The Good News of 2009
After the very successful 2006 trial, the team tried but initially failed to secure an FM licence. They were competing for scarce FM frequencies. Rival applicant 'YMCA Radio Barnsley' was spitting feathers about the Penistone Community Radio application, as it reduced their own chances of success. I know this through a tenuous contact with them. Their Indian head-dresses would have bristled even more when their own application failed. Some of the PFm people were originally linked to YMCA Radio Barnsley but the links were severed in 1995.
By mid-2008 Ofcom had granted a five-year Community Radio broadcast licence for Penistone and Barnsley Council had granted planning permission for the mast. The license was for 1476kHz on medium wave, not VHF FM. This was disappointing to all concerned; it wasn't on a band that people listened much to. I wanted to be enthusiastic but technology moves on and you have to move with it. I had long abandoned vinyl records, cassette tapes and - AM radio. At home I was listening to radio on FM, DAB and even on satellite, but seldom AM.
The original PFm transmitter would have been useless. AM transmitters are completely different to FM and they work in a much lower frequency band. The extra costs of a new mf transmitter and transmitting aerial would have been heavy. And yet all was not lost. Towards the end of 2008 the position turned around completely with the possibility of FM. Later, a five-year FM licence was allocated and announced on the Penistone Community Radio website, as it was then called, in January 2009. It was great news and a flying start to the new year.
How 95.7 Happened
A certain SJ applied to Ofcom under the Freedom of Information Act to find out how PFm's frequency allocation had changed from AM to FM and again to discover why Barnsley's own RSL effort had been thrown out. I have a spare hour on the internet every morning before work and I researched into it myself.
The answer was simple: the original Penistone application was for FM but with AM as a second choice and contingency funding for either mode (this was important). An FM frequency was not available at the time but there was an AM frequency and a licence was duly granted for medium wave. A former hospital radio, Trust FM, had won a Community Radio Licence for Chesterfield in April 2006 but it could not fulfill its commitment to start broadcasting and the licence was withdrawn by Ofcom in November 2008. Our astute PFm man spotted it and applied for the 95.7 MHz frequency that they could not use, for Penistone. Ofcom replied in December 2008 to give a qualified yes subject to further approval.
The proper approval came along early 2009 and Penistone Community Radio was now able to go on FM, as originally planned. The name changed back to Penistone Fm and all was back on course. PDCP backing probably made all the difference in supporting the application - but all the letters of support would have helped. If I understand it right, the YMCA Barnsley application was rejected because its financial projections did not look realistic and would have demanded far too much air time for advertising. If you compare the applications, you can see that the one from PFm went into much more detail and was, by far, a more professional effort.
Come midnight 9th May 2009, test transmissions started in Penistone, with a programme of continuous music interspersed with launch announcements. Darren was kind enough to send me the new logo and, as soon as he gave me permission, I was very proud to put it on my website. PFm had arrived. The rest, as they say...
.. is history. You can read Darren's own account of it at MediaUK's The Knowledge. The radio dial pictures above say 'Peniston' but you won't see that again. After much thought, Darren changed the Radio Data System (RDS) ident message to 'PEN FM' soon after launch.
The Logo
The new PFm logo came along with some nifty features. The wavy green line suggests the rolling hillsides of the area and the dash of blue represents water, such as the River Don and nearby reservoirs. The dot over the 'i' is a blue arrow and represents a 'play' button. It also appears as the webpage favicon and shows up with the 'favourite' or 'bookmark' entry in web browsers.
The Big Launch
The new studio is right in the middle of Penistone above SK's cafe in property owned by the local Conservative Party, although that fact has no influence on programme output. The studio took months to build and Darren kindly gave me a link to their picture gallery showing the studio build in progress. It looked like a lot of hard work.
The Launch was 9:57am on Saturday 6th June and it went well. 'The final Countdown' segued into a spoken countdown and Darren's introduction describing four years of work leading up to this moment. Take That's - 'The Greatest Day' started the ball rolling. They thanked various supporters in the next announcement. I phoned in to wish them well and was thanked for my help. I appreciated that. The first day went smoothly with a light touch throughout and no obvious glitches. After all this time and trouble it was quite an achievement. It was a job well done and a historic moment for our town. I set up a radio and started recording PFm goodies for my own interest and for yours. (I used MP3 format to keep files small and make them easily playable).
Even in the first week I found unexpected gems. Late night slots had interesting variations such as country music, show songs and a folk night (with my finger nowhere near my ear). Andrew Millner interviewed his mates from the Round Table and the imported Canadian secretary of Penistone & District Community Partnership, who didn't quite explain what they were there for or how the money was being spent. Cllr John Wade shared his interesting reminiscences on another evening. All these goodies in just the first week.
And Ever Onwards
There is a continuing queue of people who want to train as presenters and all of the directors are involved in their training. We might reasonably ponder why people want to do it. Even for Yorkshire people, it can't just be that training is free (except for the £10 CRB check). The answer must be a mixture; a love of good music and an enthusiasm to be a part of something that is 'happening'. Perhaps to gain a little bit of recognition and to put something back into the area. Oh, and that it's free. Newly trained presenters receive a certificate of competence and then go on to doing live programmes, at first under supervision but soon they are good enough to fly solo. Then they continue to develop and polish their individual styles.
Since the launch, a second smaller studio was built adjacent to the main one, allowing more flexibility and a few ancillary jobs to take place without disrupting programmes. For example, it is possible for someone to load new CDs into the computer system in Studio 2 while a programme is going out from Studio 1. The Myriad computer system runs in parallel in both studios so that presenters in either room can follow the playing order of music, jingles, adverts and sound clips, &c.
As advertised, most music is from the 50s to the present day. Everything from Barry Massive-nose to the Trinidad Oil Company. It's not all 'pop' either, late night programmes have themed programmes for folk, country, soul, jazz, music from the shows, brass bands and organ music. Sunday has an early morning programme of classical music. Saturday brings sports announcements to the air and predictions about the results. As more presenters are being trained, the un-manned and automated output is gradually reducing. A new batch of improved jingles was introduced in 2010.
In its first year, Penistone Fm has become established as a successful station in an incredibly short time, with a good and varied range of music and an increasing set of features. It has a surprisingly large audience who frequently contact the station by phone, email or text. Some of them are at the other side of the world as they listen online in their own countries. Even in the UK, 95.7MHz seems to travel a long way.
Next >