Broadcasting Officer (STAR)

About my position

The Broadcasting Officer is elected by students in March each year. I am in charge of overseeing the smooth running of STAR: St Andrews Radio, starTV, our news and opinions online magazine 'The Record,' and our music journal 'Hearing Aid,' alongside our calendar of events. As part of this, I head up dedicated committee and sit on Councils to make sure student broadcasting is represented to the Union and the University. This year, you can read us online, hear us on STAR, watch us on our YouTube channel, or come along to our careers in the media panel, or hopefully one of our infamous Sounds of Sandy's gigs!

How my position affects you

STAR is here to platform the voices of the students and provide you with a space to voice your opinions and experiement with your creativity. Our radio shows have hosted senior University and Community figures, and The Record has helped to platform student campaigns and manifestos. However, we are also here to entertain you! From tuning into one of our relaxed music shows, or coming along to a gig we've hosted, just remember to listen responsibly!

About me

I'm a fourth year originally from Nottingham and I am studying English Lit. I wanted to be Broadcasting Officer from the moment I arrived in St Andrews and saw how exciting and innovative our student radio was. I'm a sucker for a spreadsheet and I loved the idea of running the coolest society in town. A fun fact about me is that I host my own radio show with two of my flatmates called 'The Theory of Everything' about criticial theory.

Groups I work with

I'm Station Manager of STAR, which involves line managing starTV, The Record, and Hearing Aid Magazine. Check out STAR's website for more info, and the STARchive for the history of STAR.

Manifesto pledges

1. The radio, The Record, and starTV

Improve show training so that alongside tech training hosts will also get advice on how to structure their show, how to segue, how to lightly edit, and how to create their own jingles.
Start a podcasting arm headed up by the Head of Production which will produce three fortnightly podcasts to a professional standard. The podcasts will focus on topics such as music, sport, and St Andrews happenings and will have the potential to reach beyond the University community to include local advertising and Scottish wide content.
Classify shows by genre and create small support groups for shows linked by their content so that shows can more easily find guests, troubleshoot questions, and gain support for their social media.
Help the Record to develop a more cohesive brand, curating the types of articles publish to ensure a consistent tone. o Help to promote and develop the team of writers to ensure content is produced regularly and in a way that engages with St Andrews current affairs.
Look at investing in editing software or some funding for editing software to ensure starTV is accessible to all.
Introduce some training for regular team members to help improve their skillsets

2. Tech

Create a tech team to back up the Head of Tech, creating a pool of people who can be on call to answer problems as they come up and to support the Head of Tech in running our events.

3. Organisation of committee

To ensure communication remains open on committee I will produce a weekly committee report that highlights what different members of STAR have been achieving over the week.
For tech, the Record, design, and starTV I will introduce a new ‘teams’ system where a larger group of people can be recruited to help ensure the smooth running of the radio and events calendar. These team members will be casual members of committee who will help ease the workload of their Head of Department as and where necessary.
To foster a sense of community I will introduce a new kind of social which will aim to appreciate and recognise the work of wider Team Members.

4. Careers

STAR provides the unique opportunity to be involved in a range of largescale events or the regular high-quality programming of an hour of live content a week. Working with STAR allows you to develop a unique and impressive skill set which I firmly believe is not being capitalised upon by student’s leaving St Andrews.
I will introduce an advice guide and a series of workshops to help students to best sell their STAR experience on their CVs and to provide support to those seeking to enter the media industry.

5. Events

Re-introduce the assistant Head of Events position to help lighten the load of events management.
Introduce at least one highly structured social each semester to meet the needs of a range of show hosts, e.g. a STAR pub quiz.
Have the Head of Events manage most music events as well as social events.

Previous holders

Year	Name	Resources
2021/22	Julia Swerdlow	Manifesto Page
2020/21	Anna Rose Harris	Manifesto Page
2019/20	Tom Groves	Manifesto Tracker Page
2018/19	Laura Mueller	Manifesto Page
2017/18	Flora Rowe
2016/17	Charlotte Flatley
2015/16	Bruce Kerr
2014/15	Sean McDonald
2013/14	Oscar Swedrup
2012/13	Kate Reid
2011/12	Tristan van Deventer
2010/11
2009/10	Phil Torts
2008/09
2007/08
2006/07	David Wilkinson
2005/06	David Wilkinson
2005 (founders)	Sandy Walker Steve Pidcock