Jonty Usborne
Usborne at the 2013 Radio Academy Awards
Born
Jonathan Usborne

(1990-07-17) 17 July 1990
Brussels, Belgium
Education
Engineering career
Discipline
Employer(s)
Projects
  • UK Radioplayer Console
  • Unified Station Management
  • Responsive Radio
Awards
  • 2013 Student Radio Award for Best Technical Achievement
  • 2014 Radio Academy Award for Best Technical Innovation
  • 2014 Student Radio Award for Best Technical Achievement
  • 2015 Student Radio Award for Best Technical Achievement

Jonathan "Jonty" Usborne (born 17 July 1990) is a producer and broadcast engineer at BBC News, and writer for The Independent, noted for having won awards such as the Student Radio Award for Best Technical Achievement and the Radio Academy Award for Best Technical Innovation. He is the first university student to have won in a technical category at the Radio Academy Awards. As of 2016, he is a software engineer for the BBC and the Chair of the Student Radio Association. He also sits on the Trustee Board of the Radio Academy.

Life and career

Usborne speaking at the 2015 Radiodays Europe conference in Milan

Born in Brussels, raised in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, and educated at Haileybury & Imperial Service College, Usborne became involved in student radio in 2009, after commencing studying economics at the University of Bath.[1][2] After being elected in 2011 to the position of Head of Online Media at University Radio Bath—the university's student radio station—he developed FRANCESCA, a station management system and console for the UK's Radioplayer application. Usborne submitted his system for consideration in the Best Technical Innovation category at the 2013 Student Radio Awards,[3] and was awarded gold that November.[4][5] The judges described his application as "a real innovation".[6]

The following year, Usborne developed Responsive Radio, a "new approach to broadcasting", which incorporated ReQuester, an application he had developed that provided feedback to radio presenters about the musical preferences of their listeners.[7] He submitted Responsive Radio with the United Station Management application for consideration in the 2014 Radio Academy Awards.[8][9] In May that year, Usborne became the first university student to win in a technical category at the Radio Academy Awards, when he received bronze in the Best Technical Innovation category, beating out competition from both Global Radio and the BBC.[10][11] The judges described the entry as "a great example of technical innovation creating listener benefit", saying that it was "particularly impressive" that it had been created by "a student station with presumably little resource".[10] Responsive Radio and Unified Station Management were also nominated for the Arqiva TechCon Technical Excellence Award in September 2014.[12] In November, Usborne won gold for Responsive Radio in the Best Technical Achievement category at the 2014 Student Radio Awards.[13][14]

In April 2014, Usborne was elected to the positions of Station Manager of University Radio Bath and Deputy Events Officer of the Student Radio Association;[15][16][17] the following month, he set up and ran the first fully-radio-with-pictures edition of the Student Radio Chart Show. In October, Usborne was named as one of the Radio Academy's "30 Under 30" of the year.[18][19] In March 2015, he spoke at that year's Radiodays Europe conference in Milan on the future of radio,[20][21] and in May was elected to the position of Chair of the Student Radio Association.[22] In July he was elected to the Trustee Board of the Radio Academy,[23][24] and in November was awarded gold for Best Technical Achievement for a third time at the 2015 Student Radio Awards.[25] After graduating from Bath in June 2016, Usborne joined the media playout department at the BBC as a graduate software engineer, and began developing their online web media player.[2]

Awards and accolades

Year Award Category Details Result Ref.
2013 Student Radio Awards Best Technical Achievement UK Radioplayer Console and Unified Station Management Application Gold [4]
2014 Radio Academy Awards Best Technical Innovation Responsive Radio and Unified Station Management Bronze [10]
30 Under 30 — Won [18]
Arqiva TechCon Awards Technical Excellence Responsive Radio and Unified Station Management Shortlisted [12]
Student Radio Awards Best Technical Achievement Responsive Radio Gold [13]
2015 Student Radio Awards Best Technical Achievement Visualisation Rebuild and URB Digital Gold [25]
The Kevin Greening Creativity Award Visualisation Rebuild and URB Digital Shortlisted

