1449AM URB

Infobox Radio Station
name = 1449AM URB


area = University of Bath - Local AM & Online ( [http://www.1449urb.co.uk URB Online] )
airdate = 1973
frequency = 1449 KHz (Univ. of Bath)
Internet (Rest of World)
format = Contemporary Student
owner = Bath University Students' Union
website = [http://www.1449urb.co.uk URB Online]

URB is the student radio station for the University of Bath, England - It is also currently the only radio station broadcasting from Studios in Bath itself. Bath FM is currently co-located with Brunel FM in Swindon & GWR FM Bath has always been broadcast from their Bristol Studios in Passage Street.

History

URB (University Radio Bath), previously URB 963, or currently 1449AM URB launched on May 16 1973 and is a student-run radio station at the University of Bath. It was launched by Annie Nightingale & Pete Murray from Radio 1.

In 1987 three URB presenters (Graham Hutkins, Ben Ramsden & Andrew Wiseman) broadcast a special 24-hour show, raising money for local charities. In March 2008 presenters broadcast 60 hours of continuous live shows to raise money for the charity Hearing Aid.

The station used to be carried by induction loops which were placed strategically around campus and reached all of the campus residences until about 1995, when renovations to the road by Westwood severed the wires leading to the Westwood Block. This meant that URB could only broadcast to Eastwood and Norwood. On 8 February, 2001 at 14:49 1449AM URB launched live from the Plug Bar on campus.

Neil Fox - better known as Dr Fox - and Richard Evans of Radio 1 Newsbeat both started their careers at URB.

In March 2008 URB Hosted the [http://www.studentradio.org.uk/events/conference08 National Student Radio Conference] on behalf of the Student Radio Association the conference between the 17th and 19th of March featured talks from a variety of speakers from the world of radio including Radio 1's Greg James.

"Information from [http://www.1449urb.co.uk URB Online] - official website"

URB Today

The station originally broadcast from a cupboard in the Electrical Engineering Department for a year, before moving to their current location in Norwood House. There are three studios in the Norwood complex; Studio 1 - the main broadcast studio, Studio 2 - a DJ studio, and finally Studio 3 - a production studio and news room.

The station broadcasts live shows from 9AM in the morning into the night, with shows ranging from daytime entertainment shows to specialist music. When there's not a live presenter in the studio, an interactive "non-stop" service fills in the gaps. URB also informs the campus with regular news bulletins and “The Fix”; a guide to events happening on campus in Bath.

Student Radio Awards

In 2002, Station Manager Ben Vane won Best Male Presenter, URB came second in the Best Marketing category, and URB also came third in Best Station.

In 2003 the comedy "Because Fish Are Funny" won second place for Best Speech Based Non-Factual category.

In 2004 Gareth Gwynn won Gold for the Best Speech-Based Non-Factual for his one-off comedy show "Component Parts".

In 2005 URB received six nominations (the most nominations they'd received so far) including Student Station of the Year; which they failed to win. They won two silver awards for Station Sound and Best Male Presenter (Chris Day) and one bronze award for Best Entertainment Programming (Paul Kiernan and David Boddington).

In 2006 URB won Best Marketing & Branding - judge Mark Goodier commented "there was something about the winning entry [URB] that really stood out."

In 2007 URB won Best Marketing & Branding for the second consecutive time. The judges described this year's winning entry as "slick and professional", and "an example of how an already successful station can effectively build upon its own past achievements. An effective written submission detailed how the various initiatives had been conceived and executed, and the accompanying audio was well-produced and gave a clear sense of the station's mission - to serve its audience".

Citation
last = U Talk Marketing
title = 2007 Marketing Entry
url=http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Pages/Article.aspx?ArticleID=3585&Title=URB_1149_am_winning_marketing_campaign
access-date = 2007-11-20

Citation
last = Student Radio Association
title = Awards Website
url=http://www.studentradio.org.uk/awards
access-date = 2007-05-23

Neighbours

URB has sister stations at other universities in the area:

Burst Radio - University of Bristol

Xpress - Cardiff University

Current Committee

The 2008/09 Committee is:
* Station Manager: Tim Ayres
* Programme Controller: Steve Ash
* Chief Engineer: James Berry
* Head of Roadshow: David Board
* Head of Online Media: Peter Walker
* Head of Production: Steve Briscoe
* Head of Music: Lorna Greenwood
* Head of IT: Tom Gregory
* Head of Training: Simon Budden
* Head of Advertising & Marketing: Katie Brown
* Treasurer: Cedric Sureshkumar

Previous Committees

2007/08
* Station Manager: Tim Dye
* Program Controller: Tim Ayres
* Engineering/IT: Craig Stranger & Mark Farrington
* Head of Production: David Board 2006/07
* Station Manager: Mark Farrington
* Program Controller: Dani Tynan
* Engineering/IT: Simon Field & William Larque
* Head of Production: David Board 2005/06
* Station Manager: Seb Mullins
* Program Controller: Colin Chesterman
* Chief Engineer: Simon Field
* Head of Production: Mark Farrington 2004/05
* Station Manager: Chris Day
* Program Controller: Chris Lucas
* Chief Engineer: Tom Natt 2003/04
* Station Manager: James Palmer
* Program Controller: Chris Day
* Chief Engineer: Mark Chappell 2002/03
* Station Manager/PC: David Mayo
* Head of Production: Ben Vane
* Chief Engineer: Cliff Davey 2001/02
* Station Manager: Ben Vane
* Programme Controller: Rishi Jassal 2000/01
* Station Manager: Andy Savin
* Programme Controller: David Mayo

External links

* [http://www.1449urb.co.uk/ URB Online]