YUSU Election Nights

YSTV's coverage of the results of YUSU's annual elections is almost certainly the longest-running regular output on YSTV and arguably the biggest and most complex broadcast of the year. Our earliest (currently playable) recording in our archive is of the 1984 YUSU Election Night.

The results in recent years have usually been held on a Friday night in Derwent dining hall, after many years in Goodricke. The broadcast from Derwent always poses a huge technical challenge to YSTV, which has been based in and broadcast from Goodricke or nearby Physics for around thirty years. The programme is also one of the longest continuous programmes YSTV broadcasts, running from early evening until all the results have been counted in the early hours of Saturday morning. (Woodstock, which lasts for twelve hours, has breaks between bands). 1998 is thought to be the longest broadcast, beginning at 9pm and finishing at around 7.30am the following morning due to many recounts. As such the programme is prepared for throughout the Spring term.

The style of the programme has often changed - from hard-nosed hackery to more light-hearted coverage, or more often both at the same time. In recent years coverage has expanded to become more than just the night itself, encompassing special Bona Dicta debate programmes with the candidates and 60 Second Manifestos, recorded during Sunday's URY interview night. Highlights of every election night known to be currently held in the YSTV archive are in 2005's Elections Past programme, which is updated every year.