Last
updated: May 2007
Boozy
Broadcasters Banned
An
Oxford student radio duo have been banned from broadcasting following
a booze-fuelled studio party in December.
Guests on Josh Sykes and James Poole’s show Syko and Giovanni
on Oxford’s Oxide station sprayed champagne over equipment worth
£25,000.
As the unauthorised party spun out of control the radio revellers chugged
lager and champagne and smoked cigars, whilst singing along to Christmas
tunes.
The shindig was posted to Facebook offering students their ‘one
chance to get pissed in a radio studio.’ During the on-line broadcast
student Kate Antrobus popped open a bottle of champagne stupidly spraying
the expensive studio equipment.
“We were having a laugh,” said James Poole defending the
debauchery. “The idea was that everyone would have a good time.
Unfortunately a few of us had too much of a good time. They just didn’t
appreciate our brand of fun.”
Station Manager Paul Arrich certainly didn’t find it funny, “The
studio was left in a terrible mess. Even the surrounding corridors stank
of cigar smoke. They eventually left, but only after an offensive level
of disobedience,” he told The Oxford Student.
Addressing the station in an e-mail Arrich described the ‘serious
incident’. “The DJs in question have apologised. Hopefully
it is self-evident that this is an extremely serious situation.”
“If the champagne or any other liquid had found its way into the
equipment, it could have broken. There is no money available to replace
equipment that was initially bought with a £25,000 grant from
the university. This could have been the end of Oxide Radio,”
he wrote.
Imran Khan the vice president (charities) at Oxford University Students’
Union was less than complimentary of the boozy broadcasters. “Despite
the crass violation of studio rules, I actually thought the most disappointing
aspect of the incident was the blatant lack of common sense.”
“The equipment is really expensive, and the studio is used and
enjoyed by dozens of presenters for countless listeners; it wouldn’t
have taken that much thought for anybody involved to realise that you
just don’t behave like that - out of common courtesy if nothing
else,” added the outraged officer.
Arrich stated that the punishment fitted the crime, “The DJs breached
the contract they signed at the beginning of the year. We were left
with no choice but to ban the DJs from Oxide for life. The girl who
opened the champagne has also been barred.”
Remorseless radio-presenter Poole said, “We had a shindig. We
caused a bit of noise and so we got kicked off. It’s probably
a fair decision. We don’t seek to excuse our antics. We are taking
our partying on to a more suitable arena at Love Bar on Monday nights.”
