Community Radio is a brilliant way of getting people talking at a local level. It’s a great outlet for the promotion of local music and material that wouldn’t otherwise get radio airplay. It’s a fabulous resource for the exploration of the issues that effect local people, giving everyone an equal chance to express their views, criticisms and support. Community Radio is often the only way that ordi
nary people with little or no experience of the broadcast media can find a way into broadcasting. It doesn’t have the restrictions that larger radio providers and the BBC have in relation to who is invited to work on the station. Often if there is an interest in getting on air with a music show or documentary, drama, comedy, feature or journalism and you are willing to give up some of your free time to be trained, can take advice and constructive criticism, then there’s a good chance you can be a voice for the station and your community. Or you might be given opportunities to volunteer behind the scenes in production, admin, fundraising, finance, research, advertising, marketing etc. Community Radio is perfect for our district. We have a wonderfully diverse population and an exceptional cultural output for such a small geographic area. Beyond Radio, as a community led and community serving resource, is the ideal platform through which to celebrate the area’s broad diversity and cultural mix. But it goes further than that! We want to support other organisations in our district in the voluntary and charity sectors who are also in the business of helping people. We wish to give them a louder voice in the community, a new way of getting their information out there and helping make a difference to people’s lives. All this underpinned of course by a great music service that will celebrate the best of today’s sounds, offer great tracks from the past, deliver specialist shows and introduce you to some music you will never have heard of before.
