Radio Verulam

Radio Verulam 92.6 FM is a Hertfordshire based non-profit community radio station run by Verulam Community Radio Ltd (VCRL).[2]

92.6FM Radio Verulam
Broadcast areaHertfordshire
SloganThe Radio Station for St Albans
Programming
FormatCommunity radio
Ownership
OwnerVerulam Community Radio Limited [1]
Links
WebcastMP3 Stream
Websitewww.radioverulam.com

The station is staffed by over 70 presentation, production and technical volunteers .[3]

Until April 2010 Radio Verulam was based in Victoria Street, St Albans and has since moved to Hatfield Road.[4] The station has a coverage area designated as a 5 kilometres (3 miles) radius[5] from the transmitter site.[6]

Station ethos

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]

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 popular music from the 1960s through to the present day, selected ‘soft’ current hits and local music from the local pub/club music scene. Overnight (10 pm to 6 am) music includes mellow love songs. At other times, mainly weekends, specialist programmes feature music such as folk, jazz, traditional Irish, classical, big band, jazz and 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]

A Radio Verulam outside broadcast from the Herts County Show, summer 2011

In 2010 a team from Radio Verulam won the Radio Academy's Christmas Music Quiz, beating teams from local and national radio stations, including BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio 1Xtra, Smooth Radio, Heart FM & Magic FM.[9] In 2015 Radio Verulam won the Voluntary Sector Award in the Mayor's Pride Awards. In 2017 won a silver award in the Sports Show of the Year category from the Community Media Association

History

Beginnings

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, adding Watford to the area served by the proposed license. The license was awarded to the largest commercial radio operator in the area at the time, Chiltern Radio.[10]

Telecential

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 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 the station had to relocate around Easter 1997. The station moved to premises in Apsley in November 1997 where the station remained for the next eight years.[10]

Apsley

By 2000, Radio Verulam was broadcasting 24 hours a day from Apsley on cable and now also online via the station website with a team of twenty presenters.[10]

Radio Verulam was awarded a three-week Restricted Service Licence in 2004, allowing the station 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 16 March 2006, Radio Verulam was granted a full broadcasting licence.

Radio Verulam ran another Restricted Service Licence from the town hall during the St Albans Festival in the Summer of 2006. Following negotiations, the station began transmissions from the new premises in Victoria Street on 7 July 2007.

Broadcasting

Radio Verulam now broadcasts 24 hours a day from its studios in central St Albans on 92.6 MHz FM and via an online stream, although FM reception is subject to interference from local pirate radio stations in some areas.

Programming

The radio station is home to a wide range of locally produced shows,[10] including:

Daytime

(Monday–Friday 6 am – 7 pm)

  • Good Morning St Albans: Radio Verulam's breakfast show presented by Kerry Cobb[12]
  • Verulam In The Morning:[13] A mid-morning magazine-style programme[14]
  • Afternoon Verulam: Popular music, interspersed with items of local interest.
  • St Albans Drive: Classic music from today & yesterday, up-to-the-minute travel news, local features & entertainment. Presented by The Drive Team.

Evening
  • The Parsons Knows' Local Music: A weekly showcase of local music and a guide to local performances.[15]
  • The Parents' Show: A weekly show produced and presented by local parents with the aim of providing parents or anyone who cares for children with up-to-date information and resources on the issues that matter to them.[16]
  • Environment Matters: A monthly look at local environmental issues[17]
  • Bouche à Oreille: a weekly magazine-style show broadcast exclusively in French.
  • Greasepaint and Stagelights: a look at local and international theatre.[18]
  • A mix of Specialist Music Shows; Including Country and Roots (with Michael Hingston), the 70s Show (with Stephen Hall), Back to the 90s (with Andy Waterfield), Backtracking to the 80S with (Darrell Andrews), Reggae Vibes (with Tim Smith), the New Music Show (with Ed Barradell) and Friday Night Disco (with Mark Laughlan).[19]

Weekend
  • Weekend Breakfast Saturday and Sunday with Jonny Seabrook
  • The Solid Gold Music Show:[20] Music & nostalgia from the 60s to the last decade.
  • More Music Saturday A great mix of music & more for sat afternoons, www.moremusicsaturday.blogspot.com "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)</ref>
  • Saturday Late Date[21]
  • 'Verulam Sports with Tony Rice
  • Dave Ellis soul show on Saturday evenings.

Syndicated shows

Radio Verulam has carried syndicated shows; including Dialect, It's Only Rock & Roll, Global Dancefloor, Disco Days, Brit Rock and Motown Memories. It currently carries ShowTalk with James Watt, on a Sunday Evening.

gollark: Er, I mean, mine supports number channels.
gollark: Plus I'm looking into making skynet somewhat distributed.
gollark: For one thing, mine is not limited to the tyranny of string channels.
gollark: I was not aware of that, but who cares.
gollark: Competing with what?

References
  1. "About Us". Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  2. "Radio Verulam Annual Report 2009-2010. Accessed 2011-10-14" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  3. "Tune into 92.6FM to listen to Radio Verulam". St Albans: The Herts Advertiser. 12 June 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  4. "St Albans radio station celebrates new premises". St Albans: The Herts Advertiser. 1 June 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  5. coverage map for Radio Verulam at Ofcom
  6. Community radio licence: key commitments Archived 8 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine for Radio Verulam at Ofcom ]
  7. Community radio station listing for Radio Verulam at Ofcom Archived 12 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Radio Verulam's schedule
  9. "St Albans' Radio Verulam scoops prestigious quiz crown". St Albans: The Herts Advertiser. 27 December 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  10. How we started
  11. Companies House Web Site
  12. Verulam Breakfast
  13. Verulam In The Morning
  14. Verulam morning
  15. The Parsons Knows
  16. Parents show
  18. "Greasepaint & Stagelights - The Radio Station for St Albans". www.radioverulam.com. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  19. "On Air - The Radio Station for St Albans". www.radioverulam.com. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  20. The Solid Gold Music Show

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