107 Spark FM has been honoured at the I Love Student Radio Awards.

Station Manager Lee Sevenoaks was named Best Station Manager of the Year, after votes from Spark volunteers.

Sunderland University graduate Kyle Wilkinson won Volunteer of the Year.

The station built up of volunteers also won the Community Spirit Award for the second year in a row.

Spark’s former drive time presenter Jordan North also won The Hits competition which means he will be on the station this Sunday across the UK.

Jordan explains what winning the string of shows means to him:

“I’m so excited! To come out top in the competition is amazing; to come outknowing that I’m going to be on a national radio station this very Sunday is unbelievable! From student radio to The Hits Radio in less than a week; I can’t wait!”

Jordan won Bauer Radio’s competition to find the next generation of radio talent and will present the Sunday show for a month.

In other success current drive presenter Calum Hider won the Industry vs Student sound clash challenge against Radio 1’s Greg James.

Speaking about the awards, Lee Sevenoaks said:

“I would like to thank everyone from Spark who voted for me, it means loads”.

“I’m hugely proud that 107 Spark FM has been recognised in this way, it’s a testimony to the huge amount of work that’s been put in by our dedicated volunteers who run the station.

“It’s fantastic we’ve won the Community Spirit a second time and Kyle thoroughly deserves his award for his tireless efforts to organise events and get other radio stations to work together.

Kyle is heading for a great career in media after landing a job on national station Amazing Radio.”

The awards were part of the annual Student Radio Association conference.

Photo by: Ila Desai

The story was also covered by: BBC News

SparkSunderand.com started off as the website for 107 Spark FM, we recently have launched Spark Magazine and Spark TV. To reflect these changes we needed to modify the website. I was responsible for design and implementation of the multi-platform SparkSunderland.com which includes TV, Radio and Magazine.

Key Features of the new multi-platform SparkSunderland.com

• New 107 Spark FM listen live player with the ability to tweet whos on air and what they are playing
• Spark TV Player
• On Demand and Live Video
• Magazine
• Local Music – Playlist, Upload your music, vote for the widcard
• News – featuring latest twitter update and latest news and entertainment bulletins
• Listen Again
• Add your event to the list
• Vacancies section

I recently applied for 107 Spark FM to be covered on a feature Steve Lamaq does on BBC 6 Music. Attached is the audio from me talking about 107 Spark FM.

Steve commented on us “being the most professional student radio station in the country.”

Broadcast 11th March 2011.

A radio station that has been on the air for just over a year has been named the best in the North East by the Radio Academy. 107 Spark FM is the North East’s only radio station aimed at young people. The station is based at the University and run by student DJs and local volunteers, some as young as 16. 107 Spark FM won the Radio Academy Nations and Regions Awards 2010, which recognises outstanding stations with a potential audience under 300,000.

Judges at the awards said: “107 Spark FM is a diverse radio station run by volunteers with lots of specialist music programmes. “For a community station the standards were high, with lots of passion for local debate and music. It is ambitious, creative and local.”
This is the second major award for Spark in less than a year, in only the station’s second year of broadcast. In May 2010 the station won the national Community Spirit Award, awarded by the Student Radio Association, in recognition of their efforts to engage with the local community.

John Myers (Radio Academy) presents the Nations and Regions award to me on behalf of 107 Spark FM

Fred Marden, University of Sunderland Head of Radio, said: “’We’re thrilled. 107 Spark FM has made such a huge splash in just its first year on air, but to win the prestigious Radio Academy Nations and Regions award for the North East is an outstanding achievement.
“We’ll continue with a North East first agenda, and underline our commitment as a station exclusively for Sunderland.”
107 Spark FM launched in September 2009. It is the only radio station in the North East focusing specifically on issues affecting young people. The station broadcast 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from the university’s campus on the banks of the River Wear

During work experience at Metro Radio i scripted a number of commercials including a campaign for Shop Sunderland First.

The brief was to create a campaign that would encourage those living and working in/near Sunderland to shop Sunderland First. The client wanted to be able to update the campaign regularly with a focus on the Shops and Leisure facilities in Sunderland. The Client Commented on how they loved the creative pitch.

The audio is from the Commercial that was made and aired on Metro Radio.

Starry Eyed singer Ellie Goulding played at the Evolution Festival recently and i caught up with just before she went on stage to find out her top tips for festival, her plans for the future and if shes single….

Joe McElderry was performing in Middlesborough after releasing his debut single and i caught up with him.

Rising music stars will battle it out for a chance to win vital air time on an award-winning Wearside radio station.

The University of Sunderland’s 107 Spark FM has teamed up with Eauzone café to create Battle Of The Bands, an exciting new platform for artists to showcase their talent.

The event will take place at the Eauzone Restaurant and Bar on the corner of Norfolk Street in Sunniside, Sunderland, on Monday (May 31).

All bands are made up of students from the university, as well as graduates.

The line-up includes: Red Light Trio, Ink, The Flytes, Edge of Autumn, Rainfalldown and Daniel Versus the World.

A member of the Spark FM team will be on the judging panel, and the winning band will receive an hour on air dedicated entirely to their band, plus a further two hours to help co-present Spark FM’s Local Music Show. Their tracks will also be played every day as part of the station’s full playlist for three weeks.

