Scratch Radio
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| Broadcast area | Birmingham City University |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Online |
| First air date | May 2003 |
| Format | Student radio, Music radio |
| Owner | Birmingham City Students' Union |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | Official Website |
Scratch Radio is a community and student radio station based in Birmingham, UK. They are one of the only student and community radio stations in the country, broadcasting online via their website, and will start broadcasting on DAB in the 2015 summer. Their studios are located on the ground floor of the Parkside Building, part of City Centre Campus of Birmingham City University.
History
Scratch Radio was conceived in 2003 by the students of, and community around, BCU (at the time the University of Central England) under the supervision of the communications officer Giles Bowmer and Student Activities Officer Clare Edmondson. The station is unique in the city as it accepts volunteer staff from both the University and the local community, the name was created to stand for "Student and Community Radio at the City's Heart" and was officially formatted SCRatch. This practice has lessened in later years for clarity when reading the website or e-mail addresses on air.
After the first broadcast in the KicFM trailer whilst premises were being fitted out, broadcasts in the Scratch Radio studio took place in November 2003 as a web-broadcast only. This was followed by a simultaneous FM and web-broadcast in May 2004, February 2005 and February 2006; each of these broadcasts lasted one month under a short term RSL. Since February 2006 all broadcasts have been online only, however the station now broadcasts 24 hours a day.
The station was relaunched in September 2010, at the same time as the newly refurbished Students Union. For the first time, all 3 of the Unions Media Groups were housed in one place with a brand new studio for Scratch and an adjoining office for all 3 groups including Tiger TV and Spaghetti Junction - the University's student magazine. In 2013, the media groups moved to the university's new Parkside building, during this time, all groups were rebranded with new logos to "Scratch Media" with Tiger TV and Spaghetti Junction being renamed to Scratch TV and The Scratch (magazine). Another group was created for photography "SnapScratch."
In 2015, the station received an Ofcom trial licence for DAB, which started at the end of August in 2015. This was discontinued in 2016, after lack of funding.
Volunteers
Since its establishment, Scratch has been run by volunteers. Over the years they have used a number of ways to recruit these volunteers, who come from both the student community at BCU and the local community. Many volunteers have no experience in radio broadcasting, and Scratch Radio provides free training for them.
Management structure
The Scratch Radio Committee is formed mainly of students, but also with community and alumni as well. A student station manager runs the station, alongside an assistant from each area - student, community and alumni. Student roles fill the rest of the committee, such as student programme controllers, and other student roles such as music, branding and events etc. Aside from Assistant Station Managers, the only other role not solely available only to students is Radio Broadcast Assistant, of which there are two student, one community and one alumni role.
New Studios from 2013 Onwards
In 2013, the Perry Barr campus of BCU began its move to populate a newly built campus in Birmingham City Centre. As part of this move, Scratch was afforded a new studio and production office in the state of the art facilities. The station was rebranded during this time and the new imaging was also used for Tiger TV and Spaghetti Junction (now Scratch TV and The Scratch). The office is now shared by all media groups, including the new group for photography "SnapScratch."
In the summer of 2015, the station received a nine-month Ofcom DAB Trial, where they are broadcasting on the Birmingham Small Scale Multiplex as well as broadcasting online, 24/7.
External links
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