Sydney Davies is a second-year student in the Department of English Studies and former PalTV’s Station Manager. She explains what it’s like working for PalTV and how you can get involved.
What is PalTV?
PalTV is a student-led TV station for current Durham students and the reigning Broadcaster of the Year at the National Student Television Association (NaSTA) awards.
We are now comprised of over 100 students, who work in teams to produce live broadcasts, news reports, vox pops, guides to student life and original series content.
We also operate a PalTV Global programme which allows students on their year abroad to create content for us. Allowing us to increase our audience and scale of issues.
This year I was fortunate enough to be voted in as PalTV’s first female Station Manager which means I oversee all our content and support everybody who creates content for us. Having discovered PalTV at the freshers fair It is incredible to move from being a very small part in productions to leading the station.
Congratulations on being awarded National Student Broadcaster of the Year for the third consecutive year.
What does this mean to you?
Personally, it’s so rewarding to have all our hard work recognised because it takes a lot to keep pushing the station forward and to be proficient in so many areas of broadcast journalism. To celebrate all this work with some of the team in Manchester was incredible.
Achieving awards like these also reinforced our presence to major broadcasting corporations and broadcasting companies. Being associated with content that PalTV produces now looks fantastic on a CV and people want to talk to us about it. You can see the success this is having in the number of our alumni being accepted into prestigious post graduate positions including the City Journalism Masters and BBC postgraduate schemes.
Why did you choose to study at Durham?
Student media was a big influence in my decision to join Durham University. Whilst I do love English and knew the department was strong, I predominantly wanted to build by showreel and portfolio of work so I could easily apply for jobs in journalism and television.
Tell us about PalTV’s work
We work with a number of societies whose stories help keep our station afloat which includes live streaming Music Durham events and the Durham Regatta.
We want to tell the stories that matter to the students and wider general public at Durham so would always encourage people to send details of their upcoming events to us at PalTV to see if we can help.
What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about joining PalTV?
PalTV is what you make of it, and we are here to encourage every opinion and idea. We have the equipment and skills if you have the ideas and the drive to execute them. We’ll soon be making content worthy of a 4th consecutive national title.
Discover more
Find out more about student media opportunities at Durham here
