Meet our students: Lorenzo Campolo and Alessandro Gardenal
An interview with Lorenzo Campolo and Alessandro Gardenal, students of the three-year degree course in Digital Management and coordinators of H-FARM Radio.
HI! Would you like to tell us a little about yourself and what prompted you to study at H-FARM College…?
Lorenzo: I'm Lorenzo, I'm 20 and I come from Conegliano. I've always been an outgoing and curious boy; since high school (liceo linguistico), I have always been interested in the topics of sustainability and innovation, so choosing to study in a place like H-FARM College, where innovation is the watchword, was kind of “obvious”, also because it could help me fulfill my secret dream of founding a startup.
Alessandro: I'm Alessandro, I'm 20 and I come from Codognè. I attended a linguistic high school too, and this made me realize how important it is to open up in an international environment, knowing how to adapt to challenges and changes. H-FARM College proved to be the right place that allowed me to seize the opportunities that suited me best, such as that of the radio, which made me grow and learn many things. My passion for music prompted me to be part of this project, where I brought my musical tastes and creativity in two music programs.
Together with other young people you are the face of a beautiful project in which the voice is the protagonist, H-FARM Radio. What is the added value that this type of experience is giving to your education? Which do you think are the strengths of the project?
Lorenzo: Countless, but if I had to choose the main three, I would put the skills acquired in speaking first. I was a guy who tended – and still tends actually – to talk very fast and be incomprehensible at times, because I just choke on words. Thanks to the radio I have learned, by listening to my voice through headphones, to articulate each word better so that it comes out as clearly as possible; then secondly I would say the confidence in speaking in front of a microphone. On a couple of occasions I had the honor and responsibility to go on stage in front of all my friends and university mates to interview important personalities, including celebrities and entrepreneurs, and luckily the radio experience helped me keep a certain level of confidence and composure in front of the microphone despite the pressure of the event; finally, in this past year I have had the opportunity to develop team management and coordination skills, also thanks to the help of Alessandro and a team of guys full of ideas, grit and desire to do something. They have made our life easier for sure. And the list could go on and on: these strengths are just the tip of the iceberg because I should also mention content creation, interview management and coordination, technical hard skills with recording programs and much more!
Alessandro: The radio project should deserve a dedicated course, so many things can be learned here! First of all, knowing how to speak in front of a microphone, I already feel confident in doing it because I play in a band, but in these two years I've learned how to interview people, even VIP ones, therefore knowing how to manage emotions and create interesting content. But people make the real difference: if there's one thing I've learned from all the guests we interviewed, it's that the group makes the difference. Lorenzo and I have created a wonderful team of people who are passionate about this world, and everyone has been able to contribute with their ideas to the creation of many contents. One thing we noticed is that many students from College wanted to join the project not only at the beginning, but throughout the year because they saw this as an excellent opportunity to improve our skills and have fun.
Where can we listen to the radio? How is the schedule currently structured?
Lorenzo: Everywhere! This year one of our goals was precisely to extend the distribution of our content to as many channels as possible, so in addition to the web radio, which is available on H-FARM College app and live 24/7, we are also on Spotify, where all our podcasts and interviews can be listened to on the H-FARM profile, and on H-FARM Plus, the new platform created by H-FARM dedicated to the contents that are produced within the Campus. Furthermore, one can also listen to the radio while walking through the streets of the Campus thanks to wired broadcasting, every day from 8 AM to 8 PM.
The schedule includes multiple formats every week: we start on Monday with "11 Minutes Talk" and finish on Friday with "Crypto & Beyond", but every day there are many different programs where we talk about everything: from the world of work to music, from the news of the day to blind meetings on the radio. In short, there is a format for all tastes!
Alessandro: Exactly, we wanted to be present on as many platforms as possible, this year a big step was to create the radio's Spotify page, with all the interviews and podcasts created by our team. It was a great satisfaction to open the H-FARM Spotify profile and hear all the voices of our team! Our schedule is diversified, it features both live programs such as "AutoTune" and "JustRock", but also podcast versions.
Over the past months you’ve had the opportunity to meet and interview many guests. A particular encounter or anecdote that you still remember smiling…?
Lorenzo: By now, there are many guests with whom we've had the pleasure of speaking, and just as many anecdotes, so choosing one is really difficult, but if I had to mention something that always brings me a smile and satisfaction, I'd say to have a look at the wall with all the signatures when I enter the studio. Here are the signatures of every guest who has been on the radio during this academic year, such as Marcello Ascani or the guys from Suonica.
Looking at that wall I think of all the stories that have aired on radio and of all the work we have done in these 9 months, and for me it has a truly immense value.
Alessandro: We had the opportunity to discover many stories and receive important advice during this radio experience. A guest I was really pleased to interview was Marcello Ascani, whom I've been following since I was in middle school, and at the time I never thought that one day I would talk to him in a very informal way. Even the experience of interviewing Achille Lauro in The Hall in front of all College students (and taking him on a golf cart to the radio studio) was very stimulating, above all because I realized that the more experience one gets, the more one is able to accept important challenges with ease and tranquility.
The Internet and social networks are influencing the way we communicate and use content. In your opinion, what language(s) will radio speak in the future?
Lorenzo: The nice thing about this radio is that it will never be standardized in any way, it is made by students for students and this also applies to the language. Let's take music, for example: to date, Alessandro and I have given a mold to the musical style that somewhat follows our tastes and our passions, the nostalgic rock/pop of the 90s and early 2000s, but this must not necessarily be the definitive style, it will probably change and rightly so, because the radio aims to speak to students with the voice of students, who year after year will bring their ideas and their passions to the radio, and it is this is what makes the Campus radio unique in style and content.
Alessandro: The radio has always proved to be a tool that knows how to deal with technological changes without major revolutions. Surely it will have to be increasingly an omni-channel present tool, but capable of maintaining the freedom that distinguishes it, to make people express themselves in the most truthful way possible. The radio is a very creative instrument, and different from the others, because the sound cannot be seen, but arrives directly within each of us and above all it allows us to use the most personal and unique instrument we have, our voice.
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