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Journalists who occasionally do TV and radio: given ~all this~ is continuing for a few months yet, treat yourself at Christmas to some kit that makes your input to broadcast more professional/gets you enough return bookings to pay for the kit through disturbance fees (a thread)
When I was doing book promo from Newcastle I invested in a condenser mic. It plugs into your laptop/computer and makes the sound quality way better for podcasts/radio. This AmazonBasics one is £25.49 and producers have always been impressed https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076ZSRVFQ/ref=pe_3187911_189395841_TE_dp_1?th=1
But also get yourself a pop shield to attach to it so your P's and B's don't come across like you're spitting bars into the microphone. This one was £8 when I bought it and it's brill; it's now £12. Others are cheaper https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XPGKSHL/ref=pe_3187911_189395841_pd_te_s_s_im?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B06XPGKSHL&pd_rd_r=3DTD5Z6QMJTDGFY94N1H&pd_rd_w=jF4cZ&pd_rd_wg=Dw1U9
I wrote a story for @thetimes2 earlier this month about why you should buy a ring light, and you should. If you're an OnlyFans creator on the side, get the heart-shaped ones, otherwise this for £14.99 prevents dull room-itis if you do TV hits https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B081G821F3/ref=pe_3187911_189395841_TE_dp_1
Initially I felt really unprofessional doing TV stuff with my Apple wired headphones (this was pre-pandemic, when attitudes changed) so I invested about £20 in a low-budget kit like what you see on the telly. First, you need a lapel mic. This one's £8.99 https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0727Q5M3G/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Then you need an earpiece to hear what they're saying without getting the risk of echoing their questions to you. This one is more like the one bouncers use rather than actual TV people, but it's £6.60 and works for me https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0091BKRMU/ref=pe_3187911_185740111_TE_item
Then you have an issue: two audio jack inputs, but only one socket on your laptop. So get this bad boy for £3.98 and you can use both https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01518S836/ref=pe_3187911_185740111_TE_item
Do you need all these? No, clearly, based on the video/audio quality people accept now in the new normal. Are these the best items? Probably not, but they've worked ok for me. Do they make it more likely I occasionally get asked to do broadcast? Anecdotally, I think so
This is also useful for academics who are teaching online! The whole kit costs ~£75, which I know can be a lot, but IMO universities should be paying for this kit (it's an accessibility issue for some students), and if you do broadcast media, two disturbance fees should cover it
Also useful: books to prop up the kit on. If you liked this, here's my S̶o̶u̶n̶d̶c̶l̶o̶u̶d̶ two books, that are both excellent reading and sturdy support for microphones:
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀: https://amazon.co.uk/YouTubers-YouTube-shook-created-generation/dp/1912454211/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=#ace-3536363283
𝗧𝗶𝗸𝗧𝗼𝗸 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗺: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1912454793/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀: https://amazon.co.uk/YouTubers-YouTube-shook-created-generation/dp/1912454211/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=#ace-3536363283
𝗧𝗶𝗸𝗧𝗼𝗸 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗺: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1912454793/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1
