First air date 19 July 2010 | ||
Slogan Community Radio in your City Frequency FM: 105 MHz, DAB: 7DRDS: Camb_105 | ||
Cambridge 105 is the community radio station for the city of Cambridge. A volunteer-run, community-owned, not-for-profit organisation. Cambridge 105 provides a broadcast voice for Cambridge, broadcasting live on 105FM, online and DAB Digital Radio seven days a week.
Contents
209radio
In 1998, a group of volunteers began Cambridge Café Radio as a community radio station on a license that was eventually purchased by the UKRD Group to become Star Radio.
In March 2004 Karl Hartland and Lucy Clifton began an internet radio station that they called 209radio, named after their address 209 Campkin Road in Cambridge. Karl presented a regular music show called Irreducible Representation whose reputation grew until others offered to contribute or present similar shows. Within a few months there were 20 such shows each week with the station on air during weeknights and weekends, with contributors eventually ranging from members of the homeless community to the elderly and a group of 14-year-old girls.
Realising the continuing potential of a community radio station to the city of Cambridge, they applied for an Ofcom license, and in 2007 were granted an FM broadcast license. The studio was moved from Karl and Lucy's living room to the Citylife offices in Sturton Street and the station went live on 105.0 MHz in October 2007.
Although run almost entirely by volunteers (with three paid staff members), over the next two years, the station struggled to raise the £60,000 required to stay on air and eventually in February 2010, despite a strong following around the city, 209radio ceased broadcasting. Rather than return the license to Ofcom, the team voted to transfer the license to a new team keen to continue a community radio station in Cambridge.
First broadcast
Cambridge 105 made its first broadcast on 19 July 2010 immediately following the closure of the previous community station 209radio. Ofcom required Cambridge 105 to start broadcasting immediately upon receipt of the licence. Notification was received on the afternoon of Monday 18 July that the transfer would occur the following day. Equipment was set up in the house of then, station director Axel Minet and on the evening of 19 July, the station debuted with Sammy B-Side spinning some late night hip-hop.
New Studios
In October 2010, Cambridge 105 secured new premises at the Gwydir Street Enterprise Centre, Cambridge. The property was an old industrial unit that used to be home to a paper binders.
Cambridge 105 sought out volunteers and donations to secure the manpower and resources to start construction of studios. Due to the low budget and limited time allowed alongside volunteers' day jobs, progress with construction was slow. However, by December 2010 the station was broadcasting from the new premises.
In early 2013, the second studio of Cambridge 105 became operational. This new professional studio, dubbed 'Studio B', worked in conjunction with 'Studio A' to provide volunteers with a space to pre-record programmes and bring in guests for pre-recorded interviews.
Broadcasting online
Cambridge 105 began broadcasting online via their web stream in May 2011. Online streaming is now via the Radioplayer system on their Homepage with TuneIn Radio and Radioplayer apps also available for all major mobile operating systems (Android, iOS, Windows, Blackberry), so people can also listen from their mobile phones and tablet computers.
DAB Digital Radio
Cambridge 105 began broadcasting on DAB Digital Radio as part of the Ofcom split-site small scale DAB trial in Cambridge during September 2015.
Today
Cambridge 105 operates a system that separates all of its programming between 'Daytime' and 'Specialist' from Monday to Friday with some exceptions.
Studios
Cambridge 105 broadcasts from its studios on Gwydir Street, in the city centre of Cambridge.
Construction of the studios began shortly after the premises were acquired in October 2010. The first broadcasts from the site began as early as December whilst building work continued around both live and pre-recorded programming.
The studios were constructed with help from volunteers such as carpentry and joinery students from Cambridge Regional College, who kindly volunteered their time. In return, they got some experience and references that could help find them their first jobs after finishing their courses.
Other volunteers came from both within the station and the local community to help with supplying materials and labour. Many of whom also helped us decorate the office area.
Outside broadcasts
Cambridge 105 broadcasts from various outside events across the year, some of the most notable include:
Programming
The Cambridge 105 schedule is split into daytime output & specialist programming. Daytime programming covers a popular mix of music from the 1960s all the way through to the present day, whilst specialist picks up on a diverse range of genres.
105 Breakfast
Neil Whiteside and Linda Ness present 105 Breakfast live from 7 – 9am from Gwydir Street to get your day off to the best possible start. There’s local and national news, weather, travel and sport plus the best in morning music including your requests.
Try to identify the Cambridge location in "Where’s Flossie?" Or the Cambridge Alumni from a series of clues.
"Let Me Tweet That For You" takes a look at local events and personalities currently doing the rounds on social media.
Daytimes
The station's weekday daytime output consists of music from the 1960s to the present day with a greater emphasis from the 80s onward and a mix of local topical debate and discussion. Key presenters across the daytime include – Early Breakfast from 6 – 7am (Brian O'Reilly), Mid-Mornings from 10 – 1pm (Leigh Chambers, Mandy Morton, Phil Rowe and Suzie Thorpe) and Afternoons from 1 – 4pm (Leigh Last, Matt Webb, Mike Prior and Steffi Callister).
105 Drive
The current weekday 105 Drive show is presented by Julian Clover. The show broadcasts from 4 – 7pm every weekday with local and national news at the top of every hour, travel updates, local sport and guests from around the city at 5:30pm.
Specialist programming
Specialist programming covers a diverse range of music genres, including, classical, soul, rock and roll, indie, house, rock, hip hop, dubstep, rhythm and blues, ska and reggae.
Fundraising and the community
Cambridge 105 raises money in the community through outside broadcasts and broadcast marathons. These include Cambridge 105's annual Macmillan World's Biggest Coffee Morning held at its city centre studios and also broadcast live on the air, raising over £700 in total for the cancer charity from 2013 to 2015.