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b'How a BBC WM 95.6FM \\u2018takeover\\u2019 connected with people in Birmingham and the Black Country to create a big impact on a tight budget.In March 2016, BBC WM 95.6FM invited listeners and members of the local community to \'takeover\' the station as reporters, producers and co-presenters for a whole week. \\n\\nIn this podcast, the BBC Academy\\u2019s Roxanne Ibrahim-Khan talks to assistant editor Sharon Stokes who headed up the WM Takeover project as well as broadcast journalist Steve Hermon who worked closely with participants and two of the stations Takeover stars: M\\u2019esha Bryan and Phil George.\\n\\nYou\'ll find advice on how to do something similar for your station or radio show, including:\\n\\u2022\\tHow WM Takeover came about\\n\\u2022\\tHow the station selected members of the community to bring into the studio\\n\\u2022\\tHow the team trained radio novices in editorial, legal, storytelling, radio production and creativity within a very tight timeframe\\n\\u2022\\tHow it was a great way of unearthing local talent and original local stories\\n\\u2022\\tWhat the station learnt from the project and what could be improved on\\n\\u2022\\tAdvice on how you could do something similar at your station\\n\\u2022\\tIf you are new to radio, on how to best seize opportunities like this when they come up\\n\\nSharon talks about how they found the participants and delivered training in partnership with the BBC Academy. \\nShe also handled the rota, which was "a bit of a military operation" - swelling the ranks by more than 100 people. It meant taking into account people\'s busy lives as well as the creative and editorial reasons for participants being part of a particular programme. For instance, the presenters Sunny and Shay Grewal are married so Sharon and the team decided to make the most of that and "put married couples on the show with them".\\n \\nM\'Esha and Phil worked closely with Steve who taught them about live reporting and radio package making. You\'ll hear clips of M\'Esha reporting live on air and Phil\'s radio package on the local economy in Wolverhampton.\\n \\nThe WM Takeover project provided great rewards in terms of great content, audience appreciation and making real connections with the local community. For Sharon, building on the legacy and "tapping into that local talent is something we really want to build on".'