Station History

Towards the end of 2005, Eddie's desire to do something for the community turned into the idea of forming READING COMMUNITY RADIO (RCR) to provide real community based news and entertainment for the Reading area.

In January 2006, a public meeting was held to to try get an idea of the need for a community radio station, and to see what level of support there might be. The response was overwhelming. There were professional people from the world of radio, and a large number of community groups were represented. Within a few weeks, a committee had been formed, and it had been decided to try and get the project up and running in time for the West Reading Festival in May 2006, to be followed by another weekend later in the year. Eddie and the team started to gather advice. With enthusiastic help from all quarters, grants were applied for, programming ideas assembled and technical expertise was gathered.

By the beginning of April 2006, RCR had received its first funding in the form of two grants awarded by Berkshire Community Foundation, and by the end of April, the broadcasting license for the West Reading Festival weekend was approved. Now the work had to start. So our first weekend of broadcasting was under the station name of FESTIVAL RADIO and broadcast from May 18th to 21st, and was a tremendous success. Continuous broadcasting of live DJ's, even through the night. During the day, a constant stream of interviews and items concerning local community organisations. Broadcasting from the Broad Street Mall. The second will hopefully be in November, but in the mean time, our friends at West Reading Radio (WRR) hope to be on air for the Oxford Road Festival, which runs from June 15th to 18th, and they have asked us to help with that project. Then by the end of 2006, RCR plans to apply for a full time license.

Community Radio aims to give voice to those sections of the community who are not served by main stream radio, and to promote well-being, harmony and benefit to the community with special emphasis on minority and disadvantaged groups

The original web site for Festival Radio can be found here.