Broadcasting Officer

The SSC Broadcasting Officer (BO), also known as the Station Manager, is in charge of STAR. They are elected in the student elections of March each year, and sit on the Student Services Council (SSC) of the University of St Andrews Students' Association.

They are contactable via [email protected].

Past Broadcasting Officers

Year	Name
2005	Sandy Walker
2005	Steve Pidcock
2005/06	David Wilkinson
2006/07	David Wilkinson
2007/08	Unknown
2008/09	Unknown
2009/10	Phil Torts
2010/11	Unknown
2011/12	Tristan van Deventer
2012/13	Kate Reid
2013/14	Oscar Swedrup
2014/15	Sean McDonald
2015/16	Bruce Kerr
2016/17	Charlotte Flatley
2017/18	Flora Rowe
2018/19	Laura Mueller
2019/20	Tom Groves
2020/21	Anna Rose Harris
2021/22	Julia Swerdlow

Handover

This section is intended to help new Station Managers settle into the role. Adapted from 2018 handover document, written by Flora Rowe.

Intro

Firstly, congratulations! Welcome to one of the most stressful, time-consuming, rewarding, exciting, and unpredictable adventures of your university career. You are the new SSC Broadcasting Officer, more commonly known as the Station Manager of STAR: St Andrews Radio. As head of the Broadcasting Society, you are tasked with running STAR, starTV, The Record, and Hearing Aid.

This position requires a lot of dedication and multitasking. To put it simply, you are now a manager: your job is to manage people, and make sure they do the tasks you assign them. Whereas many people on your committee will be responsible for one aspect within STAR, you are required to pay close attention to each element, in order to ensure that everyone on your committee is working hard.

For instance, you must work closely with the events team to make sure STAR is putting on plenty of events each semester. You must work with your Head of Design and Head of Marketing to ensure a constant STAR presence throughout the student body and in different buildings throughout the university. You must work with the Hearing Aid Editors to ensure the magazine doesn’t go over budget. You must work with the Head of News to try and get more writers, have regularly published articles, etc.

As a result, communication between committee members is essential. You need to ensure that your team members constantly keep you updated on what they’re doing. If people do not tell you what they are doing or how projects are progressing, you may start to think they aren’t doing any work whatsoever. Communication is particularly important during deadline season; you don’t want to have constantly hassle committee members about tasks when they haven’t even had time to start brainstorming. It’s important to show your committee that you understand they probably have a lot of commitments throughout the academic year, and that it’s difficult to juggle everything at once. However, they are pivotal members of a subcommittee whose main purpose is to provide a unique extracurricular activity for students, and this cannot be achieved without their hard work.

Some of your other main responsibilities are to chair committee meetings, create a budget, and provide all matriculated students with the opportunity to learn more about radio. The committee's momentum and progress will be proportional to your own motivation.

First Tasks

When you first get voted in, you will be overwhelmed. Hit the ground running, be proactive, and everything will be fine; I promise.

