BCB Newsletter – March 2024

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:

Radio Venus – IWD 8 March 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well what a day International Women’s Day (8th March) was – 19 hours of Bradford women broadcasting on BCB as part of Radio Venus. Across the day we had Maria Danylczuk and Maria Fedyszyn chatting about the Ukrainian community in Bradford featuring music from the Ukranian choir Fiyalka, Maureen Grant, Carol Peltier, Lynn Rose Kirby, Emese Engobo and Rachel Dennis discuss their experiences of being black women in Bradford and we were live for the International Women’s Day event at City Hall in Bradford. It was also a day of firsts with Romy Needham, Doreen Malcolm and Rafaela Heron presenting their debut shows on BCB – hopefully the first of many! International Women’s Day is always an important date on the BCB calendar and thanks to everyone who made this year’s celebrations so special. We’ll be uploading all the programmes from the day to www.bcbradio.co.uk in the coming week so watch this space.

Word Up North

We’ve been busy working, in collaboration with Word Up North, delivering sessions to school groups to create their own radio programs about the issues that matter to them. So far the groups have produced programs covering topics such as Racism, Misconceptions of Islam, Peer Pressure and more. Jo Kenyon and Dipak Mistry from BCB welcomed a group from Carlton School, and later that week worked with pupils on location at Holy Family School! We’re looking forward to welcoming Beckfoot Oakbank school later this month and can’t wait to see what exciting topics they’ll be covering!

Youth Music Workshops

Interested in broadcasting, music, presenting and aged 12-25 in Bradford? Come and check out Youth Music on the 4th / 5th April 10am-12pm and 2-4pm. To book on drop us an email to youthmusic@bcbradio.co.uk

LGBTQ+ History Month on BCB

February was LGBTQ+ History Month and, as we do every year, we marked and celebrated the month across our broadcast schedule.Throughout the month BCB’s very own LGBGTQ+ programme The Equity Show, brought to you by Andy Suthers and Michael Swires, broadcast a history month special every weekend in February 4-5pm on Saturday. Finally, on Bradford & Beyond 4-6pm Mon-Fri, we were chatting to Bradfordians putting on events for the month and also chatting to members of Bradford’s LGBTQ+ community about their experiences.

Shipley College at BCB

This month we were joined by students from Shipley College – Btec Creative Media Production Level 2 as part of their “Getting Ready for Work – Out and About Week”.

The students were supported to write their own scripts, choose the topics they wanted to discuss and pick the music they wanted play during the show in the radio studio!

Dipak, our youth music development worker, worked alongside the students’ tutor Karen to arrange the visit.

‘We already had a relationship with the college from having students here on placement so when Karen got in touch we thought it would be a great opportunity for the students to have an insight into a real life working studio.

We did a workshop where we broke down the program into a radio clock and talked about the structure of a show with an intro, music, jingles etc. Once it’s edited the students show will be about 15 minutes long and will be broadcast on the BCB Extra slot. Having the students in the studio was a great way to start my day, we really enjoyed having them here and they produced a great show!’

All of the students had a great time and enjoyed the experience. Lily one of the students was asked what she thought of the visit ‘I have really enjoyed it, sitting in the chair and recording the show was amazing. We all sat down as a group and decided what songs we wanted to play and the things we wanted to discuss. We decided to talk about things that are important to teenagers like music, films, games, and animals. I had never thought about going into radio but after this morning it is definitely a career I’d be interested in!’

Rainbow Radio

Our Rainbow Primary team had a very special guest in the studios, Astronomer Rod Hine, who answered all their questions on space! You can listen back to Rainbow Stars Space Special which was first broadcast Wednesday 6th March at 6.30pm via the Listen Again at www.bcbradio.co.uk

Leeds Trinity University

Every year BCB works with students from Leeds Trinity University’s Journalism course to provide them hands on experience of working at a living, breathing radio station and this year will be no different. The students have already have their first taste of producing and broadcasting a live, one hour About Bradford filled with Bradford news and interviews and, starting in mid-April, they’ll be producing and presenting hourly news bulletins for us 9am-5pm. Throughout that time students from the course will be based at BCB on a daily basis so do so hi and give them a warm BCB welcome!

Young Carers Action Day

Young Carers Action Day 2024 took place on Wednesday 13th March. To celebrate Young carers in Bradford brought us a very special programme chatting about their lives as carers in Bradford. However this won’t be the last time you hear the time on BCB 106.6FM as we’re working with them to develop a regular programme starting with another session the 28th March 2024.

Presenter Photos – Get Yours On The Website!

As we look to move the new website we’re trying to get as many people to BCB to get their presenter photos taken for their profile. Some of you may have had your photo take by Rich Halfpenny at the AGM – don’t worry they haven’t gone to waste! – and he’s asking anyone who wants a picture taken for the website to drop him an email richard.halfpenny@bcbradio.co.uk

Posted in News

BCB Newsletter – December 2023

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

BCB AGM 2023

Thanks to everyone who came to the this years AGM. As well all know it’s an important date in the BCB calendar so it was great that so many of us were able to come together to celebrate what we’ve achieved in 2023 and excitedly look ahead to 2024 (while enjoying a samosa or two of course!). After the AGM, members got the opportunity to ROAD test our new RODEcaster digital mixing desk and Rich Halfpenny was also on hand to take photos ahead of the launch of our new website.

Alan Bingley RIP

It is with great sadness we announce the passing of one of our oldest volunteers – Alan Bingley aged 96. Alan was part of our Radio 119 team for adults with learning disabilities and was a BCBer for over 20 years but  He was a brilliant asset to the team, always had a smile on his face and will be truly missed. RIP Alan Bingley

Bradford Music Month at BCB

This November was Bradford Music Month and everyone here at BCB was celebrating the amazing musical culture of Bradford. Every day on Bradford & Beyond we chatted with to a Bradfordian, whether that be a DJ, promoter, sound engineer, musician, working hard to make the Bradford music scene vibrant. We continued to feature a track by a Bradford artist every day on the programme to really show off some of our amazing talent as well encouraging our specialist music presenters to play more music from Bradford.The month was also to look ahead and get better at what we do. We’re looking for more women to get involved with our specialist music programming so during the month we held a taster session for Bradford women to find out more about what we do and get involved. This session will be the first of many so watch this space for the date of the next session.

Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions

You may be aware that we’ve teamed up with 509 Arts to work on a special project to rediscover the stories of Bradford’s recent textile past. Over the next few months we will be continuing the Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions project and working with several schools in the district to hunt out stories from former millworkers in Bradford.

BCB’s Jo Kenyon delivered an assembly to children at Beckfoot Primary in Heaton followed by a Q and A session, where one little girl asked her ‘Have you got any pets?’. Anyone who knows Jo knows she could talk about her dogs all day long! After this a group worked on interview techniques and are all super excited to join us at the BCB studios shortly.

Selection Box – 700th Show

It’s a real achievement to get 700 shows so congratulations to Patrick Thornton, who hosts Selection Box every Wednesday 9-10pm, for reaching the milestone! Here’s to the next 700!

Featured Programme of the

Month

Every month in the BCB newsletter we shine the spotlight on one particular programme on the BCB schedule. This week we’re telling you about a new show on BCB called Community Voices.

Community Voices goes out every fourth Wednesday 6-6:30pm and is brought you by Goodie Okechukwu. Every month Goodie chats to people from around the world whose journey has led them to Bradford. On previous show shows Goodie has been at the Irish In Britain conference and at the Polish Roman Catholic Church.

Schools

It has been a busy month on the schools front here at BCB! We’ve been continuing our work with Rainbow Primary Leadership Academy who have recently been learning how to edit, a skill that, according to pupil Vivvan is ‘the best thing ever!’.

We’ve also been working on Interviewing with The Academy at St James in Allerton, who were very excited to interrogate their teacher, Mr Miah!

Sophia Kupse – My time as a
new volunteer at BCB Radio

I completed my volunteer training at BCB radio in July 2023. By the end of September 2023, I launched my live health and wellbeing show ‘One Small Step’ a 45-minute speech-based programme that airs once a month on a Friday at 2.15pm. I invite a guest to share their music choices that have inspired their life, health and wellbeing. I also co-present with Tony Painter every Wednesday ‘About Bradford.’

BCB is an amazing environment to immerse yourself in. It’s a place where I’ve learned, after many life challenges, to reconnect myself back to me through the development of new skills, including technical and radio programming. BCB is a thriving hub of caring people that have become my second family with a big heart that supports community to flourish and grow.

Pupil Voice

We welcomed pupils from Belle Vue Girls’ Academy, Bradford Girls’ Grammar School and Immanuel College, as part of Bradford Citizens Pupil Voice Project. They made a special program where they discussed the cost-of-living from a young persons perspective, which will be broadcast as part of our Christmas Schedule!

Holiday Shows

It’s the holidays again and we are once again telling you when we’ll be closed. From Friday 22nd December we’ll be shut and we will be re-opening on Tuesday 2nd January.

If your programme is broadcast between Friday 22 December and Tuesday 2 January, the deadline for recording your show is Sunday 17th December. Please call BCB on 01274 771677 to book studio time ASAP

Please record programmes up to an including Friday 22nd December on the audiowall on Auto (Mon-Sun) programmes (unless your show is broadcast 1-in-2 or 1-in-4).

Please record programmes on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th December on the audiowall on Week 2 (Mon-Sun) programmes.

Please record programmes from Monday 25th December (Christmas Day) until Sunday 31st December on Week 3 (Mon-Sun) programmes.

Please record programmes from Monday 1st – Sunday 7th January on Week 4 (Mon-Sun) porgrammes.

Please double check your cart number with a member of staff BEFORE you record your programme.

If you’re recording your show from home, please email a link to xmas@bcbradio.co.uk including Tx (broadcast) date and time BEFORE Monday 18th December.

If you present About Bradford, The Afternoon Stretch or Bradford & Beyond, please record a 1 hour show BEFORE Monday 18th December that we can schedule a few times from 22nd December – 3rd January (if you present B&B, please call the show About Bradford).

Posted in News

BCB Newsletter – April 2023

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

Radio Venus International
Women’s Day 2023

A great big thanks to all the women who took part in BCB’s Radio Venus broadcast on Mar 8th to celebrate International Women’s Day. Following on from a great series of weekend workshops beforehand, we produced a fabulous day of women’s radio broadcasting. 25 diverse women were involved as presenters, and 56 women in total participating in the broadcast as contributors, guests, interviewees, producers, etc.  What a great time we had together! Such a lovely atmosphere. Let’s keep that vibe going and make sure that we get more women involved in BCB throughout the year.

BCB – Our new home at Kala
Sangam.

We were delighted to be able to share the fantastic news that in 2024 we will be moving to the Kala Sangam building.  For those who aren’t familiar with Kala Sangam, this is the building also known as St Peters House or The Old Post Office, just at the back of the Broadway. Our move will be after the Oastler market closes and our current home at Rawson Road is due to be demolished. With over £7 million grant funding, the Kala Sangam building will be completely redeveloped, with a proper new entrance on the ground floor, where BCB will be housed. So – we need to know what you want to see in our new space. What makes BCB special to you? What would you like to make sure we take with us? What do you want to be able to do at BCB over the next 20 years……? Thanks to everyone who came along to the first ‘get together’ last Saturday – such a positive meeting and really affirming about who we are. It feels so good to be able to plan our future together., knowing exactly where we will be. We’ll be having another session very soon so get thinking. ‘People, Community, Connection’ were the main themes emerging from the meeting.

The Pre-Election period on

BCB

The pre-election period has started ahead of the local elections on Thursday 4 May.

Please take time to read the following guidelines and the implications for you as a presenter on-air and also on social media as well.

if you have any questions or would like clarification on any of the issues raised, please call Jonathan Pinfield on 01274 771 677 or 07914 222007.

PS If you’d like to be involved in our local elections coverage on BCB between now and 4 May and/or our local elections results programme on Friday 5 May, also get in touch with Jonathan

BCB Election Guidelines 2023

The Election Period and when BCB’s Guidelines come into effect: At 00:01 on Monday 27 March, 2023 for the local elections.

The Election Period continues until the close of polls at 22:00 on Thursday 4 May, 2023

We will be actively covering the local elections with programmes, interviews and guests throughout the election period. To ensure we achieve impartiality and balance throughout the elections period, the coverage will be co-ordinated and monitored by the staff team on a daily and weekly basis.

The major political parties are: The Conservative Party; The Labour Party and The Liberal Democrats

Based on previous election results in Bradford, we will also be including The Green Party.

During the Election Period

  • In accordance with The Ofcom Broadcasting Code, BCB’s broadcast coverage must be impartial and balanced throughout the Election Period (this must be across each programme strand and across each week).

News Bulletins

  • Bulletins must be planned in advance on a weekly basis between news readers and the Broadcast Manager to ensure balance and compliance on news bulletins throughout the election period.

Programmes

  • The elections, party political issues & guests will be co-ordinated by the staff team to achieve balance across each week during the elections period on our programmes including (but not exclusively) on About Bradford, Bradford & Beyond and Round Table.

Presenters

  • Presenters actively involved with a political party as a candidate or agent cannot appear on BCB 106.6fm as a presenter, contributor or guest during the election period
  • Presenters MUST NOT declare their support for any political party, candidate or election issue either on-air OR through social media e.g. personal Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok accounts OR share posts OR Re-Tweet from any political party, candidate or election issue.

Booking Guests

  • MP’s, councillors and people involved, supporting or campaigning on behalf political parties (even if they would like to appear in a personal capacity) will be booked to appear on BCB by a member of staff.
  • As a presenter, if you are booking a guest to appear on your programme, you must make potential guests aware that we are now in the “election period”; you also have a responsibility to ask them if and how they are involved in the 2023 local elections. If the potential guests are involved in the elections, please confirm with the Broadcast Manager (Jonathan) whether they will be able to take part in your programme before you invite them to appear on your show.
  • Guests who are not themselves candidates or activists, who are invited into programmes to talk on other issues, must not be allowed to make statements which endorse specific candidates or political parties. If they do, presenters should distance themselves and the station from the comments –

e.g. “those are your views, not BCB’s”. If guests persist in urging a vote for a particular candidate or party we must terminate the interview (“We’ll have to leave that there; those are not the views of BCB, we can all have a say by voting in the election which takes place on Thursday 4th May”).

