Tuesday 11-12-2018 - 11:43

A second university radio station has closed in favour of a student-led collaboration with the university. 

A university-funded radio station with paid student staff launched at the beginning of this academic year, whereas Hive radio is run by student volunteers. The new radio station risked taking listners away from Hive and making contributions to the existing station less appealing, due to paid opportunity through the university.

Hive Chair and Station Manager Callum Sheppard said: “I was pretty annoyed when I found out. We work way too hard and have put way too much effort into it, for the station to be shut down by something new that doesn’t need to exist in the first place”

Upon hearing the news, Societies and Development officer Anna organised meetings with the university to discuss the future of the situation. “As soon as we mentioned it to her she set to work on the situation. Having someone on the inside The Union and who’s able to make the necessary changes happen was perfect for us”, said Callum.

Vice Chair James Leese took the issue to the Societies Council, where Hive received overwhelming support. James commented, “all of the societies really empathised with our situation, as it could have happened to anyone. It was the best feeling to know that everyone was on our side – people were talking about doing a petition, or an open letter, and a lot of the societies said they’d sign it.”

With news that the university station is shutting down, Hive are seeking out ways to collaborate with university staff by setting up a mentoring programme so all students can benefit from what would have been a faculty led venture. With the merge of the two, hopefully student radio will flourish from a collaborative effort.

Anna said “I’m absolutely over the moon that we are able to keep our radio student led and under the banner of Hive. This is such an amazing opportunity for us to work together with the University to enhance our students experiences further and provide training like we never have before. I’m excited to come back in January with Hive radio and their members to push this collaboration onward and upward.”

“Everything is so much better now,” Callum says “It's a massive weight off our backs and it means we can focus on important issues for us making improvements to our studio, filling our schedule and the Hive members. Hive are now looking forward to their 24 hour fundraising broadcast in January.

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James (Vice Chair) training some of Hive's new members