Friday 12-10-2018 - 10:27

We spoke to Jess Dunning about how Purple Radio is such an inclusive society, and why everyone should join!

Who are you and what’s your role within the student group?

I’m Jess and I am the current Station Manager of Purple Radio. I am a Combined Honours student going into my second year. My role is to make sure that the station is running to the best of its ability by making decsions that benefit the station, overseeing the exec, creating opportunities for our members and ensuring that we stay accessible and inclusive.

Describe the student group in three words
Musical, fun, inclusive

Why (in your opinion) is your group the best in Durham?

Purple Radio is the best society because we are very inclusive. We allow everyone to join. There’s no trial or interview process to have a show and we train everyone from scratch. So whether someone has experience or not we make sure everyone is on the same level. We also offer a wide variety of opportunities. We are not just about hosting a radio show or podcast, we have opportunities in marketing, advertising, producing, tech, human resources, web development and more. We really are open to everyone. We are also a lot of fun, with more socials than ever planned this year and more workshops to help develop presentation and DJ skills. 

What sort of things does your group get up to?

We get up to all sorts. We obviously play music 24/7 during term time (starting on 15 October). But we also do lots of behind the scenes stuff as mentioned above. We also attend and cover a lot of events and provide music for events in Durham, we create special end of term shows, we provide commentary on Durham sports and create many podcasts. For example, this summer we attended the Durham Jazz Festival, Durham Regatta and Jam by the Lake and turned two of these into podcasts, which we then broadcast. We also provided music for the Freshers' Fair, the Durham charity rugby match, Grey’s charity rugby match and more this year, so we get up to a lot. We run a Mental Health Awareness Week every year in February, which we are making much bigger next year. We have been known to do 24 hour shows for charity and live sessions with bands preforming in our studios to our online audience. We are a society that is involved in a lot of different areas. You will always see us about in some way or another. 

Which celebrity would you most like to have as a member of your group?

Hands down Greg James. He is probably the most famous person in radio at the moment and he is doing some incredible things. He is also a lot of fun (from the sounds of his shows).

What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming year?

We are most looking forward to meeting new members, running more training days, having more socials and hopefully getting nominated/winning some more awards this year!
 

You can find Purple Radio's Facebook here. You can also attend their training event on the 13 October here.