Student Radio Awards/SBES 2008 & more

Now that I’ve fully recovered from a 50+ hour week of SRA work and events, it’s time to write about it!

As you’ll know from previous posts, while the other exec members have been focusing on the awards night held on Thursday, I dealt with organising the SBES 2008 SRA stand.

Having had to blast up the M5 to Birmingham to make the 5:30 registration deadline (arriving at a timely 5:29) I had the chance to find our stand and register properly.  From there to Staples, to print out some posters (which weren’t cheap, but a reasonable price and on good quality paper).  A quick pizza and frantic mobile top-up (I’m still using PAYG!) I headed to Oxford for the night.

The Wednesday on the exhibition floor of the NEC Pavilion was very interesting: I’ll be interested to see the visitor numbers compared to last year, as it certainly felt quieter than 2007.  However we still had the opportunity to promote student radio and the new I Love Student Radio campaign: more on that soon.

So to Thursday… and to the Student Radio Awards 2008.

As I’ve said before my involvement was minimal at best, predominantly focused on digitising the nominated entries to ease the judging process… I can now add filling the Global Radio attendee bags and going to the Global Radio tour of their Leicester Square studios (they’re doing some very impressive work there).

Onto the night itself… very impressed with the work Kate and Tim have done over the last few months and all credit to them for pulling off one of, if not THE best Student Radio Awards in its 13 year history.  Mark’s speech to the VIPs seemed to go down well… as did the appearance of Jason Donovan thanks to Global Radio!

I can’t remember everyone I spoke to during the afterparty, though I’m particular pleased by the enthusiasm shown by both Nick Wallis (former SRA Chair) and Huw Stevens (the Awards Chair and Radio 1 presenter) towards the awards night and my plans for the next few months.  I’m also pleased to have spoken to several students at the night: though my apologies if I missed you.

So following a 60+ hour week (working for dad on Monday driving around Gloucestershire, SBES and the awards… Newport-Birmingham-Oxford-Birmingham-Oxford-Reading & a 30min walk to the station-London-Reading-Birmingham-Newport over 6 days), I’m now back at working on some possible motions for our General Meeting next month and some alterations to our membership forms: all memberships expire on 31st December, so there’s some work to be done on sorting them out.

And I’m now in a position to work further on the factsheets, Survival Guide and a new project I’ll be launching at our next General Meeting.  A few weeks back I had the opportunity to read every file I acquired from the previous Development Officer and Secretary.  There’s eight years of ideas to consider and I’ve already listed the best of those… I’ll be working on those but I’m after more… I’ll explain how that’ll work once I’ve announced my plans and fully discussed them with the exec.

Awards Entry digitising, SBES, Nominations Parties, a few online comments… and the conference

It’s been a busy 2 weeks since my last post so it’s time to fill you in.

To cut a long story short the majority of my SRA time has been needed to digitise the nominated entries for the Student Radio Awards 2008: as of Monday that’s completed, so I can focus on my main work for the next 2 weeks… and will allow the final judging rounds to take place.

While the exec are in the final throws of organising the Student Radio Awards 2008, my input (other than the entry digitising) has been fairly minimal: simply as my responsibilities don’t directly cover the organising of the awards night (essentially I spend time on the awards as and when it’s needed… so mainly the digitising of entries described above; the awards sorting and the redux)) .  However, it’s not the only event we’ll have a presence at on November 6th…

…as we’ll be exhibiting everything Student Radio at SBES 2008, held at the NEC in Birmingham.  Currently I’m organising our stand for the 2 days (5/6th November) so that’s my primary focus for the next fortnight.  It’s free to attend though you do need to register in advance here. It’s the ideal event to find out more about radio, especially if you like your equipment.

Talking of fortnights, a fortnight ago we had the Nominations Parties across the UK in Stirling, Leeds, Salford, Leicester, Bath and London.  I’m fairly pleased with the outcome of the day, particularly the training sessions in Salford and the announcements in Leeds.  There are areas we need to work on for next year but knowing what they are should make a big difference… especially as I’ve got plenty of feedback from some of the regions.

