ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the position of the freelance radio producer within the cultural industries and examines how this role has been shaped by external influences, such as governmental regulation and the evolution of production equipment. It aims to investigate how shifting political economies have added further uncertainty for freelancers in the radio sector. The chapter explores how freelancers approach the commissioning process for music documentaries and consider the motivation behind becoming a freelancer in precarious economic times. In the eighties and nineties, the BBC took a similar approach to the commissioning of television content, seeking freelance work from smaller, non-unionised television production companies. Increased productivity within tight time frames has become a defining characteristic of the freelance radio documentary producer. Freelance producers should therefore try to build a dependable track record in order to earn a station's trust and command a sense of confidence in their ability to deliver a project, before a commission will be approved.
