FCOT FM 87.7, Your Style, Your Station

Sean Nelson
Mar 17, 2017
5 min read

For anyone that doesn't know FCOT FM is Farnborough College's live radio station broadcasting on 87.7 fm. As third year Radio Management students it was down to us to run the whole station live for a month 24/7. Everything from scheduling, programming, marketing, advertising, social media, to presenting. Without any guidance (even learning the programming software!) we produced one of the best years radio in the college with several in and out house comments praising the station and how well it was run from various members of the public and ex radio producers.

As part of the process we had to decide what roles within the team each of us wanted to do. Now by all means there were several roles I wanted to do but my decision was kind of made by my other colleagues; this was due to the fact by year 3 I was known for my technical knowledge and troubleshooting skills. With that said I nervously stepped up and took the position of program controller meaning it was my responsibility to make sure all music, adverts, idents, and any audio requested by presenters was on the system and scheduled in correctly. As perviously mentioned I nervously stepped up into this position as I knew that in order for the station to run it would be my responsibility and at that time I only knew how to work the playout system but not the programming side of things and knew I would have to self teach myself this role in order for the station to run. Luckily after watching a few tutorials and playing around with the software I was capable of programming and categorising groups of audio, creating clocks for different shows, loading new material, and managing a 24 hour scheduling system. As well as program controller I was also co-tech op which meant if any equipment didn't work or any technical assistance was needed, for example the outside broadcast or live music from an outsource location, then I would step in to help out and to offer my skills to the team to offer new ideas or ways to fix things.

After several months of planning, marketing, promotion, and running tests to make sure everything was up and ready, including legalities and transmission, we were ready! 11 April - 6 May 2016 here we go...

As we counted down till 7 AM we were all really excited to start the next four weeks off of jam packed shows, live music, outside broadcasts, competitions, specialist shows, and an array of topics. It was down to me to make sure everything was in place and ready to switch our transmitter and live feed on and to double check the scheduling for the next four weeks. Being in alongside the station manager Steve Barrett from 6.30 AM - 9 PM everyday, allowed me to keep on top of the proceedings and alter any changes needed for the day ahead as well as being on hand for the presenters and other team members if they needed my assistance. Along the way we faced several technical issues from problems with the live feed from outside locations, news room software going down, in studio playout system technicalities, and also stepping in to cover various presenters too. Minus these few issues and altercations, which were resolved relatively quickly, the station went down as a great success offering a wide range of content, shows, music, ambitious set ups that included outside links, live music, promoting and engaging with our listeners at every opportunity we got. As a team we all got on very well and everyone played a key role in making the station what it was and always wanting to exceed and take this opportunity by the rein as it's not everyday you get to not only run a radio station but to run it online and on a FM frequency.

Looking back on this experience made me realise how much I pushed myself and how well I stepped up and delivered under huge amounts of pressure catering for not only the station managers needs but the needs of various other departments as well as maintaining the studio and keeping on top of everything. I'd spent so many hours teaching myself, nervously trying to learn the software before we went live, program and schedule everything as well as organising what material and audio people needed. It's fair to say as soon as the first few days were over things progressed from there, the team and myself were much more relaxed, we enjoyed ourselves more, pushed harder to make every week the best it could be, and pushed ourselves to the limit of what we could achieve. At times this was very stressful and a bit of a blur having to not only deal with the studio, re-programming content and music, load new items on to the system, as well as sorting out live outside broadcasts and feeds; but I felt I managed it with the highest of my ability and wanted to deliver as I knew the whole station was literally on my shoulder. So the final few days approached and everyones spirit was at a high and wanted to end it that way so people would remember how much we put into the station to make it the best it could be. The final few hours were the hardest as we had to say goodbye to the station we just didn't want to leave. This was spent with Ellie Cook on her drive time show interviewing each one of the management team and going through their highlights, memories, and praising the station as well as members of the team. Yes, my role was one of the most demanding and important for the station to work but I honestly just took it under my wing and didn't expect some of the things that were said about me live on air from my team and was genuinely overwhelmed to hear how grateful they were of how much work I put in for the station and towards them as well. Honestly I could have not asked for such a great group of people to work with and how much of a wonderful atmosphere there was everyday, even at 6.30 in the morning!!

I will never forget the days where we did exercise first thing with Chloe Caldwell, Sessions with Jamie Hooks singing along to some great music, seeing our voice of the station Aidan Redman fall off a chair, seeing our news presenter Josh Williams with funny snapchat filters, guessing our favourite 90s track with Lauren Forster, guessing how many sweets were in a jar and failing every time with Aimee Woolford, hearing Steve Barrett's film and book reviews, listening in to Ellie Cook's drive time show leading on to my Gold Hour, having pizza during this pre-recorded show in preparations for sessions show with Jamie Hooks, spending time with Matt Hill talking everything music, technical, and general life with him, listening to live music from Boundary Road Studios, walking down the corridor hearing our own radio show, rushing into the studio when there was more than 2 seconds of silence (sometimes a little too desperately Steve... ) that one time when we had dead air and Steve was listening in and said "hello" waiting for something to kick in to have Adele reply "Hello" back to him, having themed days dressing up, having spontaneous interviews with each other to fill time, walking in to the studios each day, and seeing us start and end a station we all grew very fond of together.

I can't thank you all enough for how amazing it felt to be part of the team and go through such a great experience with you guys! So thank you to all my team featured below as well as our radio lecturer Nik Turner always supporting us and pushing us harder to get the best out of us.