Here’s hoping you’ve had an enjoyable Christmas break and you’ve managed to counter the outbreak of flu by consuming sufficient amounts of hearty sustenance.
The old studio
Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin. Five months ago Cambridge105 received word that we were now the holders of the Cambridge Community Radio license. Rules being rules, we were obliged to commence broadcasting immediately. With raw enthuasiasm, plain ignorance and copious amounts of sticky tape, we took to the airwaves of Cambridge via a hastily constructed studio residing in the front room of a residential house. The term “function over form” springs to mind but, via the magic of the wireless, this limited facility took the listener (and presenters) on a variety of acoustic journeys.
For the presenters, the hospitality was second to one (oh those cakes and biscuits), the creative juice that is tea flowed and the sofa was inviting. Whilst not an ideal situation to be in, we made the most of our limited resources, defining an approach and outlook that we intend to maintain at Gwydir Street.
Gwydir Street? Well, after several false starts we finally found a location for our permanent studios. It’s a great location, small but functional, the running costs are low and the natives are very friendly (especially those in the local hostelries). Needless to say, the process of occupying the building wasn’t as straight forward as we’d hoped (there’s a trend here!) but we overcame each issue, gradually ticking items off (what seemed to be) an evergrowing list.
The new studio
With support from local companies, individuals and Cambridge Regional College, building works commenced at the beginning of December. The core studio structure is now complete, with the remainder of the work due for completion next week. The modular audio and data cabling is complete in studio 1, allowing the equipment to be temporarily installed ahead of the construction of the studio furniture. With everything in place the first live programmes took to the airwaves on the 20th December.
So, what next? We’ve recently added a new ID package. The daytime music format continues to evolve. We launch the weekday breakfast show on January 10th. We have a exciting new training project running in partnership with the Cambridge Time Traveller group (please see the website news section for further details). The entries for the voiceover competition run in conjunction with CRC are in. With building work complete we can start to install the second studio. Plus the dozens of people who have submitted suggestions for new shows can start to be trained and their programmes put into production. Oh and an open day so we can all put faces to voices (and paint on walls!).
Question. Are you an early riser? The weekday breakfast show needs volunteers to handle news, sport and travel. Interested? Contact breakfast@cambridge105.co.uk for more information.
Thanks to everyone for your support and patience over the past few months. Looking back we have achieved such a lot, with limited resources, in a such short space of time.
As always, we like to hear your thoughts – volunteer@cambridge105.co.uk
In the words of one of the volunteers – “2011 should be an exciting year for 105!” – we don’t think they’re wrong.
Here’s to 2011 – Happy New Year!
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