Student Radio Association

The Evening Show’s success was largely due to its unique ability to air four times a week, playing out the very best in new music not only from the international music world but also the local Nottingham scene. The show was presented by four DJs who provided their own unique slant on the show’s musical content. Each DJ had their own views of what to focus on in the new music world, both locally and beyond. As a result, even though each show followed the same structure, all four had their own identity. The new music itself was discovered in all manner of ways, such as picking up demos from artists when they performed in Nottingham, emailing untapped labels such as Greensleeves, Sunday Best and BoyzNoize Records and also by exchanging music with other specialist DJs at the station.  

Because of the large pool of new music, repetition only ever occurred out of choice and not due to limited access to music. The show’s continuity across four days, which promoted familiarity for the listener, prevailed by ensuring that set features ran on all four shows, namely, ‘album and single of the week’.  Each presenter would take it in turns to pick ‘album and single of the week’ which would subsequently be played on every evening show, promoting cohesion. As the year went on, we all began to recommend music to each other as we came to know each other’s tastes. Each show also had a producer, with each one undertaking the same training, resulting in production packages being the same. All this, coupled with the effort and passion each presenter had for their show, helped to ensure the four shows maintained their unique selling point. 

Not only did we aim to be a source of quality new music but also an information service, informing listeners of upcoming gigs in Nottingham as well as helping gain an insight into artists’ views with in-depth interviews. Musical content that was exclusive to the show was also provided, with artist’s coming in to provide sessions and mixes. All interviews and sessions were then put up on the website along with tracklistings for each show to help promote website use and also to allow listeners to catch up with anything they had missed.  Interviews and sessions from the show ranged from White Lies and Foals to Skream and The Roots.

The show reflected the diverse nature of Nottingham’s music scene and as a result the show provided an outlet for those students who were fed up with the ‘big three’ student nights and the stale playlists that they offered. With the show going out four days a week, information about new club nights and up-coming gigs in the area was always current. The closer connection to the club nights and promoters led to many more local artists being introduced to the station. The evening show became a launching pad for local Nottingham artists and acts like electro duo Obstacle One and folk band House of Brothers went on to book performances at major festivals this year after initial exposure on the evening show. Involvement from acts like these created a ripple effect leading to their local fan bases tuning in on a regular basis.

What’s more, we had a presence at the majority of musical events in Nottingham’s calendar, including Dot-To-Dot and Detonate Indoor Festival. At both, we were backstage acquiring interviews and crowd reaction for a follow-up show.

All the above combined to create a show that was new, exciting, and relevant to students, providing them with an enjoyable listening experience.