Jack Saunders
Presenter at BBC Radio 1. Studied BA (Hons) Broadcast Journalism
I wouldn’t be where I am today without NTU, and specifically Fly FM. As the station manager, I got a sense of how important Fly was to the whole University. We went from being one of a crowd of stations to one of the best out there, and I’m proud of what we achieved together - nine nominations and seven wins at the Student Radio Awards.
A lot of people in the radio, TV and music industries started out at Fly - the likes of George Godfrey (Radio X), Pete Allison and Claire Chambers (Capital), and Daisy Jarrett (Radio 1) - and it’s fair to say that right now, NTU is really shaping the media industry!
I’ll always be grateful for that experience, because it earned me my first break on Kerrang! Radio, the summer I graduated. I joined Radio X in 2015 to host the weekend breakfast show, and by March 2017 I’d got my first national daytime slot. I also began working for MTV at that time, interviewing some of my favourite bands. I left Radio X in early 2018 and started my new show on BBC Radio 1 that September.
I believe you can achieve anything if you work hard enough, and I often think back to the importance of my time and training at NTU. With each step, I got a better sense of what I wanted from life - and then I went and did it.
Today, I’ve achieved my dream of working on Radio 1. Everybody starts somewhere, and that somewhere should be something you really love - that’s what I did. Focus on what you love, work hard to make your dreams happen, and don’t ever be afraid to be ambitious and creative. Always try to change the game, in everything you do.