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Xpression FM is a campus radio station for the University of Exeter, England. Formerly known as URE (University Radio Exeter), the station has been broadcasting since 1976 and is entirely run by students from the university.
University Radio Exeter was founded in 1976, under the stairs of Devonshire House on the campus of the University of Exeter. At that time, of course, the only means of broadcasting was very low power, using induction loop aerials to broadcast to Halls of residence. Initially the transmitter was installed in the studio. This meant feeding a coaxial cable, carrying the RF signal, just below ground level from Devonshire House to Lafrowda halls of residence. This probably only covered 500 people maximum but seemed to work adequately for around 6 months, until 6 months of gardeners' spade abuse had reduced the transmitter cable to shreds. A rethink resulted in the transmitters being moved to the halls of residence, with the feed from the studio to the halls using cables leased from British Telecom.
In the late 1990s the rules were changed and certain parts of the country were permitted to use a low-power FM system. As an indirect result of joining the Student Broadcast Network (SBN), money became available to convert to low-power FM. Thus, at the start of 2001, the posters for "URE 963" were taken down, and replaced with brand spanking new ones, emblazoned with the logo "Xpression FM 87.7".
In early 2009 the station stopped using XFM as an overnight sustaining service and now broadcasts from the Exeter studio 24 hours a day.
At the 2011 Student Radio Awards, Xpression FM won their first ever gold award for Best Student Radio Chart Show. This award win was followed up by the station winning gold for Best Student Radio Chart Show once more in 2012.
The Committee Over Time: Over the years, the committee structure has undergone various changes. In 2009/2010, the Head of Scripted Programming role was created to reflect the diversified content of the station. In 2011/2012, the Head of Sport position was added, following the growing interest in the Sports Team. A second Head of Marketing position was also introduced. In 2012/2013, the new Deputy Station Manager position was introduced to replace the Studio Administrator. The Deputy Station Manager deals with the administration and finances of the station. The new position also replaced the Programmes Controller as a Heads of Media Position. The second Head of Marketing position was reformed into the Head of Social Media in 2019/20 (and has since been reconstituted in to the original dual co-marketing format). In 2020/21, the two roles Head of Technology and Head of Training were formed into the one position of Head of Tech and Training.
The Team cover breaking news events as they pop up throughout the year as well, with overnight coverage of the 2019 General Election and the 2020 US Election being notable recent highlights. On University matters, the station covers the annual Guild Elections, with a week of coverage dedicated to interviews, debates and the vote counts and announcements.
The Xpression FM news team have had many successful broadcast journalists as part of their team. These include the BBC's Ruth Lovell and Dan O'Brien, as well as Jon Kay.
Headed by Georgia Cornish and Anna Papasouliotis, the sports team can regularly be found occupying a 'Soccer Saturday' style vibe to the TNS Shows, and a panel discussion theme for the Sunday Sports Show, but there are also regular commentaries of Exeter City F.C, Exeter Chiefs and BUCS matches involving the University team, and with press passes to some of the highest level sport in the city in both football and rugby union.
XpressionFM former heads of sports (respectively), Tom Picillo (2021/2022) and Mikhail Skhlover (2022/2023) won the award for the best sports programming for their commentary on the promotion of Exeter City FC to EFL League One at the SRA Awards in 2022.
The station can be heard via a webcast (provided by Broadcast Radio), through iTunes radio and Spotify.
The Current Committee is made up of 12 students, and headed up by Station Manager, Ben Dunkley; Deputy Station Manager, Finlay Aston; and Programmes Controller, Matthew Orton.
Each content team has their own heads, although some positions are currently unfilled; Music: Teagan Ralph and Toby Campbell; and Drama: Tristan Evans.
Additionally, They are also joined by Head of Marketing, Saskia Sudderick; Head of Station Sound, Kyle Cleary; Head of Technical Operations, Henry Harber; Head of Events; Costanza Rosso; Networking and Outreach Officer, Lucas Lo; and Welfare Secretary, Louisa Staniland.
The Committee contains a mixture of students, from second year through to fourth year, and is elected from a pool of candidates in the second term of every year.
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