Student Radio Association

I am 19 year old student studying a BSc in Media Technology at Salford University. Born and raised in Manchester I have been lucky enough to be involved in a city that has a wealth of TV and radio broadcasting stations. I decided I wanted to be on the radio after hearing radio presenters simply doing their job. It became a dream of mine to one day be heard in the cars at traffic communicating with people going about their everyday business. My first taste of radio came when I was about 15 years old. A friend of mine had a project in which he created a simple online radio station using SHOUTcast servers. He offered me the chance to present on his station/project and I just had to take the opportunity. Not knowing the basics I crashed the vocals, stressed my voice, and tried to be a cheesy radio DJ. I eventually developed my own on-air personality and really engaged an audience. By chance, one day an employee of Global Radio (back then – Gcap) heard my show and asked to stay in contact with me. He taught me the basics and much more. He really helped me develop my skills and told me right from wrong. I then gathered more contacts and more experience through presenters and staff at stations such as Galaxy, Real and Capital.At the age of 16 I was diagnosed with cancer. This practically ruined my plans in terms of college education and experience in radio because of the treatment and various other strings attached to the process of dealing with the illness. The illness in effect made me have to sit my AS and A2s in one year. I continued my college education and once again managed to get back in to the swing of things in radio as well as securing a place to study a degree in Media Technology at Salford University.At 18 I got my break when my local community radio station (Wythenshawe FM) offered me a course to learn the basics of radio after I barraged them with demo tapes! This was my first experience within a proper broadcasting establishment. I now have a regular show on that station. At the start of the university year I heard about the student radio station, Shock Radio. I signed up without hesitation and spent most of my free time in the studios preparing for the launch of the station. I got in touch with the managers of the station and told them I have some experience in producing jingles. I produced a massive 3 minute long countdown jingle which had the aim of exciting listeners about the launch of the station for the year. The managers loved it they praised me for my efforts and used the jingle. They made me the official voice of the station and I was voted in as head of production. We had days were I would bring my microphones and mixers and work with a team of members of the station and we would have something called a jingle day. The day would involve creating promos for the station and general voiceovers and mixed jingles. This allowed people to meet each other and for me it was fun and rewarding to be the head of a group, with an end product. It wasn’t soon after that I was given the breakfast show on Shock. This was difficult but so fun. I wanted the show to be entertaining and something which the listeners could relate to. Being based on campus I had the advantage of being close to the students so I regularly used them as the voice of the station. Inviting them to phone the show up and trying to push the interactivity of the show. Shock Radio is based in the same school as the music students. So I thought about Shock having a several note logo and the possibility of a sung jingle package. Being a musician myself I teamed up with a student from music school and we decided to compose a melody for shock radio, write a score and produce a musical package with the possibility of vocalist tracks on the top! The results of this package are expected to finish towards the end of 2009. This is an exciting project for Shock Radio.On the yearly Shock awards night, I was nominated for “Best Male”, and “Most likely to work in radio". I was voted the winner of Best Male and Most likely to work in radio. Being a first year student, this made me feel extremely proud as there are so many good presenters on the station. The competition continued. Salford University were given the chance to host the SRA chart. There was a large queue of people who were trying to get the chance to present the prestigious show. I also threw my name in the hat and joined the queue outside the studios. Eventually it was my turn. I tried to impress the judges and awaited the result. That afternoon I received a phone call from one of the judges who told me I had got the show! I was was also to be broadcast the weekend of my birthday!  I was very excited and loved the experience!My first year in university was full of challenges but I enjoyed it so much. I’ve had to make friends, settle into the hectic exam and assignment periods, and wake up early for my shows and rushing to lectures. Supporting other members in my new role as head of production and being available to voice promos for members.I have now finished my first year at Salford University and I have just got my results through. I achieved a mark of 70.33 this year. I am proud of the result and grade I have got for my first year.