Every year, the whole University gears up for another intake of students. As one lot of third years pile out clutching bits of paper, another eager bunch of first years join BCU and the fun starts all over again!

Freshers ‘11 has been in Scratch pipeline for months and we’ve had a revamp to end all revamps to make sure we’re 100% ready to make it an event to remember!  When we moved studios 12 months ago, the furniture in our new home was only meant to be temporary and our engineers have spent the Summer ripping our old studio out and replacing it with brand new equipment.

All the gadgets and technology inside makes us comparable to any other station out there and truly cements us as ‘Birmingham’s Favourite Student Station’. We’ve got a brand new sound and a brand new image to move into the new academic year and we really are your one stop shop for EVERYTHING from daytime chart music through to our evening and weekend specialist output.

Whether you love Olly Murs or Wretch 32, or if you’re more a fan of Reggae, Dub Step or Jazz - there’s a home for you on Scratch. We’ll keep you up to date on student life, and if you have a topic you want to talk about then let us know!

Keep your eyes peeled for a couple of amazing competitions over Freshers too. With tickets to all the big events to give away, you’d be silly not to keep listening if you can’t get some last minute!

All in all, Scratch is the place to keep your ears glued to for your time at BCU. Have a brilliant 3 years here and we hope to talk to you soon!

Scratch x

What’s Freshers Fair? What’s Scratch Radio? Where do I go on Wednesday the 22nd September? Who am I? What year is it? Who is the president?

Station Manager, Paul Hadsley, gives his usual witty rundown of events to come.

You might be coming to the City North Campus armed with all these questions and more, but for the most part the most important thing to remember is that the Freshers Fair is all about you and what you want to get involved with here at BCU.

Of course, judging by the fact you’re reading this on the Scratch Radio blog, we’re hoping you already have an interest in getting involved with your official Students’ Union radio station.

At Freshers Fair, we have a small amount of time to get your attention and impress you - and it’s hard to show off a whole radio station from a stand in a sports hall. Don’t be surprised if we decide explaining how we work isn’t good enough and offer to march you to the studio and show a programme in action and even give you the chance to have a go!

With all the hustle and bustle of Freshers Fair, you might miss out on seeing Scratch in action. However, why not stop by our new studio on Level 2 in the Union building (turn left as soon as you go through the automatic doors and we’re right there).

So enjoy yourself on Wednesday and come and see your potential new friends at Scratch Radio!

Paul Hadsley
Station Manager (External)

Backstage at this year’s V Festival, Ben Stones managed to catch up with Scottish pop-sensation Alex Gardner. You can hear the full interview on Scratch Radio during Freshers, but for now here’s a taster of what’s to come.

Scratch Radio has been out and about throughout the summer, you can hear the highlights of our antics when we’re back on air in September.

It’s exciting times at Scratch towers! After months (possible exaggeration) of waiting and building excitement, we’ve been given the news that over the summer we’re moving! Cheers and celebration all round, I hear.

Today brought an announcement from BCSU that Level 2 of the Students’ Union Building on City North Campus is set for a total revamp over the summer. The good news is that the work includes moving the Scratch studio, along with the other Media Groups.

The plans mean that not only will our studio be easier for everyone to actually find, but you’ll be able to see and hear Scratch across the revamped Level 2. With a rebuild of the studio now in it’s final planning stages, work will start in the over few weeks.

Our new studio sits next to the new Media Groups office on Level 2 (the old Waterstones for everyone returning to BCU) - where Scratch will be working together with Tiger TV and Spaghetti Junction.

Hopefully by now you’re as excited by the move as we are! Come September, we will be up and running from our new studio bringing you a fresh sounding Scratch (not only because we’ll actually have an opening window) with tons of amazing shows and events for Freshers 2010.

And, if this post isn’t long enough already, the move isn’t the only news on the Scratch agenda. Over the summer we’re busy beavering away on some other highly exciting plans which we will reveal in due course.

Make sure you keep up-to-date with all the latest Scratch news on here, on Facebook and on Twitter @ScratchRadio