Surge Radio


Surge Radio is an English student radio station based at the University of Southampton. Founded in 1976 as Radio Heffalump, the station was renamed Radio Glen the following year and originally broadcast from the university's Glen Eyre Halls complex.
Surge Radio is currently led by Station Manager, Will Hough, with Liv Perry holding the position of Assistant Station Manager.

History

Surge Radio began broadcasting in the autumn term of 1976 as a pirate station, before it was agreed in March 1977 to form a legal radio station at Glen Eyre. The station was founded as Radio Glen and initially broadcast from a studio in Glen Eyre "F-Block", transmitting on AM by means of induction-loop systems installed on building rooftops on 963, and later on 1602, kHz. The early 1980s brought major developments, including the station's first regular service of student news, a consistent programme schedule, the construction of a second studio and new music library, refurbishment of the main studio with cartridge machines and a new student-built mixer, and a sung jingle package. The station relocated to larger premises in New Terrace in 1998. In 2000 the station began broadcasting on 1287AM, having before only reached Glen Eyre tenants, and in 2001 it commenced FM transmissions for one week per year. Also in 2001, the station was re-branded as SURGE, an acronym of Southampton University Radio from Glen Eyre.
In 2003 the station won its first Student Radio Award, awarded by the UK Student Radio Association: station Webmaster Nicholas Humfrey picked up the Technical Innovation Award for his "Total Request" system, while the website was awarded silver in the Website of the Year category. Surge News was founded in February 2004 by James Laidler, and in 2005 won first place in the SRA News & Talk category, with Nick Bevan picking up Surge's third award, for Newcomer of the Year. In June 2005, Surge successfully received funding of £25,000 from SUSU for construction of a new studio in the Students' Union building on the University's Highfield Campus, which was completed and launched in October. In April 2006 the station hosted the Student Radio Conference, and in June hosted the BBC 6 Music Breakfast Show with Phill Jupitus. Surge picked up an award for Best Entertainment Show in November 2006, when Nick Bevan, Thomas Morgan and Zander Bell won with "The Nick & Mogs Show".
In the 2011 Student Radio Awards Surge's Technical Manager Ben Morton received two nominations for the station, both in the category of Best Technical Achievement; he won the silver award at the ceremony for his work on the Surge Facebook application.
Surge celebrated its 40th birthday in February 2016.
In February 2017, a rare EMI BTR-3 tape recorder, previously used at Abbey Road Studios in the 1960s, was recovered by members of the Surge committee from the old Glen Eyre Halls studio after information on its whereabouts were provided by former Radio Glen Technical Manager Henry Walmsley, who had used the machine at the premises throughout the 1990s. The BTR-3 was donated to Abbey Road in April 2017, and in exchange, Surge were invited to broadcast from their new 'Front Room' studio. This made Surge the first group to use the Front Room studio, and the first student radio station to ever broadcast from Abbey Road Studios. The broadcast took place on Thursday 13 April 2017.
Since 2018, the station has officially been known as Surge Radio, distancing itself from the original acronym SURGE.

Committee

The Surge Radio committee are in charge of running the station and are elected at the end of each academic year for the following academic year by current members of the station.

Studios

Surge Radio is operates from two main studios and a portable studio used for outside broadcasts.

Studio 1

Studio 1 is Surge Radio's live broadcast studio. Studio 1 has four microphones and a mixing desk, and the majority of shows on the schedule take place within Studio 1. Studio 1 is also used for live music sessions.

Studio 2

Studio 2 is Surge Radio's recording studio; whilst it has the capability of broadcasting live, it is primarily used as a recording suite for podcasts, news bulletins, station sound and original music.

OB Kit

Surge Radio's outside broadcast system, known as the OB kit, is a portable PC with several modules that allow for radio shows to take place outside of the other 2 studios. The OB kit has the ability to broadcast radio shows live through sound systems on site, but also the ability to create a second online stream so that the outside broadcasts can be listened to via .

