Hey! My name is Alise Murray, I am 21 from Hertfordshire and I am a Radio Presenter/ DJ and just an all-round fun babe!
Since I was young, I have always loved listening to the radio. I have such fond memories of being a young girl in my Nan and Grandads car always leaning forward to switch their station to Capital Xtra or Kiss! I remember being so intrigued as to how people in a studio could reach millions of people all at once. I couldn’t fathom it! As I got older, I started to follow radio presenters on Instagram and I would constantly see them doing my dream job and it often left me feeling a bit down as it felt so far out of reach. Originally, I had no clue how to get into the field, so I did some research and started applying to local community radio stations.
I first came across Dj’ing in my first year of university where I studied Business Management, with some of the boys that lived on the same floor as me. They had DJ decks and played with them as a hobby and I would always pester them to let me have a go, not knowing what to do but it was fun! I would press all these random buttons and pretend I knew what I was doing by just sliding a fader.
Tiffany Calver is a huge inspiration to me. She’s paving the way for women in the music industry specifically in rap! Tiffany presents The Rap Show on BBC 1Xtra but has also Dj’d for Drake, Fredo and many more. Snoochie shy and Maya Jama are also amongst some of my greatest inspirations.
I first got my foot in the door by reaching out to local radio stations. It is important to note that this can be a very very long process… I sent so many emails. Sometimes I would email the same radio stations every week on the same day and at the same time in the hope, they would notice my email. I emailed stations offering to volunteer in exchange for experience. I was so desperate to just my foot in the door.
Luckily a radio station local to my University in Coventry replied to my email and allowed me to gain some experience there. I started off with sitting in on other peoples shows and observing to see what the do, how they conduct and present their shows constantly taking notes, I then joined their shows as a guest and thoroughly enjoyed that. This then led to me having my own show!
I started Radio Presenting in November 2019, however, due to Covid I haven’t been able to present a show since the very start of lockdown March 2020, I have been Dj’ing since October 2020 where I took a course with Sound Flow Music Academy Beginner- intermediate which I believe is a 12-week course.
The best part of being a radio presenter and DJ is the freedom of just being able to be yourself, not a watered-down version. Being able to be unapologetically me and share my personality and creative side is a dream.
When I am not presenting, I love to get to the gym (when open) and also I am a huge foodie!
There is an element of radio presenting that is like a performance. Even on my down days, I still need to be at the top of my game and enthusiastic for our listeners. Fake it till you make it! Another challenging element of the job is trying to keep up with all the latest trends and news, it’s pretty non-stop and keeps presenters on their toes for sure!
My proudest moment on the job had to be doing a takeover show with BBC Coventry and Warwickshire in February 2019. I pitched an idea all about student accommodation in Coventry, looking at the horror stories other students had when it came to finding a shared house & sharing the house with their friends. The team loved my idea and chose to use it! I presented the show with some colleagues and had so much fun and we got great feedback. Three weeks after that I got a call to come back on as a guest! I was ecstatic.
So many presenters get asked ‘do you listen to your shows back?’ I do listen to the shows back when I am a guest speaker but often regret it as I hate the sound of my own voice which isn’t ideal if you want to present!
I believe in order to be successful in radio presenting you need to be organised and committed! The hours can be long and tiring but the end product is always worth it!
Often there are no patterns in my radio shifts, so I’d start the day around 8 am by heading to the gym (pre-covid times) then I would do some work, such as lectures before I graduated, then head to the radio station to prepare and present! I’d have to arrive 30 minutes before a show to prepare and get the studio ready to go and would stay after my shift to prepare content for my next show, sometimes I was in the studio for 5-6 hours at a time.
Due to Covid, I haven’t been able to present in almost a year now so it has massively affected my job. Not presenting in lockdown though has been a blessing in disguise as it gave me time to realise how much of a passion it is of mine. I have missed it so much however 2020 was an incredibly difficult year for me, my mum lost her partner in April and 7 weeks later, I then lost my dad unexpectedly so in the midst of grieving, I am glad I had some time out of Radio presenting, however, I am itching to get back into the studio.
If I could give a piece of advice to young people who aspire to be a radio presenter it would be that it is possible! It always looks so far out of reach but anything is possible with hard work. It is also never too late. I remember being 19 and thinking ”I should’ve started earlier” which is ridiculous looking back! Any age is possible. There aren’t any essential qualifications needed to be a presenter. I had a degree under my belt but found experience in the field was the most valuable.
Lockdown allowed me to grow my accounts such as Tik Tok and Instagram with my DJ’ing videos and live streams. I host a Tik Tok live each week called ‘Guess the song’ where I play a song and the viewers have to guess the song in the comments. These lives often bring in an average of 100k + viewers over a 3 hour period, which is insane to me! I get so much happiness from the feedback I am given and having that time to engage with my viewers is priceless.
I wish I could tell my younger self to stop comparing myself to others and just unapologetically chase my dreams. You have to stop looking at other peoples journeys. This is your journey. Stop waiting for the “right time” to make your move and pursue your goal.