Stuart Russell

Current occupation: Radio and Broadcaster Producer - BBC

Where studied: Fife College

Date: October 2013

My story

I've always been highly creative and back in 2013 my work in the arts led me to create a podcast (Arts In Fife). At the time I didn’t know enough about podcasting, so I attended college to learn more. It would completely change the direction of my life.

The HND Radio course at Fife College provided a very practical foundation, which, if like me, you are not academically inclined, is really useful.  It opened up a whole new world of possibility for me and helped me progress with my creative work.

I was encouraged by Fife College to attend the University of Sunderland where I was pushed even further to tell the stories I was passionate about and to 'paint with sound'. I left university with several awards for radio documentaries I made, a first-class honours degree and then I stayed for a second year, gaining a masters with distinction.

During my time at university I successfully pitched a documentary to BBC Radio 3 called 'The Egg Dealer', then a day after graduation I got a full-time job producing arts and science programmes at BBC Radio Wales. I've also produced BBC Introducing Arts on BBC Radio 6 and another documentary called 'Red: Of Fire & Blood'.

My fondest memory at college involved a lecturer who encouraged me to get a job as an extra to learn more about film as well as audio. I ended up working on the set of Outlander for a few years. Working with the likes of Simon Callow, Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe was so much fun and certainly an education!

Without studying HND Radio at Fife College, I wouldn't have reached university and I would never have believed all of this to be possible. College is a positive environment in which to build a foundation for much bigger dreams and I’d definitely recommend it.

Related Courses

Media and Communication HND SCQF Level 8

This course is for you if you want to develop your Media Production skills and join the world of content creation. Whether you’re looking to take your radio shows, vlogging, podcasting, or livestreaming skills to the next level or if you want to become expert at working with clients to produce engaging content then this course will help you do that in our state-of-the-art facilities. This course will further develop the knowledge and skills from the HNC Media & Communications course giving you; a more advanced look at presenting, advanced production, and editing, You'll be very well placed to pursue either a rewarding career or the next step into Higher Education at university.

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