Broadcast area Tamworth Format Community Radio | First air date 30/07/2005 Website www.tcrfm.co.uk | |
Frequency 106.9 (FM) (2005-2009),
106.8 (FM)(2009-present) Owner Tamworth Radio Broadcasting CIC | ||
TCR FM, Standing for Total Choice Radio, is a not for profit community radio station based in Tamworth, Staffordshire with a target audience of people under 30 years old.
Contents
- History
- Listening to TCR FM
- UK Radio Player
- iPhone App
- Training Course
- Presenters and Shows
- Take Control Chart
- Directors
- Management
- Community Involvement and Events
- Events held by TCR FM
- Events TCR FM or Representatives appeared at
- References
The station, based at Tamworth Youth Centre (known locally as TamYouth), is run entirely by volunteers from 14 years old who perform jobs from station management to presenting their own show and news reading. They also provide training courses, to volunteers to provide them with the skills they require to participate in the activities.
Unlike most radio stations, TCR FM does not provide presenters with playlists giving them, and the listeners, ‘Total choice’ over the music which is played out. According to their key commitments with Ofcom,the music played predominantly varies from 80's classics to new chart hits.
TCR Fm also has strong links with the local community and youth groups getting involved in local events promoting local bands and artists and offering Advertising to local businesses
History
TCR FM was set up in 2005 and first broadcast in the summer of that year on a 28-day Restricted Service Licence (RSL) with the frequency of 106.9 FM from Saturday 30 July until Friday 26 August. It then went on to host another RSL in summer of 2007
After completing the RSL in 2007, the directors at the time Daniel Hoult and Martin Summers went on to apply for a 5-year Community Radio Licence which they were awarded by OFCOM in May 2008. They started broadcasting on this licence on 31 October 2010, with a start time of 5pm, with a new frequency, which they use to date, of 106.8FM
In December 2010 Ofcom found TCR fm in breach of its licence commitment to produce 12 hours of live programming per day. The station struggled to fulfill the hours due to volunteer availability with live hours varying with an uneven spread and most shows at the weekend when young volunteers are available.
In April 2011, with the agreement of Ofcom, the station was granted a change to the licence commitment to reflect the nature of the service, and the availability of volunteers. The new commitment is:
"The service will typically be live for at least 44 hours per week. Weekends will generally carry more live output per day than weekdays. (Live programming may include pre-recorded inserts, if applicable). The majority of the output will be locally produced."
Listening to TCR FM
There are various different ways of listening to the station these are:
UK Radio Player
On 5 December 2011, TCR became a part of the Radio Player UK Project. The project, founded by the BBC, Global Radio, Guardian Media Group, Absolute Radio and RadioCentre aims to put all radio stations in one place using the same console making radio listening easier. The TCR radio player console includes, as well as the live stream:
iPhone App
On 18 December 2011, TCR FM released a dedicated iPhone App developed by Staffordshire IT Services. The app features:
An iPad friendly version of the App was released in 2012, which features the playback service, as well as the ability to set reminders for the listeners favourite shows.
Training Course
The station offers a 7-week training course to all volunteers who wish to be involved with the station.
The course involves learning about:
- Technical equipment found in the studio – e.g. how to use the mixer and playout software
- Radio presentation (a) – how to use the microphone
- Radio presentation (b) – how to use the microphone and combining this with the technical equipment
- Production and editing – how to edit music and create jingles
- News production and presenting – how to present and prepare news
- Show preparation – what to include into a show and how to source it
- Demo show – combining all of the taught material into a demo show
After completing the course, members can decide if they wish to present, news read, audio produce or take part in a mixture of everything.
Presenters and Shows
TCR FM has a wide variety of presenters and shows. Below are all the presenters and shows to date which are advertised online:
Take Control Chart
As TCR fm is a station which does not give presenters a playlist and instead offers 'total choice' to presenters and listeners a variety of different music is transmitted. To celebrate this, the station decided in 2012 to introduce a chart show counting down the most popular tracks in any given month. They started this on New Years Day (1st Jan 2012) with a special chart show counting down the most popular tracks played from their launch date. Not only is the chart collated on the airplay and requested, the TCR fm site also allows listeners to vote for tracks via a thumbs up / thumbs down. The chart will be presented by Aaron Beadle on the first Sunday of the month.
Directors
TCR FM is run by a dedicated board of directors of Tamworth Radio Broadcasting CIC who do all the behind the scenes work to keep the station running.
Management
The directors of TCR FM are backed up by a team of managers:
Community Involvement and Events
TCR FM as a station regularly holds events and takes part in community activities.