Campus Celebrity – Leah Gruber

Leah is in her second year at the University of Manchester, studying English Literature and American Studies. All the way from London, Leah’s hobbies include writing, travelling, reading, watching good films and comedy, and finding new things on the Internet (usually cat videos). For music, she likes a bit of everything, though at the moment she’s loving Ellie Goulding, Kodaline, Charlie XCX and 1920s Jazz.

In Leah’s first year, she signed up to do a radio show with the University’s FUSE FM, and she tells us here what it was like to be a celebrity for a few weeks. She also gives us some tips on how to go about creating your own show, so if you’re interested, READ ON!

So Leah, tell us about FUSE FM… What made you want to create a radio show?

I was in my first year at University, and wanted to get involved with a society – expand my horizons as it were. I’ve always been interested in media and the creative side of things, and at the Freshers Fair I signed up with the Uni Radio. With radio, you not only have to pre-prepare a show, but you also have to think of things on the spot to keep things fun and interesting. You’re there to entertain people and I wanted to see what it would take to, and if I could, do that.

I did it with a friend, and we had such a laugh with it. Because we experienced a lot of things in first year together we used a lot of that as inspiration, we were really lucky to be able to do it together and have so many shared stories! Our second or third show was an anti-Valentine’s day theme, so we talked about the weirdest ways you’ve been asked out on a date (mine involved a fox onesie), the worst texts you’ve received… The best thing about using our own lives as inspiration is that some of the stories don’t seem real because they’re so far-fetched, but they were true, which made them that much funnier!

What difficulties did you face in both creating and running your radio show? What was the response like?

I think the most difficult was balancing the planned scripts, but also the ‘on the spot’ chat. When you’re listening to a radio show it all seems so natural, but when you’re writing it, it feels weird! We wanted our show to be relatable and funny so we’d have to sit and go ‘is this going to make people laugh’? Or ‘are people going to find it boring’? We didn’t have any problems filling up the time, they were hour-long shows and although sometimes we were stuck on what to say, there was always a good balance between songs and chat. The friend who I did it with is a DJ, so she wanted to get new songs on and make it more than just a chat show, but I think we managed to balance it really well….

We did get a positive response. The weirdest thing was to realise that people were actually listening! We’d always think ‘oh it would be good if people listened’ because at first it was just our family, who would send in texts and we’d give shout outs to our mums! Then when hall mates came up saying ‘oh really liked your show…or we listened to it…’, we kind of stopped and went ‘oh’!  When you know that people are listening, you really want to make more of an effort to give them a good show and keep them entertained.

Any tips to those who want to get involved in radio at Manchester?

Just sign up, do it, and most importantly have an original idea. I did it through the FUSE FM society, which I signed up to at the Freshers Fair, and it was an easy process from there! The best thing I can say is to just do it, as Nike is always telling us. Don’t be scared! We tried to make it a funny show about two girls, two friends, and our first year of Uni and the antics we got up to. We wanted to reach out to others and just share all those stories that come out of crazy nights out and weird (possibly drunken) conversations… sharing all the experiences of first year that all our listeners were experiencing too.

So don’t be scared to do it. You do feel self-conscious the first time, sat with headphones on and a microphone and you can hear yourself talk. It’s really surreal. I kept thinking ‘ I feel like a bit of an idiot…’, but you do get over it. As soon as you get a positive response you get a boost of confidence. All we wanted was to have a laugh, and we did!

Would you do it again?

Yes definitely. I’d do it with a friend, but if I did it by myself I’d most definitely get my friends to help. The good thing about doing it with a friend is that you have someone to bounce off, and if you do it with someone who you have a really good repartee with then you can keep going. The time just flew by and we definitely overrun in some shows, usually because we were laughing too hard!

The University’s FUSE FM can be found on the Manchester University Student Union page.

(Photo credits to Leah Gruber)

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