On Polling Day

  • No opinion poll on any issue relating to the election may be published until polling has closed
  • There will be no coverage of any of the issues directly pertinent to the election campaigns on BCB or on social media until after the polls close in the UK
  • It is a criminal offence to broadcast anything about the way in which people have voted in the election while the polls are open in the UK

For clarification on the BCB Election Guidelines or any questions, please contact Jonathan Pinfield, Broadcast Manager – BCB 106.6fm on 01274 771677

St Patricks Day on BCB

It was great to celebrate St Patrick’s Day on BCB  17th March. Thanks so much to the team of Aiden, Connor and Connor for their live programme 10 – 11am. Building on the exemplary work that Joe Sheeran has established on BCB over the last 20 years, celebrating Bradford’s Irish heritage and culture,  we hope that will be the first in a new series of regular programmes that highlights the Irish in Bradford. And thanks also to St Georges Hall for enabling us to record and broadcast the Irish Cultural  concert from the 16th March- that’s still available on our Listen Again, service if you missed it.

Refugee Radio

We are planning a new training group for people from the asylum seeking and refugee communities. This will start in late April and lead up to Refugee Week in June, where we want to increase the voices of these communities on BCB. If anyone is interested in taking part in this group, get in contact with Mary mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

Windrush 75 years on BCB

This June marks 75 years since the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury, bringing people from the Caribbean that have come to be known as the Windrush generation. A series of events are being organised in Bradford by the Caribbean community – and we want to reflect this with special programming on BCB. We’d really like to produce new programmes celebrating our Caribbean heritage in Bradford. Please think about what you could do to contribute to this – contact  Jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk if you have any ideas for what we can do on BCB.

Featured Programme Of The

Month

Every month, we tell you more about a show on BCB. This month we’re telling you about Cancer Journeys with Jacqui Drake – which has recently reached 100 shows!

The show goes out every Thursday 6-6:30pm. Cancer Journeys is a show to help spread awareness, provide hope to other cancer patients & to give them the opportunity to tell their own inspirational stories.

Rainbow Radio

We have been continuing to work with Rainbow Academy School in Bradford, and this month the children have been very active in the studios producing programs and weekly reports for BCB! They even recorded their very own version of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air Theme tune, which you can hear on their show this Thursday at 6.30pm!

BCB’s Jo Kenyon also went along to the school to deliver some sessions, and attended a special celebration assembly this week, where she presented end of term certificates to the children!

Bismah, aged 10 said ‘I have really enjoyed coming to the radio studios and Jo is a fun teacher. I feel happy when I get to sit in the presenters chair and drive the desk. We all want to come back and do more shows!’

Dixon’s Academy STEM event!

BCB took part in a special STEM day at Dixons Manningham Primary School earlier this month. Jo Kenyon sat on a panel where the year 5 children asked questions to try and guess what they do. The Children made some interesting guesses including Actress  singer and ……. Zoo Keeper! ‘Mind you’, Jo says, ‘sometimes working with Jonathan I feel like I’m on lion taming duty! Just kidding!’

The children were all excited to find out about BCB and we look forward to doing more events like this in the future.

Sound and Vision

Over the past month we’ve been continuing our work with the National Science and Media Museum around our place in their new “Sound and Vision” galleries. Michael and Sarah from the museum came down to BCB to think about how we best represent the magic of being a BCBer – as you can see we quickly got them in a studio to experience that buzz of being in control of the desk and hearing yourself talk. The next meeting is on Wednesday 26th April from 12pm. If you’d like to join please email mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

Behind the Scenes at the

Museum on BCB

We’ve been working with members of staff from Bradford’s museums and galleries who’ll be producing and presetning a series of monthly programmes called “Behind The Scenes At The Museums” throughout the year on BCB 106.6fm, starting this month.

Each programme will be broadcast from one of the museums, Bradford Indusrial Museum, Cartwright Hall, Bolling Hall or Cliffe Castle. The first programme will be broadcast from Bradford Industrial Museum with an iintroduction to the 4 museums across the district.

Other School News in Brief

We were joined this month by pupils from Hazelbeck secondary special school for students with severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties and autism. They all enjoyed trying their hands at Radio presenting. We were also joined by pupils from Newby Primary School who worked with Jo Kenyon to make their own shows. We look forward to working with Newby over the next school year. St James Academy will also be back on BCB doing weekly news reports for us after Easter

Posted in News

BCB Newsletter – December 2022

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

BCB AGM 2022

It was great to see so many people attending the BCB AGM on Sat 26th November. We know lots of people couldn’t be there, but it felt so good to get together again as an organisation. It’s always great for people to be able to put faces to names and meet people they don’t usually see. It felt like a very positive meeting. Hopefully the samosas were up to our usual standard – there were certainly none left at the end! Congratulations to Mercy Katola who was elected on to the BCB Management Committee, and a big thank you to Di Ives who is standing down after three years. 2023 is an important year ahead for us and we look forward to working together to take BCB forward.

Goodbye to Bread and Roses

It was really sad to see the closure of our neighbours, the Bread and Roses cooperative and café on North Parade. They held a celebration event on the 26thNov that some of us attended. Over the last 5 years have benefited from. They will be missed., Bread and Roses have provided an inclusive and welcoming space that so many people in Bradford.

New Volunteers Training

We’ve just started another new volunteer’s training course and we’re planning a rolling programme of training for new volunteers throughout 2023. We lost quite a few active volunteers post – lockdown and pandemic, so we’re actively recruiting new people to join us at BCB. If you know anyone who is interested, we hold new volunteers training sessions every month – the next ones are Tues 6th Dec, and then Tues 10th January, with the next course training course starting January. Come on down! Contact hello@bcbradio.co.uk for more details.

Banking on our visitors to BCB!

On 30 Nov, BCB was proud to welcome a team of people from the UK Infrastructure Bank. This is a new institution based in Leeds, with a remit to make investments that address the Levelling Up and Climate Change agendas. Working with our friend Eric Levine from Leaders Quests, we were asked to host a workshop here at BCB to provide senior staff from UKIB with a creative radio experience. It was, of course, also a great opportunity for them to find out about us at BCB. Thanks so much to all the BCB people who took part in the event – it was a great success. Let’s hope we can develop a fruitful relationship with UKIB in the future.

Islamophobia Awareness Month –

#ItExists

During November, as part of our coverage of Islamophobia Awareness Month, one of our new volunteers Tahir Shah recorded two excellent programmes. They were in depth interviews with two Bradford men, Riad Terzic talking about his experience as a Bosnian refugee now settled in Bradford, and Shahid Islam from Born in Bradford, celebrating some of the contributions of Muslims to science. This was part of the BMDC Stronger Communities contribution to #It Exists. The programmes are both available here! https://podcast.canstream.co.uk/bcb/index.php?id=67961

Featured Programme Of The Month

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 The Time Traveller

The Time Traveller is a brand new show on BCB brought to you by Johna Johnson every fourth Thursdauy 9-10pm. Each show Johna will be travels back through time through his extensive record collection, which started in 1970. The idea is to entertain, inform and enjoy a mixed selection of music genres featuring recollections of his record collections.

Warm Spaces

We know how hard this winter will be for everyone with the cost-of-living crisis and the hike in energy prices. BCB has become part of the Warm Spaces network which offers a place for people to spend time, have a cuppa and keep warm. Over these winter months, we welcome all BCB people to come in to BCB and spend time if they want to. We will be doing this alongside recognising that BCB is a working environment, and that we need to respect the space that volunteers and staff need to do their work. I’m sure we can make it work. Meeting room 1 will be designated for people to hang out in.

Festive Programmes on BCB

106.6fm

If you’re recording a programme that’s broadcast on BCB 106.6fm between Monday 19th December – Tuesday 3rd January, please record your programme in the 18,000 cart range (each day and time is labelled from c18,000 onwards).

Please check your cart number with Jonathan or Jem before you record it. Once you’ve recorded it, please let Jonathan or Jem know, so we can schedule it for broadcast.

If your programme is due for broadcast between Friday 23rd December to and Tuesday 3rd January, please record it onto a cart (or email a link to xmas@bcbradio.co.uk) BEFORE MIDDAY ON FRIDAY 16TH DECEMBER to give us enough time to schedule your Festive show into our automated QNXT schedule.

BCB will be closed between Saturday 24th December and Monday 2nd January, so now is the time to start planning to record your programmes, get a week or two ahead if you need to – and record your Festive show.

12 Parks of Christmas

Here in Bradford we are blessed with many beautiful parks and woodland spaces, so throughout December we will be highlighting our ’12 Parks of Christmas!’. We will be joined on our Bradford & Beyond Program by people who help conserve, maintain and protect the parks and spaces, and find out what their plans are for the year ahead!

Schools

Pupils from Rainbow Academy in Bradford have been joining us at the studios, every week, working with Jo Kenyon to become the radio stars of the future! Through making radio they have developed their communication and teamworking skills, and it’s been lovely to see how the children’s confidence has been built during their time here at BCB!

As well as producing a weekly report for our Bradford & Beyond program, the Children have been working hard to produce a Christmas special half hour program, which will be broadcast over the holidays!

We are also looking forward to welcoming St James Academy to the studios later in the month

BCB Christmas Get Together –

Tuesday 20th December

To see off the end of the year we’re inviting everyone down to BCB on Tuesday 20th December 5-7:30pm. This will be a great chance to catch up with everyone before we close for the Christmas period. It would be lovely to see as many BCBers as possible and, if people can and are able, we’re asking if people could bring down a bit of food to share for a potluck. Hopefully see you at the BCB studios on 20th December!

Posted in News

Hear My Voice

During Mental Health Awareness Week 2022 BCB, the community radio station for Bradford, is launching a radio project to raise awareness of mental health in the Bradford District.

BCB has been awarded a small grant from Bradford Council to deliver this project as part of the Bradford Council plan and the Mental Health and Wellbeing strategy.

BCB is looking to recruit a team of people with lived experience of managing their mental health to produce a series of radio programmes for broadcast on BCB 106.6fm. The volunteers will be trained in radio production and presentation skills. They will then be supported to produce a series of 6 radio programmes, highlighting lived experiences of mental health as well as the support available across the Bradford District. The programmes will aim to raise awareness of and reduce the stigma around mental health, promoting positivity and well-being.

The participants, who will be mental health service users or those living with the impact of poor mental health, will have the opportunity to learn new skills, engage in a creative activity, increase social relationships, reduce isolation and as a volunteer at BCB, make an ongoing, positive contribution to a community organisation.

Over the next few weeks, BCB will be holding taster sessions for anyone interested in finding out more.

The first sessions will be on Friday 20th May 1pm and Tuesday 31 May 2pm. If you are interested in attending the sessions or finding out more, please contact Mary Dowson 01274 771677. mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk.

Posted in News

BCB Newsletter – March 2022

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 8th 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/24th and 25th 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.

Posted in News

BCB Newsletter – February 2022

Welcome to BCB: Hassan and Ash


Some of you may have noticed a few new faces around BCB, specifically towards the back end of the office. These new faces are Hassan and Ash who will be working with us for the next six months as part of a Kickstarter employment scheme. Hassan will be working as a Community Reporter and Ash will be working as Broadcast Support. It’s great to have them on board at BCB and we’re really excited to work with them. Be sure to make them feel welcome and say hello!

John Gill – ‘When I’m 64’ Celebration:  Sunday

20 February

As many of you know, John Gill was our Community Radio Development Worker and regular presenter of Drive, About Bradford and Mixed Bag on BCB. John sadly died a few weeks ago on 6 December. We held a small memorial service for him in January. We are now planning a celebration event on the 20th February. Everyone is very welcome to come along to the event at The Castle, 20 Grattan Road BD1 2LU – Sun 20 Feb 3pm. There will be live music, food etc.

This would have been John’s 64th birthday – hence the ‘When I’m 64’ theme. We are hoping to gather together 64 memories, stories, facts, photos, anecdotes, items of interest etc. about John to share with each other at the event. If you have anything at all that you could contribute to this, please do let Mary Dowson know. Mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

Black in Bradford

BLACK IN BRADFORD is back!! Originally broadcast through Black History Month over the past couple of years, BIB aims to seek out stories highlighting, predominantly, the Black community within the District.

Returning on Thursday 10th February 11-12pm, on a monthly basis, and presented by Kath Canoville, BIB promises hard-hitting and positive themes affecting (directly) the Black Community. If you want to be featured on the programme please email hello@bcbradio.co.uk or call us on 01274 771677.

Radio Venus 2022: International Women’s Day

On Tuesday March 8th, in celebration of International Women’s Day, BCB will once again be broadcasting a full day of women’s broadcasting. We are starting to plan programmes for the day that we hope will be as diverse as we can make it and include as many local women as we can possibly squeeze in! We would love you to be involved. If you have any ideas for what you might do, any contributions you could make and ideas for programmes, please do get in touch with Mary or Shamim. Mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.ukShamim.akhtar@bcbradio.co.uk

Asher Titre – BBC Two

“YORKSHIRE ON CALL” is the working title of a series of programmes focusing on Yorkshire by Dragonfly TV for BBC2. Our Youth Music participant, Asher Titre, spent a morning, here at the BCB studios, being filmed by the TV crew, interviewed by BCB’s Kath Canoville, who is also Asher’s Mentor.

The crew asked Asher a variety of questions about growing up and living in Bradford, focussing on his music development and future plans.

The series will be broadcast in the Spring…..watch this space!

Local Track of the Week

Do you have a favourite local band / artist? Who do you think should be BCB’s Local Track of the Week?

Here at BCB we are passionate about showcasing local talent from across the Bradford district! Every week from February we will feature a local band or artist on Bradford and Beyond to give people a taste of what fantastic music the city has to offer!

If you have any ideas on who we should feature please contact Jo Kenyon on hello@bcbradio.co.uk

LGBTQ+ History Month 2022 on BCB

Throughout February, BCB will be celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month. We’ll be broadcasting regular programmes, interviews and features focusing on Bradford’s LGBTQ+ community. Programmes include The Equity Show, One to One, In Conversation with Jack Lopez and regular features on Bradford and Beyond. Check the on-line schedule for more details.

