Broadcasting Beyond the Classroom: My Next Gen Internship Experience, by Precious Taiwo

As a proud beneficiary of the Next  Gen Internship Programme, an initiative of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), I am pleased to submit my experience diary for May 2026. Through the generous sponsorship and placement by CJID’s Next Gen Campus Reporter project, I officially began my media internship at Unizik FM, Nnamdi Azikiwe University. 

My assigned duties and work schedule under this CJID-sponsored internship placement include News broadcasting, hosting and anchoring shows, jingle scripting, voiceovers, audio production, and developing more human-angle stories for broadcast.

I was assigned to work in morning and evening shifts from Mondays to Thursdays. I am happy to be placed under the supervision of Mr Chinaza Michael, the Head of Programs for Unizik FM, who oversees all on-air programs before and during broadcasts.

In my first week, I familiarized myself with other staff members and anchors of the organisation. It was amazing to be among these professionals, and I hope to learn as much as possible from the best minds over the course of my internship period.

I focused on strengthening my broadcast and production skills, handling several major on-air programs and broadcasting the news at morning and evening intervals. The morning news followed the newspaper review, which I presented on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. 

Unizik FM ‘Trendy-Tuesday’ was the most thrilling to me in the month of May, because I was assigned the two hour show from 6:30pm – 8:30pm. Another show, called “Tuesday Night Cruise” is a program I co-host with one Osoprim, a fellow radio personnel, under the supervision of the head of programs, Mr Micheal. 

Thursdays were fully loaded as I was assigned to handle two live shows on “love Thursday.” I hosted The “Morning Show” with a fellow colleague reintroducing major events from the week and other interesting segments where we shared laughs and engaging moments with our audience. I also anchored the Farmers/Consumers Forum of the Department of Agricultural economics and extension, we spoke extensively about snail Farming in Nigeria. 

Furthermore,within my first active week, I produced a jingle for an upcoming Nnamdi Azikiwe University event and scripted several Unizik station IDs to be voiced in the following weeks. 

I however faced a few challenges during the month. Due to bad weather, the station occasionally experienced transmission issues, which affected some of my programmes. In some cases, broadcasts were interrupted midway or could not air at all.

Another challenge came when I was assigned to cover the APGA legislative primary elections in Anambra State on 23 May. I stayed at the venue from morning until about 5 p.m. and worked late into the night to complete and submit my report. However, the story was not eventually aired. 

The main challenge was the delay in filing the report because I left the venue late, which affected its timeliness.

Also, I have been assigned a new program, titled “Campus 360” handled to me by the director of Unizik, duly supervised by Mr Chinaza Micheal. For this program, I am expected to draft scripts, source guests, and conduct pre-interviews to ensure factual accuracy and flow, all of which I look forward to starting in the first week of June.

Mr Micheal has given me constant feedback which has helped me articulate better over the past weeks. He noted slight improvement in my pacing and clarity on-air. This past week showed me how having a good mentor changes everything. It turns everyday tasks into chances to actually learn and improve. 

All this I owe to the CJID for generously granting me the opportunity to be a part of the 2026 cohort of the Next Gen Internship programme.