All templates
Community radio · 24 hours · volunteer-run
Press play. Everything else on this page can wait.
There is one thing a radio page has to do and it is not to describe itself. The stream is below, the week's schedule is under that, and every other way of hearing us — including the ones that work when the internet doesn't — is further down.
Point the first at your stream page and the second at the raw playlist file. The second one is what people with an actual radio app want, and almost no station publishes it.
The week
Weekdays · 07:00–10:00 — Breakfast. Local news on the half hour, travel when there is any, and the only slot with a running order
Weekdays · 10:00–13:00 — Music, mostly unsegued, chosen by whoever is in. This is the shift where you hear something you have never heard before
Weekdays · 13:00–16:00 — Specialist strands, different every day. Folk on Monday, dub on Wednesday, whatever the Thursday person is currently obsessed with
Weekdays · 16:00–19:00 — Drive. Shorter records, more talking, and the request slot at half five
Weekends · 09:00–13:00 — The magazine shows. Interviews with people from about four streets away, which is the entire point of a station like this
Overnight · every night — Unattended music, no adverts, no announcements. A lot of people listen to this and almost nobody admits it
Weekdays · 10:00–13:00 — Music, mostly unsegued, chosen by whoever is in. This is the shift where you hear something you have never heard before
Weekdays · 13:00–16:00 — Specialist strands, different every day. Folk on Monday, dub on Wednesday, whatever the Thursday person is currently obsessed with
Weekdays · 16:00–19:00 — Drive. Shorter records, more talking, and the request slot at half five
Weekends · 09:00–13:00 — The magazine shows. Interviews with people from about four streets away, which is the entire point of a station like this
Overnight · every night — Unattended music, no adverts, no announcements. A lot of people listen to this and almost nobody admits it
Replace this with your own week. A grid of thirty programmes is unreadable on a phone — six honest blocks tells somebody what the station sounds like at the hour they are actually awake.
Every way of hearing it
FM, in a radius — Say the frequency and say the honest edge of it. "Most of the valley, patchy past the ridge" is more useful than a coverage map nobody believes
DAB, where there is a multiplex — Say which one and say if it stops at the county line. Listeners assume DAB is everywhere and it is very much not
Online, everywhere — The stream above. It costs the station money per listener, which is worth knowing before anybody complains about a fundraiser
A smart speaker — Say the exact phrase that works, word for word, because "play [station]" often finds a station in another country with a similar name
In a radio app — Via the playlist file above. This is the option that works on old hardware and in cars, and it is the one people ask for most
When the internet is out — FM keeps working, on a battery, with no account and no app. That is not nostalgia — it is the reason community stations still broadcast on it
DAB, where there is a multiplex — Say which one and say if it stops at the county line. Listeners assume DAB is everywhere and it is very much not
Online, everywhere — The stream above. It costs the station money per listener, which is worth knowing before anybody complains about a fundraiser
A smart speaker — Say the exact phrase that works, word for word, because "play [station]" often finds a station in another country with a similar name
In a radio app — Via the playlist file above. This is the option that works on old hardware and in cars, and it is the one people ask for most
When the internet is out — FM keeps working, on a battery, with no account and no app. That is not nostalgia — it is the reason community stations still broadcast on it
Why some shows never become podcasts
This confuses everybody and it is almost never explained, so here it is plainly.
Broadcasting music and publishing it are different rights — A station's licence covers playing records on air. It does not automatically cover putting that same hour online as a file people keep
Which is why the music shows vanish — Not because nobody could be bothered. The speech shows are archived because speech is ours to publish; the music shows are not
Some get a music-free version — The interviews lifted out, the records taken away. It is a worse listen and it is better than nothing
Listen again, where the licence allows — Usually a fixed window rather than forever. Where that applies here it will say so, with the actual number of days
What we can always publish — Anything recorded by us — interviews, features, live sessions where the musician agreed. Live sessions are the best thing on any station's archive
If you want a specific hour — Ask. Sometimes it can be cleared and sometimes it genuinely cannot, and you will be told which rather than left waiting
Which is why the music shows vanish — Not because nobody could be bothered. The speech shows are archived because speech is ours to publish; the music shows are not
Some get a music-free version — The interviews lifted out, the records taken away. It is a worse listen and it is better than nothing
Listen again, where the licence allows — Usually a fixed window rather than forever. Where that applies here it will say so, with the actual number of days
What we can always publish — Anything recorded by us — interviews, features, live sessions where the musician agreed. Live sessions are the best thing on any station's archive
If you want a specific hour — Ask. Sometimes it can be cleared and sometimes it genuinely cannot, and you will be told which rather than left waiting
Requests and dedications
Send them any time — They are read in the drive slot and on the weekend shows. Say the name you want said out loud and how it is pronounced
It might not be that day — Presenters build an hour in advance. A request usually lands within the week rather than within the hour, and it does get there
We might not have it — A small station's library is a small library. Saying "we couldn't find it" is more honest than pretending it was too obscure
What won't get played — Anything with a lyric that would land badly at eight in the morning, and anything meant to get at a specific person. Both come up more than you would think
Dedications for hard days — Funerals, anniversaries, somebody in hospital. These are handled carefully and privately, and you can ask for no name at all
No charge, ever — Not for a request, not for a dedication, not for a birthday. A station charging for those has stopped being a community station
It might not be that day — Presenters build an hour in advance. A request usually lands within the week rather than within the hour, and it does get there
We might not have it — A small station's library is a small library. Saying "we couldn't find it" is more honest than pretending it was too obscure
What won't get played — Anything with a lyric that would land badly at eight in the morning, and anything meant to get at a specific person. Both come up more than you would think
Dedications for hard days — Funerals, anniversaries, somebody in hospital. These are handled carefully and privately, and you can ask for no name at all
No charge, ever — Not for a request, not for a dedication, not for a birthday. A station charging for those has stopped being a community station
Join in
No experience needed, genuinely — Nearly everybody here started with none. Training is a few evenings and the desk is easier than it looks from the other side of the glass
The unglamorous jobs matter more — Someone has to log the playlist, chase the sponsors and fix the studio door. Those roles are harder to fill than the presenting ones and they are what keep it on air
A shift is two hours a week — That is the actual commitment. People imagine it is a second job and it is closer to a book group with transmitters
Under-18s and over-80s — Both welcome, both currently on air here, and the shows they make are better than the ones made by people in the middle
Access — Say what the studio is like — stairs, lift, hearing loop, whether the desk can be reached seated. Ask us and you get a straight answer before you turn up
How it's paid for — Grants, small sponsors and listeners. The figures are published once a year and they are not impressive, which is why they are published
The unglamorous jobs matter more — Someone has to log the playlist, chase the sponsors and fix the studio door. Those roles are harder to fill than the presenting ones and they are what keep it on air
A shift is two hours a week — That is the actual commitment. People imagine it is a second job and it is closer to a book group with transmitters
Under-18s and over-80s — Both welcome, both currently on air here, and the shows they make are better than the ones made by people in the middle
Access — Say what the studio is like — stairs, lift, hearing loop, whether the desk can be reached seated. Ask us and you get a straight answer before you turn up
How it's paid for — Grants, small sponsors and listeners. The figures are published once a year and they are not impressive, which is why they are published
Get in touch
Requests, corrections, sponsorship, or wanting a go on the desk. It all comes to the same place and it is all read.
Get in touch
"Anything at all" is the most useful answer anybody gives on this form, and it is how most of the current volunteers started.
Live preview — every color, word and block is editable after you pick it.