Unbreaking News

We’re looking at ways in which we can develop news stories that affect Bradford, broadcasting features on existing programmes, as well as producing specific programmes on an ongoing basis throughout the year – which we’re calling “Unbreaking News”.

Some of the “Unbreaking News” issues we’ve started talking about are climate change, education and young people, health, housing, the economy and the future of Bradford city centre.

Our new Broadcast Support worker Ashleigh Stiles is interested in developing and producing our “Unbreaking News” features alongside our presenters.

If you’re interested in being involved in “Unbreaking News”, please email her at: ashleigh.stiles@bcbradio.co.uk

We’re planning to arrange a group meeting via zoom, as well as inviting presenters to discuss your “Unbreaking News” ideas throughout February.

Thurs 3rd Feb: Pop in to BCB

This Thursday (3rd Feb) 12-2pm we’re inviting volunteers in for a hot drink and a chat. This will be a great chance to catch up with some BCB’ers you’ve not seen for awhile as well as being a great excuse (as if you needed one) to come down to Rawson Road. It’ll be lovely to see you!

Race Equality Week On BCB

Next week (7-13th Feb) is Race Equality week and the Race Equality Network is hosting a a series of online talks. These talks will feature Bradfordians looking at the history of their communities within the city and, in line with this year’s theme ‘ActionNotJustWords’, each talk will have an ‘action’ at the end of it, promoting cohesion, support, education and equality. You can find the full programme here

BCB will be broadcasting each event on the day after they’ve happened. Keep an eye on BCB’s online schedule for the times and dates of those!

Pete Dutton and David Ratcliffe – RIP

We were sad to learn of the deaths of two of BCB’s sports team in February:

Pete Dutton RIP

Our Bradford Bulls matchday co-commentator Pete Dutton died on 7th January aged 55. As well as commentating on the Bulls for BCB, Pete was also the matchday commentator for Featherstone Rovers over recent seasons and also a contributor on our Sports Scene, Drive and Round Table programmes. A keen sports fan, Pete supported Leeds United (for his sins) and was a keen boxing fan as well. Pete spent most of his time with BCB bombing along the M62 alongside co-commentator Mark Hobson, to and from rugby league grounds at both sides of the Pennines. He created his Twitter handle @PitchsidePete, to make sure he could always get closer to the action than anyone else!

Pete’s funeral will be at Dewsbury moor crematorium on the 7th February at 1:45pm.
Our thoughts are with wife Dana, children Hollie, Bethany and Kosta, the rest of his family and friends.

David Ratcliffe RIP

David Ratcliffe who co-presented The Bradford Premier Cricket League and Boundary Banter cricket programmes on BCB also died in January, aged 71. David was also the long-serving secretary and treasurer of the Bradford Premier League Umpires Association. Our thoughts are with his widow Linda, family and friends.

Featured Programme Of The Month

Each month we shine the spotlight on a gem from BCB’s schedule. This week we’re telling you about Angie’s C’s Musical Adventure

Angie C’s Musical Adventure is brought to you by Angie Carrington (fun fact: she’s also part of the Radio Venus team here on BCB as well) and goes out every fourth Saturday 5-6pm.

The show is so called because she never knows what she is going to play until she gets there. Angie plays a varied set of tunes that she has come across throughout the course of her life

 

Posted in News

BCB Newsletter – November 2021

BCB – We’re Back


Great news – we’ve slowly started to reopen BCB again, with people coming in to record their programmes in the studios. And there was a momentous occasion on Wednesday when Alan and Tina presented Afternoon Stretch – the first live programme on BCB for 18 months! We know that so many of you are longing to get back into the studios, especially those who haven’t been able to do much over the pandemic period.  So far, we’ve been focusing on getting those ‘inactive’ volunteers back on board again – but from 1 November we will be open to anyone who wants to come in and record at BCB.

Covid means that we can’t operate in quite the same way as pre-pandemic times. We need to keep people as safe as we can in the building, so we have devised a ‘Covid code of conduct’ that we want everyone to agree to. You can find it here – please read it before booking a studio.

There is no ‘drop in’ facility at BCB right now. We are asking everybody to book slots for the studios and for the production area, with a limit on the time spent in BCB, and providing a ‘rest’ period for the studios in between bookings. So, from Monday 1 November, do phone up and book a studio. The feedback so far has been tremendous as people are finally able to feel that special buzz of the studio/red light again!

Bradford Science Festival


This month we’ve been delighted to take part in Bradford Science Festival 2021. Across the festival we’ve featured interviews on Bradford & Beyond about some of the amazing events taking place across the city as well as broadcasting a series of special programmes: Helen Seymour spoke to women working in STEM careers to find out about their work and to inspire young women, Professor Amir M.Sharif took a look implementing sustainable practices and the circular economy and Miranda Duffy sat down with her kids to discuss the big issues and encourage critical thinking in pre-teens and teenagers. Interesting stuff!

All of the shows are available to listen to on our Listen Again here. The shows went out over the October half term (23-31 October) between 4-5pm. There’s events taking place across Bradford until the 31st October, find out more information at the Bradford Science Festival website here

Jo Kenyon-10 years at BCB


Yes, its 10 years this week since Jo Kenyon started work at BCB. (She reminded us…!!) We just want to say a big thankyou to Jo for all her hard work and recognise how much she does to keep BCB going – all with her customary cheerfulness and enthusiasm. Thank-you Jo!

Black History Month


October has also been Black History Month and we’ve marked and celebrated the month in a number of different ways. The theme of this year’s month was “Proud To Be” and throughout the month we asked people across the Bradford district what they were proud to be on Bradford and Beyond as well spotlighting other events taking place. We also covering an extensive range of events, articles, features people and interviews including vibrant selections of diverse music from around the world on shows such as Our Guy In Bradford, One to One, Reggae, Roots and Culture and more. As always Black History Month on BCB is a real team effort, so a big thank you to the volunteers and staff who worked so hard to make it happen.

Featured Programme of the Month


If you want to feel good about yourself, your city and the people around you then tune in to the Feel Good Factor, a mixed bag of music with a positive vibe. Donnel brings you The Feelgood Factor every Saturday 10-11am, During the pandemic and lockdown Donnel was unable to do his show, but over the past week he has been able to get back into the studio and bring his energy back to the airwaves. As you can see, he’s chuffed to be back!

 

Posted in News

BCB Covid ‘Code of Conduct’ – October 2021

BCB Covid ‘Code of Conduct’ – October 2021

We are starting to re-open BCB Studios. Our aim is to keep everyone at BCB safe, secure, and healthy. We recognise that we are still in the middle of a pandemic and need to be vigilant. Some BCB people are particularly vulnerable, so we all need to be mindful of this and play our part in keeping everyone as safe as possible.

This ‘code of conduct’ has been drafted by the BCB Premises group for our initial move back into the building. It will be reviewed regularly with feedback from staff and volunteers. To come into BCB, we ask you to agree to this ‘BCB Covid code of conduct’.

Before you come in to BCB:
• We want everyone to be double vaccinated before coming back into BCB.
• If you are not able to be vaccinated, please do a lateral flow test before coming in.
• Do not come into BCB if you feel unwell or think you have covid symptoms – get a test.

Booking the studio and the production/editing/IT workstations:
• We are currently limiting the amount of people in the building at any one time. To be able to manage this, studios and editing/production/IT facilities must be booked in advance.
• If you need to use the production area to prepare your show, or to edit afterwards, please book a workstation as well as booking the studio.
• There is no ‘drop in’ facility at BCB at the moment. Only people who have booked time will be able to come in to BCB.
• If you are planning to bring a programme guest with you, please let us know when you book the studio. The same conditions apply for your guest.

Coming into the BCB building:
• Please wear a mask to come into the building.
• Sanitise your hands when you sign in and provide a contact phone no.
• Keep your mask on when you are moving around the building. Masks can be removed when you are sitting at a workstation or in the studio.
• Keep washing or sanitising your hands regularly.
• Remember to respect personal space and keep distance from others.
• Please bring your own drink with you as we are not currently making drinks in the kitchen.

Using the studios and production facilities:
• Before using a computer or the studios please use the wipes available to wipe down any surfaces that you touch.
• In the editing/production area, this will be the keyboard, mouse, and surrounding surfaces. In the studio this will be the desk, keyboard, mouse, CD players etc. as well as door handles.
• When you have finished working, please wipe down all the surfaces again.
• Leave the studio door propped open when you leave.

Studio booking times:

We are building in 30 mins ‘rest’ time in between studio bookings i.e. a one-hour show will be booked into a 90-minute slot to enable you to prepare and clean before and after the show – followed by 30 minutes ‘rest time’. Please make sure you respect this and leave the studio on time!

Posted in News

BCB Newsletter – September 2021

Welcome to the latest BCB newsletter. Here’s a taste of what’s been happening recently at BCB. Do let us know if you have any news for the next newsletter.

BCB 3-Year plan: we need your help!

BCB Management Committee and staff have been working together to develop a strategic plan for BCB for the next three years. During our summer break planning week, we agreed a set of key objectives and detailed actions for each of the areas of BCB’s activity. We’re now setting up task groups to prioritise the actions  in each area – and importantly to make sure that the actions get done. These groups will be made up of Management Committee, staff, and volunteers. So – we are asking you, as key BCB volunteers, to step forward to offer your skills and experience to help us achieve this! Your input is vital in securing BCB’s future over the coming years.

These are the task groups that we are recruiting to: Broadcasting; Volunteering; Community Engagement; IT, Technology and Resources; Premises; Communications and Marketing.

If you think you could offer any input to these areas of activity, please do get in contact with mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk. The task groups are starting work in September so don’t delay, call today!

David’s leaving

David Carpenter, is leaving us on 3rd September 2021. David has been fantastic and dedicated Youth Worker in his time with BCB and a real positive force for change in the organisation. We thank him for all his hard work and wish him all the best for the future.

All youth work related enquiries should go to Mary Dowson at
mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

BCB Rawson Road Studios – update 31 August

As we reported a few weeks ago, before we can plan a re-entry to BCB we need to ensure that the ventilation system at BCB Studios is working efficiently. This has been a very protracted process, overseen by the BCB Premises group. We are happy to say that we’re now just awaiting the delivery and fitting of a fan that needs replacing. When this is done, which we hope to be in the next week or two, we can then plan a date for re-entry to BCB. Obviously, this will be a phased re- entry, carefully working out exactly what feels right and safe for everyone. We know that so many people have not been able to be active with BCB over the past 18 months and are really keen to get back into the studios, so we’re hoping to have you back very soon.

10 Today: Series Two – More Radio-Activity on BCB!

BCB is again working with Demos and Sport England to produce a second series of 10 Today – exercise on the radio. This is 10 minutes of gentle movement, encouraging the over 50s to get more active by doing the exercises 3 times a week. Over the last couple of months, we’ve been turning the exercises into radio scripts – and a big thanks is due to all the BCB volunteers who have been ‘test driving’ the sessions to see if they make sense. Your feedback has been really useful. We expect to start broadcasting Series Two in September – meanwhile you can get ready by tuning into BCB at 2pm every weekday to join in with Series 1.

BCB Mancom – update

Over the summer we’ve seen a couple of changes to the BCB Management Committee as two valued members, Joe Sheeran and Kathy Dyson, have decided to stand down.

Joe Sheeran has been involved with BCB for more than twenty years, both as a member of Mancom, chair of the organisation and of course presenter of Echoes of Ireland, which hasn’t skipped a beat in two decades. Joe has made a lasting contribution to BCB, helped steer us through some challenging times, but also oversaw our transition from a little cupboard in Forster Square to our Rawson Studios. He feels the time is right to step down from the board while continuing to volunteer at BCB and present his weekly show. We all wish Joe the very best, and I would personally like to thank him for his guidance and support over the years.

Kathy Dyson also resigned. Kathy was instrumental in ensuring we adhere to the highest standards of governance, was a powerful voice around the committee table and worked tirelessly with Di and Mary to scope out the five year strategic plan. She leaves Mancom in better shape than when she joined, and I’d like to thank her for the support she has provided the staff team during the pandemic, who I know have valued her guidance and her willingness to listen and share their views at Mancom meetings – which is invaluable.

If anyone is interested in finding out more about what it takes to be on Mancom, what we do, and why it matters, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Previous experience of being on a management committee or a trustee of a not for profit or charity isn’t essential. We are keen to broaden the skills and experience of the board, and are happy to provide training and support. All we ask in return is that you are able to commit time to attend monthly meetings and participate in the working groups that help sustain BCB and drive us forward.

BCB Email Signature: Adding Pronouns

In recent months BCB has committed itself to being a more inclusive organisation to  LGBTQ+ communities. In a similar way to our anti-racist work, BCB staff are carving out time for learning and discussion around LGBTQ+ issues with the hope of widening this process out in the future to include volunteers. One of the points that has come out of this discussion is respecting people pronouns and how changing them emails is an easy and practical way to change cultural assumptions. With that in mind, we’ve created the following guide for people to display / change them in their BCB email signature.

​ 1. Login to your BCB email address via https://webmail.exa-networks.co.uk/roundcube/

2. On the far left hand side of the screen you should see a series of icons, click settings

3. Once in settings you should be able to see the ‘identities tab. Click on ‘identities’

4. After clicking identities, your email address (first name.last name@bcbradio.co.uk) will appear to the right. Click on the email address.

5. To the right of your email address a further series of boxes will appear. The last one of these is ‘signature’. Any text in this box will be automatically added to the end of emails you send and compose. In this box you can add your preferred pronouns.

6. Once you’ve added your pronouns click save. If done correctly a green box will appear saying successfully saved and you’re good to go.

We also have these instructions with pictures on the Volunteers Resources of our site

Exam Results

Last month saw young people across the district getting their A level and GCSE results.There will have been a mixture of congratulations and commiserations, but hopefully everyone is managing to sort out what they do next.

You can listen again to one of BCB’s young volunteers talking about her experience of results day on Bradford & Beyond (29m 30) below

https://podcast.canstream.co.uk/bcb/index.php?id=60325

Music Industry events and education

In September a number of Bradford and regional organisations are offering exciting opportunities for musicians which we thought we’d share with you. More details below

Mon 13th Sept – Breaking Through: Getting Your Music Out There Industry Panel at TheMill.TV

The event features an industry panel offering advice and guidance on how to take the first steps to reach a wider audience for your music featuring BBC Music Introducing, artist managers & more! It takes place at TheMill.TV and will also be streamed online, and is free to attend. Full info and registration is at: https://bit.ly/3CKMsjn.