Read the constitution
- This should be chapter 24 of the "Laws" document available here, though this source is slow to update changes.
- This should explain many of the Union's complicated rules.
Search for your committee
- As soon as you are voted in, you will need to start looking for your committee.
- The constitution should have a list of positions, and rules about the interview process.
- Most importantly, the application form should be advertised for at least two weeks, and the following people should be present at interviews: incoming Station Manager, outgoing Station Manager, and one of incoming/outgoing DoES.
- Try to leave applications for assistant positions until September
- Make a Google form with questions such as "what experience do you have", "why do you want to be a part of STAR", etc. Ask the previous Station Manager to share previous forms as examples.
- In the form, use "jump to section" to show questions based on answers. Then you can have a section to ask the Head of Design/Video/Production for examples of their past work, or ask the Head of Music to make a playlist, etc.
- Ask the Union to help share the form on their social media, and in the sabbs' weekly email.
Committee interviews
- After you have applications in, organise interview times. I would recommend 10 minutes per person, and tell them when to be there (rather than a sign-up system).
- The incoming Station Manager, outgoing Station Manager, and one of the incoming/outgoing DoES or DoSDA must be present at interviews, to ensure they are democratic and fair.
- Choose your committee! Send successful emails first, incase someone turns down the offer. Send rejection emails once all positions are confirmed.
- People often apply for position X when they're clearly more suited to position Y; don't be afraid to talk to them about this!
Committee handovers
- Organise a meet-up between new and old committee members. This could be as part of a group meeting, or just in pairs.
Have your first committee meeting
- Establish what each committee member aims to achieve in the coming year.
- Let everyone know your own priorities from your manifesto, and what you aim to achieve.
- Start discussing the budget for next year.
Organise the STAR Awards
- Book a venue, advertise, release nominations, find prizes, advertise more, and have fun.
Spend a committee meeting getting ready for summer. What do you want to be done before September?
Organise committee photos.
- Post a group picture.
- Save individual photos for promoting show applications in September.
Check everyone has access to everything they need
- See detailed table below ("Account Access").
- Head of Web and Head Technician can help with this, especially making STAR email addresses for everyone.
Update the committee on the website team page.
- Ask everyone to write a short blurb.
- Head of Web can update the page for you.
Over summer, organise the budget.
- Based on what your committee has planned for the upcoming year, get the Head of Finance to create a spreadsheet.
- Ask outgoing Station Manager to share previous budgets as examples. The total amount of funding from the Union is unlikely to change much.
- Make sure you send the budget to the sabbs before their deadline, usually around the end of May.
- Ask the Head of Finance to set up an expenditure spreadsheet, to make sure you stick to the budget throughout the year.
Apply for a Freshers' Fayre table, and get merchandise ready
- Merchandise can take a long time to design and produce, so make sure you start this well before September.
- Awesome Merchandise and usbmakers.com are great places to look.
Plan events for September
- Usual examples: give-it-a-go, drinks night.
- Book spaces before deadlines (subcommittees should get priority over societies!)
- Request free drinks, etc. well in advance.
- The DoES and DoSDA are the ones to ask about booking spaces, and event planning in general.
Book a room for committee meetings next year
- We usually go for the "Committee Meeting Room", 6-7pm Mondays, from September to May.
- Make sure you do this before the subcommittee deadline, as we should get an extra week before societies can book rooms.
Info Night
- Organise for the Monday of week 1 (the day after Freshers' Fayre)
- Book a space (e.g. Sandy's)
- Make a presentation. Include how to get involved with The Record, Hearing Aid, starTV, Outside Broadcast team, event photography, and poster design. Focus on how to apply for a radio show, what hosting a show involves, and the structure of a typical show.
After Freshers' Week
- The programming team will need a lot of help with show applications and demos. Together with Tech Training, this will be the main focus for the first couple of weeks.
- Get into a routine! Make sure design/marketing/tech/events/music teams are communicating seamlessly about events, and the programming team is checking show attendance.

What is Councils?

This is probably wrong, but it's the best I've come up with in four years.

The Broadcasting Officer sits on the Student Services Council (SSC), along with people like the Mermaids President and Union Debating Society President.
There's also the Student Representative Council (SRC), with people like the Member for First Years and Member for Racial Equality.
Above SSC and SRC is the "Association" – people like the Alumni Officer and LGBT+ Officer.
Above the Association is the sabbatical officers (sabbs) – people like the Director of Events and Services (DoES) and the Association President (Big Pres).
The SSC, SRC, Association, and sabbs together form "Joint Councils".
Everyone on Joint Councils is elected in March (apart from the Ents, Design Team, and Arts Festival Convenors).
The Broadcasting Officer has to go to meetings for SSC and Joint Councils. This will take up most of your Tuesday evenings.
More info on Councils positions here.

What is the Union?

The Union is the building and its staff (bartenders, cleaners, porters, receptionists, etc.) and exists to provide services like meeting rooms and pablos.

The Students' Association is all of the elected students ("Councils"), and works to improve the experience of all students at the University of St Andrews. It is a registered charity in Scotland, and works to represent the views of St Andrews students to the University and beyond. It is based within the Union building.

