Enthusiastic start to community radio bid

A group of local community members is planning to bid for a community radio licence under the provisional name of Kennet Radio.
They held the meeting at Newbury Town Hall to explain their plans and to find out if any more volunteers were interested in getting involved with the project.
During the meeting, people were told about the aims and objectives of the radio station, the goals, the wider community benefit, the costs and funding and how the plan would be delivered.
The leader of Newbury Town Council, Julian Swift-Hook (Lib Dem, Pyle Hill), who was one of the organisers, said: “I think it was a positively fantastic meeting.
“From the feedback I got before the meeting, I was expecting it to go well, but it went better than I thought.
“There was an awful lot of talent in the room – these were people who can sit in front of a microphone but just as importantly, people who can do the back office stuff.
"I was blown away by the responses."
He said that the next stage was to set up a steering group to deal with the business side of things, including the finances and the business plan.
He said: “The first meeting was about enthusiasm and it was very exciting because of that.
“But having got the initial enthusiasm, we are now moving onto the serious business.”
Mr Swift-Hook said that he felt people missed having a local radio station and added: “It’s clear that people do miss the truly local nature of a truly local radio station.
“This is an opportunity to bring back a truly local radio station to Newbury."
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