Susanna Siddell

Hiya, I’m Susanna – I’m a third-year politics student and I’d really like to be the next Head of News! I’m super enthusiastic, and absolutely love current affairs. Although I’ve had little radio experience so far, I’ve found that I’m quite good as a listener. Now, I would love the chance to get behind the mic to present and produce the news.
As Head of News, I have a couple of ideas for the coming months:

Spotlight weeks:

There are a lot of hot topics on campus that deserve the spotlight. We’ve had protests on climate change, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Ukraine and UCU strikes. I would like to devote some time to interviewing the strikers, activists and ordinary students to get their view on the important matters.

Campus news

Of course, we’re a student radio station - I think it might be quite nice to have a segment dedicated to local/campus news that’s directly relevant to students like us.

Interviews with MPs/MSPs

I’d really like to continue and contribute to the great interviews that we’ve had so far. MPs and MSPs always need to be held accountable for their actions, so it makes sense to continue this discussion.

Essentially, I’d really love to be a part of the FreshAir committee – I just really love radio and wittering on about the news. I think it'd be really cool (after years of being a listener) to produce a show where I get to do this.

Lawrence Williams

Hi, my name is Lawrence and I’m a second year politics student. I’m applying for the role of Head of News.

Earlier this semester I wrote a short news article for The Student, publicising a series of interviews that the Edinburgh Feminist Society had launched. I interviewed the creator of the series and collected the opinions of students. I enjoyed the interview process and would like to take on a formal role where I can regularly practise my interviewing skills and talk to students and representatives. Having heard from the series creator about the process of securing interviews with influential people, I’d like to have a regular platform from which to do the same. I have engaged with student politics, for example by participating in climate marches and attending talks at the occupied Gordon Aikman lecture theatre last month. I have just become co-director of Slurp, a student society that fundraises and volunteers for homelessness charities in Edinburgh and which seeks to improve awareness in the student community. I’m therefore interested in communicating messages to students about important and serious issues. I currently co-host a show on FreshAir with my three flatmates. Though our conversations cover absolutely zero serious material, I’ve found the medium of radio very rewarding. I’ve regularly listened to news podcasts in the last few years, and since the invasion of Ukraine have been listening to BBC World Service live coverage every day, which has raised my interest in the power of radio news.

Esme Guron

I would like to encourage people to attend art exhibitions and comprise playlists in response to the artwork/ review and discuss the exhibitions on the weekly arts HUB show
I would like to also encourage interviews and conversations with various student artists/ film makers/ fashion designers/ photographers ect to help promote their work and also align the visual with music by making a playlist of songs which goes with their artwork
As well as fine art I would like to use the platform to discuss other artistic mediums such as filmmaking, dance, album cover artwork, illustration, interior design, festival design ect... anything visually enticing
I would also like to dip into any art books/ art history on the HUB show which people have discovered and enjoyed
Each week during our team meetings I would like to discuss the latest art exhibitions/ festivals as well as new fashion collections, artwork, movies and see which ones are worth chatting about.
Finally, I would like to have an 'artwork of the week' where we ask people to say what song springs to mind when looking at the artwork and devote an hour to that - encouraging people to combine the visual with the aural.

Rachael Smith

Throughout my life and academic career, I have had a vast appreciation for the arts in all its forms such as literature, cinema, fashion, and painting or even sculpting.

With founding and running my high school’s book club I allowed academic interest to guide my love of literature. In my spare time as well, I devour new reads and am up to date with the latest releases, coveting authors such as Ottessa Moshfegh, Chelsea Summers and Donna Tartt. My adoration for cinema is also evident in my presidency of my high school’s film club and multitude of extracurricular reading on the practicalities of film making; “on Film-making” by Alexander Mackendrick, “Writing in Pictures” by Joseph McBride and “Silent Women: Pioneers of Cinema” by Melody bridges, to name a few.

Also keeping up to date with latest releases and forming online discourse to deliver opinion to a greater community and marking and following relevant events on cinemas annual calendar such as the Oscars, AFI awards, Independent Spirit Awards, and the Venice and Cannes international film festivals among others.

Where the medium of art and artistic creation is concerned with painting and exhibition, I again curated my love and a knowledge for this throughout my secondary years by not only taking art as a sixth Higher in addition to my other five, but also through gaining the top mark in my year at both National 5 and Higher and doing independent research projects on the likes of Van Gogh, Picasso and Frida Kahlo and keeping up with cultural influence of these artists and those who have taken after them, to this day.

