To The Greyhound early on Tuesday evening to hear plans all about the prospect of launching the hyperlocal Radio Wivenhoe here in the town. A public meeting had been called by Jerry Davis of Wivenhoe First to explore the local interest and local angle.
In my best BBC broadcasting voice, I hereby announce that these plans are VERY ambitious; I also add in the belief that they are equally VERY achievable.
Put simply, the plan is to put together a uniquely local Wivenhoe programme schedule. The station will start off as an online venture, with a view to applying for a community licence, once Ofcom pimps out the franchise in 2013.
I strongly support the idea of doing it yourself, right here in Wivenhoe, and preferably right now before the big boys of Radio Ga Ga come cashing in on our local patch. If there is sufficient support and evidence that a station can be operated locally online, the ambition to secure a community licence becomes all the more realistic.
Jerry opened the meeting echoing these very same thoughts. He explained how SGR in Colchester was swallowed up by the radio behemoth that is GWR, which promptly then switched the programming down the road to Chelmsford.
I grew up in an age where local radio mattered to the local community. I worked on local stations that genuinely impacted and improved the lives of those that listened. The last thing that Wivenhoe wants right now is some soulless corporate radio beast bangin’ out bloody Jon Bon Jovi every hour, on top of the hour.
Just under forty local folk gathered Upstairs at The Greyhound to hear the plans, and then to think about ways in which to progress. What was truly humbling was to witness the cross section of community support that had come out to participate.
The good Councillor Ford, Poetry Peter, Pantomime Puffin, May Fair Mike, Bookshop Sue and Mr Mule - all on fine fighting form, all wanting to be able to offer up their own specialised and unique perspective on Wivenhoe life to the local community.
The beauty of this back to basics approach is that the online space makes all of this possible. What exactly is radio in 2011 anyway? It’s all audio, Comrades - you don’t need to be sitting in some plush penthouse suite in Leicester Square to call yourself a radio station.
Wivenhoe Business Centre (blimey) can serve the purpose of a base. The initial plan is to offer live weekend programming from the Business Centre, with a small studio currently being sourced.
Pre-records or repeats can be streamed for the rest of the week. As one would expect from a Wivenhoe venture, there is a gloriously creative collective approach to all of this. Some ideas may work, others may not.
The skill is to simply get out there and try something. Sitting back and allowing Radio Ga Ga to come into our town would kill all creativity, as well as bypassing (and out-pricing) our genuine local businesses.
We are fortunate to have Heather Purdey, a former Director of the International Journalism MA at City University on board. Heather is happy to help out to train up local broadcasters, as well as to advise as to how we best approach Ofcom.
As for the programme schedule itself? It waves the stiff mast of two Wivenhoe fingers up in the air at Radio Ga Ga and the goons, with a gloriously bonkers mix of all that is great and diverse within Wivenhoe.
Classical, swing, 80’s, rock, soul, local sports broadcasting (hurrah!) local comedy (hurrah! hurrah!) and interviews with local politicians (hurra… um, hang on.)
Add into this the possibility of outside broadcasts at events such as the Wivenhoe Regatta, plus close involvement and participation from both schools, and you can see the potential for hyperlocal radio within the town.
Oh yeah - some hit and miss bloke is threatening the possibility of a local chat show.
Blimey.
And so with a tight schedule to stick to (news coming up at the top of the hour blah blah blah) the meeting was wrapped up at just under an hour of offline broadcasting. The closing message from Jerry was:
“This isn’t my radio station - this is for Wivenhoe. Whatever the community wants, we would like to get them involved.”
Jerry speaks of being the “facilitator” - he is actually much, much more, having personally taken the financial hit for setting up Radio Wivenhoe and purchasing the software required. Running costs are around £50 a month - the value of a genuinely local radio station for Wivenhoe can’t be calculated.
Mr Mule rallied the troops in typical poetic and inspiring style:
“If we want this to happen, we have to do it ourselves. We have to prove that we are up to the job.”
Someone should give that man a microphone. And a radio show.
As for your involvement? Well…
A good starting point would be to step forward and offer any skills that you might have - broadcasting, sales, admin, organisational - all are vital to the success of the Radio Wivenhoe.
Test transmissions will continue until July, with local programming hopefully then being broadcast out of the Business Centre. There is a pirate approach to all of this, but brought up to date for the modern interweb age and all totally legit.
NICE.
Not ‘arf.