Perth’s newest radio station, featuring programs created and presented entirely by students, will open its doors for the first time at Edith Cowan University’s Mount Lawley Campus next Sunday, August 12th.
The new facilities include a glass-fronted on-air studio, fully equipped newsroom and teaching area, three additional radio studios and four production suites.
The studios are the latest stage in ECU’s $5 million communications and arts hub. They have been designed to ensure students enrolled in Australia’s only undergraduate broadcasting course are industry-ready upon graduation.
School of Arts and Humanities Broadcasting Coordinator David Smith said opening a purpose-built radio station with young people at its heart is a big win for students.
“Radio ECU will be the only university radio station in Western Australia where students can produce and present their own shows in programs tailored to young people,” he said.
The facilities incorporate the latest industry technology, giving students the practical skills and experience employers want when they graduate.
“The studios are kitted out with professional Axia desks, station playlist software, and NewsBoss and PhoneBox, which are both industry standard for creating news and taking calls on air,” Mr Smith said.
The emphasis of the Broadcasting major in the Bachelor of Media and Communications course is to provide students with a thorough understanding of the industry, how it works, as well as the vital skills to work in it.
Students make three TV shows for commercial networks with two editions of Project WA for Channel 7 and Secret Perth for Channel 9.
“At ECU we don’t just talk about program making, we make programs,” Mr Smith said.
“Our graduates work in all the major media organisations including ABC, ABC News Channel, Channel 7, Channel 9, Channel 10, 92.9, 94.5, Nova, 6PR, 96FM, GWN, WIN TV as well as in public relations for high profile organisations and government,” he said.
ECU’s Open Day on Sunday, 12 August 2018 will be the first chance for budding radio journalists to take an access-all-areas tour of the new broadcasting facilities. Located in Building 13, Mount Lawley Campus, Bradford Street.