Further interest in the arts can be exhibited through independent research projects in fashion surrounding Alexander McQueen and Thierry Mugler archives. Also, a keen interest and anticipation for the annual Met Gala and the multitude of fashion weeks frequenting the year.

The skills and commitment required for this position are traits I possess which can be exhibited through previous work within university and external to it; I’ve acted as outreach officer for EconWomen, been a class representative for Statistical Methods for Economics and Essentials of Econometrics, a member of the Library and Information Strategy Committee and of the Budget sub-committee. Furthermore, I have previous employment that can be referenced to show excellent time keeping, organisational and communication skills in establishments such as McDonalds UK and Primark. Also, attendance and membership within the Economics for Change and Political Union societies. I also have a keen interest where the politics of fashion lie, as well as an art itself which can be demonstrated through my research and work towards analysing ESG in fast fashion at my Internship with the Global Ethical Finance Initiative.

Ultimately, I have the skillset and passion to make me an excellent, compatible fit with this role and would love the opportunity to enter a community that shares these interests and exhibits them to the public through the form of radio. The chance to flourish and gain academic, as well as professional and journalistic, experience in a field I have loved from afar for so long would be exceptional and a prospect I would relish!

Emily Alexander

I’m a third year and have been a part of Fresh Air for the last year. I’ve really enjoyed hosting my own show and being part of the music team meetings but would love to be more involved in the running of the station and the revival of the society, post-covid restrictions. I have the time to commit to a more involved role and would love to work on the behind the scenes – communicating with labels, local artists and venues. I really enjoy keeping up with the latest releases and the local scene. I am currently trying to get involved with the Sofar Sounds events in Edinburgh which if I get would give us more local connections.

If I were Head of Music, these would be some of my aims:

Be more visible as a music team. Putting top 10s or tracks of the week on socials. Encourage people to come along by promoting the fact that they can get press tickets or interviews through us. This would also hopefully create more of a buzz around the station.
Celebrate musicians and DJs who are at the uni through special takeovers, interviews and perhaps club nights or our own ‘sofar sounds’ type setting. Promote on socials the fact that musicians at the uni can get their songs played on radio.
Edinburgh and Scotland have lots of exciting, up and coming musicians and I think that we should really celebrate the fact they we are a Scottish station by giving special attention to promoting new Scottish releases and artists e.g. monthly top albums on socials (I think being more active on socials in general would be really beneficial in boosting the engagement with the station).
Running workshops in things like the basics of DJing would be great in helping people who have shows gain more technical skills. Also just fun social thing to do 😊.
Finally, I think it would be useful to make a catalogue of mp3s more accessible and perhaps a system whereby everyone can put in tracks they’ve bought into the folder??? Just from a practical perspective it would be useful and save people some time and money if they could access tracks people have already played.

Mollie Mclean

Over my life I have been involved with music in so many ways, and I’m really hoping to expand this by joining your team. Most recently I’ve led organising the GAFF gigs (a trans mutual aid group in Edinburgh) where I have to find and contact acts, ensure the promotion of the gigs, and get in contact with local venues to book the shows. This has allowed me to become increasingly involved with the local music scenes in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, especially with queer acts. These have been incredibly successful, and we are very optimistic as to how they will continue.

During my time in Leeds I was also incredibly involved in the local scene. I have played in a band, Growth Spurt, which gave me a good education of the ins and outs of being a musician. It has also allowed me to be on the opposite end of interviews and events bookings and so I can really understand what is needed for these to run smoothly. I have also booked vast amounts of gigs in Leeds (in venues up to 300 capacity) both for my own band and others, and so I am very used to scouting for local talent and getting in contact with them.

Erin Kieser

I’m applying for Head of Music because I believe that now more than ever, it is important to be involved with the local music scene; to promote smaller artists and live music events. I have a deep-rooted passion for live music, and music in general - I’m always trying to broaden my own horizons, and this would be a rewarding way to do that! I have run a music and chat show for the past academic year and want to take more responsibility. Obviously, COVID has limited the amount of involvement from radio show runners recently, and I would love to be able to use live events and interviews as a way of making the studio/radio more of a community space. I also think this role could be used to promote safe spaces in Edinburgh for marginalised groups - which can often be quite hard to find. One of my concrete goals would be to conduct several live interviews at gigs, or live venues. I’m prepared to take on a more logistical role, and am very much down for any of the emailing, meetings, etc. that is involved in this role!