Student Radio Awards

Surge Radio has been nominated for, and won, many Student Radio Awards since they were launched in 1995.
YearNominated workCategoryAwardNotesRef.
2003Total Request SystemTechnical Innovation AwardGoldAwarded to Nicholas Humfrey
2003surgeradio.co.ukWebsite of the YearSilverAwarded to Sven Latham and Nicholas Humfrey
2003Matty in the MorningBest Entertainment ShowNominatedAwarded to Matt Treacy and Charlotte Scarbourgh
2004Nicholas HumfreyBest Technical AchievementSilver
2004University SwapBest News and TalkNominatedAwarded to Matt Treacy and Val Mellon
2004Matt TreacyBest MaleNominated
2004SurgeStation of the YearNominated
2005Nick BevanNewcomer of the YearGold
2005Surge NewsNews & TalkGold
2005Alex DuffyBest MaleNominated
2005Surge Mobile Phone Request SystemBest Technical AchievementNominatedAwarded to Nicholas Humfrey
2005SurgeBest Off-air Promotion and ImagingNominated
2006The Nick & Mogs ShowBest Entertainment ShowGoldAwarded to Nick Bevan, Thomas Morgan and Zander Bell
2006Elections Night LiveBest Live Event/Outside BroadcastBronze
2006Surge NewsweekBest Journalistic ProgrammeBronzeAwarded to James Laidler and Kate Jowett
2006SurgeBest Technical InnovationNominated
2007Surge NewsweekBest Journalistic ProgrammingSilver
2007surgeradio.co.ukBest Technical InnovationSilver
2007SurgeBest Marketing & BrandingSilver
2008The Student SoundtrackBest EntertainmentNominated
2009SurgeCart and Podcast GeneratorBest Technical AchievementBronzeAwarded to Jason Allen
2009Kate Harrington and Jason AllenBest Student Radio Chart ShowNominated
2009Surge NewsweekBest Journalistic ProgrammingNominated
2010Surge NewsweekBest Journalistic ProgrammingNominated
2011Total Request Facebook ApplicationBest Technical AchievementSilverAwarded to Ben Morton
2011Outside Broadcast SystemBest Technical AchievementNominated
2012Emma Real-DaviesBest FemaleNominated
2013Emma Real-DaviesBest FemaleBronze
2014Emma Real-DaviesBest FemaleNominated
2014SurgeBest Marketing & Station SoundNominated
2014Surge’s Online RedevelopmentBest Technical AchievementNominatedAwarded to Ben Morton
2015Toby LevesonBest NewcomerNominated
2015Surge's 48 Hour MarathonBest Live Event or Outside BroadcastNominated
2016Don't Touch Me I'm FamousBest Entertainment ProgrammeNominatedAwarded to Toby Leveson and Cameron Meldrum
2016The Lowdown with Tom CrossBest Entertainment ProgrammeGoldAwarded to Tom Cross
2016Tom CrossBest MaleSilver
2017Surge's 48 Hour MarathonBest Live Event or Outside BroadcastNominated
2017Surge's Jailbreak CoverageBest Live Event or Outside BroadcastSilver
2017Surge's SRA Chart ShowBest Student Radio Chart ShowNominated
2017Georgia Rytina with John GiddingsBest InterviewNominatedAwarded to Georgia Rytina
2017The UnionBest Speech ProgrammingNominated
2017Teeny Tiny Toby TimeBest Entertainment ProgrammeNominatedAwarded to Toby Leveson
2017Surge's Jailbreak CoverageBest Multiplatform InitiativeSilver
2018Surge Radio’s Alexa Skill & Facebook ChatbotBest Technical AchievementNominated

I Love Student Radio Awards

The I Love Student Radio Awards are a separate awards ceremony held every year at the that aim to celebrate and reward the commitment of individuals and teams that work in student radio.
YearNominated workCategoryAwardNotesRef.
2018Surge News TeamTeam of the YearWon
2019Surge PodcastsBest Audience InitiativeHighly Commended
2019Jack ChallinorMost Committed Committee MemberHighly Commended