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11 May 2010 10:54:24
Radio LaB is back on the air – and it’s here to stay for the long term.
Based at the Luton campus of the University of Bedfordshire, the community radio station is being run by the students themselves.
Broadcasting on 97.1fm, Radio LaB has been given a five-year licence by regulator Ofcom and it is hoped this will then be renewed every five years to become a permanent licence.
This is a major breakthrough for the station, formerly known as Luton FM and LaB Radio, to run all year as it has previously only been on the airwaves for a month each year.
Janey Gordon, Principal Lecturer and the Radio LaB Project leader, has been at the University for the last 15 years and has been broadcasting from it for all but one of these years.
She said: “It’s for the community and not for profit, rather than a commercial station. I’ve seen a lot of community radio stations around the world and all my academic research is feeding into the project.”
Six final year students - Katie Boyle, Jade Nuttall, Sadie Pettit, Matthew Hill, Connor Hallin and Mimoza Abazi - have formed a management team. They are using the station launch and the necessary organisation as the basis for a final year project.
One, Music Technology student Katie, said: “It’s been brilliant and really enjoyable, although it’s been harder than I thought because we’ve now got the full licence and everything has to be right. All the team were friends before and are still friends now!”
A number of previous management team members are now involved in working for local radio stations.
The station will have a wide range of music shows ranging from rock through to indie, rap and unsigned bands.
It is broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with an automated facility available for overnight and other ‘low’ times. The station will also solely be English language and broadcast information and entertainment by and for the local Luton community.
Students covered the General Election live into the early hours of Friday morning.
The station has three distinct target audiences – primarily 16 to 28 year olds, plus younger listeners (early teens), and those aged 55 and over from the local community.
Janey added: “We want and need to train interested people; this will be primarily over the summer. They can be students, our media ones or otherwise, or people aged 16-18 and also over-55s from the local community. This should hopefully build an attraction to the University.”
After piloting on air during April, a celebratory beach-themed party took place at the Students’ Union in Luton on Friday, 23 April.
Although there is currently only one on-air studio, there are proposals for new premises from January 2011.
For
further details on Radio LaB or to volunteer your time, you can either call 01582 703020 or email radiolab.management@beds.ac.uk
The photo shows Donald Harley, the University’s Deputy Vice Chancellor (Resources), with the six final year students who form the Radio LaB management team.
Latest news» 2010» May» Full-time dream becomes a reality for Radio LaB
