A radio jockey at Ravenshaw Radio. (below) The radio station’s building in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Sept. 7: Students of Ravenshaw University are gearing up for the first edition of the mega singing talent hunt titled Voice of Ravenshaw, which will begin tomorrow.

Organised by Ravenshaw Radio, the campus radio station of the university, the event has received applications from more than 250 students, who will appear for the auditions tomorrow.

“We recently found out about the singing competition and are excited as this will help aspiring singers to showcase their talent,” said student Sangita Nanda.

“This event will give us the perfect opportunity to reach out to a larger audience through our campus radio,” Sangita said.

University officials are expecting that the number of participants for the talent hunt will cross 500, as registrations are open till tomorrow morning. “Around 20 students will be selected by the judges from the audition rounds. Later, the selected candidates will record their songs at the radio studio. A winner will be selected through voting via text messaging and e-mail,” said Netajee Abhinandan, chairman of Ravenshaw Radio.

Abhinandan said the main objective of organising the Voice of Ravenshaw is to provide a platform to budding singers. There are plans to introduce similar events in which people from all walks of life can be a part of Ravenshaw Radio, which went on air on April 14. So far, around 100 students are preparing and managing various musical, educational and entertainment-based radio programmes.

The community radio station has a coverage zone of eight to 10km with its own production and transmission studio. However, authorities are making an effort to improve the content, as Ravenshaw Radio is yet to emerge as a brand and reach out to a larger audience of the Millennium City.

“The songs of 20 students will be recorded and played in the music room programme from 5pm to 7pm and 8pm to 10pm everyday for one week from September 9 to 15,” said Viraj Shukla, coordinator of Ravenshaw Radio.

According to Shukla, out of the total 20 selected students, five will qualify for the grand finale and the students will have to record fresh songs on September 23. These songs will be played for another week. The singer with the largest number of votes will be declared “Voice of Ravenshaw” on September 30.

The singers who finish second and third will also be felicitated. The three winners will get attractive prizes and the opportunity to sing in the professional music arena.