Young Kinnegad journalist gets own radio show

‘Don’t study journalism!’ is the advice the Westmeath Examiner newsroom team always give to the Transition Year work experience students who join us (we’ll tell you why at the end of this article), but a Kinnegad student who ignored that advice is now responsible for RTÉ Radio’s social media output, and has been appointed to run a weekly show on Midlands 103.

“It was actually my work experience at the Westmeath Examiner that made me sure I wanted to do journalism,” says Ellen Leonard.

As a result, after her Leaving Cert, Ellen headed to NUIM with her heart set on working towards a career in journalism. There too she was cautioned against a narrow focus, and so four years later she emerged with a double honours degree in music and media.

Getting a break into media work is not easy: “I interned with TV3 for nearly a year before they offered me a contract,” says Ellen, adding that the only reason she was able to avail of that internship was she had a part-time job in Gildea’s Pharmacy in Kinnegad from the time she was in transition year right up to when she finished college.

“With that money I was able to do the internship for the nine months with TV3 – thankfully, because I know a lot of people would not be able to do that.

“I was there for three years in TV3: I started in social and marketing and then moved to brand partnerships. That wasn’t really the route I wanted to go down, but it was great experience, learning all the commercial side of how a business works and the pressure and the targets.”

Ellen went from there into a temporary vacancy at RTÉ, covering maternity leave: “People said I was mad going in to do maternity cover, but thankfully it worked out for me and I am now doing the social media for the entire RTÉ Radio 1. And radio is what I love: I used to have a show on Dublin City FM – which was also voluntary – and between that and working with RTÉ 1, that is how I managed to get my own slot on Midlands 103 – eventually.”

Ellen’s show is ‘The Friday Feeling’ and it is broadcast every Friday at 7pm.

“It is a mix of guests, with good news stories, local business shout outs, innovative ideas, helpful topics and fun music,” says Ellen.

Taking care of Radio 1’s social media output is a responsible job, and Ellen puts heart and soul into it: “I will have been doing that for two years in February. They didn’t really have someone doing it as such up until I arrived; so it is just me, and I look after all of the shows – which is huge.

“I would mainly focus on the Monday to Friday – so Ryan Tubridy, Claire Byrne, Joe Duffy, Ray Darcy, Brendan O’Connor, Sarah McInerney – the whole lot of them, promoting the shows.”

Covid has interfered with the way Ellen does her job: prior to the pandemic she would have been producing more bespoke content and she would have gone out on the road with the various shows, and would have been trying to get the presenters’ personalities across and trying to get out the message that the station has something for everyone. Now she doesn’t have that access, but like everybody, has been adapting to the changed circumstances.

Despite those changed circumstances, Ellen managed to win her way to her new Friday night slot on Midlands giving her the opportunity to do what she loves doing best – chatting to people and getting their stories out.

She is enthralled by radio as a medium: “I love the immediacy and that you don’t know what people are going to say on live radio, so you have to go with the flow – although that can be really challenging. So I am still learning that, and how to get the best out of someone.

“But with social media I like the way that it grows over time… and I like that you can really see the results of it, whereas with radio you don’t.

“However, I would really like to get into reporting and going around the country or around the midlands and talking to people.”

• So why do journalists say: ‘Don’t study journalism!’?

It’s because there are few vacancies, and newspapers are not as widely read as heretofore. The advice to work experience students is to get a qualification or expertise in a different discipline, as it can give you the edge when seeking work in journalism if up against someone who has opted for a media degree. It also gives you something to fall back on.