I’ve also got plenty of recommendations for the exec, which I’ll be discussing with them in due course.

Now onto comments about the nominations… and we’ve had plenty of them!

The nominations announcements always bring out some interesting comments from the community; in particular because some people are annoyed/disappointed/aggrieved at not being nominated. 

This year has seen some interesting emails/blog posts/forum posts based on the size of stations, levels of funding and the possibility of creating new awards based on the size of a station (like the Sony Radio Awards), along with the suggestion that we under-represent “small” stations.

The problem is how to define a small station.  I’ve read many ideas from the community about this but no one specific definition: and it’s difficult to define station size, for the simple reason that the community is too diverse to accurately do so.  Financial support? Turnover? Membership size? Number of Listeners? Age? University population? Number of awards won? Those that have radio courses?

Having considered this over the last 2 weeks, I’m inclined to think that comparing any 2 of the above would produce a significantly different definition of a “small” station… and listener numbers are subject to interpretation, especially for stations with FM/AM licenses as it’s nearly impossible to measure numbers (RAJAR can’t be used as you have to register a permanent address… something students don’t usually have when at university).

I feel though that I have to address some of the comments I’ve read in the last 2 weeks:

• Judging is simply based on the quality of the content submitted and any bias that a judge might have favouring their former station simply can’t happen: there are at least 2 judges for each round (the number of rounds varies on the category) and they have to agree on which are the better entries.
• Judges come across all parts of the industry, from BBC to Global to independents.  Many are student radio alumni and judge simply because they respect and love the community.  So the chances of one organisation favouring certain aspects of an entry will be minimal.
• The judges are usually able to eliminate a significant number of entries very quickly for the simple reason that the quality of the content isn’t good enough and they decide using the same guidelines that entrants have prior to entering.
• The SRA exec have absolutely no involvement with the judging of the awards, other than to sort them into categories for distribution to the judges and to process payments: the process is completely independent of the exec and we therefore have no influence over the results.
• Different stations approach the awards differently: there is very little the SRA itself can do to change this.
• The same applies for funding: we can’t realistically insist that entrants have to pay from their own pocket to entry, especially as cheating could be easily achieved without our knowledge.
• However there is always going to be some interpretation about what good/bad radio is and there always will be. But it’s the best people who judge, people at the very top of their game: which is as fair as we can get.
• And finally: there’s little correlation to the number of entries a station submits and the number of nominations gained.  Obviously a station that submits 3 entries won’t get 10 nominations.  Other stations have and will submit 40+ entries in a single year: some with one or 2 good enough to be nominated, some with more than 10.  The difference is simply down to the main reason good radio succeeds: Content Is King.

Our members are always welcome to contact us with ANY queries they have. I can’t highlight the importance of this enough: we’re always happy to help with any request for information but it’s discouraging when very few are received.  My job is predominately about helping members and improving the association: I can’t do that if people don’t directly contact me with their comments, opinions or suggestions.

I’ve also read that some of the information we have on our members is incorrect.  We’re well aware of that but for accurate information we need member stations to regularly update the details… something that definitely doesn’t happen with the majority, even when we ask.

If you want to update your details, either request your log-on for our members database to edit it, or provide us with the details we need to make them accurate. 

And why do we have the information? So we know how our members operate and to act in the best interests of as many as possible: which applies to all aspects of our work.  Not having access to that data makes it far more difficult to do our work.

Finally, the exec have chosen the host of the 2009 Student Radio Conference, which we’ll be announcing very soon. I can’t say much more about if now… that’s for next time.

Student Radio Awards 2008: Nominations announced

As per the title.

Last night we had 6 events across the UK in Stirling, Leeds, Salford/Mancester, Leicester, Bath and London to announce the nominations for the Student Radio Awards 2008.

You can see the full list at the Student Radio Awards website.

I’ll post about this in more detail over the weekend but 1st I need to recover from nearly 500 miles of driving in 2 days…

Awards sorting redux

Once again I’ve found myself in the Radio Centre sorting awards entries for the Student Radio Awards 2008… which took the entire final day of September to sort (and in part a bit of the 1st day of October to post).