Wed 15th Sept – looking to attract funding for Music? Bradford Producing Hub are running a workshop to look at applications for PRS Foundation’s Open Fund and Women Make Music on: https://bdproducinghub.co.uk/fundraising-working-group-sessions/

The PRS Foundation PPL Momentum Accelerator Fund has now also opened for applicants from Yorkshire. The deadline is currently 6th September, but this is likely to be pushed back.

https://prsfoundation.com/funding-support/funding-music-creators/next-steps/ppl-momentum-music-fund/ppl-momentum-accelerator-guidance/

Finally, Bradford College is still accepting applications for their FE and HE courses, to start in September 2021. For more information contact j.dey@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

Featured Programme of the Month

With Bradford City flying out of the traps in the new football season we thought we’d tell you about some of the ways you can keep with up with their season and other local sports on BCB. Every Saturday on BCB we have three sports shows: Boundary Banter, Sports Scene and Bantams Beak.

Boundary Banter is bought to you by Paul Davis, Alan Birkinshaw, David Ratcliffe and Stewart Roberts and you can catch it 10-10:30am every Saturday. The show is lively chat with all the latest news from the Gordon Rigg Bradford Premier League.

On Sports Scene, which Pete Chapman presents, 1-1:30pm, you can hear interviews with Bradford City staff and players ahead of the days game as well as a round of other local sports.

Straight from the Bantams Beak is on straight after Sports Scene 1:30-2pm and is a programme by Bradford City fans for City fans. Steve Gorringe and Margaret Bartle cover all the ups and downs of their football team, sometimes serious and sometimes lighthearted depending on events at the time.

Posted in News

BCB Newsletter – July 2021

BCB: Becoming an anti-racist organisation update

BCB is continuing its work to become an actively anti-racist organisation. This work started following the murder of George Floyd in the US and the Black Lives Matter Movement actively seeking equality for black people globally. In order to ensure that BCB is accessible to all groups we have been continuing our weekly staff meetings discussing issues raised from the movement and holding regular meetings with some of our black volunteers.

At the volunteer meetings we have discussed what we feel could be done towards the aims and ambitions for BCB, and how we all as an organisation can work confidently towards that goal. Our next BCB BLM volunteer Zoom meeting will be 6pm on Wednesday 7th July. Please email us at hello@bcbradio.co.uk if you would to contribute to discussions – you can also send us an email with your views if you cannot attend the meetings.

Youth Music Mentors

In previous newsletters we have told you about various aspects of our Youth Music project –  a project to help musical young people under the age of 25 in the Bradford district express themselves. Currently we have a team of Youth Music mentors working directly with some of the young people involved with the project. BCB’s Kath Canoville has been mentoring two young people, Asher Titre and Levi Diani who are both musicians and poets.

Their progression has been applaudable with both creating new tracks and aiming for CD and streaming services. They are now looking into ways of collaborating with other musicians in order to produce further tracks. If you might be interested in being involved, with this project, please email our Youth Music Project Manager at david.carpenter@bcbradio.co.uk.

South Asian Heritage Month 2021

South Asian Heritage Month is back very soon! In Bradford it will run from July 17th to August 22nd with a stimulating programme of digital and real-life events. Last year BCB partnered with SAHM and produced a series of radio programmes reflecting and celebrating South Asian culture, heritage and identity in Bradford. We’d love more BCB people to be part of this. We’ve just started planning what we might do so if you’d like to present a programme, be a contributor, take part in a discussion –  or contribute in any other way  – please do get in touch asap! Contact Shamim   – shamim.akhtar@bcbradio.co.uk

MILES

Last week, BCB attended the first 2-day zoom meeting of the MILES project. MILES is a new EU Media literacy and information project that BCB is a partner to. It’s a small project with 7 partners across Europe and funded by the Erasmus programme. It will be looking at the role of community media in providing opportunities for media literacy and information and exploring best practice across the different countries. BCB will be hosting a project meeting here in Bradford in Spring 2022 so just enough time to get practising your Swedish, German, Spanish, Hungarian…….!!

Featured Programme of the Month

If, like us, you love classical music then this programme is for you.
On Monday 3-4pm Di Ives playes wide selection of music, from Beethoven to Wagner. The show also includes modern composers like Karl Jenkins and Einaudi and also promote women composers.

Di likes to feature particular talents, including Lang Lang, Benjamin Grosvenor, Nigel Kennedy and Nicola Benedetti, together with new young musicians such as Isata and Sheku Kanneh Mason. So, if you want a relaxing hour to enjoy some of the most beautiful music in the world then this is the programme for you.

Refugee Walk 2021

BCB was really proud to attend the Refugee Walk organised by BEACON on 16 June. It’s an annual event as part of Bradford Refugee week and aims to raise awareness of the amount of walking refugees and asylum seekers in Bradford have to do to get to the places they are asked to attend. BCB has been on the walk every year since it started in 2012 and see it as an important part of our coverage of Refugee Week on BCB. People met up in City Park and walked all the way to Kirkstall – luckily the weather was fantastic! The theme of the walk was Walking Together, fitting in with the overall Refugee Week theme of ‘You Cannot Walk Alone’. Listen out for the radio programme recorded on the walk!

Posted in Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – May 2021

Welcome to the latest BCB newsletter. Here’s a taste of what’s been happening recently at BCB. Do let us know if you have any news for the next newsletter.

BCB Spring Break 10-16 May – Please read: Action Needed

After 19 years of full time broadcasting 24/7, we’ve decided that we need to set aside one week every quarter where we can stop, breathe and do some forward planning – as well as some of the important jobs that never quite get done!

During each of these weeks i.e. once every three months, we will not be broadcasting any new or live programmes. Instead we’ll be broadcasting pre-recorded/timeless/archive programmes that we’ll schedule in advance of the week. This will mean that there’ll be some changes to the usual schedule.

Our first ‘BCB on a Break’ week will be Spring BreakMonday 10 to Sunday 16 May. All the programmes during this week will be pre-recorded and will need to be scheduled into our playout system before Friday 7 May. 

Music programmes: If you are currently recording a programme for broadcast please can you record it so it could also be repeated in the week 10-16 May. Please do not make any “time sensitive” references in your programme i.e. don’t refer to any dates etc.  This should be a “stand alone” programme (that we can repeat again at a later date). Send it to us at radioshows@bcbradio.co.uk ASAP and label the audio file with your programme name (followed by) TIMELESS.

Speech based programmes: If you usually present a programme that contains time-sensitive information we’ll be in contact with you to get a plan of action for what we’ll broadcast from 10-16 May.

Daytime current affairs/news programmes: Bradford and Beyond/ About Bradford/Roundtable: We will not be broadcasting these programmes this week so you can take the week off!

Timeless/archive programmes: This is a great opportunity for you to produce a new one off/timeless programme that we can add to the BCB archive. You know – that programme that you’ve always intended to make! Please let us know ASAP if you plan to record a programme for the archive.

As this is the first time we’ve ever done this there may be well be some teething troubles but we can use this as a pilot, learn together and get better for next time!

(Programmes that are due for broadcast in the week commencing 17 May should be sent in as usual and they will scheduled when we return to normal duties on the 17th!)

Tech Specs:

1 hour shows should be 59m 52s – the last 4 mins should be music – no speech

30-min shows should be 29m 52s – the last 4 mins should be music – no speech

File format: mp3 OR m4a – 44,100 – 16 bit

Label: Programme Name followed by TIMELESS 1 eg. Press Start TIMELESS 1

Programme audio links should be emailed to: radioshows@bcbradio.co.uk (please do not cc in members of staff) – you should receive a confirmation email we have received your link (doesn’t always work for links from G-Drive accounts).

AND FINALLY! If you want any clarification with what you need to do, please get in contact with Jonathan:

jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

BCB Premises

As we start to ease out of lockdown, we’re looking again at the feasibility of re-opening 11 Rawson Road. So many of you have been asking about getting back into the building so we want to give you an update on what we’ve been doing.

Over the last few weeks we’ve set up a Premises Task group which is a joint group of Management Committee, staff, and volunteers. As well as looking at our longer term move out of the building into new premises in 2023, it’s also looking at getting back into Rawson Road. There are 3 phases to this process: 1 Exploring what needs to be done to make the building covid secure and ready for use – and then implementing those actions; 2. Limited opening and access to see how it works in practice; 3.Full opening of the building within the new limits of a yet unknown Covid future. So we are currently in phase 1. We are organising a deep clean of the building, servicing the gas boiler etc. Also we’ve had someone to look at our ventilation system (thanks BCB volunteer Pete Dutton!). The good news is that it’s a clean air ventilation system which brings fresh air into the building – ventilation is a big factor in reopening buildings in covid times and as we have no opening windows at BCB this is really important. So we will get that serviced and ready for use.

We’re also drawing up the covid risk assessments and what we’ll be asking anyone to do if they are planning to come into the building. This is of course evolving as the knowledge changes, testing becomes readily available and vaccination roll out continues.

So we’re moving forward very cautiously. Rest assured that the health and well being of all the BCB community – staff, volunteers and guests  – is our greatest concern. We will be sharing with you any proposals that we come up with for re-opening the building and listening to what you have to say.

May Bank Holidays: Show Deadlines

 

There’s a few bank holidays coming up in May and, on these days,staff won’t be working and scheduling shows as normal. If you have a show that is being broadcast these days here’s the information that you need to know.

Bank Holiday Monday Programmes:

Deadline for programmes broadcast on Monday 3 May: 2pm on Friday 30 April

Deadline for programmes broadcast on Monday 31 May: 2pm on Friday 28 May

Tech Specs:

1 hour shows should be 59m 52s – the last 4 mins should be music – no speech

30-min shows should be 29m 52s – the last 4 mins should be music – no speech

File format: mp3 OR m4a – 44,100 – 16 bit

Label: Programme Name followed by TIMELESS 1 eg. Press Start TIMELESS 1

Programme audio links should be emailed to: radioshows@bcbradio.co.uk (please do not cc in members of staff) – you should receive a confirmation email we have received your link (doesn’t always work for links from G-Drive accounts).

AND FINALLY! If you want any clarification with what you need to do, please get in contact with Jonathan:

jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

Youth Music

Our Youth Music project has had to change shape due to the Corona virus. Before we were getting people together in groups to learn live music skills in Bradford venues, now we are having to work differently.

​In order to covid proof the work, we’re supporting young people directly with one-to-one mentoring and a budget that they can spend directly on their musical ambitions. This should see them through to the end of the project at the end of this year.

We’ve got 5 mentors in place and 8 young people signed up.

You can listen to Asher talking about his first time in a professional recording environment, which came about through the project here:
https://soundcloud.com/bcbradio/asher-tt-first-time-in-a-professional-recording-studio

For more information contact david.carpenter@bcbradio.co.uk

Featured Programme of the Month

Boe&LX have recently started doing a show on BCB so we wanted to tell you more about it. The show goes out fortnightly from 11pm through till Midnight and presents a variety of disco, jazz, soul, funk and electronic music. Digging deep into their record collections to bring old undiscovered gems back to life and mixing them with upfront, brand new talent from around the world. You can find them on Twitter at @Boe_Lx, get in touch with them at me@leegoater.com and hear there most recent shows at there Mixcloud.

“This is BCB news” brought to you by Leeds Trinity

Since 1993 Leeds Trinity University media students have been honing their news reading and journalism skills on BCB and this year is no different. The Trinity news team has been providing hourly news bulletins, Monday-Friday, 10-6pm since 19th April alongside our own bulletins and will continue to do so until Friday 7th May.

Oldies still in the album chart

John Hebden is doing a programme entitled “Oldies still in the album chart”, which will highlight 70s and 80s artists who are still registering in the current UK album top 100 – Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Queen, Bob Marley and the like. John is looking for any BCBers who are interested in this period of music who would like to be involved in the programme. If you are get in touch with him at john.hebden@bcbradio.co.uk

Meet Our Management Committee

In this month’s newsletter we thought we’d tell you about BCB’s Management Committee and who is on it.

BCB’s management committee is made up of a group of dedicated volunteers.They are each voted onto the committee at the BCB AGM, serving a maximum period of three years before needing to seek re-election.

Each member of the committee is a director of the limited company and as such has a corporate governance role on behalf the organisation. This includes sitting on one of the subcommittees that oversee the strategic direction of the organisation and cover health and safety, employment, broadcasting, fundraising and marketing, and finance.

The individuals involved all have a wealth of experience and knowledge, spanning a diverse number of sectors including education, business, social enterprise, occupational health, and finance.

Dom Burch

Dom Burch is the chair of BCB’s Management Committee.

• Name: Dom Burch

• How long you’ve been on Mancom? 9 years

• When you first got involved with BCB and why? On my career break from Asda in 2011, Mary nabbed me for Roundtable at an event in Bradford

• An interesting fact about you: I’m related to Aston Merrygold from the boyband JLS

• Why you are proud to be a BCB volunteer? Because together we help transform people’s lives for the better

Naeem Nawaz

Naeem Nawaz is BCB’s treasurer

• Name: Naeem Nawaz

• How long you’ve been on Mancom? Dec 2016 (5 years)

• When you first got involved with BCB and why? Fill a skills gap on MANCOM around budgeting, forecasting and long term financial planning. I am involved on other charities/voluntary groups and was approached and asked to join BCB

• An interesting fact about you: Play cricket for Yorkshire disabled team and have played at Headingley, Old Trafford, Lords, The Oval and Rose Bowl

• Why you are proud to be a BCB volunteer? Brings people together and servers all communities. Playing my part along with others in ensuring BCB is looking ahead in these challenging and unique times.

