Radio 1 Take Over Sirius
On Friday 10 February, Sirius Academy’s Drama Studio was transformed into a Radio 1 studio for a special Saturday morning show to be broadcast live to over 3 million listeners. After school, DJs Matt Edmondson and Alice Levine ran a workshop for 20 lucky students from Year 11 and the Sixth Form College to create content for the live Radio 1 show. Students worked alongside the producers of Matt and Alice’s shows to research and record a segment looking at bizarre news stories from Hull. Students were quizzed about their music listening habits and were also able to ask the DJs and Producers about their careers and job opportunities in Radio and the Media.
Year 11 student Charlotte Jude said: “We learnt a lot about their jobs and how to get into the creative industries. It was really interesting to hear how they got there. We’ve learnt about the different jobs out there and our eyes have been opened. I think I now want to go into journalism.”
Joshua Simpson from Year 11 said “It was great doing the research for them and being able to meet their team.”
On Saturday morning, students from Sirius North were invited to join an audience of West students to watch a special performance by X Factor winner Louisa Johnson. The performance was broadcast live as part of Matt and Alice’s show and included an acoustic version of Justin Bieber’s hit ‘Love Yourself’ which had some member of the audience in tears.
During the show, students who attended the Friday workshop were invited to visit the Radio 1 studio whist the presenters were live on air. Students heard their own segment being broadcast as well as the presenters chatting to Game of Throne’s actor Raleigh Ritchie and Made in Chelsea star Jamie Laing. Joshua Cole from Year 10 also featured in the show and was quizzed about meeting the Duchess of Cornwall as part of the Royal visit earlier in the week.
Whilst the show was being broadcast live to the nation, Radio 1 DJ Adele Roberts hosted a celebrity Q&A for the students in the Main Hall with magician Dynamo. Dynamo answered questions from the audience and also treated them to some amazing magic tricks. Later he spoke to the press about his time at Sirius and said, “Hull for me has a lot of similarities to Bradford. It is very easy when you grow up in these cities to not notice opportunities around you and it’s important in this day and age there is somewhere [students] can come not just to be inspired, but to nurture their skills and let them find out what they want to do with themselves – so they start their lives after school with a direction.”
Raleigh Ritchie later joined the Q&A and spoke about his work as an actor and award winning musician. Both of the celebrities spoke openly about their lives and careers and had many wise and inspirational words for the students about the importance of working hard in school and listening to your teachers. Dynamo reflected on his own time at school saying, “I wasn’t particularly academic but I think it’s possible to be academic and creative at school”. Ritchie also spoke about a teacher who inspired him to become an actor and persuaded him to go to his first audition which launched his acting career from a young age.
The Sirius residency was the first in a series of Radio 1 Academy events to be staged in Hull in the run up to Radio 1s Big Weekend at the end of May.
Alice Levine, Radio 1 DJ, said, “There’s going to be loads for young people to get involved in over the coming weeks and months in Hull in the build up to Big Weekend and we can’t wait to kick off BBC Radio 1’s Academy in the city.”
The Radio 1 Academy is due to return to Sirius in April as part of their secondary school tour of Hull which will bring further opportunities for students to work with influential figures from across the creative industries. There will be more hands-on workshops and live music performances with the aim of giving young people the tools, contacts and information they need to take the next step in their creative careers.