I can’t go into too much detail about the judging process, specifically in terms of the number of judges, who they are etc etc… but to cut a long story short, I’ve spent the last 2 days in the capital repacking and posting some of the award entries.

Which included trips to BBC Radio 2, Wish Buddah (3 times), Folder Media and the post office (twice)… along with an entire day in the Radio Centre (and some geting lost on Great Portaland Street).  Essential work… done.

What I wil say is that the judging process is organised by ASRA: THe Association of Student Radio Alumni.  And they’re doing a very good job, so kudos to them for taking on the job of judging literally hundreds on entries and several thousands of minutes of audio… it’s great to have them on board.

On a less awards focused perspective, there’s also something very exciting on the horizon for all Student Radio stations across the UK… though more on that another time.

Survival Guide & Factsheets

Last week I planned out what will be my main contribution to the Student Radio Community.

The SRA has had the intention of writing a guide on radio broadcasting, specifically tailored to student stations.  This idea was 1st mentioned about 18 months ago… and to date has seen little progress.

So I’ve decided to push ahead and write “The Student Radio survival Guide” (currently a working title).  I’ve set a deadline of the next Student Radio Conference (late March/early April) to complete a draft version, with the intention of publishing the complete document in around a year’s time to allow for printing and redrafts.

This also ties in with the Factsheets that have been available over the years.  There were  good selection back in 2001 (as found via the web archive) and there’s a few on the existing website…

…but I feel it would be a good idea to expand on them and take the opportunity to make a few changes.

The new Factsheets will be just that: a maximum of 2 sides of A4 providing the essentials on various topics, sticking to the options and keeping the documents fairly concise.  The guide will expand on the factsheets and provide further ideas and suggestions, along with some opinion where appropriate.

As a starter, here’s a list of potential factsheets that took just 2 minutes to think up:

1: Applying for a community license as a student station
2: How to produce a news bulletin for students
3: How to produce an appropriate playlist for a student station
4: Suggestions or ideas for training presenters in terms of content
5: How to use Facebook in the most appropriate way
6: a guide to licensing, what you need for different circumstances
7: How to build a radio studio on the cheap
8: How to approach people (unis/SUs/other) for money
9: How to do marketing on the cheap

Naturally there are plenty of more topics I could cover and will undoubtedly do so in the coming months… for the time being the plan is to have 6 completed and ready to publish by early November.

Feel free to post any suggestions in the comments below.

NUS Media Reception 2008

Monday was the NUS Media Reception 2008.  Historically there has been very little if any contact between the NUS and the SRA, so at their invitation I went to their reception held at Amnesty International.

It’s a difficult day to sum up: while the talks were interesting they were of little relevance to the SRA and it’s work.  This was partly due to the political nature of the talks and, while the NUS is a party-neutral organisation, politics is very much at the forefront of it’s events.  A quick look at their previous presidents shows several people who are prominent politicians in the UK.

In particular, 2 of the talks didn’t really have much to do with student media other than fairly flat statements in the final minute of a 45 minute presentation along the lines of, “now we’ve told you about what this is, go and tell everyone about it.”  Not exactly the best way to sell events of publications!

On a more beneficial note was the breakout session, with the other people from radio stations.  While all bar one of the people were from an existing SRA member station, very few know anyone from the exec or how we can help, so it was useful to be able to provide that and talk about what we’re doing.

Unsurprisingly, some of the questions I regularly hear cropped up, such as what does the SRA do and is it fair that some stations win more because they broadcast for more time during the academic year… well:

1. Along with providing national representation for student radio stations to OFCOM, PPL, PRS/MCPS, Global Radio, Bauer, the BBC and other radio organisations we hold the annual conference, awards and now arrange the Student Radio Chart and Hearing fundraising events.  We also do significant amounts of work behind the scenes that isn’t obvious until its completed: more on that in November…
2. Quality is always the most important part of entering the awards.  This year we received a record breaking number of entries for the SRA awards.  However, the quality is usually variable and the judges are usually able to find the best ones fairly quickly.  Obviously having more time does allow entrants to select their best from a significantly greater pool of material but if you’re good enough to win an award you won’t need more than a few hours of material to have a potential winning entry.

