First successful week for Bridport FM (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

First successful week for Bridport FM

7:00pm Thursday 27th September 2012 in News By Joanna Davis

VOLUNTEERS are celebrating a successful week on the air.

Bridport FM, the town’s first radio venture, saw 150 people involved in seven days of broadcasting from a portable studio outside Bridport Arts Centre .

Hitting the airwaves on 87.7FM were plays, local music and bands, school groups and programmes on ballroom dancing, food and opera.

Kate Wilson, learning coordinator at the arts centre, said: “It was great.

“We had fantastic feedback from people. It was just a joy to be a part of and it was wonderful to have so many different people involved.

“It’s created a really nice buzz around the town.”

Radio trainees were guided by Georgie Green and Debra Hearne from project partners the Windrose Rural Media Trust.

The temporary radio station was the end of the first year of a £10,000 three-year project run by the arts centre and funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

Its aim was to give youngsters and older members of the community a chance to work together creatively.

Pupils from local schools came into the studio to talk on shows and shared their expertise on subjects like the internet.

Ms Wilson said: “We offered free training to anyone who wants to learn. The focus was on people who are over 60 and young people so they could learn how to make their own radio programmes.

“We used a bit of pre-recorded stuff and the other stuff was all created by local people.”

Anything that interested people in the community was made into a show, she said.

“People would come along and say: ‘I’m passionate about the tango, can I make a programme about it?’ “And they were given the means to do so,” she said.

The Bridport broadcasts went out from 1pm to 8pm for seven days and were also available to hear online.

And news from the town went out to a truly global audience, Ms Wilson said.

“People from 10 different countries had tuned in from as far away as Japan, Russia and the US.

“We also had a lot of feedback locally, people could pick up their phone and request a song.”

A meeting is due to be held to decide what will happen next.

Ms Wilson said: “Running a radio station is really expensive but we’re going to have a meeting about how we’re going to take this forward.

“While there’s lots of enthusiasm for the project we want to capitalise on that.

“There’s definitely a need for a radio station in Bridport.”