A team of Radio Production graduates from the University of Chester is celebrating after being awarded silver at a national radio awards ceremony.
Debatable , by former students Tom Kerrigan, Shaun Hocking, Jonny Ireland and Tom Hansom, was nominated for the Best Speech Programme in the North West region of this year’s Student Radio Association Awards, earning the quartet a place in the final shortlist for the national title.
Debatable is a series of entertainment shows in the format of a panel of four under the control of a chairperson. Topics up for discussion included long distance relationships, alcohol and education versus experience, all of which prompted plenty of questions, comments and lively input from the studio audience.
The programmes were produced as recorded as outside broadcasts from the student bar and North West Media Centre at the Warrington Campus and formed part of a third year Radio Production module led by David Grimshaw, Senior Lecturer in Radio.
David said: “ Debatable broke frontiers for us in several ways. The logistic and technical challenges were working in venues big enough to accommodate a large and lively audience while maintaining broadcast audio standards. The editorial challenges were to be entertaining and relevant while achieving full compliance to the Ofcom broadcast code in these sensitive times.
“The SRA Awards judges recognised the quality of the resulting programmes. I'm delighted that the students’ hard work and skills gained this well-deserved recognition.”
Around 650 people attended a glitzy awards ceremony hosted by Radio 1 DJs Fearne Cotton, Greg James and Huw Stevens and the judges included radio luminaries from BBC Radios 1, 2, 4 and 7 and Global Radio.
