Brownie Radio takes to the airwaves
The 4th Methodist Brownies take over Highland Hospital Radio
We were contacted by Sam, who is the leader of one of the local Girl Guiding Brownie units, the 4th Methodist Brownies.
Sam was looking to bring her unit along to the studio for a visit, and let them find out more about hospital radio.
We were delighted to receive the request and set about thinking how we make a visit to the studio fun and engaging for 20 girls to visit all at once.
We thought that being packed into our small studios for 45 minutes wouldn’t be that much fun, and would be a missed opportunity to let the girls have a shot at making some programming, so, we came to them!
HHR Visits 4th Methodist Brownies 
Shannon recording adverts 
The Brownies had lots of great ideas
We came along to the Brownie unit and spoke to the girls about radio and podcasting. This was also a chance to talk about how we all volunteer at Inverness Hospital Radio, and what it means to volunteer. We spoke about who hospital radio is for, and how people listen to radio today.
But, we then set a challenge to the girls. We wanted them to take over Inverness Hospital Radio (for an hour) and build their own show. They would be in charge of picking the songs and being the presenter who introduces the music. They would also create a news bulletin to tell the listeners what they had achieved at Brownies this year, and create an advert to encourage girls like them to join.
So we split into groups and helped the girls create their own radio show. We spoke about creating scripts and how to come up with our ideas, then recording our voice links and editing on the recording software. We also gave the girls a chance to see how an hour long show would be put together on our computer system. The girls did a great job and in a lot of cases put some nerves out of their minds to step up to the microphone.
Now we could have them along to the station already knowing what we did, but they could enjoy a bit of fun and adding the finishing touches to their show.
Shannon and Karen show the Brownies Studio 2 
The Brownies really paid attention to how the studio worked 
The Brownies had a tryout with the headphones 
The Brownies trying out producing shows on the computer
At the studio the Brownies got to see our two studios. In studio 2 they got a chance to find a vinyl from the record library and play it on the turntables. While in studio 1 they were able to pick songs by searching on the media library on the computer. They could then create their playlist in the order the songs would be played out. They could then record their voice links for the show.
We really hope that the Brownies enjoyed the two evenings we spent with them, and that getting a chance to make a radio show was even more exciting than just getting a visit to the studio. Maybe we might hear them on Inverness Hospital Radio again in the future, or maybe even on commercial or BBC radio!
Volunteer as a Leader or find out about your local Unit
You can find out more information about a child joining Brownies, or any of the Girl Guiding groups here. Just like us, Girl Guiding is operated by volunteers, and they are always on the lookout for new volunteers. If you could give up some time to help a girls and young women involved in Guiding click here.
