“Good morning St. Peters,” a charming voice fills the air even as students stream into the campus early in the morning. As they settle down in the canteens and lobbies for a refreshing coffee for the hard day ahead, they are greeted with some melodies and the day’s important news.
It is not Madhu of “Happy Days” or Jahnavi of “Lage Raho Munnabhai” who engage students of St. Peters Engineering College at Maisammaguda with their enchanting voice but their own college RJs Aishwarya, Ramya, Shalaka and Zainab. Within a few minutes ‘SPEC Beats’ draws every student into 100.0 frequency, on which their college radio operates.
“Birthday wishes and dedications to friends follow, refreshing the minds and souls,” says Aishwarya, RJ and a final year student. The college radio is a hit with students of St. Peters College and also colleges located in the 3-km radius it covers. “Apart from music, we share info on student festivals, placements, job fairs and foreign education,” reveals Manohar from the technical team.
The college radio was started as part of a project, and the team of Manohar Yadav, Vinay Padakanti, Shashank Vangapally, Hemanth Reddy and Shilpa Reddy – all final year students – worked hard for four months to make it a reality. “The role of NOWA Technika group, started by a faculty member, Kaushik Kathuri, provided them with technical and financial support.
The radio reaches students in three different slots. From 8.30 a.m. to 9 a.m.; 12.30 p.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. The noon show discusses interesting topics, while the evening show takes student requests for songs, besides dedicating numbers. The entire content is generated by students. The shows are accessed by students tuning their mobiles to 100.0 frequency, while speakers are also fitted in canteens and lobbies.
Manohar says the transmitter was assembled with parts imported from China, and it contains a modulator, phase log loop integrated circuit and a power amplifier. The transmitter is of 15 watts, and it costs Rs. 40,000. A personal computer and two mikes are the other paraphernalia. “Ours is a non-commercial channel, and we have not applied for licence,” says Manohar.
The team visited the University of Hyderabad (UOH) and Keshav Memorial Institute of Technology (KMIT) that operate campus radios in the city, to study the technical aspects and content generation. “Colleges located around the place and local villagers too can use our channel for their benefit, and it’s free of cost,” says Manohar. It can be followed on ‘www.facebook.com /specbeats’.