The University is a separate body (and another registered charity), but works closely with the Union. The Union receives most of its income from pablos, and the University. As a subcommittee of the Union, STAR receives its funding from the Union, and can book spaces within the Union for free. Societies can also do this, but receive most of their funding from membership fees. All St Andrews students are automatically members of all subcommittees.

An average week as Broadcasting Officer

It’s difficult to describe what an average week is like as Broadcasting Officer. Even if you’re not working on a specific STAR-related task, you’ll probably find yourself constantly thinking about STAR. This is pretty common, especially at the start of your term, as it can be quite difficult trying to balance coursework with your SSC responsibilities.

Councils: most weeks you will have either an SSC or Joint Councils meeting, a weekly STAR committee meeting, check-ins with the DoES about potential STAR events, going to see Jillian Cowan (Management Accountant) in the Cash Office to sign invoices, and a meeting with the Deputy Station Manager to discuss how STAR is doing and future plans for the Broadcasting Society.

Committee: I would recommend making meetings compulsory for the most important positions, and optional (but encouraged) for assistants. It may also help to send an agenda to committee@ the day before each meeting, incase anyone wants to add anything. Having a task sheet is also helpful, as everyone can see what they need to be working on before the next meeting. Update this task sheet after each meeting, and check on everyone's progress a few days before the next meeting.

Social media: you will receive hundreds of emails and Facebook messages. Generally they are small queries or musicians asking random questions, but keep on top of these or they will quickly build up. Having a Music Team to deal with spam sent to music@ helps. It can also help to assign messages to STAR's Facebook page to the Head of Programming/Events/Tech/Music where relevant. If someone gets in touch about an event idea, society collaboration, performing at a STAR event, or query about hosting a show, try to always be positive, reply promptly, and in detail.

What to expect from Councils meetings

The week before an SSC or Joint Councils meeting, the Association Chair will request a report from you. This report should summarise what your committee has been doing, and what is being planned for the next few weeks. The Chair will then send out an agenda two days before the meeting, containing everyone's reports. You can reply with amendments if necessary. If you do not submit a report in time, it counts as half an absence. Whilst this might not seem like much, it can quickly add up, to the point where you could potentially be removed from your position.

Meetings begin with the Association Chair proposing to adopt the meeting’s agenda; at this time, you can propose to amend the agenda – either a change the order in which things are debated or discussed, or even to add something to the General Business section of the agenda. The Chair then passes the adoption of the agenda, as well as the minutes from the previous meeting, assuming there are no objections.

All Councils meetings are open to the entire student body, and students can raise any issues or concerns during the Open Forum section of the agenda. It's not uncommon to have a large group of students sit in the meeting for this section and give short speeches, if an important motion is being discussed.

Following this, the Sabbatical Officers give their reports, and then all elected officers are given the opportunity to add to their previously submitted reports, and answer questions.

After General Business, the meetings usually end with Collaborative Solutions. At this time, any non-councillors (including student journalists) must leave the meeting. Collaborative Solutions provides officers with the chance to tackle issues together, and get advice from the other subcommittee heads. Issues that have been raised during Collaborative Solutions include: how to get your committee members to be more passionate about different projects, the best ways to publicise an important event to the student body, how to deal with conflict either within your committee or with other matriculated students, and how to successfully collaborate with other student societies.

Another member of Councils may ask you to second their motion. If so, read through their motion, and suggest adjustments/corrections. If you agree with their idea, tell them to list you as a seconder. Past examples of motions are here. You can submit your own motion, e.g. to update the Broadcasting Society's constitution, following the format of these examples. You will need two people on Councils to second your motion before it is accepted onto the agenda.

As part of the SSC you can run to be SSC Senior Officer, SSC Secondary Nominee to SAEC, SSC Tertiary Nominee to SAEC, a member of the Association Discipline Committee, and a member of the Societies Committee. Towards the end of your term, you can also run to be on the Elections Committee. These are all great opportunities to get more involved with the Union. If you have any questions, the best person to ask is the Association Chair, or a current sabb (see Useful contacts section).

