A mysterious figure entered URF‘s radio station in Falmer House at 3am on 23 February, before playing a song and broadcasting an ominous message in a low, muffled voice: “Who am I?”
The track chosen by the intruder was ‘No No No’ by ‘Beirut’, which begins with the line: “Don’t know the first thing about who you are”. The station was broadcasting live at the time via the online stream.
CCTV footage of the event was discovered the following day when a member of Union staff noticed an increased level of activity at around 3am that same morning.
The grainy footage revealed a male wearing skinny jeans and a hoodie entering the radio premises via the main entrance, presumably using URF’s key card for entry.
Instead of switching on the room’s main lights, the male illuminated his path using the torch on his phone. The relative darkness served to conceal his identity from CCTV cameras.
A second figure was spotted on CCTV exiting a nearby meeting room. His identity is similarly subject to speculation.
Reportedly, the event caused “quite a stir” among the URF team.
Station Manager Hannah Jones said: “I feel deeply disappointed in the Union for allowing such a thing to happen, especially as we so recently forgave them for allowing a lock to be installed on the wrong door.”
President of the Students’ Union Abe Baldry responded: “We immediately notified Sussex Estates & Facilities who are responsible for Falmer House security to find out how someone could have gained access to the building and to gather information from the security lock about whose access card was used.
“We will be working with them to ensure the building is secure and with URF to ensure their members are using the studio safely and securely.”
Fin Evans, Head of Tech and host of the Wednesday evening House music show ‘BEAT’, advised anyone considering pulling off a similar prank in the future to “be more original.”
URF members have speculated that the male in the footage might have been drunk, because it took him nearly 5 minutes to enter the correct door code.
Evans commented: “The general consensus is that this event was a light-hearted prank, thought up by a student after perhaps a few too many glasses of wine.”
No studio equipment was damaged or stolen during the early morning break-in.
Farla Savans and Mark Tovey
In the good old Norwich House days, impromptu all-nighters were commonplace. Mind you, no one was listening!