La Mare pupils look to make waves with radio station

The La Mare de Carteret student-run radio station went live on air at the end of this week – it began playing music, running school adverts and had a live exclusive interview with the Policy & Resources Committee president Gavin St Pier.

As part of the schools more hands-on curriculum, the station is a new project set up by teacher Danny Furness, head of performing arts at La Mare de Carteret High, however it is entirely run by students – they make the jingles, DJ the music and produce the shows.

Mr Furness said the station would eventually be live 24/7, and in a few weeks it would be available by app and on the school's website.

'The plan is that all of the students involved are going to learn the jobs of the media,' he said.

'They are learning how to interview people, use the equipment and know the ins and outs of radio shows.'

He added, as a project, the radio would help the students learn a range of different life skills that could help them in their futures.

Mr Furness also highlighted how LMDC Waves would be able to bring together different departments in the school.

'We can run an RE debate which we record, or broadcast a history project – it can bring a lot of the school beyond the classroom.'

Producing and DJing the show during the interview with Deputy St Pier was Tom Martel and Lewis Ogier, both 13.

They were both music students who were picked, amongst some 18 others, to get involved.

'It is such a great idea. We can have our own thing going here and do what we want to do,' Tom said.

'Mr Furness has taught us the basics and now we can use the equipment to play our music and our news,' Lewis added.

The setup the students were using allowed them to play a variety of music, self-made adverts and jingles, pre-recorded segments and also live interviews.

Tom went on to show Deputy St Pier how the equipment they had worked and briefly interviewed him on how his visit to the school was going.