UKC Radio

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UKC Radio was the student radio station for the University of Kent at Canterbury (UKC) between 1966 and 2006. It was operated as a student service by the University of Kent Students' Union.

It was replaced by CSR FM^[1] on 15 January 2007, an FM radio station broadcasting to the city which is a joint venture between the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University.

1 History
2 Transmission
3 Former UKC Radio people
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

UKC Radio always claimed to be Britain's oldest student radio station, having started in 1966^[2] illegally. This caused controversy as University Radio York claimed to be Britain's oldest^[3] - it was the first to be officially licensed in 1967. The station from 1966 was known as Radio Rutherford, and broadcast from the Student Newspaper offices on the lowest floor of Rutherford College. The AM transmission system came from an old submarine transmitter and was linked up to the radiator system which acted as a leaky feeder aerial system. Due to all the colleges having a central boiler room, the system worked quite well.

When UKC Radio was granted a licence the chance was taken to build a full studios complex on the lowest floor of Eliot College. These studios were designed around a typical BBC layout, with the empasis on Drama and Live Music, so this was given the biggest space (studio B), and the best sound proofing. However there was also a small self op studio for news bulletins - and the occasional music programme (studio A). Linking between, with a view of both studios was a Master Control Room (called "Continuity" until late in 1996), where a continuity announcer linked between programmes - the desk here had just 3 faders - one for each studio, and one for the microphone. There was considerable debate as to this studio layout, because the small self op studio (Studio A) was in use pretty much all the time, so it was slowly upgraded, and eventually boasted a big homemade 10 channel mixing desk, with NAB cartridge jingle machines.

UKC Radio carried an overnight sustaining service from 1984, using LBC (which was taken off air via a huge ariel on the roof of Eliot). This was also used for IRN news on the hour.

Studio A was rebuilt in 1989, with the arrival of the first Alice Series A desk. By 1992 the first satellite tuner had arrived, which gave a much cleaner IRN feed. In 1993 this also provided a sustaining service, in the form of first QEFM, then MTV's soundtrack overnight. Virgin Radio was taken as a sustainer in 1992, and then Capital Radio from 1993 to 1997. Ironically when QEFM (Quality Europe FM Radio, based in Camberly) closed in 1994 the cartridge jingle machines were purchased and used for nearly a decade at UKC Radio - nearly five times as long as QEFM lasted.

The studios were swapped over in a summer long operation in 1995, and a considerably revamped thanks in part to a donation of some redundant equipment from Winchester Hospital Radio. The station started using the brand name UKCR at the time of the first FM broadcast. The studios continued to be revamped with new equipment and a window was knocked through to the reception area in 1999. In 2002 digital output was introduced for the first time, with an output system using Myriad software, and new Alice Series A desk in Studio A.

[edit] Transmission

For most of its history, UKC Radio was available on 301m Medium Wave (officially 999 kHz AM, though it apparently used a 1 MHz crystal as these were far cheaper) via induction loops which were on the top of the college buildings - meaning you could only hear the station in limited parts of the campus. These loops actually operated as a kind of leaky feeder, with a single strand of cable draped around the roof of the buildings, connected to a coax cable that linked via the central boiler room to the original transmitter (called Amanda by the engineers) in Eliot. This was replaced with a Wireless Workshop transmitter in 1995 (called Fred).

Various short term broadcasts on FM were carried out, using Restricted Service Licenses. The first of these was in 1992, with a further one month in 1994, two in the academic year of 1994/5, one month in May 1996, and the last in 1998. Initially the transmitters were sited on the roof of Eliot, however by 1996 the transmission site was moved to the roof of the library. With 20 watts output power at 20 meters transmission height (on a location that is one of the highest in Kent) fringe reception was possible in London.

The studios were used for one of Invicta FM's breakfast shows in 1997, when a dedicated ISDN line was installed.

During the late 90s Low Powered AM (LPAM) was introduced, allowing the station to broadcast to the whole campus. The station moved frequency to 1350AM in 2000, with a transmission mast sited to the west of the new student union building.