Since the last Corinium Radio broadcast in July, we have been making arrangements for our 10th broadcast.
Up until now we’ve been doing 2 broadcasts a year (the maximum allowed by a Restricted Service License), for up to 4 days each time.
In recent years the station has been growing – more people in Cirencester know about us, we have access to better broadcast technology, and we’re all getting used to going out into the local area to make programmes.
The next broadcast will be our 10th, and we’re probably going to be trying out some new things before, during and after it.
Firstly, the actual broadcast itself: we’re going to try and do a 9-day broadcast in July 2011. This will be a challenge for us, because not only will we have to make more programmes, but it will also be more expensive. However, we’re confident that this shouldn’t be a problem, because we have slightly more time to prepare for it than if we were to do a broadcast this November. As with all new ideas, there is opportunity for lots of publicity, which should hopefully attract the sponsors.
But given that there is a gap of about a year between July 2010 and the next broadcast in July 2011, how do we make sure that the people of Cirencester still know we’re here?
The answer to that is podcasts. We’re planning to produce mini radio shows, lasting 15-30 minutes, and put them on our website for people to listen to at any time, anywhere in the world. Some ideas for podcast programmes that we’ve come up with include special online edition of Linda’s Write Out Loud programme, an update from Cirencester’s local primary schools, perhaps something about the upcoming German-style Cirencester Christmas Market, and coverage of other events as and when they come up (because we do frequently get e-mail requests from people asking us to cover an event they’re putting on).
Another interesting development, is that team member Geoff Carr wants to launch his own web TV channel, and a couple of weeks ago brought the domain name cirencestertelevision.com. I don’t think he’s built a website for it yet, but I believe he’s planning this to be a sort of sister-station to the radio.
I’ll keep you posted on these developments. I’m off to enjoy me weekend now.