Generally speaking it’s always good to meet our members: without doing so it’s difficult to know exactly how we’re perceived by our members and if they think we’re not doing something that we should be.  Having said that, usually we don’t hear about problems or concerns until we actually meet the membership: part of the reason behind this blog, as the Development Officer position in particular is difficult to show my achievements until I’ve completed them.

There’ll be another update in a few days: plenty has happened in the last month…

Awards sorting, meetings and a look at the venue for the Student radio awards 2008

It’s been a VERY busy week.

On Wednesday the deadline passed for entries to the Student Radio Awards 2008.  These were sent to the Radio Academy and we had been allocated space to sort them at the Radio Centre.  It’s only mile or so away but a 15 minute walk across central London (and Oxford street) with 7 mailbags of post wasn’t exactly a good idea.

Enter my car… and a drive from Newport to London.

Apart from TFL knowing more about my car than I do, it was easy enough drive to the M25: even getting across London wasn’t difficult, just slow.  Luckly, just one trip in the car was needed to move all the entries.

3 days of sorting/data entry and we’ve processed all the entries received.  I won’t say how many (at least not until after the awards) but it’s certainly a significant increase from last year and probably a record.

On top of this we had 2 useful meetings: one with ASRA members, one with the HBA.

ASRA, or the Association of Student Radio Alumni is essentially for former members of student radio stations. Importantly, they help us with the judging process. Again, I won’t say more but it was a genuinely useful meeting and I’m looking forward to a closer relationship with them.

On Saturday, we met members of the Hospital Broadcasting Association, or the HBA. It was interesting to hear that although there are big similarities to the SRA, there are also some big differences, especially with regard to broadcasting mediums and the events they organise. While it is unlikely that we’ll have any projects with the HBA, I’ll certainly be looking at possible ways that we can help them, especially with the sharing of information and people.

We’ve also been confirmed as an exhibitor at SBES 2008. While it’s predominantly a trade show for equipment manufacturers, it does attract people from other sectors of the industry, including OFCOM, the HBA, the CMA, the Radio Magazine among others. We exhibited last year and while it was a fantastic experience, there’s been plenty to learn from regarding what we really need to show. I’m looking forward to organising the event.

Finally, we had a look at the venue for the 2008 Student Radio Awards. I won’t say where other than it’s not the same venue as we’ve used for the last 3 years. It’s certainly an exciting venue and I’m looking forward to the awards night.

That’s all for now, though my 2nd guest post on the Work In Radio Blog will be posted later this week.

Meeting with BBC Bristol

I’ve just come back from a meeting with Sophie Oliver from BBC Bristol.  I’m pleased with the content of the meetin and it may lead to presenting opportunities for SRA members… I’ll update when there’s been more progress.

Work In Radio Blog: Guest Post #1

I’ve been asked by Jay Dormer to guest write for his Work In Radio blog, which is, unsurprisingly, about working in radio and how to get a job in the industry.  As it links into my own work for the SRA, I’ll be reposting the content here as it may be useful.  I’ll also be podcasting the content of the guest posts I write: Here’s the podcast RSS feed.  My 1st post is below.

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Hello!

Jay has asked me to contribute to this blog and to give my thoughts about how to get a job in radio.

About me: I’m Ian, the new Development Officer of the Student Radio Association (SRA). My job is to assist stations who are members of the SRA to make themselves better, through various means and media. Before that, I was the Head of Engineering for BurnFM.com between 2005-7 and part of my job included studio training.

I intend on covering all possible areas of work that you can get in the radio industry: it’s not just limited to presenting.  Every month, I’ll cover a different area of the radio industry or provide more info as I find new information.

For this first post, I’ll cover the possible routes you can take to get experience presenting radio shows.

Presenting a radio show is probably the most visible job you can get in the industry: after all, listeners will hear you voice on a regular basis. However, this makes it the most difficult job to get as competition is incredibly fierce. You won’t be able to walk into a presenting job on Radio 1 without experience and can demonstrate your ability and suitability for the station.

