Corinium Radio is Cirencester’s local community radio station, which broadcasts twice yearly (usually the first weekend of July and the last weekend of November) on a Restricted Service License.

I started volunteering for Corinium Radio when the station was first launched in 2006, initially just as presenter/producer of my own music show. This was the first time I ever produced a radio show!

Now I am a key part of the committee, with responsibilities including the design and maintenance of the website, assisting with the recording and editing of programmes, and as studio technician I set up the studio before each broadcast, and take it down to go back in to storage afterwards. Being community radio, technical problems do occur a lot more often than they do at mainstream radio stations – and it is my job to sort those out too.

In September 2011, Corinium Radio restructured the way meetings run and divided the committee in to smaller management groups; this resulted in me becoming Chair of the new Technical Committee. We are a small group of 4 who meet roughly once every two weeks to discuss technical issues – we organize training sessions for Corinium Radio members and decide what needs to be done in terms of tech before we can go on air again.

I still present/produce my own programmes as well – overnights, we run pre-recorded programmes using a computer, and I host the ‘Early Breakfast Show’, which runs until live broadcasting starts in the morning, and contains a mix of music and edited highlights from previous Corinium Radio broadcasts. I also present my own music show, Music from the Decades, and operate the mixing desk during live broadcasts such as the Breakfast Show and outside broadcasts from the Cotswold Show/Cirencester Advent Festival.

For further details about my role at Corinium Radio, feel free to contact me on fred.hart@coriniumradio.co.uk.