Welcome to the BCB newsletter for March. Here’s just a few things that have been going on at BCB and some events that are coming up:

Pop down to BCB / Extended opening hours

It has been wonderful to welcome more and more BCB volunteers back to the studios (see Tia’s triumphant return to Rawson Road after two years above!) and it would be lovely to see more of you. On Tuesdays and Fridays we will be open in the evenings from 6pm for people to come in and record – thanks to Michael Swires and Rodger Skelton who have kindly agreed to studio manage.

Also, we’re inviting presenters to come into BCB and either broadcast their daytime programme live in studio 1 or pre-record their evening show in either studio 2 or studio 3. If you’d like to book studio time and/or workstations from 9am Monday-Friday and/or from 6pm on a Tuesday or Friday, please call 01274 771 677.

Radio Venus: Celebrate IWD on BCB Tues 8th March

It’s that time of the year again – International Women’s Day, Tues 8^th March. It’s the day when BCB women take over the airwaves and present Radio Venus. Bradford women and girls come together and produce a day of fine, female broadcasting. Do tune in and join in the celebrations – and if you want to contribute to the day, just let us know. Contact   mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk   Full details will be on the website.

Race Equality Week 2022 on BCB

This year’s Race Equality Week took place between 7-13th February 2022. Throughout the week Bradford’s Race Equality Network hosted a series of talks and actions from local Bradfordians on the history of their community in this city and beyond, which BCB was proud to be involved in and broadcast. The talks covered a wide range of stories and you can listen back to all the show here.

The Mills Are Alive Recording

It was great to have the recording team from ‘The Mills Are Alive’ project using the BCB studios earlier this month. The team were in recording the audio to go alongside the illuminations. The project runs from 3rd, 4th, 5th March and will be lighting up the Lister Mill chimney as well as telling the stories of those who have migrated to and grown up in Manningham, from the industrial revolution through to present day. You can find out more information here

Featured Programme of the Month

Every month we shine the spotlight on a gem from BCB’s broadcast schedule. This week we’re telling you about Shades of Soul.

Every two weeks on a Sunday (7-8pm) Derek Pearson brings you an hour of rare soul or northern soul (call it what you want!). Over the pandemic Derek wasn’t able to get down to BCB to record so it’s great to have Shades of Soul back up and running

LGBTQ+ History Month on BCB

We’ve just finished celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month here at BCB and once again we’ve had loads of special content for the month. Just one of the programmes was Dr Jack Lopez from University of Bradford talking to Dr Conor Meehan (both pictured above) about HIV stigma, testing, diagnostics and misconceptions. We also had regular content on Bradford & Beyond about events happening in and around the district to mark the month. Watch this space, we’ll be adding all the audio to our website to listen back to soon!

MILES Erasmus EU project – BCB hosting a meeting 28-30 March

As part of the MILES EU project BCB will be hosting a meeting of community radio partners from across Europe. The project is looking at the role of Community Radio in increasing Media and Information Literacy. 15 people from Hungary, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, Luxembourg and Austria will come to Bradford and spend three days in and around the city. The meeting will be at BCB for some of the time and at the Volunteer centre at other times.  They would love to meet BCB people so if you’d like to meet up with the group when they are here, please let me know. mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

Leeds Trinity University working with BCB

Once again this year the ongoing relationship with Leeds Trinity University continues as the Level 6 and MA students will be providing news bulletins and shows for BCB.

During March the final year  journalists will broadcast 3 live shows on 23rd/24^th and 25^th at 1pm. The shows will be a mix of local news, sport and entertainment targeted at the Bradford audience. The students have recently visited BCB to get a flavour of the station, and are keen to get going!

Also during May LTU will provide hourly news bulletins for BCB as part of their MA Journalism News Days, the students will be based at University, but will also work on location in Bradford and BCB during the 3 week period.