Bath City Sound Ready For Launch

Brand new online radio station Bath City Sound is all set for their launch on Sunday, with broadcasting beginning at 12.12pm on the 12/02/12. The community station, highlighting community radio for Bath and beyond, is ready to bring you the best radio for the local community.

The station will begin in Phase 1 of the role out,  marking a distinct change in how radio is done in the City. This is the first and only station that offers genuine committed community involvement with opportunities to produce and present your own shows as well as actively take part in others.

Phase 1 will last approximately 4 weeks and in that time you’ll get a flavour of what Bath City Sound is all about. You’ll be able to hear audio from this years  ‘Teds Big Day Out’ featuring actors Simon Callow and Tristan Gemill as well as snippets from last years Oxjam festival.

James Falconbridge, a producer and director at the station said: “This is really a very small taster of what’s to come. It’s important that we get the technical bits right from the outset and although there has been extensive testing, you can’t beat good old listener feedback and the mark one ear test! Once we get to phase 2 of the station launch, one of the many areas of community participation is the way you can help shape and create the music playlist. You will have an input into what comes out of the speakers music wise. As radio goes, it doesn’t get more empowering than that.”

During phase 1 and volunteer training, they’ll be popping up at a number of Bath based events and running them on air. This is whilst the new breed of Bath based radio talent gear up to hit the airwaves and become the first batch of home grown broadcasters and producers.

Richard Warren who is presenting on Bath City Sound said: “Over the last 6 weeks we’ve been encouraging local folk to drop us a line and drop us an example of their voice. I have to say, Bath has got some extraordinary talent and we have now found our first set of team members to go through the training process and hopefully on to air. They are all incredibly energetic and have a true passion for Bath and radio as a whole. Its amazing what you find if you just give people the opportunity.”

Via the web stream you’ll be able to hear talk ups from the on air team and a whole host of interviews including psychological illusionist Derren Brown and Bath restaurateur, Jamie Oliver. MP for Bath Don Foster will be dropping in as well as council leader Paul Crossley. Add in some local acts and artists and a fairly eclectic mix of music and it’s got all the ingredients of something truly different. But that’s just from us at the very beginning.

Once they get to Phase 2 its full steam ahead. Local news will be read by our friends at The Bath Chronicle and for the website, a feed from NOW Bath (us!). Other radio friendly human interest content will come from community participation. On the website from Sunday you’ll be able to see how to get in contact and how to get involved.

They are initially looking for people involved with:

Youth, Charity, Community

All are welcome including youth groups, associations, individuals, DJs, musos, local bands, artists and acts from across all areas of the arts. Bath City Sound want to hear from anybody and everybody that has a story to tell, a record to play or a jape to be shared. If its Bath related, they want to hear about it.

They are of course are also looking for additional vibrant presenters and producers to start training once we get on to phase 3. To see what they are after, check the website from Sunday. 

Station director Ian Dore said: “We don’t expect overnight success and we will make mistakes. That is just part of the process and strangely, is also part of the fun! Learn from it and move on. Just because we are online doesn’t mean it should be any less professional than our FM and DAB counterparts. There is no excuse for sub standard radio and the professionals involved have set the bar high.  I and my fellow team members find that invigorating and positively refreshing.

“From a local point of view our two main voice over artists are from Bath, our presenters live in Bath, the station is based in Bath and we broadcast from Bath. You don’t get much more community based than that! As an energetic brand new social enterprise serving the city and surrounding areas, these are empowering, exciting and fun times. It’s your station, use it.”