| City of license | St Albans |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Hertfordshire |
| Slogan | Community Radio In West Herts |
| Frequency | 92.6 MHz |
| First air date | 7th July 2007 |
| Format | Community radio |
| Owner | Verulam Community Radio Limited [1] |
| Webcast | MP3 Stream |
| Website | www.radioverulam.com |
Radio Verulam 92.6 FM is a Hertfordshire based non-profit community radio station run by Verulam Community Radio Ltd (VCRL).[2]
The station is staffed entirely by volunteers, including station manager Phil Richards[3] and over 70 volunteer technical and production staff.
Until April 2010, Radio Verulam was based in Victoria Street. The studios are now in Hatfield Road,[4] the station has a coverage area designated as a 5 kilometres (3 mi) radius[5] from the transmitter in St Albans.[6]
Contents |
Radio Verulam aims to enable local people to become involved in radio broadcasting and connect with local community, charitable, social and voluntary organisations. The station serves listeners of all ages and backgrounds living in St Albans and the surrounding area.[7]
The station presents material designed to appeal to listeners of all ages and backgrounds living in the St Albans area. Daytime output typically comprises 75% music and 25% speech (‘speech’ excludes advertising, programme/promotional trails and sponsor credits). Night-time output typically comprises 90% music and 10% speech.[8]
Music output during daytime features tracks from 1960s through to the present day, selected ‘soft’ current hits and local music from the thriving local pub/club music scene. Overnight (2200 to 0700 hours) music will also include mellow love songs and laid back New Age music. At other times, mainly weekends, specialist programmes feature music such as folk, jazz, Irish and also Christian music.[7]
Speech output comprises discussions, interviews, informative features (covering, for example, health, money, food, travel), local sports, events diary, national news, local and community news and information.[7]
The majority of the output is locally produced.[1]
In 2010 a team from Radio Verulam won the Radio Academy's Christmas Music Quiz, beating teams from local & national radio stations, including BBC 6 Music, 1 xtra, Smooth Radio, Heart FM & Magic FM.[9]
Radio Verulam began with the idea that St Albans might benefit from a radio station designed specifically for the diverse community of this historic city.[10]
Clive Glover, who had worked as a volunteer at City Radio (the hospital radio at St Albans City Hospital) during most of the 1980s, launched an appeal for members of the public to join him in creating a community radio station for the city of St Albans.[10] A public meeting in 1992 drew support from the local population and, one year later, Verulam Community Radio Limited (VCRL) was incorporated.[11]
In 1993, as a result of lobbying by VCRL, the Radio Authority decided to advertise a commercial radio licence for St Albans but then added Watford to the area as well. Although VCRL put in a bid for the licence they were beaten by the largest commercial radio operator in the area at the time, Chiltern Radio.[10]
After being declined for the commercial radio licence VCRL were offered the opportunity to launch Radio Verulam as a cable radio station alongside the existing Community Television service West Herts TV on the local cable system based in Hemel Hempstead. A team of community-minded presenters began broadcasting as Radio Verulam on the Telecential cable system on Saturday 24 February 1996, initially for just three hours a day.[10]
Changes at the Telecential cable company meant that they had to leave their building at Easter 1997 and find a new location for Radio Verulam. Thus an office in Apsley above a tattoo parlour became the new Radio Verulam studio in November 1997 and for the next eight years.[10]
By 2000, Radio Verulam was broadcasting 24 hours a day from Apsley on cable and now also online from their new website, with a team of twenty presenters, each trained by station manager Phil Richards.[10]
The team at Radio Verulam were awarded a three-week Restricted Service Licence in 2004, allowing them to broadcast live throughout that year's St Albans Carnival. OFCOM subsequently announced the opportunity for the first time for applications to be made for Community Radio broadcasting licences. On March 16th 2006, Radio Verulam was granted a full broadcasting licence. After twelve years of work by a small band of volunteers, St Albans now had its own community radio station.[10]
Radio Verulam ran another Restricted Service Licence from the Town Hall in St Albans during the St Albans Festival in the Summer of 2006 as they simultaneously started searching for premises and antenna sites in the City for their new full time service. After many months of negotiations over eight different antenna sites they eventually settled on a site in Victoria Street, St Albans from which they started transmitting Radio Verulam on 92.6 FM on 7 July 2007 as the first Community Radio station in Hertfordshire.[10]
Radio Verulam now broadcasts 24 hours a day from its studios in central St Albans on 92.6 MHz FM. They have an audience throughout St Albans and the surrounding areas and have a growing internet audience. Interference from local pirate radio stations has been and is a problem in some areas.[10]
The radio station is home to a wide range of locally produced shows,[10] including:
(Monday - Friday 7AM - 7PM)
Radio Verulam launched Your Questions in February 2011. This show is recorded at a public venue in front of a studio audience. There is a panel of invited guests from the local community and the audience is invited to submit questions.
Radio Verulam carries syndicated shows; including Dialect, It's Only Rock & Roll, Global Dancefloor, Disco Days, Brit Rock and Motown Memories.