Delight as community radio station regains licence to broadcast

Volunteers at Wrexham’s community radio station Calon FM are delighted that they have regained the licence to broadcast once again.

Wrexham’s long-running community radio station was taken off air in January after 13 years by the previous board.

The 35 volunteers who ran the station along with station manager Amy Hughes and supporters were keen to re-establish the service and immediately started the process of applying for the licence with OFCOM.

The group also established a community interest company, Wrexham Community Broadcasting, to oversee the new station and this week they were told by OFCOM that the licence would be granted to WCB.

Conrad Anderson, chair of WCB, said: “It’s been a difficult process, to say the least, as we regrouped and looked to get Calon FM back on air. The support we’ve had from the volunteers, the wider community and supporters has been critical to us getting this far.

“We’re very grateful for the input of so many people and the help we’ve had from the Enterprise Hub in Wrexham town centre, where we will be siting the new venture going forward.

“Most critical to this has been the volunteers, who were the broadcasters and technicians who had kept the radio on air for the past 13 years and were key to us winning back the licence. We’re also grateful to the artists who supported us by putting on virtual gigs that have raised funds in this difficult period.

“The board and especially Amy Hughes have put in huge amounts of work to make this happen and I’d like to thank them all.

“We’re absolutely delighted to be broadcasting again – we don’t have a date yet but it will be as soon as possible. We’re already broadcasting online at calon.fm and content is growing there every day. Nothing could proceed with the FM licence until we had confirmation from OFCOM and that’s taken longer than we expected – we have had to set up a new company, put together a business plan and raise finances in a very short time.

“There’s a lot of work still to be done to create a new studio and other technical requirements will need ironing out but we’ve overcome plenty of hurdles to get this far and we’re confident we have the expertise and energy to overcome anything put in our way.”

One volunteer Dave Williams added: “To once again be presenting the Community And Charity Focus on Calon Fm means the world to me. I get so much pleasure from inviting guests from Wrexham and beyond on to the show to chat about their groups, charities and businesses. A programme like mine is invaluable and without it, these organisations wouldn’t have a platform to raise awareness of what they do.”

Businesses and community organisations wanting to get involved in sponsorship and advertising on the station can get in touch via [email protected]