Orkonerei FM: OrkoBot, a co-pilot for a six-person station

Problem

Orkonerei FM is a community radio station run by six journalists, which operates 24 hours a day. In the newsroom's own framing, the aim of the tool was "to minimize the workload of staff." They identified two challenges: social media demanded a constant presence, but content creation sat with a single social media manager; and the Friday meeting to build the coming week's workplan (programmes, topics, who to interview, what to ask) "was taking a lot of time."

Solution

A custom agent created inside ChatGPT, with no code on a paid subscription, which the newsroom named "OrkoBot."

The build started with hands-on AI training, where the team learned how to create an agent like this. They then discussed as a group what they needed, chose ChatGPT, built the agent, and fed it the station's documents, which covered the mission and vision as well as the tasks required. OrkoBot operates at two points in the workflow, running from idea to air.

Before reporting: helps to refine a story's topic, angle, programme plan, interviewees, and the format, whether vox pop, package or narrative.

After reporting: supports script drafting, followed by human editing and fact-checking, and then broadcast, website or social media.

In addition to OrkoBot, the station is also using Opus Clip to cut long videos into short TikTok and Instagram clips, and NotebookLM, for research and content development.

Results

Three to five posts are produced per week, mostly by the social media manager, according to the station. Over the course of the project the station's following grew significantly, with TikTok growing more than sixfold from 2,000 to over 12,000 followers; Facebook and Instagram roughly two and a half times to 6,092 and 785; and a YouTube channel passed 500 subscribers in its first nine months since launch.

Scripts come out "easy, good and interactive," speeding up arranging news after fieldwork, and helping avoid re-covering stories already done, according to Orkonerei FM.

Insights

Prompting was the main challenge as it required the team to "write every detail in the prompt." Discovering that AI could make small mistakes, such as rearranging a script incorrectly, prompted the station's mandatory human review rule. "AI supports our work, but editorial decisions, verification remain with journalists and editors."

Cost

It took roughly three months to fully operationalise. The subscriptions cost around USD 1,431 for three 12-month licences (USD 650 for ChatGPT, USD 531 for NotebookLM, USD 250 for Opus Clip).

Replicability

This is a low-barrier no-code agent on a consumer subscription, grounded in the station's own mission and task documents. The critical input is training, agent creation, and prompt-writing. One caution: the agent runs on a third-party platform, and the station's own policy bars confidential sources and personal data from external AI tools without a risk assessment and editorial approval.