References

  1. ↑ McElroy, Steven (17 August 2009). Keller, Bill (ed.). "At the Fringe: Who's in Charge Around Here?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. OCLC 1645522. Archived from the original on 20 August 2009.
  2. 1 2 Ashbrook, Jamie (28 October 2016). "How to Get Started in Radio: An Interview with Jonty Usborne". Manchester: Radio.co. Archived from the original on 18 November 2016.
  3. ↑ Usborne, Jonty (July 2013). "UK Radioplayer Console & Unified Station Management Application – 2013 Student Radio Awards Submission for 'Best Technical Achievement'" (PDF). University Radio Bath. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  4. 1 2 "GOLD Best Technical Achievement". Student Radio Awards. November 2013. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  5. ↑ "Best Technical Achievement goes to @1449amurb". London: Student Radio Association. 7 November 2013. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014.
  6. ↑ Usborne, Jonty (2013). "Jonty Usborne – Producer. Developer. Radio Geek". Bath, Somerset. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  7. ↑ Usborne, Jonty (2014). "Responsive Radio & Unified Station Management – 2014 Radio Academy Awards Submission for 'Best Technical Innovation' (E2)" (PDF). University Radio Bath. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 December 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  8. ↑ "The 2014 Nominees > Best Technical Innovation". London: Radio Academy Awards. April 2014. Archived from the original on 16 May 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "Bath student radio shortlisted in national awards". World News Network. 11 April 2014. Archived from the original on 23 December 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 "The Winners 2014 > Best Technical Innovation". London: Radio Academy Awards. May 2014. Archived from the original on 14 May 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  11. ↑ "1449AM URB wins bronze Radio Academy Award". World News Network. 15 May 2014. Archived from the original on 23 December 2014.
  12. 1 2 Abramoff, Gloria (19 September 2014). "Newsletter: Full Radio Festival line-up revealed!". London: Radio Academy. Archived from the original on 23 September 2014.
  13. 1 2 Martin, Roy (6 November 2014). "URN 1350 wins top Student Radio Awards prize". London: RadioToday. Archived from the original on 17 November 2014.
  14. ↑ "Media Awards: Student Radio Awards". allmediascotland. 12 November 2014. Archived from the original on 14 December 2014.
  15. ↑ "'The ReelWorld Radio Academy 30 Under 30' list is revealed". London: Record of the Day. 2 October 2014. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014.
  16. ↑ "Election Results 2014". London: Student Radio Association. 11 April 2014. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
  17. ↑ "Meet Your New 2014–2015 SRA Team". London: Student Radio Association. April 2014. Archived from the original on 14 May 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  18. 1 2 "Meet The ReelWorld Radio Academy 30 Under 30 2014!". London: Radio Academy. October 2014. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  19. ↑ "30 under 30 revealed by the Radio Academy". London: RadioToday. 2 October 2014. Archived from the original on 4 October 2014.
  20. ↑ "Meet the future – Three of ReelWorld 30 under 30 share their visions with BBC's Ben Cooper". Stockholm: Radiodays Europe. 2015. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  21. ↑ Moro, Davide (5 January 2015). "Radiodays Europe Addresses Modern Challenges". Radio World. Archived from the original on 21 July 2015.
  22. ↑ McCabe, Harvey (1 May 2015). "SRA AGM Election Results". London: Student Radio Association. Archived from the original on 15 May 2015.
  23. ↑ Martin, Roy (9 July 2015). "Radio Academy's new Trustee Board revealed". RadioToday. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015.
  24. ↑ "New Trustees Announced". Radio Academy. 9 July 2015. Archived from the original on 21 July 2015.
  25. 1 2 Martin, Roy (5 November 2014). "Student Radio Awards 2015 – full winners". London: RadioToday. Archived from the original on 8 November 2015.
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