkshire, lots of different places and then kind of transitioned into London news and then national off the back of that. It all happened quite quickly, I suppose, in the space of a year after I started. I was reading on, on London news stations and then national from there. And then after two years made the move from Leeds to London for a new job. Because when you get the call up from Heart breakfast, you can't say no, right?
So yeah, I packed up kind of my whole life and we moved down to London and it's been the most incredible opportunity. It's the dream station to be on. It's the radio station I loved listening to. It's a joy to be kind of yeah, part of the team turning up the feel good across the country and to be able to be part of the biggest breakfast show is, is an amazing opportunity.
I mean, I definitely learned so much working in local radio, it's an amazing chance to really kind of find stories. You might be working in a quiet patch when I was doing the news in Cumbia. Not as much happens, generally, as what happens in London every day. So you've really gotta find local stories and find stories that matter to people.
I did quite a big campaign when I was on the Cumbia station about farming and mental health. And that was an amazing opportunity to really kind of do local journalism that matters to those listeners. But now being in London and doing the news on a national station, I mean, we're not short of news every day.
So it's great, but it's, you've really got to, to be part of a station, which does, you know, it has the tagline, turn up the feel good. You come on and you've gotta kind of, you know, keep the feel good going as best we can. And you don't wanna shy away from some stories, but you've got to, I guess, keep the tone of the show quite upbeat where you can, provide a reassuring voice to listeners when you are giving them the day's news as well.
Freya Shaw 00:06:26
Especially when you're up so early in the morning, turning up the feel good after sort of being up since 1:00 AM.
Alice Young 00:06:31
Yeah, I mean, yeah, thankfully I have a slightly later alarm now of kind of half past three. But it's powered by coffee, which is the real magic behind the scenes. It's just amazing to be part of the station.
Marine Saint 00:06:45
And working then in a national newsroom, did you find there were any challenges to establish yourself, find stories that worked for you? Is that something that young journalists starting out should consider, how do they assert themselves? Especially as young female journalists we're not always instilled with confidence from the get go. How did you navigate that moving, even just from regional to national news, what would you advise others in a similar position?
Alice Young 00:07:13
I think my biggest piece of advice would be to listen to as much radio as you can because you'd be so surprised how many people might come into our newsroom for kind of work experience, or a taster, and you ask them about how much radio they listen to, and it is not that much. And I think working at Global, we have so many huge brands, whether it be Capital, LBC, LBC news, Heart, and you've got to know your audience.
So I'm looking at stories that will matter to my listeners and I might be working closely with the person reading the news on Capital or Capital Extra, but I have a slightly different audience. And so it's it, you've really got to kind of choose the right news stories. I think lots of people, when they ask what I do, assume that I'm kind of handed a piece of paper and just go and sit in front of a microphone and read it out. But it's so much more than that. I mean, we are choosing the news stories, we're writing the news stories, we're working closely with our reporters who source some brilliant exclusives, as well to kind of feed them into the news.
And you've got a minute and 15 seconds to make it happen on Breakfast. So it's yeah it's a process.
Freya Shaw: 00:08:20
Yep. What, can you tell us more about that process, sort of like when you get in the morning? How much input do you have on your script and what's sort of like the team dynamic there? Like how important are they to your work in the morning?
Alice Young 00:08:33
Yeah. We all work so closely together as a team. In the morning we're kind of talking about what running orders we might have and the person on LBC might have a similar kind of selection of news stories, but I might have changed the order around in terms of what I think matters most of the listeners on Heart.
So I guess first things first is kind of seeing what's happening in the news. Lots might have broken overnight, maybe in America. Definitely at the moment we're seeing that happen. So it's kind of digesting that quite quickly, working out what stories are gonna be a good lead for the day, what might fit nicer at the bottom of the bulletin. So maybe some lighter stories, some showbiz or some sports. And then really kind of choosing no more than four or five stories per bulletin, choosing what audio might sound nice with them. So we might have some big guests on LBC or on LBC news that we can clip up and put into the bulletin as well.
And this all happens very quickly 'cause I'm in at five and working towards that first news bulletin at six. So it's, yeah, it's a quick process. And then from there you are, you, you are in the swing of things. You're then working towards the next bulletin and the next bulletin and doing travel in between. So you are spinning lots of plates and then you might have some breaking news that happens. So yeah, a lot happens, but we're such a tight team and it's really good to be able to rely on the people that we work with as well.
Marine Saint 00:09:55
And how do you respond to breaking news? Has there been instances when you are live on air and news is just broken? How do you adapt to that? What's the backup plan if something you know might happen, a big event, or maybe it's something unexpected, how do you prepare for that live on air while sounding still so smooth and composed, delivering everything accurately, being aware of the time as well.
