Local community radio set to continue as former Calon FM presenters get green light to revive a station

A group of former Calon FM presenters are set to take over the former radio station’s assets in a bid to restart FM community radio in the local area.

Earlier this year it was announced that long running community radio station Calon FM was to close, with the final transmission taking place on January 20th.

At the time the closure after 13 years was attributed to the withdrawal of support from Wrexham Glyndwr University, which the radio station board said left them in an ‘untenable position’.

Shortly after a group of volunteers organised and entered a process alongside two other interested entities to effectively take over the remnants of the Calon FM setup and then reboot a local station.

Association of Voluntary Organisations (AVOW) ran a well attended selection process to identify a group to take over the physical and financial assets from Calon Communications Ltd as it is wound up, they said, “Proposals had been received from a number of groups from Wrexham and further afield to progress the establishment of a new station following a community radio station operating for more than 13 years in the area.”

John Leece Jones – Chairman of AVOW said “We were extremely pleased with the level of submissions that were received- the appointment Panel decided to appoint Wrexham Community Broadcasting as the group to now take forward their proposal to Ofcom why will need to approve their plans for the future. The group who has a number of volunteers who were involved previously with Calon FM will now be seeking support from across our community.”

The selection panel included representatives from the world of Community Radio in Wales and the rest of the UK were brought together to assist AVOW, who say the knowledge and expertise of the Panel “ensured that a robust transparent process has been run addressing technical, financial, Governance, Ofcom key Commitments and level of engagement with volunteers and the broader community”.

A spokesperson from Wrexham Community Broadcasting said, “After 8 weeks and a very tough application process, we’ve met every requirement laid out in front of us, we are absolutely delighted that we have retained the community radio license for Wrexham. So much hard work went into securing this license by an absolutely incredible group of volunteers with the best community spirit.”

“Now we move forward, the real work begins getting Calon FM back on air and doing what we do best – serving our amazing community”.

Wrexham Community Broadcasting give an overview of their story on their site:

We are current Calon FM presenters working together to ensure a continuing community radio service for our community, and an enduring legacy for the station we love being part of.

There’s about 30 of us spanning our service of the past radio station over 13 years. We have inbuilt knowledge of community radio operations, requirements and best practice.

We have seen so many different presenters come through the doors and break out into different parts of the media industry.

We want to continue Calon FM’s mission of providing: “…a channel to encourage and facilitate the empowerment, lifelong learning, development and regeneration of the larger community regardless of race, gender and disability.”

We look to be volunteer-led, democratic and inclusive in our approach; promoting a sense of community and shared ownership.

The group are inviting any interested parties to get in touch with them via [email protected] or visit the new site at wrexhamcb.live

Top pic: The Zoom call where the group were told of their success.