On 21st October 2012, Ray Crowther and I presented the Student Radio Chart Show to 28 student stations across the country, produced by Rachel Goodwin.
We entered the Student Radio Awards at the beginning of the summer. We put an entry in for the Best Student Radio Chart Show Award and found out on Wednesday (9th October) that we have been nominated!
We were one of six stations to be nominated and we’ll be at the awards in London’s indigO2 on 7th November to find out if we’ve won!
Here’s the entry we submitted, which was edited by Producer Rachel.
You can also listen to our Top 10 countdowns for the Flirt! and Emerging Icons Chart.
Radioplayer launched their desktop app in 2011, followed by their mobile apps last summer. So the next step was of course tablets.
As far as we can tell, people in the UK currently do between 10-15% of their web browsing on tablets. And when they are using their tablets, they tend to linger longer on them, than they do on their PCs or phones. [Source: Radioplayer]
The new apps, for Android and iOS, are all about discovering new stations and getting more from the stations you choose to listen to.
The main highlights are an enlarged station view, columns for all the stations to pick and a supercharged search function.
My job throughout the project was to test the app and ensure that it met the client’s expectations. I even managed the project from our end for a week whilst my boss was away! So after many hours going through a 100+ point test list, the apps are ready to use.
Mike Hill, MD of UK Radioplayer Ltd, has done a short demonstration of the new iPad layout.
And if you feel it’s good enough to shout about, why not give it a review in the relevant app stores.
I am very proud to have been part of the team that has brought this app to life and hopefully everyone will appreciate and love what we’ve done.
Reviews & Features
Since the app’s official launch on Wednesday 25th September, The Guardian put the app in their “20 best Android (iPhone and iPad) apps this week” articles! We were even above FIFA 14 in the iOS list! Check them out: iPhone & iPad – Android
When we arrived I discovered I had the biggest room out of the two that would become the Media Centre!
Radiquip, who we hired nearly all our kit from, arrived earlier than planned and were a dream to get on with. They set up in a flash and everything worked as expected. I can’t recommend them enough.
We used Psquared’s Myriad and Autotrack, which meant we were able to mix up the music nicely. Some of the best compliments were about our music mix and how campers of all ages felt they could listen. Throughout the camp, I reckon that you only maybe heard the same song three times a day (sometimes a little bit more) Despite this our three most played songs were still by The Wanted, Icona Pop and Avicii!
The launch went as planned, but due to some technical difficulties (no internet!) we weren’t streaming until Tuesday. When we did get up and running, our page was instantly the most visited on the website and continued to be a big hitter for the rest of the event.
Preparing to report live from a glider as it takes off! Preparing to report live from a glider as it takes off![/caption]We also made use of this by asking parents/guardians/grandparents/cats/dogs to get in contact with their messages for their loved ones on site. In a one hour show we had about 250 messages for lots of people on site! It kept the final show of the night very busy.
All of those interviews, and loads of other bits can be found on our AudioBoo channel, which was kindly given to us for free by the ladies and gents at AudioBoo.
My favourite clip and highlight of my career is from when I reported from a glider 900ft above the Lincolnshire Countryside. You can listen to my experience below.
Before the event, I had planned all the imaging, with a whole document of lines to be read! Fortunately, Christopher organised for a couple of the team from Spark FM in Sunderland to read them for us. Below is a short demo of the imaging we played.
Another highlight was working with BBC Radio Lincolnshire, who did a whole three hour show live from the showground! Amanda White and her producer Andy come along and Lucy and I showed them around the activities and ensured they got everything they wanted. Amanda even had a go at a couple of activities! It was fantastic to work with them and it got a good response from the BBC Radio Lincs audience. You can listen to the programme on BBC iPlayer until Friday at 9am.
I had such an amazing team. All 11 of them did a sterling job and I couldn’t have asked any more of them. They were a real team and I always knew I could rely on them to do a great job. So much so there were a couple of times when I was off site and they handled things better than I expected!
Would I like to be radio team leader again? Definitely! It was such a ball and when you have an team like I did, it makes the job even easier.
I hope to work with the team again in the future, at whatever event or company I may find them at.
#NowPlaying: Summertime Sadness – Lana Del Ray vs Cedric Gervais
