Purple Radio

This article is about a student radio station. For gay and the lesbian radio station, see Purple Radio (London).

Purple Radio

Broadcast area	The World
Frequency	Internet
First air date	1980s
Format	MP3 and Flash Player
Owner	Durham Students' Union
Website	www.purpleradio.co.uk

Purple Radio is Durham University's student radio station . Purple broadcasts online 24 hours a day during term time, from October until June each year .

History

Purple FM (1980s-2005)

Purple Radio was previously known as Purple FM and later Purple 107 . The station is believed to have launched in the 1980s and has been located variously within Dunelm House; in the College of St Hild and St Bede (1997–1999) and a small studio at Van Mildert College (1999–2002). Traditionally during this time the station aimed to run for two four week RSL FM broadcasts per academic year. The station initially broadcasted on frequencies around 105.4 FM, though later a frequency of 107 FM was retained. During the November 1999 broadcast pioneering use was made of outside broadcast equipment that utilised the University's internal telephone network to send transmissions from remote locations to the studio. During 2000 Purple FM was simulcast over the internet for the first time; however this service was only available from 7am to 11pm as the equipment required to run the service was sited in a student's bedroom.

In the summer of 2002 the station moved into Dunelm House, the home of Durham Students Union. This move was made to the make the station more accessible and open to students from all parts of the university. The first broadcast to be made from the new studio was another four week FM broadcast in October of that year on the same frequency as previous licences. A further such FM broadcast followed in November to December 2003. Ironically the suite of rooms used by Purple Radio were the same originally used by the station prior to its move to Hild Bede college in the 1990s.

Purple Radio Logo 2005-2010.

Purple Radio (2005- Present)

The station re-branded itself as Purple Radio in late 2004 in order to launch a 24-hour internet service via its website ; this decision was taken due to the increasing popularity of the internet as a broadcast medium for student radio, the very high costs of broadcasting on FM, and the infeasibility of broadcasting on AM in Durham. In addition the award of a local FM licence to the new Durham FM that was preparing to launch in 2005 made it difficult for the station to successfully apply for RSL licences.

The first internet-based broadcast began on the first day of Epiphany term 2005, but was forced off air in late February after heavy snow storms leaked into the studio and damaged much of the station's equipment . After a studio re-build and a change of executive, the station was re-launched a year later on January 16, 2006 and successfully completed its longest period of continuous broadcasting on Friday 23 June. Since this time, Purple Radio has been broadcasting 24 hours a day during term time, except in exceptional circumstances.

Awards and Notable Events

• Two presenters undertook a 24-hour show in order to raise money for charity in May 2007^{[citation needed]}.
• In November 2007 Purple Radio won national recognition at the Student Radio Awards in London for the first time; Jacob Niedzwiecki picked up a bronze award in 'Best Specialist Music Programming' for his drum and bass show 'Different Drum'.
• For the years 2008-2011, Purple Radio has presented an outside broadcast from Van Mildert College's annual music event Jam By The Lake .
• Purple Radio hosted the Student Radio Chart Show on 11 May 2008.
• 2009 - 2010 Station Manager Amy Collins won an award for 'Outstanding Contribution to a Station' at the Student Radio Awards , dedicated to the people behind the scenes.
• Purple Radio was the creator of a Schools Project, active during 2006 - 2007 , where local school children visit the station during the summer for a work experience project. They learn how the station works and the technique of producing a good radio show.

Station Managers

• 1997 - 1999 - Dan Cawdry
• 1999 - 2001 - Anna Lee
• 2001 - 2002 - John Hart
• 2002 - 2004 - Nick Jeffery
• 2004 - 2006 - Mike Hanson
• 2006 - 2007 - Tim Hoy
• 2007 - 2008 - Matt Hancock and Matt Gibson
• 2008 - 2009 - Sebastian Payne
• 2009 - 2010 - Amy Collins
• 2010 - 2011 - Adam Painter
• 2011 - Present - Alexandra Bottomer

Shows

Purple Radio allows any student at Durham University to join or start a show, and in some cases has allowed non-students to broadcast.

The station features a variety of shows, typically broken into 'Entertainment', 'Specialist' and 'Speech'. Entertainment shows feature a large number of songs with short links between, and are the staple shows during the day. Specialist shows are scheduled during the evening and pay particular attention to the music played, with an in-depth knowledge of a particular genre or style. Speech shows play very little music, and instead focus on analysis and discussion of subjects including news, sport and technology. Some comedy shows have also been broadcast on Purple Radio.

For Entertainment shows a playlist (composed of songs on an 'A', 'B', and 'C' list) is rotated and presenters must play a fixed number of tracks from the list. They are also free to play their own choice of new and old music together with this allocation. Tracks from the week's playlist are voted for by members of the Music Team.

Management

A Station Manager, appointed by the general counsel of Durham Students’ Union during Epiphany Term, runs the station. The Station Manager selects an executive committee (Exec), whose job it is to assist the Station Manager to run the station. The term for Station Manager runs from Easter Term (April) till the end of Epiphany Term (March) each year .

The Exec currently includes the following posts: Assistant Station Manager, Head of Sponsorship, Head of Marketing, Head of Programming and Scheduling, Head of Music and Outside Broadcasting, Head of News, Head of Production, Head of Training and Monitoring and Head of Technical Services . Weekly meetings are held to discuss matters relating the station.

Membership and Finance

Purple is a Recognised Media Organisation, along with Palatinate and Durham21. The station is expected to be self-financed and it is not provided any financial help from the union. However the union provides the office and studio space for the station to run on Level C of Dunelm House. The primary source of finance is membership fees - members of the radio station pay a nominal fee in order to pay for studio maintenance, promotions and projects . All presenters must be members of the station, and all members are encouraged to present shows.

The number of DJs involved in broadcasting has increased vastly in recent years and is now in excess of 170 students. In addition to presenters, the station has a dedicated Music Team who write comprehensive reviews for the many CDs that are sent from record companies. The station's website is updated regularly with these, in addition to gig reviews. As well as this, a number of other teams also exist within the station .

There is also a Head of Sponsorship who is responsible for finding sponsorship for the station . Recent sponsors have included 3, Gala Theatre Durham and Centrica .

External links

• Purple Radio Website
• Purple Radio Page at Durham Students' Union website
• Purple Radio Alumni Group on Linkedin