Kenny Allstar graduated in 2015 from the Film, Radio and Television degree, having dedicated his life to music from the age of 13, he was able to gain confidence to further pursue his career in music and radio through the FRTV course.

“University gave me a lot of social confidence. If I’m completely honest, I had been doing radio long before I walked into Canterbury Christ Church, so I suppose I had a head start, but socially I was a little awkward. So, I learnt how to work with people better at university. Overcoming group work challenges made me better at working with a mainstream production team and those experiences are priceless.”

Since graduating, Kenny’s career has grown from strength to strength; championing the UK rap scene, collaborating with artists such as Headie One, and in 2021 Kenny was named DJ of the Year at the Urban Music Awards.

After a successful residency in 2017, he made a permanent move to BBC Radio 1Xtra in 2018, taking over a long running show from legendry DJ Semtex. Kenny will now host a prime Friday night slot to champion hip-hop and rap artists from the UK and abroad, with his new Radio 1 Rap Show.

“It feels amazing to be recognised by the industry. I pride myself on non-stop hard work. From a very early age I would invest in similar equipment used in the practical lessons at Canterbury Christ Church to practice my radio links and get better with time.”

“When I was in my first year at university, I would set out a five year plan of where I wanted to be when I graduated. So, whilst studying I was getting the wheels in motion of what radio stations I wanted to be on and perfecting my radio demos to send through.”

“My advice to anyone trying to breakthrough is never deter from the plan you set yourself.”

Read the full story on our Canterbury News Hub.

You can listen to Kenny on BBC Sounds, or Friday nights on Radio 1 and 1Xtra.

Visit our film course pages here.