Interview with Tune!FM’s Nick Troon
We’ve been highlighting some of the incredible students behind UNE’s student powered radio Tune!FM, and boy are they a talented and dedicated bunch of people!
If you ever find yourself tuning in to the station on a Tuesday (or you can listen online any time), you’re likely to hear Nick Troon providing the latest news and some much-needed entertainment!
Nick is currently studying a Bachelor of Arts Majoring in Theatre & Performance at UNE and has been volunteering at Tune!FM since 2018 before landing the role of Radio Broadcast Assistant.
We caught up with Nick to chat about how he got involved with the station, how you can listen in across the globe, and ways they are helping to keep online and on-campus students connected.
Tells us a little bit about your involvement at Tune!FM?
Besides my weekly Tuesday gig, I also do a bunch of playlisting which involves checking the music in our system, ID work, creating short ads to place throughout the daily schedule, and managing Tune’s TikTok account. I got involved with the station in 2018 after Jacob Hunt asked me to be a guest on his show Anthology which used to be a theatre-based show run on-air. After that, I began to guest host The Weekly Review where I eventually became a regular host which lead to more projects with the station and eventual employment at the start of 2021.
What does a regular day at the station involve for you?
For me, it entails waking up at 8am, getting to the station, and looking up the latest news in science, entertainment, local events, and more recently, COVID-19 updates. Once I have a collection of scripts, I move into the studio where I’ll spend the next few hours pre-recording voice breaks for the day. After that I’ll attend to any work that needs to be done, whether that be checking music in our system, creating IDs for local events or services, podcasting shows, along with scripting and/or filming our weekly TikTok.
Who produces all of Tune’s content and who decided its direction?
Official approval and clearance goes through our Station Manager Tania Court, but for the most part, the content is decided by us, the student staff. For example, with the weekly TikTok’s, I’m personally responsible for finding an interesting news article, writing up a script for it, and potentially finding the guest host for the week or recording the script on my own, followed by editing and posting. It’s the student staff researching all the topics and writing all the scripts when it comes to daily talk breaks and podcasts.
How has your content changed/evolved since COVID?
COVID-19 has put forward challenges with the community-run aspect of our radio station since we can’t allow volunteer-run shows and podcasts, but thanks to social media, we’ve still been able to reach out to our following and provide them with access to services, important information, and fun online communication, like what you will see in our regular stories on Facebook and Instagram.
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What shows should people be tuning into?
Apart from listening to our daily talks live on the radio, you can access a bunch of our past shows and podcasts through our website. My most recent involvement has been with the Weekly Review, which we hope to get back on air ASAP. Hopefully, we’ll be able to host volume 3 of our Christmas edition where we listen to Christmas music and I host a Christmas Quiz, so look out for that! You can also look back on some of our old theatre-based content that I was involved with Anthology, Twelfth Night, and the Importance of Being Earnest.
What other programs can students tune into?
Social Media mostly, we have our Facebook account of course with stories being updated daily, as well as our Instagram and our blog posts which can be accessed via tunefm.net. But to catch me you’ll have to check out our TikTok where I’m constantly experimenting with style, content and exploring various academic fields.
We also have a blog that covers anything and everything, we talk about academic articles, news in pop culture, discussions related to student life as well as listing the music we add to our system each week through New Music Monday.
How would you recommend students stay connected in these tricky times?
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & TikTok, and if you’re sitting about looking for some good music, good company, and good news, chuck on 106.9 TuneFm! Understandably a lot of people don’t have access to physical radio’s which is why we have the Livestream on tunefm.net just click “listen live” and listen in on any device.
Thanks, Nick for taking the time to speak with us! We love sharing the opportunities available to students at UNE and keeping everyone in the loop!
Interested in becoming a volunteer at Tune!FM the team is always on the lookout to collaborate with likeminded students,
who want to develop their skills and share their interests!
