Warwick’s student radio station RAW1215AM (previously known as URW and W963) is 50 years old this year and marked the occasion with a 50-hour celebratory broadcast featuring some famous names.

The ‘RetroRAW’ shows and interviews included comedian, actor and writer Stephen Merchant, children's presenter Timmy Mallett, Absolute Radio broadcaster Leona Graham and BBC journalist Ritula Shah – all Warwick alumni who credit the station with kick-starting their careers. Throughout the years RAW1251AM has provided entertainment across campus and the local community. The team at RAW wanted to mark the occasion in a way which celebrated the achievements of Warwick students involved with the society past and present.

Current Co Station Manager Sian Bolton said: “I love RAW so much. It’s a completely non-audition radio station – anyone who applies for a show gets a show. I think that’s one of the reasons why we’re so lucky to have such brilliant alumni. Stephen Merchant described us as a place where you could mess around and try out material – you need not be afraid to fail as there’s no judgement.

“It’s a lovely community and a brilliant alumni community. I’m biased but I think we have the best alumni.”

Alumnus Neil O’Hara (BSc Economics, 1970-73) remembers being a programme engineer on the station in the 1970s when it was based in ‘The Shed’ next to Rootes D Block.

‘On one occasion, the presenter for a pop music programme never showed up, so I had to cobble something together on the fly. We had a stash of records, mostly singles, filed alphabetically by artist in a steel cabinet, so I grabbed a couple and started playing.

‘We had twin turntables with brakes; to cue up each record you placed the stylus on the blank groove at the edge, let it run until the song started, applied the brake and then manually backed up the turntable until the sound stopped. After introducing the song, you released the brake and the music kicked in right away. I spent the entire hour scrambling between the studio and the storage cabinet to replace one record and find a new song to play before the one I had just launched was over.’

The programme director was so impressed that Neil was offered his own show, O’Hara’s Half Hour, and became station secretary. Read Neil’s full story about student radio and life after Warwick here.