BCB Newsletter – September 2020

BCB in Covid Times

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Well it’s been a strange few months for everyone and it looks like it’s going to be like that for a while longer. It’s been amazing what’s been achieved with people broadcasting from home but we know that with the studios closed, many people have not been able to participate in BCB.

​About 100 people are currently actively involved in broadcasting, so that’s about half of our volunteers. Most of our scheduled programmes are being produced – albeit in different ways! Our recent focus has been getting the broadcast to air but we know that BCB as a community hub has a much wider role than that.

A small group of staff and volunteers are working towards creating a Covid-secure BCB but that is a real challenge for us, as it is for all community buildings with a social function. And the studios themselves, as ‘sealed’ boxes with no ventilation, create a real challenge for safe use. With Covid rates rising and govt guidelines changing, it’s hard to arrive at what a covid secure might BCB look like. Rest assured that we are working on this but right now we can give no time frame as to when we will be open again. So for the moment we just ask you to stay home and stay safe.

Bradford South Asian Heritage Month

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July 18th to August 17th saw the first national South Asian Heritage Month take place and here at BCB we joined in with the celebrations. A range of programmes were recorded by some of our South Asian volunteers who were only too happy to showcase their heritage and culture through radio.

​Over the 4 weeks, listeners heard discussions about education, the influence of food, fashion and film, the corner shop culture and they were even treated to some poetry.

One of our volunteers said that it is important to be proud of your identity and that the conversations on the shows she recorded, had made her appreciate her heritage a lot more.

You can listen to the programmes on our website. BCB has been “Proud to Paint The Town Brown”!

Black History Month October 2020

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At Bradford Community Broadcasting we celebrate many cultures with a vast diversification of programmes for all to take part in, be it programme scheduling, presenting, researching, technical support or even as encouragers of positive steps through inclusivity and belonging in the BCB family.

​BCB will be opening its online interstellar platform for Black History Month 2020 which will be featured all the way through the month of October 2020. Albeit we are still in ‘Covid 19’ pandemic we want Black History Month to continue to shine bright and remain a positive experience for all.

Maureen Grant host of Race Matters and also About Bradford added “ We are depending on the family of BCB to make BHM 2020 a fulfilling season of inclusive vibrant delights. So in your own award winning shows lets aim to add a bit of spice and refreshment to your programmes with at least a 30 second to 5 minute or even a 15 minute recording with reference to the rich culture of music and artist of black origin be it, science, engineering technology, art, design , construction, education, history and many other leading disciplines which contribute positively in all areas of UK and global life.

Nigel Guy one of BCB’s most enthusiastic presenters remarked “Radio discussions and music influence many cultures and genres and if music is the food of love play on give us excess of it so sufficing the appetite may stricken and so die any form of hate. Love is the answer. So come on people we need you . Its not just for Black people as it’s a full month to raise awareness of an array of black culturual, history, heritage achievements , gains and losses in all walks of life which are intermingled with in and around the world past, present and futures. Please don’t feel excluded, be a part of what we hope will be a vibrant October. At BCB we are in the business of making all lives better.”

Black History Month’s theme this year is ‘Super Heroes & Sheroes’. So everyone who is reading this news, why not join us to deliver a bumper volume of exciting, entertaining, educational, challenging and positive articles. Go on, give it a go be creative and wear that cape of inclusion and shield of brightness and helmet of inspiration when recording your BCB shows. Your input will add value. So let us know what you can do, and who knows there may be a big bumper prize for the most creative positive piece of radio featured in BHM2020. Finally let us say for the record that the culinary explosion of Caribbean food which many had experienced last year will again be a dynamic flavoursome chapter also this year and if your involved you may have to challenge Ann Morgan for a share of the well famous world renowned hot spicy Jerk Chicken or Rum Punch or Carrot Juice (as she never even shared her prized winning portion last year …only joking Ann…. but you know its true).

Together we can make Black History Month 2020 another memorable season on BCB106.6fm

For further details join us on our zoom platform for BCB BHM 2020 planning meeting every Monday in September at 6.00pm and or contact the following BCB volunteers and staff with your contributions. Nigel Guy, Maureen Grant, Julie Longden, Joe Emmett, Jo Kenyon, Kath Canoville & Jonathan Pinfield

Keeping in Touch: BCB Get Together Wed 16th 4-5pm (via zoom)

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It’s been hard to keep in regular touch with everyone over these last few months so apologies if you’re feeling a bit neglected! And we recognise that it’s even more difficult for those who don’t have access to technologies. We’re doing our best to find ways to hold on to the sense of the BCB community so we’re going to have a BCB zoom get together Wed 16th 4-5pm for any BCB people who can join in.

