How long did Chris work at a radio station?

W: I’m looking for some advice about doing a Master’s Degree in Media Studies. Am I at the right place?
M: Yes, my name’s Eric, I’m head of the Media Studies course. Nice to meet you, and you are...
W: I’m Chris, nice to meet you too.
M: So how can I help you?
W: Well I’ve seen the prospectus for the course but I’m still a bit confused about a few things and about some of the options for studying.
M: What’s your situation at the moment? Are you working?
W: Yes, I’ve been working as a journalist for a local newspaper for the last 3 months. Prior to that I had two jobs in the media —at a small local radio station for about 2 years and at a TV station for about 4 years. So I’ve worked in media for about six years in total.
M: Ok, well that’s useful if you want to do the course. What is your motivation to do further study?
W: I enjoy my job a lot at the moment but I feel the opportunities for promotion are quite limited. It’s not that I think a master’s will help with this though. I’ll probably leave my job, maybe to go into TV or something, but basically, I think wherever I end up going in the future, employers prefer to see someone with post-graduate qualifications these days.
M: And are you intending to study full-time?
W: Well I’d really like to keep working as I need an income. What are the options for me if I want to work whilst studying?
M: You could do certain modules over a number of years you like. It’s up to you how many you do. Basically, you get credits for the ones you complete. People usually do the Masters in anything from 18 months up until 4 years. It depends on your time. If you wanted a fixed schedule and attendance and did it part time then that would be a total of 3 years.
W: So what is the admission criteria to join the course?
M: Well, there are a few things that are useful but not essential, but there are some requirements. Usually to join a Masters people must have a bachelor’s degree, but we are prepared to overlook this if someone has enough work experience. But you must have one or the other. It’s useful if you have research experience as you have to complete a thesis but we can train you on this if not. It’s essential that you have motivation if you want to join the course as it is very demanding.