Chrissy Cameron studies MA Radio, Audio and Podcasting and was one of the student presenters invited to take part in the Radio 1 Christmas Takeover in 2022 after he was named Best Presenter at the 2022 Student Radio Awards.
Chrissy says: “The show was a big success and I found out that bosses at Radio 1 were talking about me long after my show. After a lot of positive feedback I got the call offering me a month of shows that I’ve been dreaming of doing.”
The “call” came last week, but Chrissy faced a major hurdle. He was unable to fund four weeks of round trips and overnight stays in London at such short notice. He turned to the University’s Development Office, and they immediately agreed to fund Chrissy’s dream trip.
“Saying no to an opportunity like this is a bad career move and will often mean you'll never get that opportunity again,” says Chrissy. “I knew I had to find a way to make this work, and the University’s support has made my dream possible.
“I'm forever grateful for the University’s support. I’ve grown up around radio and four weeks on the UK’s best youth station was an opportunity I couldn’t miss.
Chrissy, who hosts a hip hop show on the University’s community station Spark, won Gold for Best Presenter at the 2022 Student Radio Awards, and believes this latest accolade will have a massive impact on his future career in radio.
“Spending a whole month working for BBC Radio 1 will put me very far ahead and will allow me to show my lecturers how I’ve gained valuable experience working in the industry at the top level.
Jo Dann, Operations Manager at the University’s Development Office, says: “We are delighted to be able to fund Chrissy with this development opportunity. The Development Office philanthropy scholarships exist to support talented students with funding to enable them to participate in life-changing opportunities."
Since Chrissy has returned back to the University he was able to share what he had learnt whilst presenting for the BBC with his course mates and lectures who were particularly interested in how they trained new presenters and to pass this knowledge on to current students.
Chrissy said “My experience has made my course mates feel that presenting on the BBC is achievable and sharing the contacts I made with them means that when they're ready to send demo tapes to whatever BBC or commercial station they want to be on, they have someone to send it to who will actually listen to their work and knows how much talent Spark presenters have.”