​It would be great if you can be there and be part of the wider discussion on where we are right now, what we’re doing /not doing at the moment and importantly get your thoughts on re-opening the building. We’ll send out a zoom invite by email – do get in contact with Graham Glover if you need any support with managing zoom.

Email graham.glover@bcbradio.co.uk or call 07759 064539

Featured Programme Of The Month

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Every month, we focus the spotlight on one show BCB broadcasts and tell you more about it. This time we’re giving you more information about Grow Your Own Way with Sarah White and Martin Bijl.

​Sarah White and Martin Bijl invite you to Grow Your Own Way, a show about plants and the love of growing – whether in the house, backyard, garden or allotment.The programme is always topical, recorded in our own greenhouses or allotments on the Friday for the Monday broadcast after the 6 o’clock news and follows the Bradford seasons – and weather!

We always have a plant and a topic of the week and as well as chatting about the week’s activities we always find room for listeners’ questions.Martin and Sarah have more than a hundred years of growing between them and while not claiming to be experts, hope you enjoy and learn from the show.

Listen in – it may grow on you !

Recording During Lockdown: Helen Seymour

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Hi, I’m Helen Seymour and I’ve hosted Afternoon Stretch, About Bradford and news bulletins since March. It’s been a steep learning curve, but thanks to Jonathan’s patience and perseverance we got there.

​I started doing the Afternoon Stretch on a Wednesday. As I’ve carried on working from home, this meant recording at 6 in the morning… my husband soon became used to the Bee Gees blasting out at unusual times of the day. Visit Bradford website was a goldmine for content as I shared some of the amazing projects and opportunities for people to connect virtually.

More recently, I’ve been recording About Bradford. This has meant prerecording interviews with people around Bradford with news to share and then pulling the show together, ready for broadcast on Wednesday.

I’ve been using Back Pack to record the interviews and shows, and apart from the schoolgirl error in the first week when I didn’t switch the mic on for the whole TWO HOURS which meant that I had to redo the whole thing!

I record the show in the sitting room, often with my co hosts Stanley Basset Hound and Diva and Dweezil Cat. I hope it’s not a reflection on the show, but they tend to sleep through the whole thing… if you listen carefully the sound of Basset snores may be audible in the quieter bits.

More recently, I’ve been doing a news bulletin on Fridays at 1 and 6. That’s been really interesting, trying to find the stories that are relevant to Bradford and nosing around the various local press offices.

Recording During Lockdown: Valerie Cosgrave

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Hello, I am Valerie Cosgrave. I have been doing our programme.”Senior Moments” with one of my colleagues Tina Watkin during lockdown. Usually there are three of us but our dear friend Myra Farnell cannot manage to participate. I must say we are missing her contributions.

​We have had to learn something new with the help of Graham Glover. He has managed to introduced us to Zoom. We had a few teething problems but, with Graham’s help, two mature women have ventured into the unknown and managed to do our programme from home.

We must say we prefer to go into the studio because we interact with many interesting people and friends.We cant wait to get back to the BCB.

In the meantime we are doing our best to try and make our programme as interesting as possible and we hope that our Seniors enjoy our Moments

Recording During Lockdown: Maureen Grant

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Hi I’m Maureen Grant and I present Race Matters, a monthly 30-minutes discussion programme which explores ‘race’ with an emphasis on promoting race equality and racial justice. Here’s how I’ve recorded Race Matters during lockdown:

​Setup
You will need a device that Zoom could be downloaded to and able to save the recording. Laptops with good speakers work best, accompanied by headphones, preferably with microphone, though not essential.
Find a quiet space. Beware of people you live with exercising vocal chords just as you press record.

Tip: I tried an IPad, sadly couldn’t save the recording. Don’t be put off. BCB volunteers could assist with setting up the Zoom link and recording. This works for me.

Recording
Find the right guests (usually two). Ensure they are able to join you by Zoom, have stable WiFi and decent speakers.

I email guests information and guidance in advance of the recording. They are encouraged to connect 10mins beforehand.

Editing
Once the recording is over, ensure it is saved. Have a go at editing with an appropriate programme (e.g. Audacity), or BCB staff is on-hand to edit and schedule programme for broadcast.

Tip: Editing speech programmes could be difficult so try to record to the specified time.

Promoting
Prepare description to promote on Twitter.

Celebrating Success: Ghazal Abassi

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I am incredibly fortunate to have been offered a place to study MA Investigative Journalism at City, University of London. Here, I will receive mentorship from investigative journalists and editors that are well established in the industry. I will also build my knowledge of Media Law and develop a deeper understanding of journalistic ethics.

