Coming in Your Ears

Oh, I almost forgot - time for a shameless plug.











Back when I was a wee bit younger (and I'm only 21 so don't go too far back), my school operated an internal radio station, Radio Grangefield, which basically meant that anyone in the school could go on and inflict their tastes in music on their peers during the designated lunch break.

That was great, but then one of the tutors had a bit of a brainwave. Instead of just having the station running for an hour a day over speakers dotted around the school, they would take the idea to the locals of West Leeds. The Media Studies department then scrapped together around £3000 for a restricted service license, allowing them to use an FM transmitter for a period of 4 weeks.

That was some 10 years ago. Today, the station is going still going strong, and has undergone a major development over the years. From playing vynal records on a small FM modulator, they not have a fully digital set-up, broadcasting live on an RDS FM transmitter and online.

It's far more than a PR stunt for the school as well. It provides a unique experience for the students to pick up skills that academic work just won't teach them. The station is run almost entirely by the students. They produce the programme content, they book studio guests and they sell the advertising space, all of which counts to their portfolios.

And as of this Monday, the station has started broadcasting again. I'd fully recommend you have a listen, either online or, if you're within reasonable distance from Pudsey, on 87.7FM. I don't know how strong the signal is, but I picked it up at the White Rose Centre yesterday if that's any indication.

Oh, and the the promo video on the schools media site (underneath the talent contest clips), that's my handy-work ;)