Midlands Today, presented by Mary Rhodes and Nick Owen, is a BBC regional TV programme covering areas including Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. The team put out four daily bulletins and in this podcast we find out how.

We speak to Hilary McConnell, one of the channel’s two senior producers, Giles Latcham, a senior journalist and reporter, and Sarah Falkland, presenter and reporter (pictured above).

Whether you’re beginning your career or already established, finding stories is always the starting point for any journalist. Hilary advises that it is easy to fall into covering crime stories but striking a balance of “light and shade” - lighter stories as well as the the more serious ones - is important for the programme as well as the audience.

Finding the stories is one thing, going out there and getting them is another. Giles has worked in national and regional news and says, regardless of whether you’re covering the Zika virus or a fire at a factory in the Black Country, the challenge is the same: finding the best way to tell the story. But it is always “an honour and a privilege” to meet people and hear their stories.

Sarah is a reporter and a presenter, and this is another advantage or working in regional news: there are plenty of opportunities to gain experience. Giles says there’s a “great sense of being part of a team” no matter whether you’re a cameraman, reporter, presenter or a producer.

We couldn’t not talk about social media. It’s changed not only how the audience consume news but how those in news work.

It’s important to remember that social media is a two-way street and one of the great things about it is that it allows the audience to get involved. Weather Watchers is a prime example: anyone can send in pictures and give the weather where they are, and it’s used on regional and national news.

Our very own drone enthusiast Charles Miller discovers that there's plenty to think about when filming with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones as they are better known. In this podcast, Charles is joined by experienced drone pilot Mya Padget and BBC series producer Graham Cooper, who uses drones for his documentaries.

We find out why you may want to use a drone for your shoot and what you need to do before you can even get it into the air. We take questions from you, including how badly drones are affected by the weather, and cover the training you'll need, CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) accreditation, legal implications and health and safety considerations, including the need to recce your site.

Mya talks about "valuable consideration". That's the legal term that makes you a commercial operator as opposed to an amateur. As Mya says "working commercially as a drone operator doesn't just mean working on a BBC documentary. If you shoot drone footage and monetise it on YouTube, or film footage for selling a friend's house and they later buy you a drink, that may count as valuable consideration".

Will getting shots from a drone add to your story or not? We look at the editorial issues you'll need to think about before using a drone. As Graham says, the story is "first and foremost, then how will you get the shots for the story. Drones are just another tool to do this".

And finally, if you're keen on flying and filming with drones, Mya suggests you go out and buy an amateur micro-drone as "if you can fly that, you can fly anything". Graham suggests you need to think about what the shots you are after and then find a good drone flying team. And Mya tells us how you can get drone shots in a built up area such as London without having to fly it at all…

Mya Padget is a licensed commercial drone operator and co-director of Stronholt Film Productions. Her aerial film work has ranged from being an aerial director and camera and gimbal operator for a supermarket advert to filming floods in Oxfordshire as a drone pilot for BBC South Today.

Graham Cooper is a series producer and director for the BBC who has used drones in his productions, including Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week, David Dimbleby's Britain and the Sea and Royal Wives at War.

An in depth conversation with the writer behind Line of Duty, Bodies and Critical.

In this interview, recorded by BBC Writersroom for The BBC Academy podcast, Henry Swindell, senior script executive for BBC Northern Ireland, talks to Jed about his career and how he creates his stories and characters.

We talk to apprentice turned journalist Lauren Page and find out about the BBC’s apprenticeship schemes from their manager Simon Broad

First came BAFTA winning Educating Yorkshire, then Educating Essex. So why not adapt their documentary skills to filming children, thought production company Twofour That’s how the returning CBBC series Our School was born.

The first series was set in Conyers School in Teeside. The current series shows life in Greenwood Academy in Castle Vale, Birmingham. Kez Margrie, CBBC’s executive producer, says she hopes the series will help make the transition from primary school to “big” school easier. That’s not to say that it’s all smiles and laughter during the series. Some storylines show some of the children finding the jump to secondary school hard, with one boy, Isaac, having sessions with the school’s youth worker, Sean. Executive producer Richard Marson says they thought carefully before deciding what to show from their conversations.

And what about having cameras and the production team all over the school? And then having the results shown on television? Performing arts teacher and series narrator Trevor Evans advises the school thought long and hard about all aspects of what doing the series could bring - positive and negative.

