Apprentice Broadcast Assistant

Apprentice Broadcast Assistant - Times Radio

Duration: 2 Year Apprenticeship

Start Date: January 2026

Location: London

Hours: Shifts across Monday - Sunday including early mornings and late nights

Times Radio brings together the peerless journalistic expertise of The Times and The Sunday Times with the world-class speech radio and podcasting experience of News Broadcasting, the company behind talkSPORT, talkRADIO and Virgin Radio.

The role: You will spend time with our industry leading broadcasting team who will help you learn how to create content, tell and share stories, attract, grow and capture an audience.

You will receive mentoring and coaching bespoke to you and delivered by some of the most experienced and journalists in the industry.

At the end of the 2 year program you’ll complete your apprenticeship with great experiences, knowledge and network in journalism. There is no better way to start your journalism career than an apprenticeship with us.

Being an apprentice at Times Radio: During your time with us you will earn above living wage, get full training, 4 days a week with Times Radio and 1 day a week studying – including an NCTJ Diploma in journalism – with all your course fees paid. You will also receive mentoring from the industry’s best, as well as any other equity you might need to fulfil your full potential.

Day to day you will:

• Work for the programme producer and alongside the assistant producers

• Help originate story ideas

• Come up with suggestions for guests and treatments

• Play an integral part in creating intelligent speech radio that is a compulsive and engaging listen

• You will be working across the full range of Times Radio programmes, which will include early mornings, late nights and weekends

What we are looking for from you:

• You will be passionate about News and able to use your initiative to produce first-class stories

• A passion for radio production and an ear for great audio

• You will be able to create engaging content both on air and on line.

• Excellent presentation and writing skills are essential as is a flair for delivering stand-out content on social media

• Flexible attitude to working hours across seven days including evenings and weekends in line with breaking news

• An understanding of the Times Radio brand, both print and digital and on air

• Positive can-do attitude and good team player

Application Process

Online Application > Google Meet Interview > Assessment Centre

As part of the Online Application process, we would like you to provide answers to the following 3 questions:

• Briefly introduce yourself and tell us why you’re interested in pursuing a career in the apprenticeship you’ve applied to?

• What interests you about the company you are applying to and suggest one improvement you would make to the content?

• Describe a learning curve you recently navigated. Outline the steps you took, the challenges you faced and what the outcome was.

We are News Broadcasting: Our people create award-winning national and local radio, podcasts and first in class social, digital and video platforms which have become destinations for millions of listeners across the UK, Ireland and beyond. Our success is rooted in delivering content our audiences love. Since Chris Evans returned to his spiritual home at Virgin Radio UK, the whole schedule has seen record audiences, and we’ve launched three new Virgin channels: Anthems, Chilled and 80’s Plus. talkSPORT is the world’s biggest sports radio station, partnering with the Premier League, the England Cricket Board and many others to deliver live commentaries and analysis from the best in the business. Times Radio launched in June 2020 bringing together the peerless journalistic expertise of The Times and The Sunday Times with the world-class speech radio and podcasting experience of Wireless.

Life at News

Driven by passion, guided by principles and acting with purpose. We represent, reflect and reach the nation, telling the stories that matter. We inform our audiences so that they can make decisions based on trusted information.

We represent, reflect and reach the nation, telling the stories that matter most. To ensure these stories resonate with as broad an audience as possible, it is essential that our organisation reflects the diversity of the people we reach. Whether through age, gender, ethnicity, disability, social class or sexuality, we are committed to representing the rich variety of voices that make up our society. And we champion a culture where everyone has the opportunity to contribute and thrive as we continue to innovate and drive long term sustainable growth. This is done through our Diversity Strategy .

At News UK, we take pride in our exceptional employee-led networks that bring together individuals with shared interests and create a vibrant sense of community. We believe our networks play a vital role in fostering a collaborative and supportive work culture at News UK. Groups that we support include the African & Caribbean Network, Parents and Carers, and LGBTQ+ group News Is Out, and the Apprentice Society.

Benefits

Some of our benefits include:

• Maternity leave up to 18 weeks full basic salary & paternity leave up to 2 weeks

• Wide range of training available, plus full LinkedIn Learning access

• Private medical insurance including coverage for pre-existing conditions

• Discounted gym memberships , free ClassPass at Home, weekly virtual yoga classes

• ‘Bikes for Work’ and ‘Electric Car’ scheme

• Up to 60% discount on Harper Collins books

• Access to exclusive events and competitions with exciting brands such as talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK & The Times. Weekly virtual panel chats with top journalists and celebrities

• Access to wellbeing benefits such as EAP, physio/massage and counselling

• A generous pension scheme with employer contributions of up to 5%

• 25 days holiday , plus bank holidays and up to 4 volunteering days per year

We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to perform to their best when applying for a role. If you would like to receive any information in a different way or for us to do anything differently to support you apply for any of our roles please contact us on [email protected] .