Shamim Akhtar

• Name: Shamim Akhtar

• How long you’ve been on Mancom? 3 years

• When you first got involved with BCB and why? Short version is that I came for some radio training with a group of women in 2013 with the aim of it helping to build our confidence and Mary persuaded me to become part of the ‘family’

• An interesting fact about you: I love watching football and have a cat called Stevie, named after legendary footballer Steven Gerrard

• Why you are proud to be a BCB volunteer? Cannot put into words what BCB and our radio community means to me – what I will say is that it has changed my life and that of many others and I’m proud to be part of this organisation that really cares

Kirran Shah

• Name: Kirran Shah

• How long you’ve been on Mancom? Board member since 2019

• When you first got involved with BCB and why? In late 2017, I started training with Mary and David and then they talked me into presenting Drive in 2018!

• An interesting fact about you: I presented and produced ‘Out Loud’, an arts documentary for BBC Radio 4 in 2019

• Why you are proud to be a BCB volunteer? Because we amplify voices outside the mainstream, BCB nurtures people and shares stories from unheard communities

Tony Painter

• Name: Tony Painter

• How long you’ve been on Mancom? I joined Mancom at the AGM at the beginning of 2020.

• When you first got involved with BCB and why? My first BCB contact was late 2015, when The Record Club started our show. We only had one person able to “man the decks” so I went for some training. By the time I had the rudimentary skills, I’d been signed up for my own show…

• An interesting fact about you: In 1971, before he was properly famous, I sat next to Elton John at a Loudon Wainwright concert in Brighton Dome.

• Why you are proud to be a BCB volunteer? I am particularly proud of playing a small part in helping BCB to empower Bradford people.

Joe Sheeran

• Name: Joe Sheeran. Migrant from Ireland to Bradford in 1935

• When you first got involved with BCB and why? Involved with BCB from 2002. Started broadcasting weekly ‘Echoes of Ireland’ (an Irish cultural programme), shortly thereafter and still running

• An interesting fact about you: Was Chair of BCB for almost 15 years

Kathy Dyson

• Name: Kathy Dyson

• How long you’ve been on Mancom? This is my third year on Mancom.

• When you first got involved with BCB and why? I got involved at BCB when I was running some jazz gigs at the Black Dyke Mills and Norah Mc William ( who nows has the Queensbury Tunnel Campaign) asked me to do the interview. Jonathan then asked me to do a jazz show and Mary asked me if I wanted to co-present a Drive show.

• An interesting fact about you: I travelled around Europe for five years in a caravan with my husband and daughter playing gigs, festivals and busking.

• Why you are proud to be a BCB volunteer? BCB is a great organisation for connecting people from all different backgrounds and situations across the city. I like the general trust that is placed in us presenters and the fact that we are allowed to be ourselves. It’s the radio equivalent of a rich, vibrant, inviting, open public space filled with a plethora of different voices creating dialogues

Di Ives

• Name: Di Ives

• How long you’ve been on Mancom? I joined Mancom in 2020

• When you first got involved with BCB and why? I actually joined BCB in 2018 but I have been aware of BCB for many years and when I was employed by the Council, was able to provide an outpost in Shipley for broadcasting. So after I retired I was invited to sit in on afternoon stretch by Val Turner and through conversations with Mary and the fact that I always wanted to be a DJ I became a presenter of The Classical Hour!!

• An interesting fact about you: My passions are music, food, travel and the outdoors and have toured Europe, Scandinavia and the Uk in  an old Campervan which amazingly is still going (like me)!!

• Why you are proud to be a BCB volunteer? I love being involved with BCB because it’s local, about Bradford, my home town, with its many different communities.

Banaris Iqbal

Banaris is one of BCB’s longest serving presenters.He has also co-presented shows on the BBC Asian Network and serves on BCB’s management committee.Banaris loves Bollywood remixes, films (and fast food, but don’t tell anyone).

Alan Keeling

I spent 10 years in the Royal Navy.In 1960 I joined the Prudential Assurance Co, for 5 years and while I enjoyed working with people selling was not my bag.

In 1965 I moved to Shipley U.D.C. on amalgamation to Bradford M.D.C. housing department going from rent man to managing and then retiring after 32 years. In 1998 I was at a loose end I took a course on modern history at Bradford Uni and also one at BCB radio. 23 years later I am still here and enjoying it.

Posted in News

BCB Newsletter – April 2021

Welcome to the latest BCB newsletter. Here’s a taste of what’s been happening recently at BCB. Do let us know if you have any news for the next newsletter.

Thanks and Goodbye to Julie and Steve


Two members of staff will be leaving BCB at the end of March – Julie Longden and Steve McCabe.

​Julie has worked as BCB’s Community Engagement Worker for the last three years. This was a project funded by the Esmee Fairbairn foundation, which came to an end in December. Over this time Julie did some really important work at the heart of our values at BCB. She strove hard to engage and work alongside members of marginalised communities in Bradford, providing support and encouragement for those communities to have a voice and be listened to. More recently she has worked with women from marginalised communities to take part in our IWD broadcast, and contribute to our women’s programming throughout March. Julie has undoubtedly brought her unique brand of commitment, energy and enthusiasm to this role which will be missed. Thank you Julie from us all.

Steve has been our book- keeper for the last few years, providing that really important background support to BCB, ensuring that our finances are in order and we stay legal and afloat! He came into BCB every Tuesday morning and, as well as paying our bills, made a real positive contribution to the general life of BCB! Steve is retiring from BCB and we wish him well in the next chapter of his life.

March 2021: IWD and She Talks

Throughout March on BCB we’ve been celebrating women across the Bradford District – and Beyond! We had a fantastic day on International Women’s Day 8 March where we were able to broadcast a great range of programmes reflecting the voices of women from Bradford’s diverse communities. And since then we’ve been broadcasting a series of daily features and programmes called ‘She Talks’.

​This has been a real mix of discussions, interviews, reflections, expressions of creativity, celebrating achievements, understanding the challenges faced by different women –  and sometimes just having fun! Many women were broadcasting for the first time this gave them the space and opportunity for this to happen. So a great big THANK YOU to all the women who rose to the challenge and  let’s hope its inspired you to do more! You can find many of the programmes and features on the She Talks page on the BCB website.

BCB over Easter


Thanks to everyone who’s been recording a show (or supported those to record) and to all those who’ve tuned in to BCB 106.6fm during lockdown. It’s a great team effort and we really appreciate your hard work. Over the Easter Period (Friday 2nd April – Monday 5th April) staff will not be scheduling shows.For programmes to be broadcast in this period the deadline is Thursday 1st April, 3pm. Any programmes recieved after this won’t get scheduled in their usual slots and a repeat will be broadcast. If you have any further questions please call Jonathan on 07914 222007 or 01274 775007 or email him at jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

Track of the Week Playlists

Through our Youth Music project we’re showcasing music created by young people (under 25) from around the district on About Bradford and Bradford & Beyond via our Track Of The Week feature.

Those tracks that are also on Spotify or YouTube are now gathered into playlists:

Spread the word!

Featured Show – Gig Buddies Radio Show

The Gig Buddies Radio Show ( https://www.bcbradio.co.uk/programmes/gig-buddies-radio-show/) is a 4 weekly show that goes out in the BCB Xtra slot at 6:30pm.

​Gig Buddies is a project that matches people with a learning disability with a volunteer who has similar interests to go to nightlife activities together. The aim of the project is to support people with a learning disability to make new friends and help them go out and do the things they enjoy.

And now they have a radio show to tell the rest of us all about it!

The next Show features an interview with Paul Richards, the founder of Stay up Late ( https://stayuplate.org/) who started the idea. Mencap currently delivers Gig Buddies in Bradford, Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire, and the Gig Buddies Radio Show is broadcast once every four weeks here on BCB Radio.

BCB Website and IT

Over the last couple of years, we’ve been trying to make the BCB website more reflective of who we are as an organisation, and not just about accessing our radio broadcasts. As you may know, we don’t have anyone at BCB who is employed to support our IT needs or to manage the website. We are dependent on some amazing volunteers to support this work. With this in mind we want to recognise this work and say another big thank you particularly to Shi Blank, Richard Bruce and David Spencer who do this work behind the scenes – and at all hours of the day and night.! So Well Done and thanks to you all.

BCB Music Mailout

As some of you may have seen in your BCB emails we’re creating a music mailout for presenters. The plan is to have one list where we can pass on music sent through to the station, and local music we come across, through to volunteers easily. If you’d like to be on the list please email joe.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk and they can add you on to the list.

40 Years of 1 in 12 Club on BCB

This year is the 40th anniversary of Bradford’s 1 in 12 Club and we’re looking to mark it with some programming.

We’re working on a few shows but we also wanted to throw the doors open to our volunteers who might have specific ideas for programmes they want to do around the club’s history and importance to Bradford.

If you interested get in touch with Joe at joe.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk and we can discuss and work through the ideas.

Volunteer Details Update

As we’ve mentioned in previous newsletters we are currently updating BCB volunteer details. We’ve completed records on 54 active volunteers with lots more still to be contacted / details updated. This is a process that takes time and we’re still planning to be in touch with people as soon as possible. We’ll be in touch soon or feel free to get in contact with us.

Posted in Newsletter

Easter 2021 – Show deadlines

Here are the deadlines for sending programmes to radioshows@bcbradio.co.uk over Easter:

Programmes broadcast on Good Friday and Easter Saturday:
DEADLINE (the latest time we receive them): Wednesday 31st March, 3pm

Programmes broadcast on Easter Sunday, Easter Monday and Tuesday 6th April:
DEADLINE (the latest time we receive them): Thursday 1st April, 3pm

Please note:
Ideally, the earliest you should send programme links for the above dates is Monday 29th March.

Posted in Uncategorized

BCB Newsletter – February 2021

BCB – Making Bradford Sparkle!

You may have seen this but if not, a few weeks ago BCB was featured in Sparkling Bradford. We’d been nominated as an organisation that makes Bradford Sparkle so well done to us! Click here to read more

BCB – becoming an anti racist organisation

At BCB we have been committed for over 25 years to creating a platform for many different people to have a voice and share their stories, passions and experiences. We pride ourselves on the wide range of voices we hear on our airwaves, and the people we welcome into the building.

​Our vision for BCB is one where we want everyone to feel valued and central to all the work we are doing. We know from the Black Lives Matter Movement that not all black people and people of colour feel valued or central in the workplace or in society as a whole. As an organisation that has strived for 25 years to reach out to the many diverse communities, we care about the impact of racism on our staff and volunteers and we want to learn from you and work together to develop strategies that eliminate it.

We want to keep developing our vision of a united BCB where no one gets left behind. We want every single person to be valued and cared about and central to all the work we do.

We know there are many causes of inequality and oppression and we will continue to address all the ways our staff and volunteers experience oppression. However racism is one of the key oppressions that is dividing people at this point and therefore a good place to start.

We have already started this work as a staff team where we meet every week to read information about racism, have difficult conversations, and support each other to face really uncomfortable feelings at times. We have listened to each other uninterrupted and become stronger in our relationships with one another. There is no blame and no shame just an honest space to learn from each other.

We are also working on a new database that will give us better information about all our volunteers to show us if we are being representative of all the groups in our city. It also allows us to ensure that our volunteers are being included in all the work we do.

We know from our day-to-day conversations that this is an issue that others, in and around our organisation, also feel strongly about and are looking for ways to make a difference.

If you would like to work with us to continue to build a united BCB radio where no one gets left behind we’ll be holding a zoom meeting very soon so watch out for more information.

IWD on BCB March 8th

Things are coming together for our International Women’s Day ‘Radio Venus’ broadcast. We’ve held some really good of planning meetings via zoom and Julie Longden has been supporting lots of women to record programmes for the day – many women making programmes for the first time which is exciting. We are particularly encouraging programmes from Black Women and Women of Colour this year. We’re delighted that new women have got involved and we look forward to hearing their contributions on IWD. The schedule will be on the website once its finalised!

‘She Talks’ on BCB March 2021

As reported last month, ‘She Talks’ will feature on BCB throughout March 2021. We want to get contributions from as many women as we can from across the Bradford District – opinion pieces, interviews, conversations, poetry, stories, programmes etc. If possible we would like women to record pieces on their phone or other devices and send them to us – they can be just a few minutes long and focus on just one aspect of your life, your experiences, thoughts, hopes, life after lockdown… etc. Please encourage any women you know to contribute! For more information contact mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

LGBTQ+ History Month on BCB 106.6fm

Throughout February we’ve broadcast a unique range of distinctly Bradford programmes, interviews and features to mark and celebrate LGBTQ+ history month. To name just a few we’ve had The Brick Box’s Rosie Freeman presenting a queer reading of the Brontes, community organisation Free2B-Me telling us about the work they do supporting the LGBTQ+ community in Bradford, a drag special from Sew Keighley Pride and a whole host of shows from The Equity Radio show team. As always none of this would have been possible without the hard work of BCB’s volunteers and staff so a big thank you to everyone who worked hard to mark the month!

You can take a look at everything we’ve done for LGBTQ+ history month here (thanks to Shi Blank for putting this all together)

MILES Erasmus project

We may have formally left the EU but BCB is delighted to be partners to a new 2 year European project starting in April 2021! The project has just received approval and is part of the Erasmus Adult Education programme. It’s a partnership with Community Radio Stations in Austria, Spain, Hungary, Luxembourg and Ireland and is focusing on developing Media and Information Literacy skills through involvement with Community Radio. More info to come over the next few months.

Featured Programme Of The Month

Whittaker’s World is a new programme on BCB hosted by Clive Whittaker, who some of you may know as the host of With A Little Help. The show goes out every Wednesday and Friday 2.15 – 3pm.

On each show Clive picks a topic and investigates it further with a series of guests. Previous shows have looked at complementary health and Shiatsu with Carol Deane and Azim Nobeebaccus from the Northern School of Shiatsu, the journey of refugees with Ethiopian and Congolese refugees and retirement with Peter Tate (ex-Youth Officer and Teacher) and Bhulla Singh (Ex Area Co-ordinator at Bradford West Neighbourhood office). So as you can see it’s a show that covers a lot of topics!

Bradford Music Network – Steering Group

You may have heard of the Bradford Music Network. They put a call out for steering group members late last year, and as a result ‘BCB’ has been given a place on the group. Other BCB people may have applied independently, and may already have a place. We’d like to see the BCB spot taken up by someone who’s really into making Bradford a better place for music, and who is also happy to bring feedback from the group to the rest of the BCB organisation.

