This article was originally composed 25 August 2013 for the September 2013 issue of Cumbrian Local magazine.
MUSIC, radio and sport have always been long-held interests
of mine – I’ve always lived in the Eden Valley and the highlight of the week as
a youngster was to travel to Penrith by bus or car to visit the Woolworths
store on Middlegate to purchase the latest vinyl singles – which at that time
were priced between 79 and 99 pence – or a current album on vinyl or
cassette. As we all know, collecting
your favourite music in whichever format you prefer – Vinyl, cassette, CD,
minidisc, digital download – is an interest we all share.
My interest in radio stems from that time too – Growing up
listening to the Radio 1 Roadshow every summer, as it progressed around the
coast of the UK, listening on medium wave, as at the same time the now-defunct
Atlantic 252 launched on long wave. Closer to home, BBC Radio Cumbria would
have their own ‘summer tour’ and I recall seeing them broadcast live from
Kirkby Stephen and Brough during a summer many years back. All this tuning of
the radio bands cemented my interest in radio generally and a curiosity took
hold – I would tune the FM band and hear the national broadcasters and the
local broadcasts from Cumbria and beyond – Including Manx Radio from Douglas,
the Isle of Man! Though it was one evening on television I saw a documentary
regarding Radio Luxembourg, which was still on air at the time, which led me to
listen to Luxembourg on 208 metres (1440 kHz) medium wave. It was tuning the
medium wave band that I heard various local radio stations from around the UK
and my first international broadcasts – BBC World Service broadcasting to
Europe on 648 kHz and the European English service of Radio Sweden,
broadcasting on 1179 kHz. It was then switching to the short wave band of my
radio that I could hear the BBC World Service broadcasting to the world from,
among other transmission sites, Skelton, here in Cumbria. Hearing the European broadcasters was good,
but it was discovering the American broadcasters, such as the Voice of America
from Washington DC and then extending the ‘net’ to ‘catch’ Radio Australia,
broadcasting from Melbourne and Radio New Zealand International, broadcasting
from Wellington, which really fired the interest in international radio.
It was learning of the intention of a small group to launch
a community radio station in Penrith that I enquired to join Eden FM as a
volunteer in October 2011. As a presenter, my role was to present the weekly
Country music show ‘Eden Country’, which was originally broadcast on a Sunday
evening at 6pm. Since the spring of 2012, Eden Country has been broadcast on a
Saturday lunchtime, which was followed swiftly by the launch of Eden FM Sport.
I have also presented various weekday programmes which I have enjoyed, but I
enjoy continuing to present Eden Country and Eden FM Sport, the latter allowing
Eden FM to build links with the sports organisations in Penrith and the Eden
Valley, including Penrith AFC (Penrith Football Club) and Penrith RUFC (Penrith
Rugby Union).
Over the almost two years Eden FM has been broadcasting, I
have been delighted to be a part of many events covered by the radio, from the
Christmas events in Skelton and Penrith in 2011, the summer events of 2012
including the Olympic Torch relay and continuing to broadcast throughout 2012
and 2013, including this summer, meeting so many people at the summer shows at
Skelton and Penrith. All of this has been facilitated by the Eden FM team
members, past and present, to whom I will always be grateful, but the biggest
thank you goes to you, who has listened and continue to listen and support Eden
FM.
Thank you.