Lilli Traill

For me, music is my entirely life. As drastic as it sounds it is true. It’s what gets me out of bed in the morning, drags me out of a depression and focuses me to study. I think I would be a key aspect for Fresh Air’s music team. I have been part of the Edinburgh Indie Music society since fresher’s week, where people simply connected through their love for music. Despite being an incredibly anxious person, music makes me blossom into a far better version of myself. I can talk about music for hours! As my first year of university is coming to an end, the connections I have made through love for music are growing. I would like to continue this. Since the new year, a resolution I made for myself was to listen to a new album every single day and I have kept to it. It allows me to find new songs daily by new artists. My course being linguistics and English language and social anthropology, I am also equally interested in the head of arts role. As music is something I am very passionate about as well as the arts I would devote myself to the role. Ever since I was a child, I would be fascinated with the arts and would enjoy gallery exhibits, poetry and theatre. For the future, I hope my career is involved around journalism and I believe these roles would give me a kick start in something I am so passionate about.

Daksh Jain

There are several ideas which I would like to implement if elected, these include:

Having been approved for a show on Radio Buena Vida (a Glasgow radio station), I would use the relationships which I have built with the station to collaborate with some local DJs for interviews regarding their experience within the scene in Scotland, exploring their music taste, where they dig etc.
In the same way, I have also developed a relationship with the Jazz Bar, having been given a members card for unconditional free entry. This enables me to scout local talent which comes through but also means that I have already developed a relationship with some of the bands which play there.
Apart from jazz and electronic music, I have a strong interest in folk music, having been to see several folk bands playing gigs at Summerhall as well as local pubs such as Captains Bar. Given that there is a huge local folk scene within Scotland, this is something that I would be excited to pursue if given the opportunity.
In addition, there are few other Scottish artists and record labels such as Proc Fiskal (Hyperdub) and Athens of the North ( Disco/ Soul reissue label) who are very dear to me. If given the position, this would give me the opportunity to use the resources available at FreshAir to get in touch.
Being familiar with the people who work at local record stores such as Underground Solu'shn and Greenhouse Records, working in this role would allow me to potentially set up some sort of weekly publication with a list of some record store picks.
Another aspect which I would also like to incorporate is also reviews for DJ sets, gigs, albums from local artists as well as beyond.

Ifeanyichukwu Ezinmadu

As the current music team manager, I was able to work closely with the Head of Music and I am keen on contributing more to the music team through this new role by:

Scouting for new acts for live sessions and events either on campus or partner organizations and record companies.
Taking a lead on the activities of the music team in order to make it more prominent on campus and beyond, amongst other student radio stations.
Engaging music team members to partake in the SRA music reviews and press tickets for live concerts reviews.

Kate Wilson

Having grown up in a relatively non-musical household, I was left to discover what I enjoyed through my own means. Growing up in Leeds, home to a thriving local and international music scene, meant that I was always buying CDs, spending everything I had on concert tickets, and spurting out recommendations to anyone that would listen. I began singing and playing piano at the age of 7, of which I went on to have lessons for eight years. My interest in music, theoretically, should have waned when I went deaf at 13, but instead this only encouraged me further. I went on to run a (unfortunately now-extinct) band-related account with over 2000 followers, managed to cultivate an even greater appreciation for my favourite songs and made the most of listening to new music in case my hearing was to ever get worse. Going to a school unqualified to do GCSE Music meant that I ended up investing everything I could into BTEC Level 1 and 2 Music, of which I gained experience in lighting, sound, equipment set up, and even performing. Living in a virtually silent world without my hearing aids in has meant that music has become much more than a hobby; it’s absolutely my life.

It's because of this that when I came to university, I immediately wanted to find people in the same boat as me. Being in the Indie Music Society at Edinburgh, as one example, has given me an opportunity to learn so much more about music as a topic of conversation and as means of bringing people together. I’ve met so many new people and immediately jumped into a hot debate, whether this is scrolling through each other’s Spotify and giving our personal review or arguing about which record really deserves to be considered the album of the year so far. I’ve also helped in running some of the concerts they’ve organised and seen, first hand, just how Edinburgh’s music scene manifests into an audience. More importantly, I’ve already built a network of people, both in Edinburgh and Leeds, who are more than happy to give their insight.

