Job Introduction

Radio Devon is one of the most listened to BBC local radio stations in England.  The station and our social media output is packed with local journalism and personality-led programmes and makes a real difference to our listeners during times of crisis. This is a rare opportunity for an outstanding individual to fill a senior journalist position on attachment or fixed term contract.

Editorially, Devon is a changing landscape; agriculture, marine and tourism industries are evolving, environmental issues are never far from our news agenda and rural deprivation sits alongside picture postcard beauty. In our towns and cities, urban investment is transforming our heritage. The stories are challenging, programmes get our audiences talking and we reflect Devon’s real sense of local pride.

You’ll need to be flexible to respond to a changing agenda, understand the need to feature a diverse range of voices, and share our ambition to reach new audiences.  This role includes working across a range of programmes and social media outputs including some weekends.

Role Responsibility

At the heart of this senior role is the opportunity to find and tell stories which matter to Devon.  You’ll also be expected to deliver bulletins and produce programmes and social media content as part of a small, multiskilled team.  So if you thrive on doing a bit of everything, this job’s for you. 

You’ll know instinctively what sort of issues our audience care about and what makes the county tick.

You’ll be able to explain complex stories in a creative and engaging manner. You will know how to engage digitally with our audience so that they interact with us on all our platforms. 

The Ideal Candidate

You’ll be a confident, creative journalist with a broadcast background, full of ideas and the ability to make stories have real impact for audiences.

You’ll have knowledge and a passion for Devon and know what’s going on locally. You’ll either already have plenty of local contacts, or a proven track record in establishing them quickly, so you can deliver stories before they appear elsewhere.

You’ll understand the changing demands of our audiences and how we can serve them, as well as understanding our diverse and harder to reach communities. Digital will be an integral part of the role and you should have a good idea of what makes great content on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You’ll have proven news judgment, an appetite for original story-telling and a track record of seeking out leads, reporting live and breaking news stories or working on exclusives. You’ll have the confidence and experience to hold those in power to account and must be able to tell the stories in a compelling and relatable way that is meaningful for people’s lives here in the South West.

Proficiency with editing and playout radio software, like Dira would be useful.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Please submit one short demo (audio or video) as part of the application process, there is space to add a link on the questionnaire.  This could include bulletins, presenting, live reports, live interviews or packages.

Please also submit a story idea for the BBC Radio Devon breakfast show (max 350 words)

Package Description

Band: D

Contract: 6 month FTC or attachment until 01/05/2022

Location: Plymouth

We’re happy to discuss flexible working.  Please indicate your choice under the flexible working question in the application.  There is no obligation to raise this at the application stage but if you wish to do so, you are welcome to.  Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage. 

• Excellent career progression â€“ the BBC offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation.
• Unrivalled training and development opportunities â€“ our in-house Academy hosts a wide range of internal and external courses and certification.
• Benefits - We offer a competitive salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 26 days holiday with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care, gym and much more.​

Please note that the application process will require you to upload a CV and complete the online questionnaire(s). There is no requirement to attach a covering letter or complete the additional careers hub fields (Personal Statement/Skills/Portfolio sections).

The BBC is keen to continue to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people across our sites.  Until further notice, all assessments and interviews will be conducted remotely. For more information go to https://www.bbc.co.uk/careers/

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About the Company

We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours in the document attached below.

Diversity matters at the BBC.  We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.

We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC – whether that’s to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles.  The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity. 

We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, social background, religion and/or belief.  We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.