​The way in which the course is assessed is a reflection of the skillset I am expected to nurture throughout – I will be given journalistic assignments to produce to a deadline, as I would be expected to do in any news organisation. The university also offers free language classes to its students – so I’ll be brushing up on my French.

I’m on the News Team at BCB Radio. Gathering news from across the district and the wider world is great fun and I’ll miss recording the 3-minute bulletins! After graduating from University, I was able to present About Bradford as well as record a program for South Asian Heritage Month. Before moving to Edinburgh in 2016, I used to have a regular program with BCB Xtra. Even after I move to London, I’m sure I’ll remain involved with BCB in some way!

Bradford Bites

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We’re always keen to report all the latest Bradford news during our About Bradford Programs here on BCB! BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP! Who knows best about the communities in Bradford than the people who live there!

​You don’t have to go super sleuth like Snoopy McSnooperson here, but anything like an event, activity or just opinion from the locals then let us know!

If you can help us get some ‘Bradford Bites’ and give us an insight into your local area then please contact Jo Kenyon on hello@bcbradio.co.uk

Track of the Week

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As part of our commitment to Youth Music we feature a track made by young people (aged 12 – 25) in Bradford as the ‘Track of the Week’ across our schedule.

​You can hear the track in our About Bradford shows between 11am and 12 noon, and 5pm and 6pm during the week.

They also feature in our 4 weekly Youth Music Live! Showcase show: https://www.bcbradio.co.uk/programmes/youth-music-live-showcase/

We also promote the track on social media, and feature it on the BCB Home Page.

All the tracks we have featured also get listed on the Track of the Week page.

Track of the Week

We’ve been doing this since June, so we’ve had tracks from:
Saint Jerome, Asher Knight, Prehensile Thrashings, Lucy and Lila, Violet, The Late Show, Jack Lupton, Rhyanne Woodbine, Musumba, Finlay Mactaggart, SEZ, and United AS One

Next week, we’re playing ‘Seasick’ the first single by The Reyers.

Radio 1’s Christmas Presenter Search

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Between Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve 2020, Radio 1 are looking for “aspiring new radio presenters” to be on the station. They are specifically looking for people who have been involved with community radio, so it’s a great opportunity for anyone who has broadcast with BCB.

The only criteria is that you have to be over 18.

Find out more information here.

Youth Work Update

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We continue to broadcast the voices of young people everyday at 6:30pm. Adam and friends have been doing great things for broadcast on a Sunday, Moshua, Clare, Ben, and Ewan are also contributing regularly.

​We’re still seeing small numbers of young people online, via video calls. Recently we’ve been joined by Ross from All Star Ents. to help deliver the Arts Award to a small group using online tools.

In the run up to the summer, we also repurposed some of the Youth Music grant to give equipment and music lessons directly to young people to enable them to continue to be creative when school and college were closed. We wrote about this on the project blog: https://bcbradioyouth.music.blog/2020/07/13/with-a-little-help/

Going into the autumn term, we’re waiting to see what happens with school provision and the BCB building, and will be planning our work around that.

Lockdown Tech Tips

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Thanks to everyone who’s recording a show from home, it’s been an outstanding team effort from everyone! We’re scheduling around 115 programmes every week (around 16 shows every day), so to help us publicise and schedule your show, here’s a few hints and tips to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible!

Please DM info about your programme, along with a landscape photo to @bcbradio (or, if you’re not on Twitter, email Joseph Emmett)

Please email your completed, broadcast-ready programme to radioshows@bcbradio.co.uk

30 min shows should be 29m 52s
1 hour shows should be 59m 52s (Do NOT start with a BCB ident, it’s already scheduled in)
The last 4 mins should be music, no speech (your last music track might be faded out for 3-4 minute news bulletins, which might be scheduled at any hour of the day if there’s breaking news; eg. new coronavirus restrictions that affect Bradford)

Your voice should be a bit louder than the music.
Your music tracks should be a bit quieter than your voice.

Speech/interview levels should peak at -3db
Music track levels should peak at -5db

If your show is compressed/normalised so it’s completely uniform throughout, levels should peak at -5db

Please fade out the last 5 to 10 secs of your programme

Please save your audio as MP3 44,100 (mono is fine), but if you’re recording on BackPack studio (on your iPhone or iPad), please save as m4a 48 mono

Please send your show to us 1-2 days before broadcast (no earlier ideally), unless your show is on Sunday or Monday – please send us your show before 11.30am a Friday

There’s more information about recording from home on the BCB website here: https://www.bcbradio.co.uk/remote-broadcasting

Thanks and keep up the good work!

~ Jonathan

Posted in News, Newsletter

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