On Thursday, April 18, SURG FM let down its hair to celebrate the launch of its first semester broadcast for 2013. Dedicated members and newcomers all descended on Hermann’s Bar to hear some live tunes organised with Beat the System, and talk excitedly of the greatness to come in the following week, when on Monday at 8am, the breakfast show with Rob North kicked off SURG’s most ambitious year yet! 120 people rocked out at Hermann’s, but the best was yet to come…

People gather round some live music at the Hermann’s Bar Launch Party

Once the broadcast kicked off last week, it again revealed the staggering diversity of our members, with shows ranging from breakfast and drive talk shows, to special interest programs on technology or Chinese culture, to music shows incorporating rock, pop, electronica, metal and everything in between. There are many first time broadcasters who are quickly learning the ropes and putting on truly quality, engaging student radio, dealing with cutting-edge campus issues or just demonstrating a huge breadth of musical knowledge.

Koziol.

Loose Cannon Lane and Joey Jo Jo Joseph contemplate exercise boot camps

What’s even more exciting is that people are already experimenting and pushing the boundaries of what we can do with our old-school equipment, getting live performers into the studio. This is what community radio is about, and the fact that university students, many of whom aren’t even enrolled in media degrees, run it, is the icing on the cake. Sitting in the studio over the last week has been an incredibly entertaining and educational experience; some really great radio is happening in the basement of a nondescript building somewhere on the northern edge of the University of Sydney campus, and I’m honoured to be a part of it.

And so, my friends, keep up the good work, try new things, and plug the HELL out of our Facebook Page!

All the best for the rest of semester, from your Secretary, Max.

On Wednesday evening we gathered in the Law Building to get the run-down on how NOT to get sued when broadcasting (pictured below, our broadcasters doing some serious thinking). This is the de-brief from our legal training!

Here are the essential points that will help you avoid saying defamatory things!

• When you’re talking on-air, think: WHO are you identifying, whether directly or implicitly? WHAT imputations can be drawn from what you say? (your intended and even unintended meaning).
• Do these imputations?
  1. subject a person to ridicule
  2. cause people to shun or avoid the person
  3. harm their professional reputation/cause them to lose business, etc
  4. do damage to the person’s reputation in the wider community

  If the answer to one of these questions is yes, you may have defamed someone. (This is bad).What to do if you fulfill these conditions and are in fact defaming someone: Once you sense something defamatory has been said, put on a song so that the matter does not have a chance to escalate. RETRACT the comment as soon as possible (like right after the song ends). CONTACT your executive, preferably our President, Annie on surgfmpresident@gmail.com

Key things to keep in mind about liability:

• You (and the station) are liable for defamatory remarks made by any guests you have on your show
• As a general rule, you cannot defame a corporation, nor can you defame a deceased person. However, you can defame the estate of the deceased and the estate may take action against you.

At the end of the day, use common sense – how would you feel if something was said about you? We hope that for those who attended they found the session very informative! We would like to thank Annamarie for providing us with lots of interesting info and examples, and taking our many questions. SURG will continue to provide you with information sessions on all aspects of the radio industry, get along to one if you can!

Max, Secretary.

It’s all things go at SURG FM HQ! We have a tonne of exciting things in the works over the next couple of weeks and to keep you all updated here are some key dates:

17th April: Compulsory SURG FM Legal Training

This seminar will be discussing copyright and defamation issues to do with broadcasting on SURG FM. It is a compulsory session for anyone intending to broadcast this semester so put it in your diaries.

18th April: Broadcast Launch Party!

Most anticipated event of the year – we will be kicking off Semester One’s broadcast with a huge party at Hermann’s from 5pm. The launch will coincide with the USU’s mid-semester party and the amazing Beat The System will provide beats long into the night. Drinks are on us + we have a double pass to Supafest to giveaway so there is no excuse not to be there!

22nd April: SURG FM Semester One Broadcast Kicks Off

From Monday morning 8am, you’ll be able to get your SURG FM fix through www.surgfm.org/listen. We have so many new things planned for this semester – an hour broadcast at Manning in the works, weekly wrap-ups of all your on-campus news as well as a bunch of new shows featuring everything from architecture to trip-hop. NOT TO BE MISSED!

26th-28th April: We’re going on the road!

SURG has every event covered with the exec team heading to both Supafest and Groovin’ the Moo 2013 in the coming weeks. Supafest is featuring huge names including 50 Cent, Akon and Waka Flocka Flame + Groovin’ the Moo boasts Example, Flume and The Amity Affliction among others – make sure you’ve snatched your tickets and join us! Low on funds? Remember there will be a double pass to Supafest up for grabs at the Broadcast Launch Party, just another reason to get to Hermann’s!

