Fuse FM star wins Best Female at Student Radio Awards

Congratulations are in order for Fuse FM’s Hattie Pearson after she won Best Female at the national Student Radio Awards this month.

Pearson, from the University of Manchester Students’ Union radio station, netted the accolade for her show ‘Hattie’s Happy Hour.’

“It’s a great stepping-stone for me to be able to approach people and say ‘here I am I’ve just won this, take me seriously,” she said.

As part of the award, Pearson will have a one-off show on Radio 1 next year.

“The idea is for it to become a permanent thing, but at the moment it will be a one-off,” she said. “But you never know what it can lead to.”

The award ceremony, hosted by BBC Radio 1’s Nick Grimshaw and Capital FM’s Dave Berry, took place in London on November 8.

She added, “The award ceremony was really cool and it was such an inspiration.

“One of the highlights was – I have a massive tattoo down my arm and Nick Grimshaw said he really liked it.

“Student radio is a massive part of the radio industry, it’s where the radio industry look for people today.”

While studying for her degree in English Language Miss Pearson hosted a weekly  radio show on UMSU’s Fuse FM, as well as working part-time as an assistant producer at BBC Radio 6 Music and as a freelance producer for alternative radio station Xfm.

“Radio was always something I wanted to do,” said the Newbury native. “Before I even came to uni I spent a month in Africa working at a French radio station in Senegal doing the news in French everyday, which was probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

“I never wanted to do a degree in media production or broadcasting or anything like that because I didn’t really see the point. I wanted to get a normal standard degree from a decent uni and do all this stuff on the side.

“My advice to people is don’t give up. If you want it that bad you need to prove yourself, because there is not that much paid work in this industry, especially entry level.

“The competition is so fierce you need to make sure people know that you’re better than the next person and not afraid to get up at 4 o clock in the morning on a weekly basis even though you’re doing a degree.”

The runners up in the Best Female category were Rachael Cole of University Radio York, who snatched second place and Claire Chambers from Nottingham Trent University’s Fly FM.

The award for Best Station went to University Radio Nottingham, and Ethan O’Leary of University of Sunderland’s Spark FM snagged Best Male.

Other categories included Best Newcomer, Best Interview, and Best Live Event.

In her spare time Miss Pearson organises club nights in Manchester, such as Girls on Film at the Deaf Institute on Wednesdays.