A few months ago, I completed a remote internship in Ireland with a Dublin-based community radio station. As an aspiring broadcast journalist, this was an incredibly exciting opportunity for me, and I was thrilled to embark on the adventure, even if I was all the way in Australia in lockdown!
At first I was quite nervous, because it was my first internship and I wasn’t sure what to expect – especially interning remotely with a radio station! Upon having a Zoom call with the CEO of the station, I was put at ease and felt reassured that it was a process that would be undertaken together with members of the radio station over in Ireland. The time difference posed as a challenge at times (waking up at 1:00am for a Zoom call!), but in my eyes, it only strengthened my adaptability and prepared me for the 24/7 news cycle of the journalism industry!
One of the biggest goals for me was to bring in more international listeners to the radio station, particularly those from Australia. In the five weeks that I interned with the radio station, I was able to pitch and produce my own 28-minute radio segment, as well as assist in marketing strategies, which involved gathering voxpops of participants saying a provided line for advertising purposes. Through the process of working on these two tasks, I was able to further develop my pitching and creative thinking skills in coming up with a concept to talk about, and then broadened my researching, writing, interviewing, presenting, and sound editing skills while producing my work.
The work was very much oriented around my own independent time management and organisational skills.

At the end of the internship, my segment was aired on the radio station and it reached both Irish and Australian listeners alike! In that sense, I believe that I was able to reach my goal of expanding the radio station’s international audience. I also met my personal wish to learn more about the industry, create content that people could enjoy, and expand on my own industry-specific skills. Listening to the weeks of hard work I had put in, having that vision realised by hearing my work live on air, was such a unique and surreal experience, and one that I will not forget any time soon.

“I would 100% recommend an experience like this to anyone who is looking for a
new experience or looking to gain some hands-on industry knowledge”

I am incredibly grateful for the team in Internships in Ireland and the contacts in Ireland and elsewhere who were able to assist me in achieving something as unique as a remote international internship. I would 100% recommend an experience like this to anyone who is looking for a
new experience or looking to gain some hands-on industry knowledge. If you are on the fence about doing a remote international internship, my advice is go for it! It may be nerve-wracking in the beginning, but have faith in yourself and remember that the members of your host organisation will always be happy to help and support your work. This experience has given me the confidence to go out there and achieve more great things in my field of interest, and I have emerged from this journey as a more self-assured, professional, practiced and ambitious student journalist!