Bookmark surgfm.org for post-event coverage both through our blog and through our broadcast.

March 20 marked one of the most important days in the SURG Semester 1 calendar – radio training! The SURG exec organised a huge night to get our future broadcasters all up to speed on how to make their dream shows a reality covering everything from show proposals to production.

The night was at capacity with over 60 attendees who were split into two groups, half learning the ropes downstairs in our dedicated studios and half with our talented industry professionals covering content.

On the production side we were joined by Dominic Santangelo (MECO2601 Radio Broadcasting coordinator/lecturer, former Eastside FM drive host, musician) and Jacob Craig (Audio Media Officer for the Digital Media Unit, sound engineer, the guy on everybody’s speed dial). In the main studio, Jacob showed us the ins and outs of the studio equipment and how to actually make our shows sound good. In the Old Women’s Room, which SURG will be adopting as a new home this semester Dominic went through how to structure shows in terms of preparation, organisation and content sourcing.

On the content side we had the incredibly talented Chris North (producer and announcer for Merrick and the Highway Patrol on Triple M), Annamarie Reyes (Volunteer and Training Coordinator 2SER, Executive Producer of On the Money and Radio Atticus 2SER, former ABC and SBS reporter) and Felix Hubble (Beat the System, Fantastic Life Advice with Rob and Felix). Chris was our expert on drive and breakfast shows, Annamarie covered news and talk and Felix gave everyone some insight into how to structure a kickass music show. In smaller groups, they chatted to us about the areas of radio they work in and brainstormed specific content that our future broadcasters were considering. 

We all then got the chance to share show ideas and network with other keen broadcasters over some dinner. And although the topics may have deviated from radio production, the night kicked on in true SURG spirit at the Forest Lodge Hotel, networking with a glass of cider in hand!

Now that’s over there are two important and exciting things coming up! First up, show proposals are due on Wednesday April 3 (ie. tomorrow) so if you’re thinking of applying please fill in an application via this form. And next week we’ll be holding our always important legal training. Annamarie will be returning to discuss copyright and defamation. This session is compulsory for anybody wanting to be involved with SURG FM so hop to it and click RSVP here!

Howdy SURG-ers!

For many of you, this will be your first week with your fantastic campus radio station, so we’re going to give you the rundown of how we hope the semester will unfold. But before we get stuck into the lineup of events, let’s take a moment to answer the burning question: “Wait, what does SURG do?”

Glad you asked! We are the University of Sydney’s one and only campus radio station. In 2012, we won the University of Sydney Union award for Best Club over 100 members, following a highly successful 10 week broadcast in semester two. We try to give all our members the opportunity to either host their own radio show or contribute in some way to a radio show.

We provide our members with all the necessary training in regards to show content, presenter technique, and legal issues. In fact, we get you all trained up by industry professionals from great stations such as FBi and 2ser! After training you and workshopping show ideas with you, we ask you for show proposals, which we carefully comb through, iron out any kinks and allocate as many of you as possible your own show, or for people with similar ideas we encourage that they co-present. Then the real fun begins.

We broadcast from a state of the art studio underneath the Holme building – last year for 10 weeks in semester two, Monday to Friday, 8am to 10pm. GOSH. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Read on to discover the series of excellent events which will steer you into hosting a radio show on SURG!

First off, there’s our welcome drinks tomorrow evening at 5pm at Hermann’s bar. Come along and meet your 2013 exec, have a drink and chat about the exciting year of broadcasting ahead! For more info on that check out the Facebook event HERE!

Then on Monday the 18th of March we have a General Meeting, the purpose of which is to add some executive positions to our constitution; for that specific details and the meeting agenda visit our facebook event HERE or hop on the USU website listing.

Around weeks 3 and four of semester we will be holding some training events. The first will be show content, and presenter technique, along with in-studio training to get your head around using the equipment and legal training. These events are all COMPULSORY if you wish to get on air, the legal stuff especially.

Before the mid semester break we’ll call for show proposals and busily allocate shows to people, and begin broadcasting 1-2 weeks after the mid semester break!! This year is the first time *fingers crossed* SURG will be broadcasting in both semester one and two, so it’s really quite exciting. We just have to wait for some confirmations from the powers that be but oh boy we are trying our hardest.

Get on board, yo!

- Max, Secretary

Welcome to SURG FM’s brand spanking new website, back online after a short period of hibernation. We’ll be using this space to keep you up to date with all things radio so let your mouse wander up to your ‘Bookmarks’ tab and add this one in because 2013 is looking great!

You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter so get liking and following!