How We Created A Media From A University Project
I’m the 4th year student of the Journalism program. Almost two years ago we had a radio workshop that gave us an opportunity to create our own media project and it surprisingly went far beyond the campus audience. Now about 3 thousand people receive our podcasts.
The aim of the workshop was to let us be part of the everyday routine of a radio team (we also had the same projects for TV, print press and web).
First we were to develop a concept of our future radio: the topics we would cover, the genres and formats we would be dealing with. We had to create the jingles and bumpers (those little music pieces that divide the programs on the radio).
Then each weak we presented a 20 min piece of the radio “air”, broadcasting live to the faculty’s canteen. And each weak we discussed our successes and failures with the professors.
The idea of our team was to create a radio about non-mainstream music, about the music industry, and it received the name 4’33 FM, which refers to a piece of John Cage, a composer, known for his breaking attitudes towards the very nature of sound.
The project was tough and we almost did not have time for the assignments from other classes, but it also was one of the greatest periods for all of us. So we never hesitated to continue creating our podcasts even after the course ended.
We are a perfect team, and feeling part of a good team might be the best thing I’ve ever experienced in my whole life. Weather I performed the part of a producer, host or correspondent, I never worried for the other parts of the podcast.
Moreover, we soon realized there were many people to talk to and they were eager to meet for interviews or little games. We have met musicians, label producers, researchers, festivals’ teams and so on.
Although our audience turned out to be really specific, we notice the great interest in what we do (which we never expected). The posts with the new podcasts receive about 3 thousand views, and we are present at many platforms. We have collaborated with the other students’ organizations in the HSE, for instance, issuing a podcast about West Berlin music before the OPIA’s documentaries festival.
It’s getting harder to find the balance between the ideas we have for 4’33 FM and the other duties all of us have, but we still hope we will find the place for our podcast radio in the today’s media industry. So stay tuned and never doubt to contact us.
Text by
Anastasia Borisova