16 Years and Counting for EYR

Eastbourne Youth Radio (EYR) celebrated its 16th year in broadcasting. The popular radio station aired directly from Sussex Downs College, Eastbourne

Organised by Eastbourne Education Business Partnership (EEBP), this year’s broadcast included students from 25 Eastbourne schools and other organisations who each presented and produced their own 60-minute radio show. All shows were broadcast live across three days (Wednesday 16^th – Friday 18^th November). The students, who were aged five to 19, presented the programmes on a range of topics. Each broadcast featured a variety of items such as: ask the teacher, food tasting and live musical performances.

This year’s EYR coincided with Anti-Bullying Week 2016, the theme of which was ‘Power for Good’. Some of the schools decided to use their air time to explore the topic using the influence of the airwaves to demonstrate ‘Power for Good’. For the third year running, EYR was broadcast in partnership with Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Katy Bourne.

EYR is made possible by local businesses who sponsor each individual show, allowing students the capacity and confidence to produce and present. In a message from EYR, programme manager Tim Sorensen said: “A huge thanks and congratulations from the EYR Team for delivering 55 hours of brilliant programmes on EYR 2016. We were treated to a fantastic variety of material and coverage in collaboration with Anti-Bullying Week and “Power for Good”. A big thank you of course to our participating schools and the 45 sponsors without whom it would not be possible to stage EYR each year.”

Highlights across the three days included ‘Meet the Media’, where students were able to quiz industry experts and ‘Answer Back’, an opportunity for students to post questions to MPs and local businesses covering both local and national issues, of which Brexit was a hot topic. Sussex Business Times was lucky enough to be a part of this year’s Meet the Media show!

Tim has already started organising next year’s EYR which will broadcast from 15^th-17^th November 2017. Several schools and sponsors from this year’s broadcast have already signed up along and two new schools have already approached Tim to be part of EYR 2017.