Finally, if you want to make any changes to STAR, the Union, or even the whole town, this is the time to do it. Again, email the SA chair and they will be able to help you write a paper to get any changes made!

Useful contacts

Name	Position	Contact info	When to contact
(Changes yearly)	DoES	[email protected]	Events, committee issues, or general advice about your position. (Also your line manager!)
(Changes yearly)	DoSDA	[email protected]	Booking spaces in the Union, or general advice about your position
Jillian Cowan	Management Accountant	[email protected]	Budget, cash, money, wonga
Bruce Turner	Building Supervisor	[email protected]	Changes to studio (e.g. new plug socket), knowledge of everything Union, giver of nicknames
Chris/Christine/Kyle	Union Receptionists	[email protected]	Room bookings, parcels, gossip
(Changes yearly)	Association Chair	[email protected]	Councils, help writing a motion
(Changes yearly)	Previous Broadcasting Officer	Flora Rowe, Laura Mueller, Tom Groves	Everything
Ryo Yanagida	God of STAR	[email protected]	You survived the apocalypse. Everything is destroyed, including STAR's server. Only Ryo can save us now.

Further advice

Read the constitution at the start of your term, to see if there are any amendments you could make to improve how STAR is run. This includes updating the constitution with all committee positions you intend to have.
When choosing your committee members, don't let other people influence your decision. The DoES and outgoing Station Manager sit in on the interviews, and will naturally form their own opinions about each candidate. They are meant to act as resources, and can help you talk through the pros and cons of certain choices. The outgoing Station Manager will know which reapplying committee members have worked hard, but in the end, it's important that you feel confident about your newly-elected committee.
It might be tempting to give committee positions to your friends, but it's important to give people a position on the STAR committee based on their own merit, and how passionate they are about the job.
When choosing a committee, take their previous involvement with STAR into consideration. Do they go to every event? Have they hosted two shows for the last year? Or have they appeared out of nowhere, claiming to listen to lots of shows?
It can be difficult to become friends with committee members if you only see them once a week during committee meetings. You can’t force friendship, especially if you’re constantly assigning people arduous tasks, but it’s important to make sure your committee members know you value their hard work.
Sadly, there isn’t always enough time in the academic year to fulfil every promise made in your manifesto, but don’t get discouraged! Try to focus your attention on projects you feel can be achieved and will directly benefit the student experience.
You will inevitably hit a point in the semester when your committee loses momentum. Firstly, send out a quick questionnaire with questions like "how could meetings be improved", "how could the committee be more enjoyable", and "what do you think is STAR’s biggest weakness". Then organise quick meetings with the Deputy Station Manager and each committee member separately; this gives the committee a chance to chat properly with you about any concerns or stresses.
If you are unfortunate and have a committee member who is lacking in commitment, misses meetings, or isn’t doing their job, you may need to reconsider their position. Firstly, don’t jump to any conclusions; they might be having a hard time at home, struggling with their studies, have family issues, or in an argument with their best friend, so don’t presume anything. Secondly, organise a one-to-one meeting with them, and give them the opportunity to explain why they aren’t 110%. They might then opt out of committee, but equally this may kick start them.
Whenever you have issues, talk to the DoES. They're there to help you, and will have been through this with another subcommittee for sure!
Have fun! This is your opportunity to be freakishly involved with any and all aspects of STAR. Take advantage of the fact that you can bring about real change and improve the student experience. Don't be afraid to test something new, and accept that you will run into a lot of challenges.
Don't have too much fun! You have a degree to finish.
Try to avoid deleting any old stuff, and make sure your committee is in the same mindset. This goes for things like old STAR Facebook posts which no longer link to a valid page, old show pages on the website, and old articles on The Record. They might seem insignificant, but having all of these minor parts together really helps to build a sense of progress and history. It also helps when working on the archive!

