Graduate Ida strikes the right note with music TV role

A Journalism graduate has ‘charted’ another success after landing a gig hosting a music programme on TV.

After graduating in 2017, Ida Hamer returned to her hometown and capital of Croatia, Zagreb and has been busy putting the knowledge and skills she acquired at University of Northampton into practice.

In 2017, she started working as a journalist at the top TV station RTL and later became a news reporter with duties such as creating broadcast packages and reporting live.

Now, she has extra responsibilities as the editor and host of the Croatian TV music show Top.HR. Ida says: “I feel very excited and enthusiastic for this new opportunity. Both hosting and editing a show is a new experience for me, but I love new challenges. I believe I will learn many new things and I think it’s great for my professional development. What particularly excites me is that I get to be more involved with music now and music is something I’m very passionate about.

“Clearly, this is a different format from the news, even though I often cover topics such as culture, festivals and different event. This show lets me be more relaxed and laidback. Every Saturday I interview different music guests, we air television music video premieres, discuss the latest charts of the most popular domestic and foreign songs and inform the viewers about the latest music news. I hope people enjoy it.

“In some ways music in Croatia and UK are similar, but in others they are quite different. Many British artists are listened to in Croatia, but the biggest difference is the music industry which is much smaller in Croatia. There’s also less invested in music here.”

Ida enjoyed studying at UON and, even though her degree finished six years ago, she still feels the experience was valuable. She adds: “I always point out the importance of the practical work we had at the University. We learned the practical skills we need to produce online, radio and television news. We practiced how to present our own shows both on radio and television. We worked behind the scenes and practiced everything on field and in our TV and radio studios. That prepared us all for what would have come in the real, working world.”

Find out more about Journalism courses at University of  Northampton.