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Behind the success of the Prison Radio Association is our dedicated, hardworking staff team who make the world of prison radio in England and Wales tick. Here, we get to know them and spotlight their experience of working for the Prison Radio Association.
Grace is our Producer based at HMP Styal. Grace works with people housed at the women’s prison – training them in radio production and presenting and helping them to build and broadcast content for National Prison Radio, which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in prison cells. Grace equips prisoners with skills and confidence, increasing their chances of accessing employment and education after release. Here is what she has to say about life at the Prison Radio Association:
How long have you been working at the Prison Radio Association? What were you doing before?
I’ve been working at the PRA for 7 months so in some ways still feel very new, but in some ways feel like I’ve been here forever (in a good way!).
Before working at the PRA, I was a freelance Radio and Podcast Producer and worked on the Hits Radio North East Breakfast Show and BBC Newcastle. I also worked as an Intern at Spark, the University of Sunderland’s student and community radio station, where I also volunteered as a student while I was studying my Radio Masters!
What does a typical day at work look like for you?
I’m sure everyone has said this but there isn’t really a ‘typical’ day working at the PRA! But I spend most days inside HMP Styal with our team of women who are currently serving prison sentences there. I mainly look after “NRG” and “Déjà vu” (soon to be rebranding to “20th Century Hits”)! And I’m generally there to support the women with learning what they need to know to make a radio show!
NRG is our heavy dance request show so I spend a lot of time trawling our letter log for our listeners’ requests and compiling them into a script for our presenter to do the show! This show also requires a lot of listening and cleaning up songs so they are compliant for broadcast!
What is the best thing about working at the Prison Radio Association?
There’s loads that I love about working at the PRA, but I’d say the main thing is how fulfilling the job feels. In the relatively short time I’ve worked at the PRA, I’ve seen multiple people doubt their ability or think that they can’t produce a radio show, and then when you see their pride in themselves when they do it; it’s the best feeling!
I also love reading all the messages from listeners that come through on the letter log, because it can sometimes be easy to forget that the shows we make from our little studio inside HMP Styal really do go far and wide and a lot of people hear them! It’s great to know that you’re playing a small part in helping someone through a difficult time.
Lastly, the whole PRA team! They really are the most wonderful bunch of humans to work with.
What is something you wish everybody understood about the realities of working in prison?
I also think something that might surprise people about the reality of working in a prison (speaking specifically about the project in HMP Styal) is that we have a lot of fun and laugh a lot! All of the women that we work with say that the few hours a day they spend in the radio station makes them forget that they’re in prison, which is another thing that I love about working at the PRA. The reality of living in a prison, I imagine, is much more intense than the realities of working in one, so I love that we are able to provide that respite for the people that we work with.
What is your favourite podcast or radio show currently?
(Besides all of PRA’s podcasts of course!)
I’m a bit of a podcast addict so this was quite hard to narrow down, but I’ve gone with:
“My Therapist Ghosted Me” with Joanne McNally and Vogue Williams and “Sidetracked” with Nick Grimshaw and Annie Mac, both very light-hearted!
I’m also loving Greg James keeping me company on my way to work at the moment! Can’t go wrong with the Radio 1 Breakfast show!
What is the song that you would use to sum up your time working at the Prison Radio Association?
It’s got to be “Put a Donk on it” by Blackout crew because I’m discovering that everything can indeed have a donk put on it!
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