Account Access

It is the Station Manager's responsibility to ensure everyone on committee is able to do their tasks. This means checking people have access to the right accounts, with suggested access as below. The most important site for the Station Manager is admin.google.com. From here, you can control login information for all STAR email addresses and accounts. You can also access accounts such as invaliduser@, which catches all emails sent to addresses that don't exist (such as very old committee members).

It is essential that you check the necessary people have access to the correct accounts for the committee to function smoothly.

Account	Positions with access
standrewsradio.com Wordpress (Administrator)	Station Manager, Head of Web (+ Assistant), Head Technician (+ Assistant)
standrewsradio.com Wordpress (Editor)	Station Manager, Head of News (+ Assistant)
admin.google.com Admin	Station Manager, Head of Web, Head Technician
Personal @standrewsradio.com email account	All current committee; members of starTV and Tech Team if appropriate
admin.google.com hello@ group	Station Manager, Deputy Station Manager
admin.google.com committee@ group	All current committee
admin.google.com other groups	Should be obvious, e.g. music team for music@; make sure all group memberships are up to date. Station Manager should be in every group.
All STAR social media (Admin)	Head of Marketing, Station Manager, Deputy Station Manager
STAR Facebook page (messaging)	Head of Programming, Head of Events, Head of Music, Head Technician
STAR music social media (Admin), e.g. Spotify, Soundcloud, Mixcloud	Head of Music, Head of Marketing, Station Manager
STAR show hosts' Facebook group (Moderator)	Most of committee
Server (cloud.digitalocean.com)	Head of Web (+ Assistant), Head Technician (+ Assistant)
Google Analytics	Head of Web (+ Assistant), Head Technician (+ Assistant)
SSH server (username@garfield.standrewsradio.com)	Head of Web (+ Assistant), Head Technician (+ Assistant)
manage.standrewsradio.com/netdata	Head of Web (+ Assistant), Head Technician (+ Assistant)
manage.standrewsradio.com/icecast	Head of Web (+ Assistant), Head Technician (+ Assistant)
Streaming encoders (e.g. Ladiocast) (.ogg and .mp3)	Head Technician (+ Assistant), Outside Broadcast Team
Code store (GitHub)	Head of Web (+ Assistant), Head Technician (+ Assistant)
All The Record social media (Admin)	Head of News (+ Assistant), Station Manager
hearingaidmagazine.com Squarespace (Admin)	Hearing Aid Editors, Head of Web
All Hearing Aid social media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Yumpu (1), Yumpu (2), Issuu (1), Issuu (2) – try to combine to only Yumpu (1)?	Hearing Aid Editors, Station Manager
STAR bank account	Station Manager, Head of Finance, and someone from the Cash Office
mailchimp.com	Secretary, Station Manager
Myriad Playout (Administrator)	Head Technician (+ Assistant), Head of Web (+ Assistant)
Myriad Playout (extended cart range, and access to AutoFade/scheduling settings)	Head of Music (+ Assistant), Head of Production
Myriad Playout (access to log reports)	Head of Programming
Myriad Playout (standard cart range)	Every show
starTV YouTube (Owner or Manager)	Head of Video, Station Manager
starTV YouTube (Communications manager)	Head of Marketing
archive.standrewsradio.com Gallery (Admin)	Station Manager, Head of Web (+ Assistant), Head Technician (+ Assistant)
archive.standrewsradio.com Wiki (Admin)	Station Manager, Head of Web (+ Assistant), Head Technician (+ Assistant)
PPL webcasting report account	Head Technician
LinkedIn	Head of Marketing, Station Manager

All account access for Ryo Yanagida, Tom Groves, and Angus Ireland should kept as is, incase of future forgotten passwords/bad handovers.
Head of Web can help to set up personal email addresses and manage admin.google.com groups if needed
Head Technician should manage Myriad Playout accounts
Check with people on past committee before removing their @standrewsradio.com email; when deleting, tick "transfer data to another account"
Ask previous Station Manager or Head of Marketing for access to STAR social media accounts
Ask Ryo for access to server (SSH)
Ask Tom if any of this is confusing