Rossendale Radio
 | |
| Community interest company | |
| Industry | Broadcasting |
| Genre | Local radio and variety of music |
| Fate | Financial difficulties; closed and licence revoked |
| Founded | 1 May 2010 |
| Defunct | 5 March 2012 |
| Headquarters | Haslingden, England, United Kingdom |
Area served | Rossendale |
Key people |
Antony Nixon (Director) Phil Ord (Sales & Station Manager) Gaye Nield (Accounts & Administration) Andy Hargreaves (Programme Controller & Station Sound)[1] |
| Services | Radio |
| Website |
www |
104.7 Rossendale Radio was a local radio station in the north west of England, broadcasting on 104.7FM to Haslingden, Rawtenstall, Ramsbottom and surrounding areas and online at www.rossendaleradio.com. The station closed down and ceased broadcasting on Monday 5 March 2012 at 15:00, because of financial difficulties.[2] On 16 April 2012, its licence was revoked by Ofcom as it had failed to meet the requirements of that licence nor communicate with the regulator about its intentions.[3]
Broadcast area
The station's primary broadcasting area was the Rossendale Valley within East Lancashire and the adjoining area of Northern Greater Manchester. The broadcast area consisted of Baxenden, Edenfield, Haslingden, Helmshore, Loveclough, Ramsbottom, Rawtenstall, Rising Bridge, Stacksteads, Stubbins, Summerseat, Crawshawbooth, Waterfoot and parts of Bacup.
Origins and history
The station commenced official broadcasting on 1 May 2010 following a three-year period which saw the group apply and obtain a community radio licence from Ofcom and apply for funding from numerous sources.
The radio station was based at the Agapao Impact Centre in Haslingden. Ofcom awarded a community radio licence to "Rossendale Radio CIC" and was originally planned to run for at least five years.
Closure
On 5 March 2012, it was announced that the station would close down that day at 3pm, due to ongoing financial difficulties. The Station had previously failed several months earlier and been placed in liquidation by its owners Agapao during November 2011.[4] A message on the station's Facebook page stated how the problems were "insurmountable" and that they had no choice but to cease broadcasting. Despite attempts to find new ways of working that would save the station, Rossendale Radio was deemed not financially viable. The news was met with great sadness from loyal listeners, with comments on the Facebook post expressing sympathy and how the station was a "great loss".[5][6] In reply to the Facebook comments asking why the situation had happened one of the volunteer presenters at the station stated how "as a community radio station it is part of the licence requirement that community or social funding is obtained to 'match fund' against the income from commercial revenue. Not only were we unable to secure this funding to satisfy the licence agreement but the lack of community funding left us solely reliant on the commercial revenue we had coming in. Ultimately, due to the high cost of funding a radio station, this was not enough, and Rossendale Radio was regrettably forced to cease."".[5]
New broadcast licence award
In December of 2017, following a new application to OFCOM, a new 5 year broadcast licence was awarded to broadcast once again to the Rossendale Valley.
The new group is made up mainly of former members, who felt it was time that the area needed the radio station back, and following a successful application (submitted in July 2017), they were awarded the licence.
Genre
Rossendale Radio's music policy consisted of contemporary music from the last five decades and also featured a number of specialist music programmes, consisting of rock, theatre/film, dance music, house music, new music, downtempo/chillout and other differing genres. Information, guests, interviews, local news and sport also featured extensively on the radio station.
Presenters and workforce
Rossendale radio was a not-for-profit organisation that was staffed mainly by volunteers. It was administrated by a day-to-day team of directors. The volunteer presenters were as follows:
| Name | Show(s) |
|---|---|
| Andy "Big H" Hargreaves | Valley Breakfast Monday to Friday 7 am – 11 am |
| Peter Sweetmore | The Valley Today Monday to Friday 11 am - 1 pm (2011 - 2012) & Saturday Breakfast 8 am – 11 am |
| Andy "Cookie" Cook | Valley Drive, Monday to Friday 3 pm - 7 pm (2011 - 2012) |
| Olly & Liam | The Olly & Liam Show, Wednesday 7 pm – 9 pm (Liam also presented Club 104 on Fridays) |
| Sophie Lord | Stage and Screen, Sunday 7 pm – 10 pm |
| Si Carvell | Decadance, Saturday 9 pm – 12 midnight |
| Liam Houldsworth | Club 104, Friday 7pm - 10pm (2011 - 2012) |
| Terry Butterworth | Rossendale Rocks, Monday 7 pm – 10 pm |
| Shaun Smith | Sunday Breakfast, 8 am – 11 am (2012), Early Breakfast, 5 am – 7 am (2010 - 2012) |
| Matt McManus | Valley Drive, Monday to Friday 2 pm - 6 pm (2010), Saturday Sport 2pm - 6pm (2010), Early Breakfast, 5 am – 7 am (2012) |
| Dave Harvey | Soul and Motown Madness, Tuesday 7 pm – 10 pm & Community Show, Sunday 5 pm - 7 pm (2012) |
| Catherine | Saturday Jukebox 11 am - 2 pm (2011 - 2012) |
| Henry Hewitt | Saturday Sport 2 pm - 6 pm (2011-2012) & Sunday Jukebox, 11 am – 2 pm |
| Graeme Park | The Graeme Park Radio show, Friday 9 pm – 11 pm |
| JP | The White Hot Music Show, Thursday 7pm - 9pm (2011 - 2012) |
| EJ | Lunchbox Bonanza, Weekdays 1 pm - 3 pm and the Partyzone, Saturdays 6 pm – 9 pm (2012) |
| Tony Nixon | The Valley Today Monday to Friday 11 am - 1 pm (2010), Saturday Sport 2 pm - 6 pm (2010), Community Show, Sunday 5 pm - 7 pm (2010 - 2012) |
| Paul Teague | Valley Drive, Monday to Friday 3 pm - 7 pm (2011), Club 104, Friday 7pm - 10pm (2010 - 2011) |
| Phil Ord | The Partyzone, Saturdays 6 pm – 9 pm (2010 - 2011), Saturday Jukebox 11 am - 2 pm (2010 - 2011) |
| Colin James | Newsreader and Weekday Breakfast co-presenter |
| Tim Haslam-Jones | Station Technician |
External links
References
- ↑ http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/radio/community/apps/Rossendale.pdf
- ↑ "Rossendale Radio". facebook.com. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
- ↑ http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/broadcast/radio-ops/breaches/Rossendale.pdf
- ↑ http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/59958/notices/1468834
- 1 2 https://www.facebook.com/rossendaleradio/posts/10150597173645009
- ↑ "End of the Road for Rossendale Radio". aboutmyarea.co.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2012.