Scratch Radio

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Scratch Radio

Broadcast area	Birmingham
First air date	May 2003
Format	Contemporary
Owner	Birmingham City University Student's Union
Website	www.scratchradio.co.uk

Scratch Radio (Scratch) is a student and community radio station based in the Perry Barr area of Birmingham, England which is the only student and community radio station in the city.

Scratch Radio currently has two studios. Studio 1 is located on the first floor of the Birmingham City University Student Union and contains all the broadcasting equipment alongside the main reception. This is where the live broadcasts, both FM and web-broadcasts, take place. Studio 2 is on the second floor of the Student Union, and is shared with UCE TV, used as a production studio for producing jingles, idents, etc.

1 History of Scratch Radio
2 Previous Broadcasts
3 Volunteers
- 3.1 Departments
4 Management Structure
5 References
6 Sources
7 External links

[edit] History of Scratch Radio

Scratch Radio was originally spelt "SCRatch Radio" to reflect the previous title of the station: Student and Community Radio at the communities heart. The first broadcast was in a borrowed KicFM trailer truck, lasting for a month in May 2003. Scratch Radio got its own studio in the Birmingham City University Student Union during November 2003 which became it's permanent home.

[edit] Previous Broadcasts

After the first broadcast in the KicFM trailer, the first broadcast in the Scratch Radio studio took place in November 2003, which was a web-broadcast only. This was followed by a simultaneous FM and web-broadcast in May 2004, February 2005 and February 2006 - all of these broadcasts lasted one month. Since February 2006, all broadcasts have been web-broadcasts only. During 2007, a month broadcast was undertaken in April, a week broadcast to cover Fresher's week in September, a week broadcast in November.

[edit] Volunteers

Since its formation, Scratch Radio has always been run by volunteers. Scratch Radio uses a number of ways to recruit volunteers, which it seeks from both the student community at Birmingham City University and the local community. Many volunteers have no experience in radio broadcasting, therefore Scratch Radio provides free training for them.

[edit] Departments

There are a number of departments for volunteers to get involved with, the main ones listed below by popularity:

Music
Presenting
What's On
Publicity
Technical
Website

[edit] Management Structure

The Station Manager reports to the Marketing and Communication Officer of the Birmingham City University Student's Union, but is essentially responsible for the running of the station. The volunteer committee is elected annually by Scratch Radio volunteers during April.

[edit] Election Procedure

An independent adjudicator from Birmingham City University's Student Union announces all positions, and asks all of those going for positions to step forward and take a copy of the election regulations. Each candidate is given an absolute maximum of one minute to share with the volunteers present why they should be elected. This is done in blocks of positions; the first block to go forward are the roles of Station Manager, Assistant Station Manager (External) and Assistant Station Manager (Internal). When all candidates in the block have given their speeches, they are asked to leave the room with two of the existing committee members whilst those remaining vote for their preferred candidate, or to re-open nomination, more commonly referred to as RON. Once votes have closed and been counted, the candidates are re-invited to the room and the results for the block announced. This is repeated until all positions have been filled. Any positions that receive no candidates or RON are left open until the next committee meeting.

[edit] Handover Period

The handover period is the transition period between two committees, lasting for one month. In the first two weeks, the existing committee members remains primarily responsible for the respective department, but in the latter two weeks the new committee members take control. All existing committee members must submit a "handover file" to their successor.