Wanted: a broadcast producer for The Spectator

We’re looking for a new producer to join The Spectator‘s broadcast team. You would be one of four on the broadcast team and one of only 30 journalists working here at The Spectator, producing a suite of podcasts ranging from British and US politics to lifestyle, religion and literature. The team is also behind Spectator TV, our YouTube channel which has grown by more than 140,000 subscribers this year alone, regularly featuring fantastic guests like Douglas Murray and Julie Bindel. Our shows are still growing, and we are always looking for fresh ideas and ways to do things better.

You should be someone who knows current affairs well enough to suggest interviewees and who can pick out the interesting nuances in a news story that make for good conversation. We’re looking for smart, original ideas for social media promotion and other ways of growing our audience. You’ll need to understand – and project – The Spectator’s voice in all of our shows: to understand what makes us different to, say, the BBC, LBC or TalkTV. Most of all, you must be adaptable and effective – there’s no job too big or small. All of us at The Spectator do a bit of everything: print and podcast, website and email.

We have a no-CV policy at The Spectator, so please don’t send yours. We don’t ask where or even whether you went to university: we’re only interested in aptitude and ability. So please send a covering letter with some thoughts on what you could bring to the role and complete at least three of the tasks below. Please also include your current salary and, if applicable, your notice period.

Tasks:

Do one or both of the below:

• Produce and present a short podcast (max seven minutes) on a session of PMQs – pick out the highlights, play the clips, and explain what’s going on.
• Produce a TV package that explains a recent news story.

And at least three of the below:

• List potential podcast guest line-ups for three stories found from recent issues of The Spectator (one must be current affairs). Briefly explain why you chose each guest.
• Write podcast scripts introducing three stories found from recent issues of The Spectator – including the introductions to the segments and suggested questions for the host.
• Suggest three ways in which we can improve our social media outreach for both podcasts and TV.
• Point to at least one thing we’re doing wrong with our current podcasts / Spectator TV.
• Imagine that Kate Winslet is coming on Women With Balls. Come up with ten questions for Katy to ask her…
• Evaluate our current audio and video quality and suggest hardware or software we could use that will improve output, bearing in mind our budget is not big.

Please send your application to podcast@spectator.co.uk with the subject title ‘JOB APPLICATION’. The deadline for applications is Sunday 21 January.