​If you are that person, or know who that person should be, please get in touch with David Carpenter – david.carpenter@bcbradio.co.uk (by 5pm on March 5th please)

The first meeting of the steering group is on March 10th 4pm – 6pm via Zoom – If we don’t have anyone else by then, David will attend. (If you want to do it but can’t make this first meeting, get in touch anyway. If you miss the deadline, but are interested, get in touch anyway.)

Depending on the response, we can sort it out from there.

Posted in Newsletter

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

BCB in Covid times

Over these tough months of the Covid 19 pandemic, through the amazing commitment of our volunteers and staff team, BCB has continued to provide a valuable community radio service for Bradford. Working in our bedrooms and living rooms, we’ve discovered a whole range of new technologies to produce our radio programmes to keep Bradford connected. But of course people are constantly asking: ‘When is BCB going to open again?’. And the answer is – we don’t know.

What we can do is tell you what we’re currently doing to try to make BCB Covid secure. A group of 4 people from the BCB Management Committee and staff have been meeting regularly to develop a plan for re-opening the building. Like all community buildings, this is a real challenge and a responsibility, especially with the increased lockdown that we’re now in. Following government guidelines, we’re drawing up detailed risk assessments for the BCB studios; we’ve been examining the reasons for re-opening the building, recognising all the things that we haven’t been able to do since lockdown. We’ve also started to think about developing different ways of working too. Undoubtedly it will be a long time before we can vision BCB as being ‘back to normal’ so it’s important to find new ways to engage people, bring people together, and provide the strong sense of community that we all feel being part of BCB. We’ll be sharing all those ideas with you very soon to see what you think. In the meantime do get in contact with any thoughts that you have about re-opening. More information on our progress will appear on the BCB blog.

Posted in News

With a Little Help…

We’ve just provided a little help that will make a big difference to 16 young musicians.

Under lockdown, these young people have lost access to equipment and expertise that has meant they were stuck, unable to be as creative as they wanted to be.

We’ve redirected some of the budget that we should have spent on our Masterclasses into small grants of equipment and music lessons. We’ve even had a volunteer helping to fix a hopelessly out of tune guitar. Whatever we can do to help people get unstuck.

School music lessons and instrument classes provided affordably through schools have stopped, so reconnecting young people to a regular activity, and giving them a chance to learn through private lessons should see them through to when schools return in September.

Small bits of equipment, like a microphone, an audio interface or a midi keyboard are enough to get many of the young people into a position to record at home. This is a key skill for today’s musicians, and access to equipment is a real issue.

Here’s what the young people had to say about the help they have received…

“Had first vocal lesson today. Went well. Enjoyed . Did some scales and breathing exercises. Thank you BCB for organising.”

“[…] has a weekly drum lesson at school but obviously hasn’t had one since the schools closed. He would really benefit from it…”

How will you benefit from gear?
“I’d be using it for performing from home and recording my own songs.”

“I’d use it for solo projects such as solo EP, I’d use it with my band, I’d also use it to record and produce other artists and maybe create some podcasts in the future but I would mostly be using it for music recording on the go and at home.”

“I’d like to use any equipment provided for me to record from home and to also help me become more comfortable with recording and producing.”

“I’d use it for composing my own music and getting my ideas down all in one place.”

“I’d like it because it will be crucial in honing my production skills while at home. I’d have the ability to record instruments instead of just sequencing so it would help my mixing.”

Why do you need this gear?
“I’ve got a mic, but I can’t record my electric guitar from home, so this interface is just what I need.”

“Stuck in the house, I haven’t been able to create at all, but now I can.”

“I use Reaper and it requires an audio interface, so I was stuck without it. Being able to record with instruments will allow me to mix and use VSTs and so on.”

“The only thing I had was a mic stand, nothing else! To have this to record with is really handy.”

“I’m a vocalist and I don’t have a mic!”

“I can use this equipment to put down music I’ve created and record it.”

“I can use the equipment to record some songs and finally get them done. I used to use college equipment but I can no longer access that.”

“I’d love to have my music out there. I express my emotions and feelings through music, but I didn’t have any equipment until now.”

“The plastic microphone I use was just not up to the job. Now I’ll be able to belt it out in my bedroom!”

Equipment

Most people just needed one or two items. The bulk of the equipment came from the following list.

Microphone package: AKG P120 Condenser mic, stand, cable, and pop shield

Audio Interface: Behringer UMC2020HD

Headphones: Behringer HPX4000

Midi Keyboard: M-Audio Keystation 49 MKIII USB Controller

Posted in News

Track of the week!

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’ll be able to hear the track in our About Bradford shows between 11am and 12 noon, and 5pm and 6pm during the week.

It will also be featured on the BCB Home Page, and listed on our dedicated Youth Music site under the On Air This Week page.

If you have a track that you think we should be featuring, then fill in this form and contact us and let us know.

Be prepared. You’ll need to…

  • Send us or point us to a track that we can download.
  • Provide some information to go with it. Our presenters will use this in their shows, so the only information they will have is the information you give them!

So:

  • your name
  • your age (at least one of your band should be in the 12-25 age group)
  • the artist’s name (if different)
  • a sentence or two about yourself, your band, the band members, etc
  • any social links
  • where to get (buy) the track,
  • an image that we can use on our website and social media (not necessarily a photo)
  • how to contact you
Posted in News

Refugee Week on BCB

Last week was Refugee Week 2020 and across the week, and in the buildup to, and we marked it with a variety of different guests and interviews. Here’s just some of the guests we had on.

Friday 12th June 

Refugee Week Overview – Deb Collett, Refugee Week Project Coordinator, Artworks

Monday 15th June

About Bradford (AB) 11-12pm

Millside Centre RW event – Furaha Mussanzi, Millside Centre Manager

Uni works with Schools to create ‘This is me’ Exhibition, AND refugee portrayal in media – Dr Karen D Thornton, Programme Leader BA (Hons) Film and Television Production featuring Child refugee voices from Oasis Academy

Drive 4-5pm

Bradford for Everyone RW events – Matthew Henderson Project Support Officer at Bradford for Everyone

Tuesday 16th June

AB 11-12pm

City of Sanctuary – Will Sutcliffe, Chair

Drive 4-5pm

Bradford’s Stand up and be Counted Theatre Co’ RW events – Rosie MacPherson, Artistic Director

Refugee Youtube video – Ben Mussansi

Wednesday 17th June

AB 11-12pm

Refugee Personal Experiences – Joy tells experiences of being denied education because she was a person seeking asylum.

Drive 4-5pm

Windrush Celebrations – Jerry Crawford

Thursday 18th June 

AB 11-12pm

Refugee Personal Experiences – Mable, Mario and Benemin who are seeking asylum from Elsalvador.

Arakan Rohingya Organisation Artwork Competition for refugee children – Mohammed Amin, AROUK

Drive 4-5pm

How Abigail Housing help Refugees and their Virtual Mountain Climb – Amanda Church Macfarlaine – Destitution Project Coordinator

Bradford Cathedral virtual exhibition: Freedom / Wolność Finding Home. Stories from Polish Refugees – Basia Szymańska, exhibitor

Friday 19th June 

AB 11-12pm

Refugee Personal Experiences – Anonymous interview with ‘X’ who is fleeing Domestic Abuse in Malawi. Julie PR

Art and Chat event for RW – Uzma Kasi, Trainee Art Therapist

Drive 4-5pm

Windrush Flag Raising Event – Nigel Guy

Refugee Personal Experiences – Patrick Congolese has just been granted UK Citizenship after a 10 year battle!

British Red Cross Refugee work –  Naomi Philips from British Red Cross

Thanks to everyone who took part in our coverage this year. If you wanted to listen again to any of the interviews head over to our Listen Again page and you’ll be able to find the interviews on the relevant days

Posted in News

Call To Action / Update

This is an update and a call to action for all BCB presenters.

Programme Pages

Thanks to all the people that have sent us information about thier programmes for our new Programme Pages on the website: https://www.bcbradio.co.uk/programmes/

ACTION: We’re now asking for you to provide a picture/image for your show, that we can display on that page, and on the individual programme page.

If you want to alter the text on your programme page, please fill in this form: http://tinyurl.com/bcbprogrammes

Listen Again

The new programme pages make it much easier to find your show on the listen again website. You might find it easier to point people to your programme page on the BCB Website rather then telling them to go directly to the listen again website.

If you have your shows on a podcast platform (mixcloud etc), then that information can go on your Programme Page.

Track of the Week

As part of the Youth Music Project, we’re trying to showcase one track each week made by young people from the district. The track should be linked from the website each Monday. maybe you could feature it in your show?

If you do chose to use it please tell us so we can report back to the funders.

Promoting your show

Thanks to everyone who is sending information for tweets and our online schedule on a regular basis – it’s great to give people more information about your shows. It would be great to get more presenters doing this so we’ve come up with a few guidelines on how to do so:

What we need from you: A short description (under 280 characters which is Twitter’s limit) of what’s on your show when it is being broadcast (guests, music, themes, relavent pieces of info), any relevant twitter handles, and a landscape photo.

The photo doesn’t need to be a picture of yourself (although it can be if you’d like!) but it does need to be something related to the show and in landscape. The photo needs to be in landscape as Twitter crops portrait photos.

Where to send it to: DM us on Twitter at @bcbradio or email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

When we need it by / Deadlines: Ideally we need this information 5pm the day before your show is broadcast – this gives us chance to schedule social media posts and update our online schedule.If you can send this information before then please do, the sooner we get it the sooner we can use it. Any information sent after 5pm on the day of a show will not be updated. NB: this doesn’t apply to anybody producing About Bradford programmes which are usually produced on the day.

Posted in News

Corona Chronicles – New BCB Project

We’ve just launched a new project at BCB, in partnership with the NSMM. It’s called The Corona Chronicles and its aim is to create an audio archive of life in Bradford during the Covid-19 lockdown.

We want to capture the lived experiences, the feelings and effects of lockdown on members of all Bradford’s communities during this period, as well as exploring what technologies you may have been using (or not) to keep in touch. And the BCB community is where we’re starting.

We’re recording the interviews in different ways, using a range of technologies. It seems to take about 20 / 25 minutes. Interviews can be anonymous if you prefer. The main aim of the interviews is to create an archive,  recording this period of time for people in Bradford rather than for broadcast.

If you’d like to get involved please email Mary at mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

Posted in News

Editing a video call recording

We’re still finding ways to improve our remote broadcasting, to make it more efficient and easier so we can get more people set up to do it. Over the past few weeks we’ve been looking at doing programmes and interviews through video calls, and how we need to edit these to a broadcast-ready standard once recorded. Here’s what we’ve come up with:

Editing a video call recording

The video call recording may not end up as an audio file that you, or your software would normally recognise. It will probably be an M4A file.

You really want to get to a stage where your editing software can just open it.

  • Audacity – You will need to install FFmpeg which allows Audacity to import and export a much larger range of audio formats including M4A (AAC), AC3, AMR (narrow band) and WMA and also to import audio from most video files.
  • Ocenaudio – opens them immediately.
  • Cool Edit – won’t open them unless you convert them first.

If your editor can’t open them, then conversion to a format that it can handle (e.g. WAV, MP3, OGG) could be a solution. It is far better to do this on your computer than to send it to a website to convert for you. (There are many websites that offer online conversion, but there are many that add spyware, viruses, etc. It also takes time to upload and download files, when your computer can do it in seconds. Avoid!)

There are many software options for doing audio conversion, but at BCB we have been using Fre:ac.

We’ve got a whole host of remote broadcasting tips here

Posted in News

Helping Bring Bradford Together: Bradford Pride and Bradford City Fire Memorial Service

COVID-19 and the ensuing lockdown have meant that many staple events in the Bradford calendar have had to find different ways to operate, and we’re happy to have helped two of the most important to happen.

Bradford Pride

Saturday saw Virtual Bradford Pride take place and it was great to be a part of the day. On the day, 2-3pm, we featured the build up to Bradford Pride’s livestream that took place on their social media pages and also broadcast the March For Bradford Pride 3-4pm – a socially distanced march put together by Rosie and May from The Brick Box.

Bradford City Fire Memorial Service

Monday was the 35th anniversary of the Bradford City fire, when 56 fans lost their lives. The memorial service is hugely important in bringing the people of Bradford together so it was a major shame that it couldn’t happen in its usual format. On the day we broadcast the remote memorial service and paid our respects, along with the rest of Bradford, to those who lost their lives.

Posted in News

Positive Numbers: Programmes and Programme Pages

We’re getting more and more people producing programmes remotely. Last week we hit the milestone of 70 new and remotely recorded programmes being broadcast on BCB – which is great. Through helping people set up to remotely record we’ve found quite a few different ways to do it, whether that’s using Audacity, Voicemeeter Banana, Mixxx etc, so if you’re still looking to do your show outside of BCB then get in touch and we can help you find something that suits. It’s also worth have a look here for some tips.

We’ve now got around 88 programme pages in the new section of the website, which is a good start. Thanks to everyone who filled in the programme page information form we sent out last week, we’ve had 21 or so responses to that and they’re being added to the site. If you didn’t receive the form, you can fill it and send it off here

Posted in News

BCB Website: Programme Pages, Presenter Profiles, Music Blog

We’ve been doing some work on the BCB website over the past few weeks and there are a few things we wanted to tell you about.

Programme Pages

We’ve added a new section for programme pages, as some of you may have already seen. It’s currently under construction but you can have a look here.

The plan is to have individual pages for each programme  with 1) a description of the programme 2) when the programme is next on, and 3) when the programme was last on with Listen Again links.

To make the most of these pages we need some information from you about your shows. If you could please fill in this form that would be great: https://tinyurl.com/bcbprogrammes

Presenter Profiles

While we’re at it, we thought it would be a good idea to update / create some new presenter profiles for the website.

The link to do both of those things is here: https://tinyurl.com/bcbpresenters

The word count is 300 maximum and the profile should be written in the third person. If you’re a new presenter we’ll need to get a photo at some point, but for now we’ve got a plan to do without.

Music Blog

The BCB music blog is back up and running but not currently in use by anyone. If you’ve got ideas for use and want to contribute then get in touch with us.

