LSRadio
 | |
| City | Liverpool |
|---|---|
| Slogan | "Your voice. We're listening." |
| Frequency | Online Station |
| First air date |
Founded in 1961 XSLive (1998-2002) ICON Radio (2002-2011) LSRadio (2011-present) |
| Format | Student Radio |
| Owner |
Liverpool Guild of Students University of Liverpool |
| Website | www.lsradio.co.uk |
LSRadio,[1] or Liverpool Student Radio, is the official student radio station of the Liverpool Guild of Students and the University of Liverpool. The station operates 24 hours a day throughout the academic year on campus, and broadcast online via the LSRadio website, with live shows from Monday to Friday (10:00am to 10:00pm). LSRadio is an official society of the Liverpool Guild of Students, and broadcast from their very own studio inside the Guild Building at University Square.
History
Founded in 1961 as the Liverpool Amateur Radio Society,[2] by a radio enthusiast group that went under the callsign 'G3OUL', LSRadio as a society has been in operation for over 55 years. It is the second oldest student radio station in the UK. Since its founding, the station has rebranded on numerous occasions,[3] such as XSLive (1998–2002), which was the first time the station had ever broadcast online using the internet. However, XSLive still resorted to pre-recording their broadcasts on CD-RWs, which were played throughout certain spaces in the Guild, such as the former Saro Wiwa Bar (now Starbucks as of 2013).
Another notable brand of the station is ICON Radio (2002–2011); with a lifespan of 9 years and 5 months, ICON Radio was the longest known format of the station, and the most beloved by students. It proved to later on become an influential platform on campus, and also a learning space for many alumni members, who later went on to achieve professional careers in radio broadcasting. Notable alumni from XSLive and ICON Radio include BBC Radio 1's Nick Grimshaw, Tulip Mazumdar from BBC News, and the Ministry of Sound's Hannah Colson.
In September 2011, the station in its 50th year rebranded to its current format, and began broadcasting as LSRadio, to align itself with a new web based venture undertaken by the Guild and several other of its media societies, known as LSMedia (Liverpool Student Media). However in 2015, LSMedia has since then folded due to lack of interest from students, and was replaced entirely by a new online version of a student publication at the University of Liverpool, called The Sphinx. LSRadio therefore once again, became a separate society at the Guild.
Between 2013 and 2014, the station underwent a complete overhaul in many respects. Firstly, the logo was changed to the current one, separating from the uniform LSMedia brand. Additionally, a brand new and highly advanced studio was built on the main corridor, or 'The Street', of the Guild Building; the studio has glass windows so that the students or the public can easily watch broadcasts as they went live on the air. This replaced the old studio, the 'Radio Room', on the 2nd floor of the Guild. The website also had a complete transformation, from a one page website with few navigation options, to a more interactive and user friendly website, which encased a variety of news, music reviews and interviews, very much like the old ICON Radio website.
Operations
LSRadio is currently divided into five teams which specialise in different roles for the station, particularly in its online content.
- The Music Team specialise in music reviews, and have been present at the station since the days of ICON Radio. They write articles on the LSRadio website about various artists, new songs or albums, and live performances at venues around Liverpool, the Music Team are an integral part of LSRadio.
- The News Team are also a division which are equally important, reporting the news breaking on campus and around the world, publishing articles on their special part of the website, and broadcasting their weekly news bulletin on LSRadio.
- The Interviews Team work in conjunction with the Music and News Team, interviewing important public figures or up and coming talent, and broadcasting them on the station and online. Additionally, the Interviews Team and News Team also have exclusive coverage and interview access to the annual Student Officer Elections at the Guild.
- The Programming Team are in charge of administrating the weekly radio schedule and training the student DJs to a professional broadcast level, helping them to develop their show and broadcast style in order to deliver the best possible radio content to the listeners.
- The Arts and Culture Team is a new and experimental division of LSRadio, introduced in 2015, the Arts and Culture Team review new art exhibitions, musical or theatre productions, public festivals or parades, and general cultural events on campus and around Liverpool.
In addition to this, LSRadio is administrated by an elected committee board, who specialise in various different roles:
- Heads of Station
- Heads of Programming
- Heads of Music
- Heads of News
- Heads of Interviews
- Heads of Arts & Culture
- Heads of Marketing
- Head of Events (Social Secretary)
- Heads of Technical Services (usually run 7 days a week during the academic term)
The station is currently co-headed by Jon Ferguson and Emily Clark for the academic year 2015/2016. [4]
References
- ↑ "About Us". LSRadio. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ↑ "LSRadio: Society Description - Liverpool Guild of Students". Liverpool Guild of Students. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ↑ "The History of LSRadio (YouTube) - LSRadio". LSRadio. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ↑ "LSRadio Committee". LSRadio. Retrieved 28 Apr 2016.
