This month, Peter pays a visit to southeast London's hothouse of up-and-coming radio talent
When I knock on the door of Reprezent on a Friday morning, an unmarked building a few minutes' walk from the Peckham branch of Toys R Us, it swings open to reveal station manager Adrian Newman. He immediately strikes me as exactly the sort of person I would trust to run this sort of operation. Newman has the friendly but firm manner of a young GP and his enthusiasm for the station – "A bunch of kids creating shows and making my hair go grey as we desperately try to stop the flow of libel and defamation"– is quite contagious. Not that it really needs to be, as this local community station's output – informal, clued-in and upbeat – is naturally compelling. While many stations provide a focal point for local kids, Reprezent has an ability to train radio talent to a high standard. As an extra bonus, this training is one of the reasons Reprezent is ad-free.
Despite the setup and the success, Reprezent 107.3 FM is, in the best possible way, fantastically unprofessional, and to the listener it feels a bit like it might just fall apart. Sometimes, in fact, it does. "It's always the politicians," Adrian laughs, as he recalls the time local MP Harriet Harman popped in for a visit. Reprezent is based in one of Peckham's poorest neighbourhoods, and coming to work, he explains, can sometimes feel a bit like walking through The Wire. "But basically, there were two of our guys here interviewing Harriet Harman. They say to her, 'The problem with politicians is they don't know the area. We had some idiot politician round here the other day wearing a stab vest!' And Harriet just goes, 'Er, that was me'."
"She didn't really get it," agrees 19-year-old Martha Pazienti-Caidan, who's one of the station's biggest talents. She used to come and sit in on shows at Reprezent when they were being hosted by older kids from school. The beauty of Reprezent, she says, is that "I can have an idea, and just do it. The only person between me and my idea getting on air is Gavin, our creative producer, and if he says yes, it's fine."
I go through to the studio, where I meet Tyler and Renee. Tyler's been with the station a couple of years and already seems ready for a slot on Kiss, while it's only Renee's sixth show, although she too has an undeniable spark. While they wait for excellent new rapper Amplify Dot to join them for a chat they play tracks like Fuse ODG's Antenna, Sneakbo Feat Wiley's Ring A Ling, and Little Nikki's DILIGAF.
When Amplify Dot does arrive, Tyler immediately establishes that one thing is true of all stations, from the very biggest to the very smallest: a studio guest will be asked what they had for breakfast when a host needs to check mic levels (Dot had smoked salmon and Philadelphia). Renee and Tyler are perched on probably the squeakiest chairs I've ever heard in a radio environment but the chat is lively and sharp. I ask Tyler which song would be the absolute worst choice for me to whack out over the Reprezent airwaves. "Gangnam Style!" is his immediate reply, which of course makes perfect sense, because Reprezent's listeners, keen as they are to hear new music, would no doubt prefer Psy's latest song Gentleman.
It turns out that Gentleman isn't, sadly, on the playlist, but there's an unselfconsciousness to Reprezent's output that makes for a brilliant mix. "Pluggers know that when they send us music, it's decided by young people whether we play it or not," Adrian explains. "If they like a track, they'll play it. If they don't, we won't. We had a Wiley track come in and they were just like, 'This is rubbish, we're not playing it.' On the other hand when Black Butter [white-hot record label, home to Rudimental, etc] were on their first releases, Martha was playing their stuff, "just because she loved it," explains Adrian."Polkadot, who is just breaking now, was played for about four weeks. A couple of weeks later there was some tweet from 1Xtra or Mistajam going, 'We just discovered this amazing new artist called Polkadot', and Polkadot just replied going, 'No you didn't, it was Martha at Reprezent.'"
It's time for Amplify Dot to leave the building. This has been her second visit to Reprezent, and I ask her why this community station is important when so many others are, frankly, not. "It's the fact that it has young people at the heart of it, and that comes across on the air," she says. "You'll often get adults trying to do something cool for kids, whereas this is the kids actually making it. They know what works."
This is all very well, I say, but if Reprezent were a dog, which dog would it be?
"It would be a chihuahua," she announces. "A yappy dog, small and full of energy." She seems satisfied with her explanation, but not with the choice of dog. "Or a Pomeranian." I appreciate her giving my question the respect it undoubtedly deserves. "It's hard isn't it?" She sighs thoughtfully. "It's probably a Pomeranian". Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 hours ago.
