My first week at CKFM!

Hi all! As of March 7th, I have been on practicum! I landed my practicum with 96.5 CKFM All Hit Country and Rock 104 in Olds, Alberta. My practicum started off with me making the drive from north Calgary to Olds (about a 70 minute drive) to meet the owners and staff. I was sooo nervous before I entered the building I was starting to sweat (lol). But once I did, I was instantly greeted with kindness and hospitality. Melanie and Brian took me on a tour of the station which was super cool. After that, I was handed off to recent SAIT graduate, Ris Schultz. Ris talked me through the writer side of the station and how it all works for CKFM. Ris, then showed me more in-depth on their production room and the equipment they have there. I thought to myself ‘oh boy I’m in over my head here’ but Ris was very helpful in explaining everything. I was then handed a pair of scripts for Vegreville Vetenary and Vegreville Liquor to voice, produce and upload! At this point, I had only been there an hour, and they already had me doing stuff that would go on-air! I was thrilled for the opportunity. Once I got those done, Ris had a listen and approved them to be uploaded into their system. I felt a wave of accomplishment wash over me. I mean it was only 2 commercials, but this was something that would be playing live from an actual client that I did! Ris gave me an additional 3 spots to do the same thing with and after about 2 hours, everything was uploaded into the system. I then talked with the owners Brian and Melanie who told me for the rest of the week I would be able to work from home. This was a relief as it would save me the drive everyday to and from. (especially with the current gas prices…) For the rest of the week, from the comfort of home and at SAIT, I would be emailed things to do. Which included, more commercials to voice and produce, news stories that the newsie would deliver on local events in the area (such as Carstairs IceFest, Didsbury Gowns for Grads and First Baptist Church in Olds Ukrainian fundraiser.) and the coolest one may have been a sponsored segment I got to do, a local community events 45 second produced piece that highlighted what was going on around Olds and surrounding area. Small town radio is VERY local and it’s pretty cool that way. I will be returning to the station in person some time next week, Which is super exciting. I’d like to extend a big thanks to Brian, Melanie, Cory, Ris and Bernd for taking me in for practicum and making my first week a lot of fun! I am looking forward to what the next 3 weeks has to come. Which I will be keeping you posted on every Friday! Until next week, see you later! – Brandon Smedley