- OSCAR Radio
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OSCAR Radio 
Type School Radio Industry British Radio Founded 1997 Headquarters Oundle School, UK Website http://oscar-radio.org/ OSCAR Radio is a school radio station established in Oundle School in Northamptonshire, England. It is once one of the longest running school FM radio stations in the UK,[1] and was broadcast on 87.7 MHz & 96.3 Mhz FM as well as via the internet during its term-time active periods. It is now solely broadcast online. It made use of the UK Restricted Service Licence[2] to broadcast to the School and to the surrounding area for up to 8 weeks a year. It is notable as being the only station that is run entirely by the students, who are under the age of 18.
OSCAR Radio had 24 short-term FM licences to broadcast (2 every year) and the material broadcast is original with all the shows being generated from within Oundle School and supporters. The transmitter power, and hence the transmission area, was at the maximum allowed by OFCOM for the licence and covers around 30 square miles (78 km2) from the centre of Oundle. Since it started broadcasting in 1998, over 2000 young people from within the school and surrounding area have been involved.
Contents
History
OSCAR was founded in September 1997, when a group of teachers and pupils presented the case for a school radio station to senior management, following a consultant assessment of the school's suitability for hosting such an ambitious project. After the presentation it was agreed that monies raised by the Oundle School Foundation could be used to set up the project. In January 1998, £70,000 was transferred to the school and a contract with a radio installation company was arranged to provide a radio control room, a newsroom, and a recording studio ready for a launch in November 1998.
The name OSCAR Radio was chosen by Fleur Swaney, the first female Head of School. The name was originally an acronym for "Oundle School Community and Action Radio", although today OSCAR is accepted as a stand-alone identity.
OSCAR Radio was granted its first Restricted Service Licence (RSL) to broadcast for 28 days on November 14, 1998. Samantha Griffiths was its first Managing Director and Lucy Newman was the first station controller. Since then the station has broadcast for a total of twenty-four RSLs with the latest one in April/May 2010.
In 2003, OSCAR Radio moved to its own purpose-built studios, designed by the then Managing Director, 18-year-old Sandy Rowell. Located on North Street in Oundle, the 18th Century "Old Dryden" building hosts a fully equipped broadcast studio featuring a computer playout system, a separate newsroom, DJ booth, an archive area and 8 production workstations, capable of functioning as a copy of a current small-scale UK radio station. Sir Howard Stringer, an old boy of the school and Chief Executive Officer of the Sony Corporation of America, opened the newly built studio complex on November 14, that year.[3]
OSCAR Radio today
About 100 students take part in OSCAR Radio in various roles during any single broadcast period: technician, presenter, newsreader, manager, director, sales and marketing, and many other contributory roles.
During OSCAR's broadcast period the station transmits live between 7.30 and 8.30am, and between 5pm and 10.30pm every day. At other times it broadcasts music and repeats of shows. Students are responsible for both the day-to-day running of the station and the quality of the broadcasts. This gives them the opportunity to take part in a 'real world' project while at school, under the overall supervision of one specially appointed staff member.
Pupil Managing Directors
1998 Samantha Griffiths 1999 Holly Davies Robin Banerjee 2000 Alex Jackson Paul Monk Stuart Whiting 2001 Seema Yallamanchilli Jack Ream 2002 Natalie Grogan Alex Morrell 2003 Sandy Rowell 2004 Hannah Glover Alex Davies 2005 Patricia Walsh Lewis Bretts 2006 Sophie Tamlyn Nicholas Denny 2007 Harry Proctor Adrian Kwok 2008 Phyllis Hamilton-Jones Alastair Loasby 2009 Benjamin Alten Fran Denny 2010 Will Pimblett George Hughes Adult Station Controllers
1998 Lucy Newman (OO) 1999 Lucy Newman (OO) Samantha Griffiths (OO) 2000 Samantha Griffiths (OO) Annie Griffiths 2001 Annie Griffiths 2002 Annie Griffiths 2003 Pupils took control References
External links
Categories:- Student radio in the United Kingdom
- Internet radio in the United Kingdom
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