Utopia fm
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Utopia FM is the radio station based at the University of Sunderland in North East England. It began life in November 1997 as Radio Utopia a 2 week short term broadcast under the (then) Radio Authority's Restricted Service Licence (RSL) scheme. The station was part of a regional arts festival called "Visions of Utopia" and the station reflected the scheme and carried various programmes tied-in with the scheme, such as "The Quakies" a programme produced by children from the former pit village of Quaking Houses in County Durham. Radio broadcasting predated this by several years, with student programming on the community station "Wear FM" which closed in 1995 and is now the more commercial station "Sun FM". The station was low powered but still proved valuable as a training ground for new broadcasters. Programmes were broadcast from studios in the Forster Building, formerly used by Wear FM, with a transmitter on the roof.
The station was rebranded the following November as "107 Utopia FM" and developed a more formatted sound and joined the "Student Radio Network" bringing news, national programmes and a 24 hour service to the station. Utopia returned in September 1999 for the first ever freshers broadcast and again proved its value for students and volunteers. The station largely draws volunteers from the University's large undergraduate media courses but has also been part of wider community radio programmes with projects in County Durham, Washington and Sunderland.
During the following years Utopia took to the air more and more and now broadcasts twice a year. In 2003 the station began to use new studios in the £11m Media Centre at the St. Peter's Campus, when media teaching moved there that year. The old studios have now been demolished and the building now houses education courses. However, the site has been retained as a transmitter site with a digital link across the city to the Media Centre. The move also facilitated the recording of sessions in the Media Centre's new radio and drama studios. By 2006 the station had refound its new music roots and began branding as "Sunderland's New Music Radio Station" and had successfully held 3 live music showcasing local bands such as: A woman of no importance, People of Santiago and The Minotaurs.
Volunteers from the station have not only succeeded in gaining recognition in the annual student radio awards: successfully in securing multiple nominations in the annual student radio awards, with a Gold and a silver in 2004 and three bronze awards in 2005 and a bronze in 2003; they have gone onto a variety of jobs including local radio presenters; Radio 1 producers; News Editors and the Vice-President of a major international imaging company.
When the UK media regulator Ofcom announced a plan to issue Community Radio licences, work began at the station to apply for a Full Time licence. This application is due to be made early in 2007.