Our School doesn’t just see the children growing up, but also the production team. One of the best things, Richard says, was being able to take some of the team from the first series onto the second, with researchers moving to assistant producer roles and even producing episodes.

*This podcast was recorded in a public space and therefore some audio is not to our usual standards.*

This wouldn’t happen in any other medium: an elderly Auschwitz survivor called LBC radio to tell the presenter, Nick Ferrari, about her experiences in the camp as a child. She then told Ferrari she hadn’t even been able to talk about Auschwitz to some members of her own family.

Ferrari told the story on a Media Society panel about radio. Along with presenters Paul Gambaccini (above) and Sue MacGregor, the panel was chaired by the radio critic Gillian Reynolds. They enthused about the unique intimacy of radio, its flexibility as a medium, and its ability to present both human emotion and intellectual argument more vividly than television, print or online media.

Two BBC executives on the panel, Mary Hockaday and Jonathan Wall, encouraged people wanting to get into radio to stick to their ambitions and make use of the new online opportunities in audio, such as podcasting, to learn their skills and build an audience.

Hockaday also advised applicants to listen to a lot of radio. For Gambaccini, the key to getting on in presenting is “self-knowledge” – the ability to understand where you’ll fit in.

The broadcasting industry is moving ever closer to a “gig-economy”, where more people take on short terms contracts rather than stay in a full time job. In audio production, freelancing is not as common as in television, but it is predicted to grow.

In this podcast we hear from two award-winning freelance producers. Kellie Redmond works in BBC radio and Matt Hill specialises in podcast production. Although working in separate areas of audio production, both have found innovative ways to create their own projects and ideas and be their own boss. They let us into the secrets of becoming successful freelancer, including the need to be persistent and learning to make contacts. They explain how they formed portfolio careers, find work and maintain a work-life balance.

We also examine the world of podcasting with media journalist Abigail Edge and get an industry view of how podcasts make money. Podcasts have a bigger audience than ever, partly thanks to the popularity of investigative crime show Serial, which has had more than five million downloads since launching in 2014. What has this meant for the industry?

Matt Hill is the award-winning independent producer behind podcasts Spark - True Stories, The Media Podcast with Olly Mann and For F1's Sake He is a regular producer of programmes for the Guardian, Private Eye and BAFTA, and contributes to The Allusionist for Radiotopia. Follow him @virtualmatthill.

Kellie Redmond is an award-winning freelance radio producer, named ‘Best Music Entertainment Producer’ in both 2014 and 2015 at the Radio Production Awards for her work across BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music. She won a 2014 Radio Academy Award for ‘Best Creative Innovation’ for social media-driven show Now Playing @6Music. Follow her @KellieRedmond.

Abigail Edge is a journalist who specialises in the media. She is the U.S. community and editorial manager at visual-storytelling platform Shorthand and writes for journalism.co.uk, TheMediaBriefing and The Next Web. She produced podcasts for Journalism.co.uk, when she was technology editor.

With one billion podcast downloads from iTunes alone in 2014, podcasts have never been so popular. The growth in audience numbers has been in part attributed to the popularity of investigative crime show Serial; which has had more than five million downloads since launching in 2014. What has this meant for the industry?

Keeren Flora talks podcasting with media journalist Abigail Edge, to find out how podcast producers are finding innovative ways to fund their work. Abigail gives her take on future developments in the industry and offers some top tips for budding producers.

Abigail Edge is a journalist who specialises in the media. She is the U.S. community and editorial manager at visual-storytelling platform Shorthand and writes for journalism.co.uk, TheMediaBriefing and The Next Web. She produced podcasts for Journalism.co.uk, when she was technology editor.

Ed Barlow discusses the making of an observational documentary series, The Best Bottoms in the Land for BBC English Regions (Image copyright RSC).

Behind the voice of the DJ, radio production is a team effort. This week we find out about what goes on behind the scenes at BBC Radio 1Xtra in a panel discussion from the 1Xtra Live event in Leeds. 1Xtra breakfast DJ Yasmin Evans spoke to her 1Xtra colleagues: team assistant Harrison Stock, assistant content producer Keturah Cummings, producer Alex Lawless and head of programmes Rhys Hughes. They each talk about their individual routes to 1Xtra and their day-to-day responsibilities. And they give advice for anyone trying to get into radio.

According to Rhys, there's never been a better time for radio. But if you want to get involved, make sure you have the skills you need – which include shooting and editing both audio and video, coming up with ideas and using social media.