Alice Young 00:10:19
Exactly, yes. I think that's it.It's staying composed because breaking news can happen. It normally happens, you know, most days, and it's staying calm in those situations. I think the biggest thing with breaking news is not to feel as though you need to cover the story in full from the get go. You might have very few details to start with. So first of all, it's a decision as to whether you have enough to go with you. You know, you don't want to drip feed information through. If there isn't enough that will reassure people, if something, you know, not, not so great is happening. We want to make sure we have all the right information. Are people safe? Where's it happening, who's it affecting? And if you don't have enough to go on, then it's, it's not the time to break that news.
You wait until you've got enough to deliver it in a kind of whole way. But yeah, equally, we might not have much to go on. And it's been the case before where we've got kind of a few, not even a few minutes, a few seconds to, to put together a couple of lines of copy.
And we might just say. Stay with heart. We'll bring you more on this as we get it, just to keep people reassured and try and bring them up to date.
Marine Saint 00:11:30
And you were talking about audience before, and you've just been added back in October to the lineup of LBC News presenters. How has that experience been and how does your audience differ there? How do you get to know them and really address news that matters to them?
Alice Young 00:11:47
Yeah, it's been incredible. I mean, going from doing one minute news bulletins to presenting a four hour live radio show is a big jump, but it was really, really exciting to join the presenter lineup. And, yeah, it's been incredible so far. I've always tried to bring something to each of the shows that I've done, whether it's been a bit of a standout guest or we've done a deep dive into something, which I feel matters to people. But yeah, I mean, generally we are covering similar [stories to the ones I would be doing in the bulletins on Heart, but much longer we might have a three minute, four minute chat with someone as opposed to, you know, an eight second clip to go in a bulletin.
So I guess it's about going even further than I would in a news bulletin. But yeah, I mean some of the stories are different as well. I've gotta keep, get my head around all of the stories, all of the sport, all of the business. And it's a rolling news station, so it's bringing news as it happens.
Lots of breaking news we get to throw to reporters, in London and around the country, which is really exciting. We have a brilliant reporting team at Global based all over the uk, and they are on it with stories and on it with breaking news, so it's a pleasure to be able to throw to them and, and, and get their take on the news that's happening in their area.
Yeah, to keep the wheels turning. And it's all kind of self-driven in terms of the desk. I'm driving the desk, I'm doing all of the technical stuff behind the scenes, a bit of self-producing as well. So setting things up and yeah, it's really exciting, it's a lot, but it's good fun.
Freya Shaw: 00:13:25
With finding your niche, one thing we've seen you post about on social media is for when people are starting their early career to find that. You used the example in your post of being the sporty one. How do you think that's helped you in your career and where you are now and sort of like, again, curating an audience around that?
Alice Young 00:13:43
I think as people are breaking into the news industry, I mean, it's a competitive one, there's no doubt. I think it really helps to try and differentiate yourself from others in the newsroom. I think if you can be a great news presenter, that's fantastic, but I think if you also have something else, whether it's you love covering a bit of sport in that example. I think it just, you have another string to your bow, which really helps when people are looking at maybe gaps in a rota. They might not have a news slot available, but they need a football match covering. So hang on, I remember Alice likes covering sport, she could just slot in there and you just want to make yourself as available as possible as well with shifts, being really willing to work any hour of the day, but just as competent as possible. And if you are the smiley one or if you are the one that tells a good joke, I think that can go a long way in terms of, you know, being that friendly person that would make, that would be a good fit in the newsroom
Freya Shaw 00:14:44
And also with sort of sport more generally, are there any maybe struggles you face as a woman reporting on sports, famously quite a sort of male dominated space, but have you really felt breaking into that? Are there any challenges or advice you'd give to people or women looking to get into that area?
Alice Young 00:15:00
I think definitely growing up when I saw sport on TV or on the radio, it was very male dominated. I can't think of many women that I remember listening to growing up that covered football, just when in my own experience of listening to radio, it would always be a man. And so to be able to rewrite that and be part of the wave of more female journalists coming through, uh, and covering sport is really, really exciting.
I mean, it's, yeah, I think we are definitely, we've made progress. And there's definitely a long way to go. I think. We, the media, could do better in covering women's sport, in covering more of it, but we are doing more than we were 10 years ago. So we've come a long way as well.
Marine Saint 00:15:50
Absolutely. And something which you cover a lot of is running, whether it's Park Run, which I know you're a big advocate for, or recently the London Marathon was a key highlight of your coverage.
