The Station Manager of Insanity Radio has resigned her post. Gunanika Singh, elected to the position in March 2011, made the announcement at the first SU General Meeting of the year. In an email to all members of Insanity Radio, Singh described her resignation as “an incredibly difficult decision that was not taken lightly.” Citing how she has been put in “an impossible position over the last four months” the former manager assured members of Insanity that leadership of Royal Holloway’s radio station would be secure in the hands of Dave Lamb, her deputy, before thanking every member of the team for all their efforts this year.

The formal announcement at the General Meeting was followed by a brief question and answer session on the floor of the SU, during which the details behind the shock resignation came to light. Part of the explanation appears to lie in the debate surrounding the decision to have the station broadcast on an FM frequency this year. In December, the Production Board announced that it would be broadcasting under “a new community FM license” which would allow “more opportunities for the local community to get involved” and dramatically improve the sound quality of Insanity’s broadcasts.

However, it was revealed at the GM that the Production Board had decided at a meeting on Monday night to reverse this decision. Singh cited tensions between the Production Board and College and the Students’ Union as one motive behind the veto, claiming that difficulties liaising with the two made any switchover unsustainable. Explaining how OFCOM, the government’s media regulator, has greatly increased the number of restrictions binding Community FM stations, Singh argued that the switchover exposed Insanity and the SU to massive potential fines if any conditions were breached. Without the cooperation of College and the SU, she explained that the Production Board feared going ahead with the switchover on their own.

Sarah Honeycombe, Vice President of Communications and Campaigns, former Assistant Station Manager, and current member of the Production Board at Insanity, responded to a question on whether the Students’ Union should “give up” in the matter of the FM switchover by stating that: “Discussions are ongoing, and while I respect what they [Singh and Lamb] have said today…nobody has given up yet. And for what it’s worth, I’m not going to.”

Honeycombe is known to personally covet the broadcasting of Insanity on FM, which suggests friction between the Vice-President and the Insanity Production Board. However, a full disclosure on the Board’s decision to veto the switchover has yet to occur, and neither Singh nor Honeycombe wished to comment on the matter when asked by ‘The Orbital.’ New Station Manager, David Lamb, wrote on the station’s Facebook page that “discussions are still ongoing” and that there will be “some news soon.”