For this interview I am delighted to be sharing the company of two incredibly successful Nottingham students. I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity, to give an insight into the University’s radio station, URN. James Perkins and Matt Manley have very kindly agreed to explain their role with the station and how you can get involved.
Names: James Perkins and Matt Manley
Course
James: English
Matt: Mathematics
Year
James: Final Year
Matt: I’m doing my dissertation for my maths masters degree (I’m finding it really difficult!)
What is your role with URN?
James: I’m the Station Manager
Matt: and I’m the Deputy Station Manager
James: We make sure everything works and we don’t end up getting sued!
Sounds like a lot of responsibility, especially the not getting sued but, what exactly does this entail?
James: URN is governed by the same bodies as all the major UK radio stations eg. BBC Radio 1 so the same rules that apply to their shows apply to us. For example, we can’t swear on air before 9pm, this includes explicit songs. It’s harder than it sounds especially with some presenters here…
It’s not really an issue because we make sure to train everyone beforehand and the presenters sign agreements etc.
Glad to hear it’s nothing major! What equipment do you guys use in the studio?
Matt: We have one of the most modern studios to date, a professional radio station layout which was built at 2012. It’s actually a better set up than BBC radio Nottingham. In 2012, URN was awarded a grant from the Cascade Alumni Fund which helped us modernise the studios from an analogue setting to digital. The station really is made for and by the students since everything from the set-up, to the maintenance, is run by them.
What first interested you in taking up a position with the station?
James: I have always loved journalism from an early age which is why I was involved in the school paper.
At fresher’s week, in my first year, 3 media groups grabbed my attention and asked if I was interested in URN. I ended up demoing at a music show and loved it from then on. My role with the radio helped me with university life in general, at one point it even stopped me from dropping out. I think it’s safe to say that I enjoy participating in URN a lot more than my actual degree. Once I got a little taste of how good it could be I was instantly hooked which is what helped me become Head of the station last year.
Matt: I have also been interested in radio since I was little, but didn’t see it as a viable option to pursue. My flatmate was actually the one interested in URN and dragged me to the new members meeting. I’m not going to lie I thought it would be rubbish but as soon as they played the introductory video I was very impressed. I originally wanted to do daytime shows but I couldn’t find a partner so I become a producer and ran the controls. I fell in love with the tech side and learnt how to DJ properly last year. By doing all of these things I became increasingly more involved and became Deputy Station Manager.
Do you have any interesting anecdotes or stories to tell us?
Matt: There are so many! In my first year I sent an email to my favourite band from Sheffield “Reverend and The Makers”. I have always loved them so I took the chance and fired them an email, to request for an interview, with the off chance of receiving a reply. To my surprise they actually accepted the offer. I ended up holding a telephone interview and it was just amazing talking to my idols.
James: We always end up building great relationships with so many different artists and discover brand new, unreleased content. It’s fantastic to be open to so many different opportunities, which could only be possible with URN.
What is the application process like? Do you need a lot of experience?
James: You really don’t need any experience. No current member has had previous radio experience, the relevant training is always given. There are 3 areas to the station: Daytime, which are our entertainment shows full of music, chat and games, much like BBC Radio 1 in the day; Speech, which is more akin to BBC Radio 4, this is our journalistic, factual, sport and drama programming, and after dark, specialist music where the shows focus on one area of music. After Dark and Daytime shows are very competitive and so have an audition process. Perspective presenters are required to create a half hour mini show in our studios. We’re looking for keen and fun radio presenters, nothing too polished. You pick up everything so quickly. If you have any more questions on the application process don’t hesitate to email in using the addresses found on our website. Matt- We’re a student radio so there’s no pressure at all. I would treat URN as a “training platform”. This is a place to make mistakes and learn from them, we train and get better.
Tell me more about the charity events that URN are involved with.
James: We always try and do a push for charity. For example last year we raised £5200 for Comic Relief which beat our previous record! We also carry out a different challenge every year. Last year several members of our team walked all the way to Nottingham over night from various starting locations 50 miles away. It was so gruelling at the time but looking back, it was well worth the effort and it ended up being incredibly rewarding. We have this personal goal of beating all of our previous records, every year we have to be better.
Your roles are incredibly inspiring but I can’t help but wonder how you manage to juggle everything….
Matt: I save time with eating and sleeping…But seriously though, somehow I just manage to cram uni work in and URN is combined with my social life, which is a huge bonus. Also, showers in Trent are a good way at surviving!
James: Honestly URN is half work, half messing around. It’s so chilled I can just go to the pub for a chat after we’ve done a long day’s work. Our social life and URN is so entwined that we can have fun all the time.
I’ve heard that URN won best student radio of the year, Congratulations! Can you tell me any exciting details about the event? Apparently Greg James was there…
James: The event is a collaboration between BBC Radio 1 and the Global Media Group who own a lot of the UK’s best known radio stations (e.g Capital, Smooth, Radio X…). They are the two biggest names in radio and the Student Radio Awards are hosted and judged by them. At the end of the uni year we submit audio packages and audio content from our radio presenters. Throughout the year we keep an eye out on exceptional content and we tell the chosen presenters to condense their show’s content to 7 minutes of highlights. We put together packages for all the different categories ie. Best Sport, Best Entertainment ad Best Journalism. The nominations come about October, we got 23 nominations this year! We smashed the previous record, set by us, of 16. All we have to do now is beat this again next year! The award night is down at the O2 London, hosted by Will Manning and Greg James. We saw a few members of Radio 1, including Scott Mills, as they had their own table there. It was such an amazing night and the fact that such big names in the industry are there gives us gratification for all the hours that we do, it really makes everything worthwhile. For example, last year I got recognition for one of my most bizarre features, a really niche sport piece. Ultimately only 100 people tuned it to listen to it but I got the recognition by being nominated.
The biggest award of the night is Best Station. To enter that award we put together 15 minutes of audio condensed from the entire years’ worth of content of 140 hours/ week over 25 weeks.
Does your role with URN transfer to your career goals?
Matt: 100 %, hands down. At first it was just a bit of fun and I didn’t really see it as anything more but then it clearly became a viable career option. Through URN I’ve made many contacts and I’m at a point where I’ve gained a lot of experience from my involvement. I have done work experience at Capital FM and the knowledge I’ve gained from it is really helpful. I try to instil the same principles into our presenters here at URN, this helps us emulate the industry. A lot of the presenters on our team go into the radio industry. A lot of the daytime output from Radio 1 weekday is produced by ex- URN members. Which I believe speaks for itself.
James: Even if you don’t work directly in the industry you can learn a lot from the experiences gained here at the station. For example, we speak regularly to different business for all of our give-aways. You can also gain technical skills such as rewiring hardware, video/ audio editing and Photoshop.
Well I thank you both very much for taking time out to conduct this interview. It has certainly been incredibly entertaining and a great insight to one of the larger aspects of student involvement at the university. It definitely shows us how fun and rewarding URN can be to join. Just a reminder to our readers that URN are currently holding a special giveaway, the 12 days of Christmas, from the 5th of December to the end of term. They are giving out gift packages, with a total worth of over £3000, every day. Prizes include a very savvy Easter Ski Trip with UoN Snowsports. To get involved all you have to do is to tag the friends (or yourself!) you wish to win on Twitter with the hashtag 12DaysOfURN. Good luck!
Make sure to check out URN at :
Facebook: Urn1350
Website: www.urn1350.net
Twitter: @URN1350
Edited by Susan Akyeampong