Get Involved with URB
Mitch Thorngate - Program Controller
University – it’s a period of self-discovery, exploring new horizons that will shape you as a person. You’ll meet new people and build friendships, you’ll explore a new city and find places that will become your own personal sanctuary, and most importantly, you’ll develop new hobbies that allow you to let off steam. Sure, it could be a sport. It could be an art. It could be abseiling naked whilst listening to David Bowie – I don’t know what floats your boat.
It could even be student radio *wink wink nudge nudge*.
For those of you who might be unsure exactly who we are and what we do, we are University Radio Bath and we are the university’s official student radio station. We provide students the opportunity to learn new skills within media, and to socialise with like-minded people who have a passion for music.
But we’re not just a radio station. It is a major part of what we do and what we offer, but we also give students the chance to learn how to DJ, learn how to present live on-air, interview new upcoming artists and shape the soundtrack for the university.
Here are a couple of reasons why you should get involved with URB.
Student Radio is a platform for professional work
Greg James currently presents the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast show with an average audience of 2.2m listeners per week. Jordan North currently presents Radio 1’s Greatest Hits and has been a popular voice amongst many BBC Radio 1 listeners for the past two years. Jack Saunders currently presents The Indie Show on BBC Radio 1, providing listeners with alternative tunes all night long.
You’re probably wondering why I’m mentioning this – well, they all started on student radio.
Student radio is a great platform to pursue a professional career within the radio industry, as a presenter, producer or anything else in between. We pride ourselves on providing members with platforms to gain new skills that can be added to the CV and used to help get a dream job. Some of our past alumni now currently work for major players within the radio and TV industry such as Capital FM, the BBC and YouTube, in jobs ranging from content production, presenting and technical management.
Creative Control:
Another aspect that makes URB stand out as a fantastic outlet for creativity is the amount of creative control you have at the station. Once you receive your training, you are allowed to produce and present your own shows. You can do whatever you like – if it’s a show celebrating urban classics or a comedy show, the world is your oyster. We’ve had an eclectic mix of shows at URB over the past few years, and we encourage everyone to go with what
you love. As long as you’re producing content that you love, then we’re not gonna complain too much.
You don’t have to be on-air
One of the biggest misconceptions in regards to joining student radio is that you’ll have to be on-air presenting shows every waking minute; that is not the case at all. As mentioned previously, we offer so much more.
We offer DJ workshops to help you learn how to DJ and produce music, we have a dedicated Ad-Market team who give you the opportunity to promote and publicise URB, we have a designated music team who curate URB’s fine playlists ready for broadcast, and we also have dedicated ‘live-event’ teams who help produce special broadcasts for big events such as the Varsity, Freshers Week and other big charity events such as our URB 45 – a 45 hour live broadcast that raised money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.
We’re a social bunch
The main reason to join a society in general is to meet new people and to build friendships. At URB, this is incredibly important to us. The studio door is always open for anyone, and we celebrate and champion every member of URB equally. We want you to learn new skills and to be yourself.
We also have regular socials all year round to make sure you’re mingling with all members of URB and having a great time doing so. The URBig Night Out is a personal highlight, which is open to all URB members, all Student Media members and anyone else in between – you can bring your mum and dad if you want.
Discover New Genres:
We mentioned previously that we have a specialist music team who help us curate our playlists that go on our Spotify and go live on-air. This, for me, is also a great opportunity to broaden your musical horizons and discover new music that you would never have listened to before. With URB Music Team members showcasing the best of the best from each genre, there’s always someone new to take interest in. Previous music teams have helped get new artists get airplay on the station, with names such as Bastille and The Shires getting some major exposure before setting the world alight. There’s also the chance to check out some of the local artists from Bath and the nearby South West, giving independent artists a platform to gain new fans.
Interviewing Artists:
At URB, we constantly try to keep our content fresh and our listeners interested. One way we do this is by interviewing artists in order to show our listeners the amazing work that these artists do. Previous interviewees include Bastille, Tom Grennan, Frank Turner, Leven Kali, Slaves, Enter Shikari, Cel Spellman, The Hoosiers, Jack Maynard, Matt Edmondson, Greg James, Karen Harding and Tinchy Stryder. I could literally be here all day listing out some of the amazing artists URB have had in their studio or interviewed at gigs, but I’d be here all day. The amazing thing about joining URB is that you have the opportunity to conduct these interviews and meet some great people. What a way to be spending your spare time
interviewing celebs instead of binge watching Friends on Netflix (I mean, that’s decent as well but you get the point).
How To Get Involved:
So hopefully we’ve convinced you to at least consider getting involved with URB – but how can you get involved? As a young meerkat once said, simples. Just head to the SU Bath website (https://www.thesubath.com/media/) where you can buy membership to the Student Media group for just £9; that’s just £9 for membership to URB, Campus TV (the Uni’s TV and live event production team) and Bath Time (the Uni’s exclusive magazine team).
Once you’ve bought membership, you’re entitled to get the training you want and get your URB career started.
For more information and updates, head on over to our socials (University Radio Bath on Facebook, and Uni Radio Bath on Twitter and Instagram) where we will keep you updated for upcoming shows, training and live events.
If you want to meet the lovely team in person, then head to the Student Centre in 1East and take a visit to the URB Studios, located next to Fresh Express. We’ll be there throughout Freshers Week to answer any questions for you, and hopefully get you on your way.