There are three easy ways to get experience of presenting radio shows:

1. Student Radio
2. Community Radio
3. Hospital Radio

It shouldn’t be too difficult to get air-time through any of these 3 routes, though don’t expect to be paid: if anything, you may have to pay a fee to become a member of the station.

Each of these routes has an organisational body: the Student Radio Association, the Community Media Association and the Hospital Broadcasting Association. The websites are the easiest way to find your nearest station.

Student Radio offers the highest flexibility in the entire industry, in that you will gain the maximum amount of freedom to try innovative ideas for features.  It is also the best of the three options for specialist music and speech based programming.  However, most university radio stations won’t allow non-students of the university in which they are based to present: some will, including Loughborough and Birmingham City universities, but the majority usually restrict membership to registered students, mainly for legal reasons.

Most student radio stations operate as a student society or group within a Student Union and most are operated by students in their free time and not as part of a degree.  However, degrees in radio are available from some universities: this UCAS search for courses starting in 2009 is a good starting point if you’re interested in studying for a degree in radio, which may provide guaranteed presenting time.  Degrees in radio are also a good option if you want a non-presenting job.

Community Radio, as the name implies, is about serving a specific group of people: this can be based on a specific area of a city, or a specific ethnic group.  While shows on Community Radio will be rewarding and arguably make a better CV addition, shows have to relate directly to the target audience, so you will be more restricted in terms of what you can say than on Student Radio.

The previous paragraph also applies to Hospital Radio, though the target audience is obviously different.

All three options are a good place to start gaining presenting experience and are relatively easy to get involved with.  Student Radio stations usually target students during freshers weeks and should provide training and support for new presenters. In the case of Community and Hospital stations, I recommend contacting the Programme Controller or Station Manager directly.  Which brings me onto an important point.

Always research the station you’re contacting! People prefer to find emails or letters addressed to them by name, rather than their position. It shows that you’ve found out about the station and have dedicated the time to finding the right people. The personal approach also suggests that you’re not sending out the same email or letter to everyone: even just by changing the name on each email you send will make a big difference to the person receiving the email.

By this point you may have noticed that I haven’t said anything about what content you should use for a radio show, partly as different people prefer different styles. I’ll cover content in a future post but as a starting point, Rad10 has five good articles about what to do when preparing for a show and things to avoid, which should get you started.  Content is important and it helps to have thought about it before approaching a station, as you will have a better chance of being awarded a show if you can offer something unique to the station and demand for shows exceeds availability.

Note that there are other options to consider for gaining presenting experience: the British Forces Broadcasting Service is a possible option, as are in-store radio stations (e.g. B&Q Radio).  Finally, Media UK is a good place to visit if you’re considering working in the radio insdustry.  It has lists of radio stations and jobs, both paid and voluntary.

Assuming you’re already involved in radio at a voluntary level, how do you progress to a paid job in the industry?

Unfortunately, this has become more difficult in recent months since OFCOM allowed commercial stations to “network” certain stations overnight: essentially employing one person to present a show that is broadcast on multiple stations.  That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get a job, just a bit harder than it was.

All of the above in this post applies when contacting a commercial or BBC station but you’ll need a good demo to have a chance of impressing potential employees… I’ll explain how to make a killer demo next month.

The world of student radio

Hello!

It’s usually difficult thinking about what to write for a 1st blog post… but not this one.

A quick intro about me: I’m Ian and am the new Development Officer of the Student Radio Association.  We represent loads of student radio stations across the UK and it’s my job to help those stations improve and provide assistance when requested.

Over the next 12 months, I’ll be talking about everything that’s important for the student radio community and the various events I’ll be attending. The Association itself hosts and organises the annual awards in November to celebrate the best of the best and the annual conference around Easter, which provides students with the opportunity to meet radio people from other universities and the industry.

I’ve only officially been the Development Officer for five days but already my email inbox has become inundated with ideas from the other exec members and where we want to take the association. As these get fleshed out I’ll post about what’s important and how it will benefit the community.

So that’s all for this 1st post: other than you can find my personal blog here.