Using Audio: FHA - Family Holiday Association
- John McDonald - Director of the Family Holiday Association a charity that provides breaks for disadvantaged families
- Jude Habib - Director of sounddelivery a media production and training company and former BBC Social Action Producer
Jude: I have always loved working in radio. It’s personal, emotive and powerful
and it’s an exciting media to work in. I love the feeling that it’s just me and my microphone out
there meeting different people and getting them to tell me their stories. I have always believed
that strong storytelling should be at the heart of any awareness raising campaign
John: A holiday provides many benefits but it will also provide a family with a
wealth of stories to be told time and time again. These stories work because they have such
personal significance to the families involved – they are filled with meaning, with fun and
laughter. If you want to convince people that holidays make a difference, listening to a six year
old expressing what it is like to walk on wet sand for the first time has a power much greater than
dry statistics. Over the past year we have used audio from the families themselves to bring our
website to life; our media coverage has had added piquancy; and our forums and receptions more
informative and effective.
Jude: Sounddelivery worked with the Family Holiday Association to tell the stories
of families who had been on holidays through grants from the charity. The case studies were put
forward by the team at the FHA. sounddelivery either recorded their stories ourselves or trained
some of the families to use recording equipment to tell the stories themselves in their own ways
and in their own words. The results have been fantastic. Strong, compelling stories from people
whose voices you rarely hear.
John: I played a clip of the little boy talking about his first holiday and the “
fun-ness” of it all at a recent Trustee meeting – there was hardly a dry eye in the room. Audio is
a highly effective and economic way of conveying our message. Audio clips are amongst the most
popular downloads on our website.
Jude: The time has never been better to get your stories out more widely. National
newspapers are becoming broadcasters in their own right, 24 hour news cries out for user generated
contact so you need to be looking at a wide variety of opportunities to get your audio content
heard. We sent the final MP3s of our stories to the editor of societyguardian.co.uk who used this
material as an audio slideshow on their website. One of the families we recorded came from Hull so
we also sent the MP3 file to the Head of Programmes at BBC Radio Humberside. We have done this for
several of our clients with positive results.
John: I was very impressed that our investment in great photography and compelling
audio struck a chord with the Guardian Society web team. The interview on Radio Hull that the audio
generated must have struck a chord as we had listeners phoning our London office offering to
volunteer! I can see how we are only at the start of a journey as far as using audio, photography,
audio slide shows, even video and delivering them via the web and email.
Jude: If you record audio content for your charity you need to be thinking about
how you can use it beyond your website or podcast. The national newspapers are all interested in
compelling audio content as well as local press. Different parts of the BBC might be interested too
depending on the relevance of the content. It is also worth calling BBC Local Radio if there is a
local angle and also websites of your local press. When you’ve got something you think deserves a
wider audience don’t forget these other places – you’ve got nothing to lose.