Severn FM has been broadcasting on the internet since June 2011 and operated it’s first FM Broadcast from the 3rd December to 29th December 2011 on 87.9Mhz. Andy Clarke, founder and Managing Director of South Gloucester Media CIC that operates Severn FM under a Community Interest Company said:
“It has been a great success and completely exceeded all of our expectations! The quality of programming from the presenters was extremely high and the amount of local involvement was nothing short of fantastic. We aired a ‘Local Focal’ programme each weekday night and some at weekends between 7pm and 8pm and each of these had a key theme involving local MP’s, local dignitaries, local organisations, youth groups , Parish Councils, sports groups and many many more. The feedback that we’ve had from guests and presenters is that the build quality of the studios is extremely high with most being surprised when they visited that we were not ‘operating from a shed with a CD player and a microphone’ and that it sounded like a proper radio station!”
Severn FM also broadcast a number of live football matches linking up with Tigers Radio from Gloucester City AFC and a number of sports programmes as well. Andy added:
“The Schools engagement was superb and a number of the Local Focal Programmes involved Severn Vale and Hardwicke Junior School amongst others, whose pupils were really excited to be involved. We’ve also been running a real variety of music programmes as well from the Breakfast Severn Bore Show with myself and the other Directors, Caro Kingsnorth and Barry Kirby along with our very own Company Secretary, Father Andrew of Hardwicke, Longney and Elmore Parishes who has been running a number of Christian Themed and Local Focal Programmes and also his flagship Dance & Trance Show on a Tuesday evening. Jazz, Rock, Country, Drive Time and many other themed shows have been produced and broadcast successfully over the Christmas FM Broadcast with our team of presenters.”
So where does this leave Severn FM now? They are now continuing to broadcast on the internet at severnfm.com before they operate their next FM Broadcast later in the year. Andy said:
“We are already getting a large following on the internet with not just local listeners but people in Australia, India and Sweden as well. Internet Radio is set to expand massively this year due to its flexibility and ease of use and we have some great shows coming up this month and going forward to exploit this.”
“We are now recruiting a volunteer Sales Manager to manage the advertisers as we are a commercial radio station albeit run 100% by unpaid volunteers.”
The information sourced from the Community Radio Toolkit website was essential to the success of the Project along with many other organisations who also supported us from a financial perspective and with donations of hardware. Severn FM and the logo have been successfully registered as a Trademark in Great Britain & Northern Ireland and you contact them at radio@severnfm.com or on 01452 348551 if you wish to get involved with this exciting project.
This post was submitted by clark_an.
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