Student Radio Association

This year I have presented a zoo programme called “Monkey Tennis” which aired on Sundays between 11am and 1pm. I also presented an “LSR Early Risers” show on Wednesdays between 9 and 10 in the morning, as well as a Friday evening weekend warm-up show called “Fired Up”. Along with my personal broadcasting commitments, I also held the role of Head of Daytime Programming.

Previously I had focussed on my content and finding my own point of view on air, this year, however, I have concentrated on making sure that my shows and links have been structured appropriately. I “shrink my links” and try to exit on a punchline. I have focussed on my basic presenter skills also, such as formatics, trailing/teasing, forward promoting/back selling other shows on the station and talking up to the vocal. I have also become more effective at stimulating user generated content by being disciplined in talking to the single listener and talking about engaging and relevant topics for my student audience. I put a lot of effort into generating UGC by asking good questions, a quote by the comedian Dara O’Brian sums up my approach “I love to involve the audience. Why wouldn’t you? They are Ferraris waiting to go off. They have gold to share with their stories”.

My links tend to be personality driven rather than music passion driven. That is not to say that I have not shown passion for music, but I endeavoured to make sure that I produced radio that was cliché free and had a unique voice. The content of the humour may be considered risky, but student radio is about experimenting and taking risks. I aim to draw an emotive response, the last reaction I want is ambivalence or boredom. Further, I always try to give something of myself in my programmes: it makes the show feel more intimate. It is endearing to sometimes appear vulnerable, to show flaws. Moreover I have come to realise that people love narratives. I tried to weave some into my shows, creating story lines for individual shows and across a series of shows. I also attempted to introduce conflict in some form.

I used “big” production as it made the shows feel more dramatic, and added to the sense of a narrative. Also, production sings our station brand. Further, I podcasted everything I did, this is essential on student radio to maximise reach as live listening figures are low.  I tried to be innovative and creative with my features, and used them to add variety to the show. The feature I am most proud of was the “Human Zoo”, which was an opportunity, promoted through the student paper and website, for anybody at the University to produce anything they wanted to go out of air. Contributors could use the LSR facilities or Audio Boo. It was largely unedited and a uniquely democratic experiment, with an amazing response. The results were intriguing, the publicity was useful also. There are now so many different and exciting ways to generate and utilise UGC. The future role of the DJ will not just be as creator but also editor I feel.

I have had a tremendous amount of fun broadcasting this year. The diverse opportunities for creativity and the availability of immediate feedback make radio a joyous medium. I hope you enjoy my entry as much as I have enjoyed making it. Thank you for supporting student radio.