Pulse Radio is the official radio station of the London School of Economics and Political Science Students' Union. Its studios are located within the Saw Swee Hock Student Centre at the School's Aldwych campus in

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, London and it broadcasts online through the Pulse Player, as well as across campus in the Students' Union. Pulse forms part of the LSESU Media Group alongside '' The Beaver'' newspaper, Clare Market Review and LooSE TV. The station is managed by an elected Executive Committee, which is a subsidiary of the Union, and is headed by the Station Manager. It is staffed by student volunteers who act as Disc jockeys,

technician A technician is a worker in a field of technology who is proficient in the relevant skill and technique, with a relatively practical understanding of the theoretical principles. Specialisation The term technician covers many different special ...

s, and producers, and is funded by the LSESU, advertising revenue, and donations. The station broadcasts in three slots from October to December January to March and April to June each year, with vacations in between the School's

Michaelmas Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christian festival observed in many Western Christian liturgical calendars on 29 Se ...

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

and Summer Terms. Overnight and during these vacations, the station broadcasts a pre-set playlist which is adapted each week.

History

Pulse began broadcasting on 1 February 1999. For the first few years Pulse broadcast for four-week periods on an FM

Restricted Service Licence A UK Restricted Service Licence (often called an RSL) is typically granted to radio stations and television stations broadcasting within the UK to serve a local community or a special event. Licences are granted by the broadcasting authority Ofcom ...

. Currently the station broadcasts a live stream over the internet and around the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

campus. Alongside live programming Pulse also produces a number of podcasts during the year. Membership consists of over 50 DJs playing a mix of mainstream and specialist music, as well as several dozen other students in the areas of promotions and advertising, broadcast journalism, technical, production and programming. In September 2005 Pulse was awarded the 'Student Website of the Year' at the Guardian Student Media Awards 2005. Starting in 2006, Pulse headed the LSE SU RAG Week with a 118-hour-long live ''broadcastathon'', and along with LooSE TV organised the live broadcasting of the LSE SU election results. This has repeated every year since. The LSE SU Media Group Awards take place in the summer term, jointly organised with the other members of the LSE SU Media Group. In 2008, Pulse became the first British student radio station to offer a 'listen again' service available through the station's website. Programmes from the past five days are stored online through the 'Pulse Player' at Houghton Street Factual.

Output

In term time Pulse broadcasts live on campus to students every weekday. Additionally, Pulse broadcasts continually online at www.pulselse.co.uk. During regular broadcast hours, content consists of DJ shows, news, topical shows, interviews and live performances. In the past Pulse has conducted interviews with

José Manuel Durão Barroso José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced ...

(President of the European Commission),

Jacqui Smith Jacqueline Jill Smith, Baroness Smith of Malvern (born 3 November 1962), is a British politician, broadcaster and life peer who has been serving as Minister of State for Skills since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Pa ...

(UK Home Secretary),

John Edwards Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who represented North Carolina in the United States Senate from 1999 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the vice presidential nominee under ...

(2004 Democratic US Vice-Presidential Candidate),

Clare Short Clare Short (born 15 February 1946) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Development from 1997 to 2003. Short began her career as a civil servant. A member of the Labour Party until 2006, she was Member o ...

(UK MP),

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, ; ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as simply Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Ministry of the Economy ...

(former French President),

Kim Campbell Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician who was the 19th prime minister of Canada from June to November 1993. Campbell is the first and only female prime minister of Canada. Prior to becoming the f ...

(former Canada PM), Jon Snow (Channel 4 Newsreader), Alan Fletcher (Dr Karl Kennedy in the soap Neighbours) and

Levi Roots Keith Valentine Graham (born 24 June 1958), better known as Levi Roots, is a Jamaican-British businessman and celebrity chef who came to prominence on the fourth series of the British TV show ''Dragons' Den'' successfully pitching his Reggae R ...

amongst others. In the 2012/13 broadcast year, The Interview Hour on Pulse has broadcast interviews with:

Alan Johnson Alan Arthur Johnson (born 17 May 1950) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2006 to 2007, Secretary of State for Health from 2007 to 2009, Home Secretary from 2009 to 2010, and Shadow Chancello ...

(Former Home Secretary)

Iain Dale Iain Dale (born 15 July 1962) is a British broadcaster, author, political commentator, and a former publisher and book retailer. He has been a blogger since 2002. He was the publisher of the ''Total Politics'' magazine between 2008 and 2012, a ...

(Political Commentator and LBC 97.3 Host)

Frank Dikötter Frank Dikötter (; , born 1961) is a Dutch historian who specialises in modern China. Dikötter is the author of ''The People's Trilogy'', which consists of ''Mao's Great Famine'' (2010), ''The Tragedy of Liberation'' (2013), and ''The Cultural ...

(Author of Mao's Great Famine)

Frank Turner Francis Edward Turner (born 28 December 1981) is an English Punk rock, punk and Folk music, folk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Hampshire. He began his career as the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, then embarked upon a primaril ...

(Folk/punk musician)

Craig Calhoun Craig Jackson Calhoun (born 1952) is an American sociologist and social theorist known for his work in critical social theory, public sociology, and the study of social change. His scholarship has focused on how social movements, democracy, nati ...

(Director of LSE) Outside of the regular programming times, Pulse broadcasts playlists compiled by the Head of Music and Head of Programming of the station.

Alumni in the media

*Former Station Manager, Stacy-Marie Ishmael is now a reporter for the FT and the Editor of FT Tilt. *Former Technical Manager, Phil Hutchinson is now a BBC Studio Manager working at 5Live and the World Service. *Former Programme Controller, Alex Baker is now a presenter for GaydarRadio *Former Deputy Station Manager, Al Smith, is a producer at Global Radio and has presented shows on Xfm *Former hosts—and 2010 winners of the LSE Media Group's "Best Talk Show"—Danny Gaynor, Thomas Ledwell and Babken DerGrigorian now produce "Political Beats", a renowned internet podcast.

References

External links

Website

PuLSE Radio
LSE Students' Union Radio Society {{Student radio in the United Kingdom Student radio in the United Kingdom Radio stations established in 1999 London School of Economics 1999 establishments in England