Mary Ann Vaughan

I chose to do the MA in Radio and Television Production because I always had an interest in pursuing a career in media but was not overly keen on studying a general course in journalism. This seemed like the perfect masters for me, having come from doing an Arts degree in non-media-related subjects, as it is basically a one-year, crash-course in everything radio and television. My favourite aspect was radio. While I loved making my own short film and half-hour TV show, I found radio was where I excelled. As part of one of our modules, we were each required to make a 40 minute radio documentary on a topic of our own choosing. Advised by my lecturer to submit mine to RTÉ Radio 1, I did so and a shortened version of it was broadcast as part of their documentary series, The Curious Ear. This was, of course, great for my C.V. We were also afforded the opportunity of putting together our own show-reel because we had to do three days of live radio. The time spent preparing for and actually doing all these different shows were some of the best days we had. Though often challenging and exhausting, they were very rewarding.
Two weeks after I finished the course, I got work-experience in KCLR 96 fm (Kilkenny, Carlow Local Radio). Having mentioned in my cover letter to them that I had experience putting together features and also doing a full documentary, they sent me out to put together packages for them. A couple of weeks later I had a meeting with them where I was told they would pay me for freelance work like this. I am pleased to say that I have now been hired as an assistant producer – something which would never have happened had I not done the MA in Radio and Television Production in Maynooth University.
 
MaryAnn