Posted in News

Progammes Pages, Round Table and Radio Premieres

Programme Pages

Over the past week we’ve doing some work on the website, in particular the new programme page section. The plan is that every BCB programme will have its own individual page with: 1) a brief programme description, 2) dates for when the programme is next broadcast, and 3) dates of past shows with links to the relevant Listen Again pages. We’re still working on this so bear with us. Once we’ve populated the site with programme pages we’ll be sending out a form to each presenter to gather information so keep an eye on your inbox for this in the next few days.

Remote Round Table
We’re continuing to get a steady steam of new remotely-produced programmes and, last Friday, our first lockdown Round Table – our weekly news discussion programme with guests from around Bradford – was broadcast. The programme had a slightly changed format, 30 minutes rather than an hour and two guests rather than three, but its early days and we’re hoping for the show to become a weekly fixture once again. Watch this space! 

Freedom Studios – ‘North Country’ Radio Premiere on BCB
“If your whole world was destroyed…What would you do next?”

Last week BCB premiered the radio adaptation of Bradford based Freedom Studios ‘North Country’. The premiere was on Thursday at 3pm and got some good interaction on BCB’s social media which is positive, and the play was repeated on Saturday. If you missed the broadcast first time around you can listen back here

Posted in News

67 New Shows, Remote Working and Getting Set Up!

More presenters, more new shows
Last week we had 67 new shows go out on BCB and more presenters producing radio at home. Among the presenters creating their first “lockdown” shows were: Maureen Grant, Ian Forward, Malcolm Currie, Maria Spadafora and Clare Soundy. This week Chris Holland is attempting to do a Business Matters programme via Zoom and we have plans to a Round Table with guests to be broadcast on Friday

Remote Working + Getting Set Up
Over the past few weeks we had been having issues with staff members not being to remotely access their work PCs. The good news is that we’ve now got every staff member set up to access their work PCs from home so that’s a positive. Julie Longden, our community reporter, was initially having issues recording interviews without getting static interference – we seem to be getting to bottom of this and Julie has recorded interviews static free.

Posted in News

Some good news to end the week!

Internet woes – an end to?
As some of you may know we’ve been having serious issues with out internet recently, which has hampered our ability to work from home / broadcast online (thanks to a workaround we’ve managed to keep broadcasting online throughout this). There is some good news on this! We’ve got a new, hopefully improved, service from our internet provider so fingers crossed this will spell the end to our internet issues.

New Shows
We’ve had more volunteers produce their first “lockdown shows” this week. We’ve had new shows from: Maria Spadafora, David Carpenter, Maureen Grant, Nic Fusco and Adam Paterson and they’ve all gone out this week. As always if you’re looking for supporting in producing shows from remotely / from home get in touch with us here at BCB and we get you set up with something that works for you. It’s also worth having a look at our tips for remote broadcasting.

Posted in News

There are many ways to record remotely

As a staff team we’ve been looking to different methods of recording and producing radio remotely, and have found lots of options. Here are some of the options we are looking at:

VoiceMeeter Banana
Open Broadcast Software
Mixxx
Clean Feed

It’s great to be finding more alternatives and methods to remote broadcasting as they could be useful to our volunteers. If you’re using a different piece of software / method don’t hesitate to get in touch and let us know –  the more avenues available the better!

Posted in News

New shows, Social Media and Staff

More presenters and new shows!

Yet more people are managing to prepare shows from home for broadcast. Today Shamim Akhtar, who presents About Bradford every Thursday 11-12pm, put together her first remote About Bradford including interviews with Reverend Jenny Ramsden, writer Abda Khan and her daughter Rahbia Hussain.

We’ve also new broadcast new programmes from Kathy Dyson and Peg Alexander on the gender pay-gap, Mary Dowson speaking to Bradford Literature Festival Director Syima Aslam about their decision to cancel the festival this year, and Graham Glover and Michael Clough have produced their first remote Afternoon Stretch which will go out on Friday 10th April, 2.15-4pm.

It’s great that so many of our presenters are producing new shows. If you need advice on remote broadcasting, this is the place to go: www.bcbradio.co.uk/remote-broadcasting

Social Media

We’re settling into a nice rhythm with our new social media system and have had some great interaction across platforms and a big thank you to everyone who has been DMing tweets about their shows! We’ve noticed that photos in portrait format get cropped by Twitter in a way that ruins the photo, so, if you’re sending a photo to be used on Twitter, please send a landscape format photo or one cropped using Twitter’s cropping tool. If you need any help with this email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk or DM us on Twitter.

Staff

As a staff team we’re getting more familiar with the technology required to work from home and keep BCB broadcasting 24/7. This hasn’t been helped with yet more internet problems but we’re working around them as best we can. Onwards and upwards!

Posted in News

50 new shows last week

Last week, we broadcast around 50 new programmes produced and presented from home, so congratulations to everyone who’s broadcast a programme so far. If you’re still setting up at home and need any help, please contact us and we’ll get a plan of action.

KEEP IN TOUCH

We’re keen to keep in touch with as many people as possible, especially if you’re at home by yourself, so feel free to contact us for a catch-up. Mary is also producing and presenting our Keeping In Touch radio programme, chatting to people about what it’s like for people at home right now, (the most recent Keeping in Touch programme was on Saturday 12.30pm), so if you’d like to chat to Mary on a future show, please email her at mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

NEWS BULLETINS

Richard Horsman is producing and presenting 2 x daily news bulletins starting from Monday. If you record a radio interview with a guest and you can edit a 20 second soundbite that you think will make a real impact on the bulletin, please save your audio cut as an MP3 into Google Drive > BCB Audio > newscuts OR email bulletins@bcbradio.co.uk (give Richard some context too: name, organisation, what they’re referring to in the audio clip).

HOME BROADCASTING

Please record your show with speech levels peaking at -3db and music levels at -6db (ideally 29m 52s or 59m 52s)

If your programme contains music, please say your goodbyes around 5 minutes before the end of your show and play a 5 minute music track, so we can fade the last track to accommodate news bulletins, breaking news, special announcements etc.

Email them as an MP3 (mp3 44100 mono is the best, we can’t handle wavs at the mo), or if you’re using BackPack studio, as an M4A mono 48kb via a file transfer site: – wetransfer.com, or click “copy link” on a dropbox/google drive/onedrive audio file and email:

  • radioshows@bcbradio.co.uk

Direct Message (DM) a tweet to @bcbradio to promote your show on twitter – and send a photo of your home “set up” eg laptop, PC, phone, headphones, pot of tea etc – and Joe Emmett will post a tweet via @BCBRadio on Twitter.

If your show is

  • on-air Tuesday-Friday, please send it to us BEFORE 3PM THE DAY BEFORE BROADCAST
  • on-air Saturday, Sunday or Monday, please send it to us BEFORE 3PM ON THE FRIDAY BEFORE

Thanks to everyone who’s keeping BCB broadcasting on the airwaves 24/7, keep up the good work everyone!

Stay safe, and thanks – Jonathan

Posted in News

..and we’re back!

We bodged up a fix for the internet broadcast stream over the weekend. Thanks to everyone who helped, especially the Community Media Association and their excellent documentation.  It wasn’t quite sticky tape and plasters, but not far off.

On the Air

It was great to hear long term volunteer Banaris Iqbal back on the air over the weekend (7pm Sunday). Jonathan helped set him up on Backpack Studio, and ‘boom’!

We also had pre-recorded shows from lots of other presenters, so well done everyone. Most of Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday should be available to Listen Again

More Broadcast Tech

Mixxx is a free software application that acts a lot like Myriad – it has a number of decks/carts that can be filled with carts and fired off at will. It can also record your microphone, and will ‘duck’ the background music as you speak over it. While it looks very different and is aimed at DJs, it can work well for Radio presenting. Here’s a useful introduction: Broadcast on your Radio with Mixxx

We still don’t have great solutions for recording phone interviews, but fyi, David is experimenting with Android-Call-Recorder – https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.axet.callrecorder/ (Contact him for help!)

Staff

We’re still settling into our new roles and getting used to the new technology that we need to organise ourselves remotely, but we had our weekly team meeting today – ‘just like normal’ – well…

This week the schedule looks pretty much under control, and we’re continuing to try to reach out to people to help them broadcast.

Posted in News

Today: Internet, Ofcom, and Youth Work

Internet woes

Unfortunately the internet into and out of the building at BCB has been down for much of the last 24 hours. We’re at the mercy of Virginmedia, so apologies if you’ve not been able to listen. Many of our shows are shared at various places around the web. Try searching https://www.mixcloud.com/ for ‘bcbradio’ or https://www.mixcloud.com/discover/bcbradio/?order=latest

We’ve updated our Remote Broadcasting page today with a few amendments but also with the following Ofcom guidance:

OFCOM Guidance on Broadcast content relating to the Coronavirus

We recognise that licensees will want to broadcast content relating to the Coronavirus and that dissemination of accurate and up-to-date information to audiences will be essential during the current situation. However, we remind all broadcasters of the significant potential harm that can be caused by material relating to the Coronavirus. This could include:

  • Health claims related to the virus which may be harmful.
  • Medical advice which may be harmful.
  • Accuracy or material misleadingness in programmes in relation to the virus or public policy regarding it.

We will be prioritising our enforcement of broadcast standards in relation to the above issues. In these cases, it may be necessary for Ofcom to act quickly to determine the outcome in a proportionate and transparent manner, and broadcasters should be prepared to engage with Ofcom on short timescales.

Ofcom will consider any breach arising from harmful Coronavirus-related programming to be potentially serious and will consider taking appropriate regulatory action, which could include the imposition of a statutory sanction.

Youth Work Sessions

We’re still managing to broadcast the voices of young people, and today we held our first virtual youth work session with four of our young people who are involved in our Youth Music Live! project The technology seemed to hold up, and we really enjoyed seeing each other and having a chat about life under the new restrictions, school/college and coursework, and ways to continue making radio and music.

Broadcast News

Many people are still managing to get broadcast-ready shows to us. Coming up this weekend expect new shows from Nigel Lambert, Joe Sheeran, Adam Paterson and Di Ives.

Posted in News

Getting connected and losing connections

Today we’ve done some more work on setting us up for remote working. Rocket.Chat for instant messaging, and CryptPad for shared documents – both these services are way more respectful than most of privacy, and will allow us to store our data on our own server, or have it encrypted elsewhere. We also hit a BCB milestone where all of the regular daytime staff were in a video conference on Jitsi at the same time for the first time!

However, we have lost the internet to the building. It went off around 11:30am and means we don’t have remote access (bad news!) We’re at the mercy of Virgin Media. Thankfully, we’re still broadcasting on good ol’ fashioned analogue FM. Hopefully it will be back soon.

Maintaining Connections

As well as broadcasting, we’re all about community. We’re also working out how to stay in touch with as many people as possible, not just for broadcasting but socially as well. Lists are being written and we’ll be in touch soon if we haven’t already. In the meantime feel free to contact us if you want to!

Recording many people at once

We’ve had pointers from our volunteers about other video conferencing software that allows you to record. Michelle Dalgety pointed us at Skype Call Recorder (Windows) and Dave Spencer thinks that Google Hangouts may have enabled voice recording for all (previously a paid for feature). Anyone else had success with these or know of others?

Youth Work

Looking at ways to keep our Youth Work going I found a really interesting publication from the Proud Trust that gives some useful guidance, policy and ideas for working remotely:

Digital Youth Work – A rapid response to delivering quality LGBT+ Youth Work during the COVID-19 Public Health Crisis (pdf)

Submitted Shows

Thanks to Moshua for getting his 30 Mins of Madness to us (Thursday 6:30pm) and Pete for The Turtle’s Head Punk Show (Thursday 11pm)
Sammi ‘s Bollywood Beats yesterday was produced with Backpack Studio (iphone), as was Hana’s show, Up to Eleven.
Ann Morgan did a 1 hour show  today using a digital recorder and Audacity which sounded really good.

Tweeting Stuff

Over the next few weeks we’re looking to step up how we promote your shows through BCB’s Twitter, and to do this we need your help in a few ways.

1) If you want BCB to promote your show on our Twitter then we need you to send us information. What we need is a brief description of the show’s content – Twitter only allows you to use 280 characters – and, if possible, a picture.

When you’re transferring your shows to us via radioshows@bcbradio.co.uk you can include both of these or email them separately to joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk if you need to.

2) If you’re using your own Twitter to promote then please tag BCB (@bcbradio) and we will give it a retweet.

As well as promoting what BCB is broadcasting we’re also retweeting information from official sources (NHS, Bradford Council etc) that might be useful for people right now.

Posted in News

Working remotely

We’re trying our best to work out how everyone can work and contribute remotely.

Today I’ve been working on software/hardware support to try make sure we can communicate, and access the studio remotely.

We’re using Jitsi to teleconference, and that seems to be going ok.

Great to see that a number of volunteer presenters have been in touch and are already making shows from home. To support that we have some online resources (jingles, announcements, music, etc) that people can use as content. If you send us ready to broadcast audio, we can login, add it to the audio wall and schedule it to broadcast. Joseph has scheduled brand new Up to Eleven, Echoes of Ireland, Bollywood Beats, Blowin and, Keeping it Green today.

We’re getting stories of how people are recording telephone interviews – holding the phone to a recorder seems to be one way(!), apps like Ringr
look promising as well. Joseph and I managed to record a conversion using Jitsi. If you have any tips/ideas/recommendations, then please let us know.

We’re also finding that laptop microphones are pretty good quality – just set up Audacity, press record and start talking seems to work for many.

Recording your voice onto your phone is also pretty easy. Sharing that file so it can be edited can depend on iPhone/Android but ‘sharing’ it from your phone can mean it gets sent via email, Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud and so on.

Mary managed to do some live broadcasting on her last day in the building, presenting About Bradford.

We did lose the internet in the middle of the afternoon, which makes all of our remote work pretty difficult, but it did come back about 10 (long) minutes later.

Finally, we’re working on ways to organise ourselves so that we stay in touch with everyone, help get as many people to air as want to (both in a presenting role and a guest role), and keep ourselves healthy as much as possible!

Posted in News

BCB Newsletter – February 2020

Radio Venus IWD broadcast: Sunday 8th March

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Join us on BCB on Sunday 8th March to celebrate International Women’s Day.

It’s the day when women take over the airwaves on BCB, coming together to present a full day of women’s broadcasting.

