Radiology: It’s so much more than a radio show

By Katlyn Mortimer

In the absence of radio shows for the first half of this Martinmas semester, the STAR studio has made for a great place to host meetings, and to interview show-runners so that they can reminisce on their days on-air. The three co-hosts of ‘It’s So Much More Than A Radio Show’ – Joseph Wear, Jenna Bird, and Alex Wiseman – are no strangers to the workings of the radio, all being STAR committee members themselves. As well as being good friends of mine, they agreed to join me one Wednesday afternoon for a wide-ranging conversation…

It's So Much More Than A Radio Show (or ISMMTARS for short, and pronounced ism-tars) has one of the most curious titles, and so I first asked the trio about the origins of the name. At this, giggles erupted from the opposite side of the table, but only from two individuals.

“Why does Jenna not find that funny?” I asked.

“Because it’s a pisstake of me.” She said, with an air of exasperation.

They then relayed the story of the name, sharing that they met each other in September of 2024 in the halls of Andrew Melville. After realising they had all befriended one another separately, they became a close-knit group of friends. In a moment of appreciation for their beloved student accommodation, Jenna had said “but it’s so much more than a hall”. As seen amongst all good friend groups, some jokes grow legs. For these three, it also grew into an hour of airtime.

“We also didn’t tell her what ISMMTARS stood for until halfway through the first episode,” Alex added, through more laughter.

As seems to be the case for most show hosts, the concept of the show is almost secondary to the desire to chat with friends and play music in a format that will be broadcasted online.

“We didn’t really go into the meeting with an idea of what we wanted the show to be,” said Joseph, to which Jenna quickly responded with “We still don’t have an idea of what we want the show to be.”

“It’s just vibes,” added Alex.

“But we do have this ridiculous bit […] it’s ‘weather, traffic & news’ – I do the traffic report because I drive, and then Joseph does the news report of how busy it is in the library, and then Alex does the weather because he’s sat closest to the window.”

“But at the beginning of this year, when there was three months of storms, it would rain every time we had an episode. Like, ‘today it’s still raining’,” said Alex.

“Yeah, eventually it just boiled down to ‘there’s still hella traffic, the library is still really busy, and it’s still raining’” -- the last point was said by Alex and Joseph in unison.

After a two-minute long tangent about how busy the main library is, and (the lack of) alternative study spaces, Jenna added “this is a really good example of what happens on the radio show. And then I usually play music.”

The hosting trio seem a perfect match, with Joseph completing the trifecta after volunteering to be the third person that Jenna felt was needed. “Who would be your dream guest to have on your show?” I asked.

“I think Joe Lycett would be fun,” Alex suggested.

“Yeah, or James Acaster,” said Jenna.

“Well we need another gay I think,” he replied.

“I want someone who can fit the vibe. Alison Hammond would be so fun,” Joseph said.

After more suggestions of TV personalities, including Dawn French, Lucy Punch, Diane Morgan, the cast of Horrible Histories, Lea Michele, with some rogue choices such as Kate King and Sally Mapstone, the trio agreed the university principal would be their top pick.

Spontaneity seems to be the backbone of ISMMTARS, and this was just as evident during our conversation. According to the show hosts, they would rarely plan what they would talk about on the show, or would do so in the hour before. “It’s an hour window into the conversation that we would have in our own time”, Joseph said.

“Or it’s like a fly on the wall at the rubbish heap.”

They all agreed that this, and the spontaneity, is what they liked best about their show. “Too much planning is kinda boring.”