When I knock on the door of Reprezent on a Friday morning, an unmarked building a few minutes' walk from the Peckham branch of Toys R Us, it swings open to reveal station manager Adrian Newman. He immediately strikes me as exactly the sort of person I would trust to run this sort of operation. Newman has the friendly but firm manner of a young GP and his enthusiasm for the station – "A bunch of kids creating shows and making my hair go grey as we desperately try to stop the flow of libel and defamation"– is quite contagious. Not that it really needs to be, as this local community station's output – informal, clued-in and upbeat – is naturally compelling. While many stations provide a focal point for local kids, Reprezent has an ability to train radio talent to a high standard. As an extra bonus, this training is one of the reasons Reprezent is ad-free.
Despite the setup and the success, Reprezent 107.3 FM is, in the best possible way, fantastically unprofessional, and to the listener it feels a bit like it might just fall apart. Sometimes, in fact, it does. "It's always the politicians," Adrian laughs, as he recalls the time local MP Harriet Harman popped in for a visit. Reprezent is based in one of Peckham's poorest neighbourhoods, and coming to work, he explains, can sometimes feel a bit like walking through The Wire. "But basically, there were two of our guys here interviewing Harriet Harman. They say to her, 'The problem with politicians is they don't know the area. We had some idiot politician round here the other day wearing a stab vest!' And Harriet just goes, 'Er, that was me'."
"She didn't really get it," agrees 19-year-old Martha Pazienti-Caidan, who's one of the station's biggest talents. She used to come and sit in on shows at Reprezent when they were being hosted by older kids from school. The beauty of Reprezent, she says, is that "I can have an idea, and just do it. The only person between me and my idea getting on air is Gavin, our creative producer, and if he says yes, it's fine."
I go through to the studio, where I meet Tyler and Renee. Tyler's been with the station a couple of years and already seems ready for a slot on Kiss, while it's only Renee's sixth show, although she too has an undeniable spark. While they wait for excellent new rapper Amplify Dot to join them for a chat they play tracks like Fuse ODG's Antenna, Sneakbo Feat Wiley's Ring A Ling, and Little Nikki's DILIGAF.
When Amplify Dot does arrive, Tyler immediately establishes that one thing is true of all stations, from the very biggest to the very smallest: a studio guest will be asked what they had for breakfast when a host needs to check mic levels (Dot had smoked salmon and Philadelphia). Renee and Tyler are perched on probably the squeakiest chairs I've ever heard in a radio environment but the chat is lively and sharp. I ask Tyler which song would be the absolute worst choice for me to whack out over the Reprezent airwaves. "Gangnam Style!" is his immediate reply, which of course makes perfect sense, because Reprezent's listeners, keen as they are to hear new music, would no doubt prefer Psy's latest song Gentleman.
It turns out that Gentleman isn't, sadly, on the playlist, but there's an unselfconsciousness to Reprezent's output that makes for a brilliant mix. "Pluggers know that when they send us music, it's decided by young people whether we play it or not," Adrian explains. "If they like a track, they'll play it. If they don't, we won't. We had a Wiley track come in and they were just like, 'This is rubbish, we're not playing it.' On the other hand when Black Butter [white-hot record label, home to Rudimental, etc] were on their first releases, Martha was playing their stuff, "just because she loved it," explains Adrian."Polkadot, who is just breaking now, was played for about four weeks. A couple of weeks later there was some tweet from 1Xtra or Mistajam going, 'We just discovered this amazing new artist called Polkadot', and Polkadot just replied going, 'No you didn't, it was Martha at Reprezent.'"
It's time for Amplify Dot to leave the building. This has been her second visit to Reprezent, and I ask her why this community station is important when so many others are, frankly, not. "It's the fact that it has young people at the heart of it, and that comes across on the air," she says. "You'll often get adults trying to do something cool for kids, whereas this is the kids actually making it. They know what works."
This is all very well, I say, but if Reprezent were a dog, which dog would it be?
"It would be a chihuahua," she announces. "A yappy dog, small and full of energy." She seems satisfied with her explanation, but not with the choice of dog. "Or a Pomeranian." I appreciate her giving my question the respect it undoubtedly deserves. "It's hard isn't it?" She sighs thoughtfully. "It's probably a Pomeranian". Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 hours ago.