Norton Hill School held a launch party on Monday, 16th January for its new school radio station, Norton Hill Radio.

The idea came about when student, James, who has become the Station Manager for the project, was inspired by a similar radio set-up at a school in Bristol. He has long been interested in broadcasting, and has gained experience working in radio with presenting at both local community level at Midsomer Norton-based Somer Valley FM, where he presents Drive Time on a Tuesday, and over the internet, with online station, Avon Radio.

“The idea came entirely from James,” says Dan McGilloway, Assistant Headteacher. “He came to us with an idea and after researching the project, came to us with a pitch. We’ve very much let him and his peers drive the project and are supportive of his ideas.”

IT firm, RM, who supply the school with educational IT equipment, has donated the equipment needed to run a radio station with additional funds coming from the school to get the station off the ground.

To begin with, the station will be broadcast internally via the internet, with live shows taking place during lunchtimes and for an hour after school, with the wider community able to listen to pre-recorded music programming via: www.norton hillradio.com and the possibility of developing further programming and a wider broadcast in future. James will take care of the day-to-day running, being assisted by a team of twenty fellow students, eventually hoping to expand to include a roving news crew.

Dan McGilloway added: “The purpose at the moment is for students to use the station as a place to train and gain experience in broadcasting and journalism. This is going to be a school community project, which we hope to develop into training events and to include local businesses in the future.”

The station launched at 12.40 p.m. with the first slot of airtime going to Ed Sheeran, followed by James interviewing Headteacher, Alun Williams, who said: “I’m really proud of James and all those involved.

“They campaigned well and their determination, organisation and maturity is stunning, they deserve every success.”

The station is now live and can be found at: www.nortonhillradio.com