Meet The Team
Ione Banks
Station Manager
President of Purple Radio, the Station Manager heads the society's executive team to oversee the smooth running of the station, from finances to content release, compliance to socials. The Station Manager is responsible for one of Durham's largest student groups, typically accommodating 100+ members a year, and ensures that its community remains a vibrant and inclusive space known for outstanding quality and creativity in its output.
📧 Contact: station.manager@purpleradio.co.uk
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Bex Smith
Deputy Station Manager
The Deputy Station Manager (DSM) is the second-in-command, assisting the Station Manager with the running of the society and acting as a check-and-balance to their leadership. The Deputy typically acts as the station's secretary, and often takes on a more creative and communicative role, overseeing team projects and sharing weekly emails to over 600 members and alumni.
📧 Contact: deputy.manager@purpleradio.co.uk
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Adam Dickson
Head of Student Enrichment
Purple's Head of Student Enrichment is a role blending welfare, training, and outreach responsibilities. This executive ensures that Purple Radio not only enriches the lives of its members, but of its hard-working organisational team, too — through alumni workshops, dedicated drop-ins, and a clear mission statement aligning the visions and goals of the exec, the Head of Student Enrichment makes life on the exec developmental and nurturing.
📧 Contact: student.enrichment@purpleradio.co.uk
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Charlotte Aspden
Head of Live Production
The Head of Live Production at Purple oversees the plethora of live material we broadcast, managing the quality and form of our content, and ensuring compliance. Overseeing each of the core broadcasting teams — Music, News, Sport, and Drama/Arts — the Head of Live Production takes on a diverse role which ranges from scheduling and music uploads, to wider competencies like large-scale events planning, off-site broadcast management, and the mentoring of flagship presenters.
📧 Contact: live.production@purpleradio.co.uk
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Hannah Hastings
Head of Podcasts
The Head of Podcasts at Purple is responsible for all training for podcast hosts, overseeing the upload and promotion of on-demand shows, and ensuring that production standards are met. They will act as the first point of call for all hosts, presenters, producers and writers of on-demand content, and manage our presence on streaming platforms like Spotify.
📧 Contact: podcasts@purpleradio.co.uk
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Emma Crute
Head of Music
The Head of Music is responsible for all output falling under the music team - from flagships like Musicfeed and New Music Hour, to individual broadcasts and podcasts delving into a plethora of genres. The Head of Music also oversees the production of our Live Sessions: 1-hour episodes where local artists play a set of original tracks, and are interviewed by a host of Purple-choosing. The Head of Music breathes vibrancy into the station, ensuring we are always playing the latest and greatest, whether they're fresh sounds or undergrounds.
📧 Contact: music@purpleradio.co.uk
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Sadie Noel
Head of News
The Head of News at Purple Radio is responsible for all output falling under the news team - from flagships like the Breakfast Show, Newsfeed, and Student Voice, to individual broadcasts and podcasts covering news of any scale. They also spearhead Purple's Investigation: an annual project deep-diving into a contemporary topic of interest to the students of Durham University.
📧 Contact: news@purpleradio.co.uk
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Erica Murphy-Hogg
Head of Sports
The Head of Sport at Purple Radio is responsible for all output falling under the sports team - from flagships like Sportsfeed to individual broadcasts and podcasts covering sporting news and digests on any level. The Head of Sport also organises commentary for college-level and university-level matches across the sports community at Durham, providing dedicated presenters to follow live matches.
📧 Contact: sport@purpleradio.co.uk
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Beth Cameron
Head of Drama and Arts
The Head of Drama and Arts at Purple is responsible for all output falling under these two teams - from audio dramas to cooking shows, play reviews to art critics. Embedding Purple Radio into the wider creative scenes across Durham, this role shines a spotlight on student visionaries and local talent, celebrating the innovative output of our community in catwalks, showcases, and more!
📧 Contact: drama@purpleradio.co.uk , arts@purpleradio.co.uk
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Diya Sura
Head of Social Media and Graphic Design
The Head of Social Media and Graphic Design is responsible for Purple Radio's image - they control social media content, physical promotional materials like flyers and brochures, and collaborate with individual presenters to design logos for shows and podcasts.
📧 Contact: social.media@purpleradio.co.uk , graphics@purpleradio.co.uk