I wonder why there was so much momentum, especially around the marathon and running more generally now, and how you've really taken on that momentum and brought it to your journalism, brought it to your radio shows? Why do people want to hear about running now and why did you decide to pursue that as your niche perhaps within sports journalism?
Alice Young 00:16:21
Yeah, I mean, it's true. Everybody is running now, which is great. I mean, it can only be a good thing if more people are moving their bodies and doing things to feel good, which is amazing.The London Marathon has had another record number of people apply to enter for next year. And yeah, covering the marathon, I've done it a couple of times now and run it. I didn't do both at the same time. But that'd be particularly impressive. Maybe next year You should. Maybe next year I could aim for it.
Freya Shaw 00:16:50
Maybe we do it as a three-women team. The three of us take a leg. And we'll report on a third of it each.
Alice Young 00:16:55
A third of the marathon will be perfect. The whole thing was a challenge, but yeah, I mean, covering it was so special. I absolutely love watching the marathon. I think it's hard to stand on the sidelines of the marathon and not want to take part yourself. So to be part of such a feel good event in London,as the world's eyes really are on London, it's such a special day.
And to bring that to life live on the radio is, is amazing. I've had the privilege of covering some really big sports events from the London Marathon to the Women's Final at Wimbledon and the Women's Final in the FA Cup this year as well at Wembley. And all of those moments are so standout, and to be able to bring them, bring them to life and paint a picture of what's happening in front of me is really special.
But yeah, to be able to do it – those women's finals in particular are really great. I think it's amazing to have more women covering women's sports. And yeah, to be part of the, the kind of team at Global who, who cover sports events is really special. So it's I think days like that are really exciting.
It's a day when, uh, lots of people that that spoke to me about the London Marathon all said everybody's coming together and, you know, everyone's in a really happy mood. And that's really special. So yeah, it was good day.
Freya Shaw 00:18:17
Yeah, I mean, I saw loads of clips on your social media, sort of people cheering from the sidelines and sometimes those stories of people cheering on their family members as well are so lovely to capture. You post a sort of a lot on social media. Is that something that you think journalists should be doing for their career? Sort of building up a portfolio or a show reel for sort of, you know, broadcast and radio? Is that something that you think the future of journalism is moving towards.
Alice Young 00:18:43
Do you know what? I love doing it because it's a great little reel to look back on and remember those memories. So that's kind of first and foremost why I love doing it. But yeah, I think it's good to shout about the good stuff that you're doing. And I think for too long we've kind of shy away from being confident enough to speak about your achievements.
And so I think it's really important to be proud of things that you've done or that you feel you've done well, you've had good feedback on. And I think we should, think women maybe more so than men, in my opinion, struggle with that a little bit more just in terms of having the confidence to speak about their achievements.
So if I can inspire one person just to, you know, share an achievement that they've had or in, or give a little bit of a behind the scenes look for a journalist that's breaking into the industry, then that's what I aim to do.
Marine Saint 00:19:38
Yes, absolutely. And with seeing the behind the scenes how you work. It definitely does inspire other young journalists to see that there's a space for them within radio. How have you seen the different types of presenters, perhaps the accents, the stories that are coming into radio change? In the years that you've been working in the industry, do you think having broader communities, like through social media, has allowed more people to come into the industry and, and bring their stories in that way?
Alice Young 00:20:08
I hope that we're, you know, I hope that these days, maybe as opposed to 30 years ago, where we've increased the amount of accents we hear in newsrooms, I think it's really important to have people on patch covering the patch that they live in, and reporters, you know, really in the thick of it. Maybe they've grown up there, maybe they've just moved there.
But I think that's really key to keeping, um, journalism alive and having lots of different voices. I think we've definitely made progress compared to maybe when I was growing up and hearing different voices.
Marine Saint 00:20:40
And I mean, voice is such a key element of radio. How do you get your voice prepared for radio? Because we hear your bulletins. There's no slip ups, no stumbles. I don't know if that's even ever happened to you, but has it happened? How do you adapt in those moments? And how do you train your voice?
Alice Young 00:21:00
Yeah, I mean, I hope, I hope I don't have too much of a different voice when I present on Heart and on LBC, because I think it's really important to be true to who you are and not to change your voice too much from how you are. I mean, people who live with me or, or are very close to me think I sound different on the radio – I hope I don't. But, yeah, I think for Heart it's about having a friendly tone, but also having the authority, I suppose, to deliver the news in a way that's reassuring.
You might change your voice as you move through the bulletin. And I think it's important to change your tone depending on the story that you're covering as well. But I think my voice has definitely changed over the years. I've recently been a mentor for a mentee at the Global Academy, and she's hoping to become a news presenter one day, and I thought I'd play her my first ever radio news bulletin and I couldn't believe it, honestly.
