Hey everyone! Thanks for signing up to the icradio mailing list– Imperial College’s student radio station. I'll try not to abuse my newfound emailing power too much, I know how quickly those inboxes fill up post-fresher's fair. Fresher's Fair is always a little hectic and I feel like not everyone gets the full benefit of what we have to say in person, so it's best if I put the full deal about our station in an email for your perusal. If you don't feel like reading it all, fair enough - just looks for the coloured phrases and see if any of them intrigue you! A little introduction First and foremost we are a student radio station; broadcasting online, 24 hours a day. We have a sustain service which plays out music from our massive library and people come in to do their own shows. Because we are student radio it is a lot more laidback than a commercial station. We have loads of different and varied shows; talk, dance, rock, pop, indie – anything goes. The important thing is to have fun and get to know more people at university. Because of our fantastic history (IC RADIO has been running for well over 30 years now) the equipment and resources that we have are pretty unbeatable, and, speaking as a massive radio nerd myself, I absolutely adore our facilities. Once you have joined the society the door is pretty much open for you to use our gear. Basically, if there isn’t a show on then you can come in and have a practice on the decks etc in the studio - much cheaper and convenient than buying your own stuff and carting it to uni each year. Radio isn’t the only thing that we do. We have a very well equipped recording studio which a team of previous members have spent the last 3 years setting up. This can be used for recording and/or broadcasting live sessions on the air or doing more involved jobs (band demos/radio plays etc etc). We are pretty unique to have such a facility as a student radio and we're planning on holding lots of live sessions this year. They are open for anyone to turn up to and watch, and are held in our “shared studio” (completely separate to our production and recording studios, and shared with Photosoc and Stoic). Some names we have lined up for this year include Tay Mos, Sam Gray, The King Blues, and Missing Andy. We have a compilation of the best sessions that we did last year, downloadable for free from: http://icradiorecordings.bandcamp.com/. Equally, if you are interested in getting involved with the recording side, then the best thing to do is email Rob, our Production Manager, production@icradio.com<mailto:production@icradio.com>. (Those of you of you who asked to be involved in this when signing up to the mailing lists have been added to the team's list!) A big part of being a radio station is of course the music that we play. We are constantly sent music from all the big labels (and also lots of independent artists) which needs to be listened to, reviewed and eventually put into our play out system - Cahal is our Head of Music and leads an army of avid music fans whose task is just that. We've also got lots of interviews that can be arranged with bands at all times of the year and you also get guest-listed to their gigs. For example: Kate McGill - 20th October -Haymarket Missing Andy - Wednesday 19th October - Barfly, Friday 28th October- BridgeHouse - Canning Town Adam Cohen - Sunday 13th November - Bush Hall - London Pop Will Eat Itself - Saturday 22nd October - Islington O2 Academy FutureProof - Saturday 22nd October - Barfly - Camden Sam Gray - Monday 24th October - Palladium - London The King Blues- Wednesday 2nd November - The Roundhouse It is an exciting but big job and he could use as much help as possible, if it is something that you think you might be interested in then please get in contact with him at music@icradio.com<mailto:music@icradio.com> (If you ticked music at fresher's fair you've been added to the music team list also!) We’re all at Imperial and so therefore geeks, at least on the inside. This might not be “cool”, but it does mean that our technical side to the station is pretty damn good! As you can imagine there is a lot of upkeep and challenges associated with keeping a radio station running. We also do things like outside broadcasts from the annual Varsity (Imperial vs. the Medics in various sports over a big competition) which are fun and a good experience to be a part of. In fact, we're planning on covering the RCSU science challenge in January if you don't believe me. If you want to find out more from the technical side email our Technical Manager, Oli, at technical@icradio.com<mailto:technical@icradio.com> We also make a point of hiring out our equipment to parties and events to make some extra cash so we buy new toys (and pay our license fees, etc), and there're always opportunities for budding DJ's to play some gigs. If you're keen to put your name down for this side of things, email our Disco Manager, Alejandro, at discos@icradio.com<mailto:discos@icradio.com><mailto:discos@icradio.com> “So I’m interested in finding out more, what next?” We are going to have our first social event from 7PM on Monday 10th October, our annual “Beer and Biscuits” night. This is a meet and greet where you can come along and have a chat to our committee and ask us any questions that you have. It’s basically our own version of Fresher’s Fair, just a little bit less hectic and with lots more free beer! (and other drinks) The event will be held in the Level 8 Physics Common Room in the Blackett Building, a really cool venue with a roof terrace and great views over South Ken (map included as attachment). Make sure that you come along if you can. We are student radio, and so part of the “SRA” – Student Radio Association. On Wednesday 12th October we have the "I Love Student Radio Training Day" follwed by the annual SRA Nominations Party. The training day is being attended by professional radio names like Mark Crossley (Absolute), Maddii Lown (Newsbeat), Emma Stephens (BBC Radio 1xtra), and the nominations party is where we'll find out if any of our entries from last year have been nominated for awards. The afterparty is being held in a Camden club and is open to any student radio guys – http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=149523271808165 This is another great chance to come along and meet our committee, especially if you are new to London and haven’t been to Camden yet. Depending on numbers and if people want to attend both the training day and party, etc., we might all meet up and go together. If you are thinking of coming along please email me (manager@icradio.com<mailto:manager@icradio.com>) so that I know numbers. It is a guest list event but if you click attending on the facebook link then you’ll be put on it automatically. If you are already convinced that you want to join our amazing society then get yo'self some membership at http://www.imperialcollegeunion.org/radio-211/radio-membership/ Once you have done that and paid the little fee (which goes towards equipment etc etc) get in contact with me and/or various committee members before-mentioned and we’ll talk about the best way to get you involved. Alternatively, if you're gagging to get doing a radio show ASAP, email our Head of Programming, Sophie, at programming@icradio.com<mailto:programming@icradio.com> Honestly, it's an absolutely brilliant society to get involved in - radio is unbelievably fun, and because we're a London-based station, we also get the perks of free gig tickets and lots of band sessions, etc. Whether it's music, production, presenting, technical, DJ-ing, or even marketing that you're into, we've got an enthusiastic committee member who can help you out. =) Hope to meet lots of you soon, and thanks for reading! Apologies for spazzing out with the rainbow colours! Ashlynn Hayes Station Manager @ IC Radio 2011-12