The Walkley Foundation an Alliance Initiative

In 2003, as a second-year uni student, I went along to a media information day for journalism students. It was meant to be a chance to learn from media professionals and work out how to get a job in the industry. It was meant to be reassuring. It was terrifying.

The panels were a mix of know-it-all twentysomething journalists who had been doing work experience since age 16 and editors who told us they rarely hired kids straight out of uni. By the lunch break we were practically curled up in the foetal position. Studying for that Honours degree and living with Mum and Dad for the rest of our lives was sounding like a great idea.

Nine years on, the group of friends I was with that day all have media jobs. Good jobs. We attended the information day with 18 months still to run on our journalism degrees and we all saw it as an opportunity to really start doing some work experience.

I was keen to work at triple j’s news and current affairs program Hack, so I tried to get work experience there. I got a rejection letter. At the time, Hack didn’t run a proper work experience program (thankfully they do now). Before giving up, I decided to get creative. I worked out that all ABC emails followed the same structure: lastname.firstname@abc.net.au. So I took a punt and emailed presenters directly. Half an hour later I had a phone call and, the next week, I was in the triple j offices.

Thanks to a UTS degree and a bit of work at Sydney’s then-fledgling community radio station FBi 94.5, I knew enough about making radio to be slightly more helpful than annoying, and as a work experience kid, that’s really all you can hope for.

A few weeks later, I got a single day of paid producing work at triple j and from there I just stuck my hand up for every ABC job that was going. I worked as a runner for TV news, a news operations assistant for Lateline, and kept saying “yes” to triple j work when people were off sick.
Madeleine Genner had to get creative to wangle her work experience at triple j's Hack, but it paid off.
A few months after that, I heard that some casual work was available at Radio National Breakfast. I was 21 at the time, putting me somewhat outside their target demographic, but I tried my best to not seem incredibly young. I’m sure I failed. But not so badly that they didn’t give me a job.

I remember a conversation between producers on day one. They were trying to think of potential interview talent for a health story. They were discussing the merits of former federal health ministers from the ’80s and early ’90s. I’d only heard of one of them. In a room of senior journalists, I felt impossibly out of my depth.

It was at that point that I realised Google was my best friend. In those early days I was really “faking it” more than “making it”, but with Google by my side, it wasn’t impossible.

While I’ve done a few short stints at other parts of the ABC, I’ve been working at RN Breakfast for the past six years. The show reminds me almost every day how good radio can be. There is a tight-knit team of incredibly smart, compassionate people who pull ridiculous hours to make it happen.

At it’s very best, radio delivers a mix of immediacy, intelligence and intimacy that no other medium can achieve.

It’s changed a lot in six years, too. There’s more interaction with the audience thanks to Twitter, but it feels like we’re competing more with other news services, too.

In 2010, I went back to triple j’s Hack for six months as the program’s producer. It felt like I’d come full circle. Now I was managing a group of four journalists and making sure the program got to air every afternoon. I was looking after the work experience kids, too, so I congratulated those who were slightly more helpful than annoying. As a work experience kid, that’s really all you can hope for.

Madeleine Genner is a reporter and producer with Radio National’s Breakfast