I sounded about seven years old. So I suppose my voice has changed over the years. Um, and that's maybe just through listening to different people and kind of picking up different things or hearing things that I like and giving it a go. But I think the important thing working in commercial radio maybe especially, is to have a really friendly voice, keep it conversational.
You don't want to be saying words that people wouldn't use in a conversation because you know, someone might be listening to the news when they're in their car or they've got lots of things going on, and if you just want to deliver the news in a way that's going to be concise and clear and hit the mark when people have lots of things going on in their lives.
Freya Shaw 00:22:36
Yeah, I mean, do you ever listen to your stuff back? You mean, you've just said now that you listen to your first one again, but how frequently do you re-listen to bulletins that you've done to sort of help improve your work? Or do you have a process for sort of feedback and how to improve?
Alice Young 00:22:50
Yeah, I mean, I listen to my stuff every day.That's just a kind of rhythm that I've got into and what we're encouraged to do as well. And it's just to kind of, not necessarily kind of like critique it, but just to sort of understand exactly that, how you communicate better and how you can communicate better moving forward.
It's a process we sometimes do with managers in terms of what could have got, what went really well here, what could have gone better. But, I think it's [ important to listen to yourself back and to remind yourself what you're doing. It's like a pinch me moment to be on the biggest breakfast show and so it's nice to listen back and kind of hear the whole show as a full package and remind yourself of the job that you're doing.
Marine Saint 00:23:37
And working for such a big radio station, you know, the biggest breakfast show in the UK, as you were saying before, how do you see the future of radio evolving or in a position where you can kind of set the agenda for what listeners want to hear how radio is moving forwards? Where do you see radio going next. Is it social media that's dominating now? Is it podcasts that we all want to listen to? Where does radio fit into the, the future of journalism perhaps? Big question.
Alice Young 00:24:10
I think radio is something that's so special and so different to any other medium. And I think no matter how many podcasts come onto the scene or how many people go to get their news from social media, and we all know the kind of pros and cons about using social media as a place to access news. It can be a brilliant news source, but also there might be less kind of verification processes involved. So if you know that you want something that's accurate, that's quick,, or you get some brilliant kind of Beyonce on either side of the news as well.
And I think people are always going to switch the radio on and you know, it's one of those things that you can't be on your phone while you're driving, picking up the news, but you can pop the radio on. Or if you are making your tea, you know, you can just pop the radio on. It's quick, it's accessible.
It's the travel, it's the weather, it's the news, it's the music all in one go. And I think lots of people also rely on it as well as kind of company, which is really nice. And to know that you are maybe the first voice that people hear when they wake up in the morning as they're having their coffee, as they're taking their kids to school, as they're coming home from work. You are delivering the biggest news stories of the day or maybe being the first, yeah, the first voice that they hear.
I think there'll always be a place for radio, and I think Heart will always have a place in radio because it's such a special station. Yeah, we just keep turning up the feel good.
Freya Shaw 00:25:38
Yeah, when I grew up, I used to sort of sit in the car with my parents and listen to Heart and Capital on the way into school.
And there is such a, like almost grounding to have that sort of as a baseline in the mornings we end each episode asking, I guess for some advice for their younger peers or journalists starting out. So what is the best piece of advice and journalism that you have received?
Alice Young: 00:26:00
Ooh. I would say the biggest piece of advice I've had is work hard and be ready to work hard. Um, breaking into the news industry is hard and you might be required to not necessarily work nine to five, but you know, work overnight or work very early in the morning or very late in the day. And I think you need to be ready to come with the attitude that you're gonna work hard.
I also think. Being nice to people as you're breaking into the industry is really helpful. And another thing that I've been told before is that people listening to the radio can always hear a smile. So I try not for every news story, but I always try and smile when I can, when I'm doing the news, if it's a nice story. And I think that just brings some light to the news as well.
Marine Saint 00:26:47
I hope everyone can hear our smiles right now. Well, Alice, thank you so much for joining us on the show.
Alice Young 00:26:52
Thank you for having me.
Marine Saint 00:26:55
It was a pleasure to hear from you.Thank you.
Freya Shaw 00:26:57
Thank you so much for joining us.
Marine Saint 00:27:05
Thank you for listening to episode three of the Women in Journalism podcast. We hope you enjoyed our discussion as much as we did with Alice Young.
Freya Shaw 00:27:12
Join us next time for more inspiring career journeys and keep an eye out on the women in journalism websites, socials, and wherever you get your podcasts for future episodes. Thank you.