Equally, when I realised that journalism and communications was the career for me, I wanted to do everything I could to speak to artists to get a better understanding as how to best use that blank slate to create something brilliant. I absolutely love working with other people, and I knew that I wanted to combine my two interests to expand my circle of music lovers even further. As someone who “learnt to speak, and never really stopped”, and as the proud winner of the “second funniest girl” title in high school, I know that this is, without a doubt, a role I’d take in my stride, and I’d love to work with the music team in any way that I can to help in making it even better, and a centre for music news in the flourishing music community of Edinburgh.

Emma Wylie

I’m Emma, and I would like to apply for the position of music team manager. I’m a third year music student currently on Erasmus and I would love to be apart of your team. I have always been interested in radio and this seems like the perfect opportunity to get involved and do something new and exciting. I have a wide taste in music and have great communication skills and work well in a team.

Farnad Bakshi

Hi! My name is Farnad Bakshi, I’m a second-year studying Economics and Politics at Edinburgh and I’m applying for the Head of Design position for the radio. I’ve always had an interest in design and art and have dabbled in multiple creative fields.

I’m proficient with Procreate, Canva and Photoshop. In terms of experience, I have worked as the graphic designer for a student-led social enterprise called Sanitree for a year now. In that year, I have established how to work in a team in terms of coordination and maintaining deadlines and a schedule. I was also the sole person in charge of design in that year, and we published a lot of content, consistently on our own page as well as on our pages for Sanitree-led events. I have attached some links to posts I made as examples of my work.

I have been following fresh air since even before coming to university and was very keen on joining the team but have missed deadlines for applications before. If I was chosen for the role, some tasks on my agenda would include:

Schedule weekly and monthly tasks
Delegate specific tasks to spread out the workload
Monitor team productivity using google forms for feedback
Re-vamp some of the graphics on the social media
Create new graphics for the stories
Work with the social media manager to create consistent weekly graphics
Create original and aesthetic graphics for new shows as well as for graphics for other teams where needed
Reconnect posts and theme of website with the Instagram
Could be done by altering theme of website or Instagram (or both)
Creating a consistent theme in terms of designs for posts on social
By creating templates for posts or making Pinterest boards for the design teams coordinate on
Make a color palette and set fonts for consistent use
Possibly design merch for the radio (not just t-shirts with the logo, but with cool designs from working within the design team or illustrators outside)

Elizabeth Ashley

I'm Liz and I have always been known to be very chatty, I am applying for programming manager because I would love to help make fresh air be as diverse and eclectic as possible still with a good flow of programming. I pride myself on being very approachable and always happy to help. I had a show on fresh air in first semester, which was supposed to set people up on first dates but we were majorly unsuccessful! Though will hopefully be bringing it back next year.
I have grown up on a healthy diet of local radio, my favourite being 'Treasure Quest' on BBC3CR, something I think would could potentially recreate. Would love to help create some collaborative shows between different hosts and continue fostering a great fresh air community - because everyone I have met so far has been lovely.

I am in second year currently studying geography and politics and love Edinburgh, I am hoping next year's shows will keep highlighting how cool a city it is. I am also very happy standing for hours at freshers' fairs recruiting people!

Peter Johnson

I am once again standing to be Head of Sport for Freshair, having held the role in the previous two academic years. This past year I have reached out to and interviewed University of Edinburgh students with prospects of going to this summer’s Olympic Games. I also interviewed the University’s very own Great British Bake Off winner Peter Sawkins about his success in badminton, and a bit about Bake Off too!

I will continue my commitment to featuring an ever-wider range of sports in the weekly Sports Hub show, and I also aim to make a regular feature in the show to discuss the progress of the University of Edinburgh’s sports teams.

I hope that this coming year we will once again be able to send representatives to Hearts and Hibernian matches, one of the key attractions of getting involved with sport at Freshair. Due to complications caused by COVID and my being in Germany, it was very difficult to coordinate this year but I pledge to organise it better in the new year. We will also be able to produce match reports which I shall put online, in order to improve the output of sporting content on the Freshair website, which I acknowledge is a key area that can be improved.

These are several projects that I have either begun to work on this year or have identified as room for improvement next year and being back in Edinburgh will make it far easier for me to pursue these targets.

Samuel Macleod

AGM 2022 Manifestos