An around-the-clock station committed to delivering “the ultimate digital radio experience” to students will be launched at The University of Queensland (UQ) today.
JACradio will be based in the UQ School of Journalism and Communication (SJC) at St Lucia, and will broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Participating students have been trained in broadcasting by UQ Industry Consultant Anthony Frangi and a team of SJC academic staff and industry consultants.
Mr Frangi has managed and programmed radio stations for the ABC in Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania, and currently jobs shares the role of Program Director at 612 ABC Brisbane.
He said students had "shaped and built JACradio from the ground up".
"JACradio allows our journalism students to sharpen their skills in news writing, interviewing and presentation before entering the workforce," Mr Frangi said.
“JACradio is committed to delivering the ultimate digital radio experience to UQ students.
"It is distinctly non-commercial, providing university students with a special brand of programming targeting the 18–24 age group, but also embraces others who share similar tastes."
He said further learning and training opportunities in radio programming, radio news and documentary making would be made available to students.
SJC Head Professor Michael Bromley said the station would broadcast from the School's new home, which includes studios with state-of-the-art production facilities and the latest audio digital editing software.
"Our School believes in the future and wants to equip our students for an uncertain but exciting future," Professor Bromley said.
"Journalism is at a crossroads at the moment, and we have to look at where journalism is to prosper in the near future - and in the longer term.
"My guess is it is going to be in audio/visual, and that is where JACradio comes into play.
"The Internet is clearly the medium of the future because it brings all media together. It offers opportunities of portability, accessibility and immediacy.
"JACradio is significant to the School because you can come to UQ and be on air while studying. The station is offering a more intuitive way of doing journalism for a younger generation.
"I think JACradio will be an exciting, dynamic and almost disruptive element in the scenario of journalism education in Australia."
To listen to JACradio, log on to www.jacradio.com.au
For more information, contact Anthony Frangi on 0419 677545 or a.frangi@uq.edu.au