For the runner up, tracks will be played every day for one week and the band will get the chance to pop into the Spark FM studio on St Peter’s campus, for an interview on the breakfast or drive-time show.

Lee Sevenoaks, Spark FM station manager, said: “Since launching in October, Spark FM has supported local music with our ‘6 til 6′ guarantee, playing local artists at least once per hour. We wanted to really show how passionate and committed we are to supporting local artists so decided to put on a Battle of the Bands, all the bands taking part are bands we play on our local list.

“This is a great opportunity to showcase their talent at a free event. This station is all about creating opportunities for people, and the North East has some fantastic bands we want to showcase how good they really are.”

The battle kick-starts the Sunderland Live Fringe Festival, May 31 to June 13, in the city centre.

Gemma Rodgerson, from Eauzone, said: “This is a great opportunity to give up-and-coming local bands a platform to showcase their talents. We are delighted to join forces with Spark FM, as well as Studio 47, a recording and rehearsal studio, to make this happen.”

Food will be served 6pm-7.45pm, and the battle will begin at 8pm. The event is free and all are welcome.

For more information, e-mail battleofthebands@sparksunderland.com

The University’s award-winning student radio station has been at the centre of the North East’s election action. Broadcasting one of its biggest ever programmes, 107 Spark FM had live political analysis and results from the David Puttnam Media Centre at St Peter’s throughout election night, keeping the region’s listeners up-to-date on the latest information.

The station had placed reporters at counts in Sunderland, Newcastle, Gateshead, South Shields, Stockton and Bishop Auckland, to feedback the results after the polls had closed. The team were also meeting voters in Newcastle and Sunderland for reaction.

Spark FM was also working in partnership with other local community radio stations, broadcasting the programme live on Lionheart Radio, Spice FM, NE1FM, CVFM and Bishop FM, from Alnwick to Bishop Auckland and right down to Hartlepool and Teesside.

Fred Marden, Station Director and University of Sunderland Head of Radio, said: “We had the whole of the North East covered and had a fantastic night.

“The students were really engaged with everything we had planned, and were based at a number of counts in the region, with outside broadcasts, feeding into the main programme. Their efforts certainly paid off.

“This was a big undertaking for Spark FM, especially as we have only been on air six months.

All the students and members of staff, including my colleagues Katy MacDonald, producing the show, and presenter Richard Berry, really pushed out the boat out and the result was a great programme.”

The election extravaganza is another feather in the media cap for Spark FM. Last month the station has picked up a national award after just five months on air.

The Community Spirit award was presented to the Spark FM team at this year’s Student Radio Conference in Nottingham, organised by the Student Radio Association, in recognition of their efforts to engage with the local community. The award goes to the station judged to have forged the most successful links with its audience.

Spark FM beat off competition from stations across the UK. Spark FM is the only radio station in the North East focusing specifically on issues affecting young people, broadcasting from the university’s campus on the banks of the River Wear.

Photo (L-R) the Spark FM Team – Tom Marriott, Lee Sevenoaks, John Scott and Kayleigh Munday.

University of Sunderland Press Release

The University’s very own radio station has picked up a national award after just five months on air.

The Community Spirit award was presented to the 107 Spark FM team at this year’s Student Radio Conference in Nottingham, organised by the Student Radio Association, in recognition of their efforts to engage with the local community. The award goes to the station judged to have forged the most successful links with its audience.

Spark FM beat off competition from stations across the UK.

Station Director and University of Sunderland Head of Radio Fred Marden said: “I’m very proud that 107 Spark FM has been recognised in this way. After such a short time on air, it’s a real testimony to the huge amount of work that’s been put in by our dedicated students that run the station.”

Spark FM is the only radio station in the North East focusing specifically on issues affecting young people, broadcasting from the university’s campus on the banks of the River Wear.

“This award reinforces Sunderland’s reputation as the most exciting place in Britain to study radio” Fred continued. “I’m sure it will be the first of many.”

Lee Sevenoaks, Spark FM Station Manager (pictured above), says: “Since launching in October, Spark has been actively involved with in the community of Sunderland, from attending community meetings and talking to local people, going to local schools to give presentations, holding training to get local children involved with spark and even getting them on air with their own shows! We have also been running work experience and had some great success stories. We also support our local hospice Grace House and have decided a program to them after helping out at their Christmas service.

“We are active within the University community including running a PA over Freshers week working alongside our Students Union, and have just completed our second outside broadcast from the University’s Open day. Spark FM has also supported our local papers toy appeal by producing free radio adverts that we played and helped out collecting toys for Wearside Women in Need. We are also passionate about Local Music and have co-organised two Unsigned Events at our students union, the latest one has been filmed for Sky TV! and this is all in just under 6 months! And were aiming to go even further over the next 6months!”

107 Spark FM, launched in September 2009, broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from purpose-built studios at the David Puttnam Media Centre on the Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter’s. There are many opportunities to get involved, from presenting to producing, from music to marketing. The station can be heard across the City of Sunderland and beyond on 107FM, and across the world on the internet at www.sparksunderland.com

The Student Radio Association is the representative body which supports and acts on behalf of the UK student radio community.