Education exPress BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER

Press, 23 November 1987, Page 33

Education exPress

BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER

AV*’-***'** ’ — - Students at Marlborough Boys' College a[ e br new ground in sound. For the second year X-Static FM-89, the first secondary school FM radio station, has been an unqualified success. Opened in 1986, X-Static had been an idea in creator Peter Olliver’s head for much longer. A teacher at the Boys’ College, in Blenheim, and a self-processed “media nut,” he ran a temporary FM station in 1984 during the school’s Artifacts fete. The idea snowballed into the conversion of an old toilet block into a studio and the creation of a Sixth Form Certificate subject, Media and Marketing Studies. This is now also a seventh-form option. It encompasses not only broadcasting skills, but also journalism and the theory of business marketing. What are the aims of X-Static FM? To teach practical broadcasting skills, to provide an insight into the media at work and to run an educational radio station (with the school and community projects) that is also entertaining.

A SECONDARY SCHOOL F.M. RADIO STATION < Bv Richard Wain, Seventh Form, Marlborough Boys’ College

26 hours a week This year X-Static has added an extra eight hours on Saturday to its limited broadcasting licence, and this has proved a massive success. From 9 a m. to noon an alternative morning show is run. Dubbed the "Brekki Show,” this is the mainstay of the Saturday broadcast. The format is popular music with contests and giveaways every 20 minutes, entertainment gig guides and sports reports. X-Static's own Fiat Bambina, “Yellow Thunder,” goes out and about the province visiting sponsors and radioing in competition clues and hints. From noon to 5 p.m. there are regular music slots, with emphasis on variety and less commercials. As well as the Saturday prime time, X-Static runs on week days from noon to 1 p.m. with an extra five hours from 4 to 9 on Thursdays and a straight nine hours on Fridays. There are plans to extend this to midnight in the third term. Regular news reports are compiled and

broadcast at 12.50 p.m. on week days, and there is a 1 special round-up of school news at 6 p.m. on Fridays. 3 On Thursdays there is a request show from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. and in the run-up to the elections a political talkback was aired at 7.30, with local candidates as in- • studio guests. Following that, at 8.50, was the Top School ■ Quiz for the second year, featuring local primary schools. ‘ Entirely Student run t Although Mr Olliver is ultimately in charge of the s station, X-Static is run entirely by media studies students, i Only a small percentage of the work involved in a radio station is disc-jockeying. Most of the hard work is i involved with the advertising, news compiling and programme direction. i The work is divided into different categories: Sales, : copywriting, production, news and school report. Each of i these is undertaken by a different team headed by a team > leader. Regular management meetings are held to sort I out any problems.