Elizabeth College students Rafael van den Bossche, left, and Lucas Harrisson with head of business studies Barney Clarke. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0583546)
THIS summer, Elizabeth College students will launch what they believe will be the Channel Islands’ first live school radio station. From 28 June for one week, a team of Year 8 and 9 pupils will broadcast Old School FM.
‘This is an excellent opportunity for the boys to participate in an activity never attempted in the islands before,’ said head of business studies Barney Clarke. ‘We have done pre-recorded online exercises before, but this is something much bigger,’ he said.
The station will be on air during the school’s information and discovery week, a time of year when students are encouraged to try something out of the ordinary. Each boy will take on various roles in running the station, which will be broadcast on 87.7FM
‘I’m one of the managing directors so I’ll be doing some work on the finance side of things and hopefully a bit of DJ-ing too,’ said Rafael van den Bossche, 13.
‘Because everyone wants to try different roles we will be able to swap about a bit and I am very much looking forward to it.’
Lucas Harrisson, also 13, said the experience would be a good thing to have on his CV.
‘It should be a good leadership and teamwork exercise and I will be doing a lot on the technical side.
‘We will play some music on the station too. I like the older stuff like The Beatles so hopefully that will be on there,’ he said.
The students will be writing and recording their own features, reporting on news, organising a what’s on section and shadowing professional journalists during the exercise.
They have already had meetings to organise the sale of advertising to local businesses.
‘Without funds from advertising, we won’t be able to do it so it’s up to us to contact companies and persuade them to advertise on air,’ said Lucas.
The boys already have one sponsor, Guernsey Airtel, which has provided them with expertise and necessary equipment.
Richard Bird, from Links Communications, who is the father of one of the boys taking part, was partly responsible for the project’s birth and will be technical mentor.
‘After hearing their online radio last year, I thought it would be great for them to do a real live show on air which anyone can tune into.’
Old School FM will also have a dedicated website designed by its team members.
The station will be on air between 9am and 4pm and pre-recorded music will play during the evening.
‘It’s a big deal and a lot could go wrong, but we will try and I’m very excited about being on the air,’ said Lucas.
Article posted on 5th June, 2008 - 1.00pm
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