Over 50 women will be involved on the day, reflecting Bradford and the wonderful world we live in including Belle Vue girls, The Brickbox Ladies, Free2BeMe, Working Class Women, Speakers Corner, FGM, Bradford Fringe, Kirsty Taylor, Palestinian women – and LOADS more!

Have a look at the BCB website next week for the final schedule for the day.

If you’d like to be part of this there’s still time – contact Mary for more info.

Ofcom Training Sessions

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Thanks to 84 people who have attended our Ofcom Broadcasting Code Training sessions so far.

Every presenter needs to attend a session, so we will be planning one last big push to make sure everyone has taken part.

There has been some interesting discussions, especially around how presenters plan their programmes – and about the role and responsibilities of presenters, especially when we’re chatting to guests on live programmes.

Some of our daytime programmes including About Bradford, Round Table, Afternoon Stretch and Drive are presented by different presenters on different days – and a few presenters have mentioned that they’d like more regular meetings and get together of the programme teams, so we’ll look at planning some in the months to come.

Youth Music Live!

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Our Youth Music Live! project continues.

Masterclass 5 is this Sunday at Prospect Studios, and Masterclass 4 took place earlier in the month at Kala Sangam.

Stay up to date via the website at https://bcbradioyouth.music.blog/

We’ve also started to create a Bradford Music Map of the resources available to young musicians in the district. Let us know what you think.

Coronavirus and BCB

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This issue has been raised by one our concerned volunteers.

Just to let you know that during this period of the coronavirus epidemic, BCB will be following the guidelines and advice issued by Public Health England.

At this stage this is mostly common sense – e.g. encouraging everyone to wash their hands, cough and sneeze into a tissue, keep surfaces clean, wash up cups properly etc.

Obviously we expect anyone associated with BCB to follow PHE protocols about quarantine if they have been in an infected area. Of course if the situation changes, we will follow any new advice issued.

World Radio Day 2020

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UNESCO’s International World Radio was held on Thursday 13th February.

This year’s theme was promoting diversity on the airwaves, reflecting the variety of the audiences.

We had a busy day, with lots of guests in the studio, including some of our presenters who appeared as guests on About Bradford and Drive, to chat to us about how they got involved in BCB, their radio programmes and why they think BCB and radio is so important.

Thanks to everyone who took part in the day – here’s to World Radio Day 2021!

Bonjour Francois Bikindou!

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Last week. we were very pleased to welcome back Francois Bikindou on a flying visit to the UK.

Francois is a journalist and was a well-known BCB volunteer for over 10 years. He arrived in Bradford as a refugee from the Congo and got involved with BCB, putting his journalistic skills into practice as a broadcaster.

He was part of the original ‘Africa on Air’ team and then went on to present his weekly ’Diaspora’ programme for the French-speaking African diaspora in Bradford – and beyond.

He proudly obtained his British citizenship and his wife and children came over to live with him in Bradford. About 5 years ago, Francois was encouraged to go back to Congo Brazzaville where he now lives and runs his own media company.

Recycling at BCB

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Just a reminder to make sure that when you are at BCB, you separate your rubbish into the appropriate recycling bins and bags that are in the kitchen.

They are clearly labelled so please follow instructions!

Time To Talk Day

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On Thursday 6 February, BCB were happy to support Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust’s campaign for Time to Talk Day.

The day encourages people to get chatting about mental health and seek support if they need it.

If you’re feeling low, stressed or anxious, or you’re having problems sleeping, then please tell someone!

The MyWellbeing College website has lots of great free advice, guides, tools and assistance too.

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 The Onion with Dipak Mistry.

The Onion broadcasts on BCB every Saturday night 11-12am and is based around Dipak’s love of global beats, electronica and beyond – so you can expect to hear anything and everything on the show.

Dipak is always on the look out for new music, from local and far. If you know anyone who wants to send him music, email Dipak.

Audio Wall Clean Up

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Want to help us sort out the Audio Wall?

A number of people have ideas, comments, suggestions about how best to manage the space (or lack of it) and the content on it. There may just be enough of you to form a working group.

Let us know if you want to get involved in making things better.

Congratulations to BCB’s Carole Moss!

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Congratulations to Carole Moss, who has just celebrated a Very Big Birthday!

Carole is a much loved and committed volunteer at BCB. She has presented One to One every Thursday lunchtime for over 10 years now, interviewing all the movers and shakers of the Bradford District and finding out what makes them tick!

She also chairs the Programming and Editorial group at BCB. Thank you so much for all you give to BCB Carole. You are very much appreciated.

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – January 2020

Radio Venus: IWD broadcast on BCB

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Calling all BCB Women!
It’s that time of the year again – International Women’s Day, Sunday 8th of 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 celebrating all things female.

If you’ve got any ideas for programmes or interviews – or women who might want to get involved with the broadcast then email Julie or Mary.

There are women’s radio workshops at BCB every Thursday 2-4pm so do come along.

BCB Get Together: Tuesday 4 February 6pm

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The first BCB Get Together 2020 is on Tuesday, 4 February 6pm at BCB.

Lots has been happening in BCB land and there’s lots more to come in 2020 so do come along, keep up to date and be part of shaping our future.

Tony Painter has kindly agreed to coordinate the session, alongside Dom Burch, so if there’s anything you’d particularly like to talk about then let  Tony know

We’re planning to talk about re-using BCB programmes and content on other platforms, update on the premises, BCB ‘going green’ in the building 2020, and reviewing the BCB schedule – what should we do more of or less of – or sack completely! Hope to see you there.

We’re planning to go to Café Regal for a curry afterwards if you fancy coming along.

Get Involved with BCB’s Live OBs

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We are about to begin planning the year’s Outside Broadcasting activity and would like to reconvene the OB Group as soon as possible.

This group organises which outside broadcasts BCB do throughout the year.

Previous contributors/participants have been: Kathy Dyson, Banaris Iqbal Graham Glover, Phil Lickley, Adam Paterson, Shamim Akhtar and Michael Swires.

We would welcome new members to the group, so please feel free to join us. If you’re interested in getting involved please email Kathy Dyson who is convening the group.

World Radio Day 2020: Thurs 13 February

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It’s Unesco World Radio Day on Thursday, 13th of February.

The theme for this year’s celebration of the role of radio is ‘promoting diversity’.

Unesco reminds us that at the global level, radio remains the most widely consumed medium.

Alongside BCB’s regular programme schedule (which we see as always promoting diversity), we are looking to produce and broadcast some special items on this theme.

If you’d like to be involved in this, have ideas for content then please contact Jonathan.

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 Around the World in 60 minutes with Gary Miller.

Around The World in 60 Minutes broadcasts on BCB every four weeks and aims to present a wide cross section of non-mainstream music from around the world to listeners.

BCB – Going Green in 2020

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Pictured is the board where we’re keeping all the suggestions to help BCB to be more environmentally friendly.

BCB has made a commitment to use radio to raise awareness of climate change and environment issues.

We are now looking hard at how we can change how we do things in the building and we need your help with practical ideas for reducing BCB’s carbon footprint.

We’ve recently switched to a green energy supplier Bulb, (do let us know if you want to switch as BCB can get £50 if we recommend you!) using soap in the toilets rather than plastic handwash bottles, etc and we’re now looking for other things that we can change. Bring your suggestions to the BCB Get together or have a chat with Mary.

OFCOM Broadcasting Code Training Sessions

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Thanks to everyone who attended one of our Ofcom Broadcasting Code training sessions before Christmas.

As you know, one of the requirements of our community radio license is that all our presenters must have taken part in one of our training sessions, as well as having read and understood the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.

If you haven’t had chance to come along to a session yet, then please can you make a date in your diary to attend one of the following sessions at BCB:

Wednesday 12th February:
10.45am-12.15pm
2.45pm-4.15pm
5.15pm-6.45pm

Tuesday 25th February:
10.45am-12.15pm
2.45pm-4.15pm
5.15pm-6.45pm

Please can email Jonathan to confirm which session you are attending.

Each session will last just over one hour. We’ll go through the Ofcom Code and highlight your legal responsibility as a presenter, our contributors & guests and for programmes on BCB.

Every presenter must read and understand the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, so it will also be helpful if you can read it before you attend one of the sessions. Here’s a link to the Ofcom Broadcasting Code. We look forward to seeing you at one of the sessions.

Tell us about your show

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We’re looking at ways that BCB can help and support you to promote your programme online in future and we’d like to find out more about if (and how) you currently promote your BCB radio programme(s) online.

Please can you take a few minutes to complete the following survey so we can build a picture of who’s doing what: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BWVPWYC

Youth Music Live!

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Our next Youth Music event for young people aged 12 – 25 is this Sunday, 2nd of February 2020 from 2pm – 5pm.

It’s at Kala Sangam, and we’re calling it The Big Jam at the Kala Sangam.

It’s FREE, and there are still places available. Contact David if you want in at the last minute!

We’re going to have a big ol’ jam using the big stage at the venue.

Participants should bring their instruments and gear and be ready to make some noise. We’ll provide drums, the venue has the PA, so bring instruments, amps, etc. Check with us if not sure.

We’ll also take a look at the art of lighting the stage, and people will be able to have a go at lighting when they are not playing. We’ll also have Suggy, coming to show us how to take photos at a gig.

BCB’s Political Team – Tuesday 11th February Meeting

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The Programming, Editorial and Planning group has decided to make BCB’s political reporting more comprehensive and to cover a wider geographical area.

The idea is to explain local political issues in more depth, broaden the range of issues covered and to encourage greater involvement in local politics.

To achieve this, we’re creating a team of volunteers interested in reporting on a range of political events, actions and meetings across the whole metropolitan area of Bradford.

The first meeting will take place on Tuesday 11th February at BCB at 6pm and anyone interested in being part of the team are warmly invited to come along.

If you would like to be involved but cannot make the meeting, please be in touch with Jonathan Pinfield and we will send you notes of the meeting and next steps.

Likewise, anyone with any specific ideas they would like to take forward, either bring them or email them to Jonathan. The aim is to organise and plan during February, for spring, in order to have a good run up to the local elections in May.

How did you get to BCB today?

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We think that transport is probably one of the biggest contributions to climate change that happens as a result of what we do at BCB – all those people traveling to see us.

We also think that many people make lower carbon choices, but we don’t really have any good data to back that up.

Introducing the BCB Cycling Calendar. Thanks to Rodger, one of our new studio managers, you can now stamp our calendar when you arrive by bicycle to give us an idea of how many people arrive by bike and how that falls across the weeks and months.

BCB Blood Drive

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Did you know there’s a shortage of men donating blood in Bradford? Yet there are plenty of good reasons why men make good blood donors.

1. Men can donate more often than women
Men can give blood every 12 weeks whereas women have to wait 16 weeks to protect their iron levels. As men can donate more often, men who donate regularly play a big role in providing the almost 5,000 donations needed every day.

2. Men are often suitable platelet donors
Men generally have a higher platelet count than women, meaning they are more likely to be accepted as a platelet donor.The process of donating platelets takes longer than giving blood – but it is just as straightforward – and you can donate up to 24 times a year.

3. Men’s blood often contains fewer antibodies
The absence of some antibodies in men’s blood makes it easier to use in blood products such as plasma and platelets (often used to treat people with burns and cancer or those in accidents). Women can create extra antibodies during pregnancy which means their blood is not always suitable for people with weakened immune systems.

If you’re interested in giving blood get in touch. Dom is leading the charge on behalf of Mancom. He’s scared of needles so wants the moral support. If you’re planning on going or want to get involved please email dom.burch@bcbradio.co.uk

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – December 2019

Happy Holidays! Christmas Opening / Closing Times

An old school red radio wearing a christmas hat

It’s that time of year again! We here at BCB would like to thank all our volunteers for the hard work over year and to wish them a happy holidays and a happy festive period.

Over the holiday period BCB will be closed from Tuesday 24th December at 6pm until Thursday 2nd January at 9am. If you have a show within this period please make sure you have pre-recorded the programme and checked with Jonathan or Joseph that it is scheduled.

If you’re unsure whether you have show in this period, please contact jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk or give Jonathan a call on 01274 771 677

General Election Coverage on BCB

A photo of a group of people sitting around the radio recording desk

We may be biased but, in in our humble opinion, BCB pulled off another great Election broadcast.

We went live at 10pm and were on air right through the night until the last results came in after 5am. We had two teams at the counts at Richard Dunn Centre and in Keighley, and a team in the studio keeping things moving along.

And of course this could not have happened without the backroom support and coordination too. So a very big ‘Well Done’ to the BCB Election team – you know who you are!

Youth Work

The words, School's Out in large letters in orange and purple

Our last After School Session of the year will be this Friday (20th December).

We’ll be back again on Tuesday 7th January 2020.

We’ve still got shows made by young people everyday at 6:30pm over the holiday period, including a Christmas day special featuring Adam, Noorie, and Abbie.

There are also shows from students at both Shipley and Bradford College, as well as regular shows from Ben’s Big Tunes and DJ Moshua.

Check the schedule for more info.

BCB Volunteer Meet Up – Tuesday 28th Jan, 6pm

A diverse group of smiley people seated around a large table in a dark room

Put this date in your diary – Tuesday 28th January, 6pm – the first BCB get together of 2020. It’s a chance to meet other BCB people, to find out what we’re all up to, and of course develop BCB’s very own 2020 Vision! Do try to come along if you can.

Youth Music Live

Three fair hands playing a small piano keyboard
Making music masterclass with Weirdspacers, shi and Kriss Blank

Our most recent masterclass concentrated on making music with a computer where the group released a mini-album on Bandcamp at the end of the day.

It is available to buy for £420.69 and worth every penny (to someone, maybe)! https://bcbradio.bandcamp.com

You can read more about the process and what we learnt on the day from the website. To keep up with all the news about the Youth Music Live! project, be sure to check out our dedicated website at: https://bcbradioyouth.music.blog

Our next event will be on the first weekend of February in partnership with Kala Sangam.

BCB AGM

Blue logo of BCB

Thanks to everyone who attended the BCB AGM on Sat 30 Nov. It was great to see everyone and to get your active input and support.

The traditional BCB samosas were excellent too! Looking forward to another exciting period of us all working together to provide community radio in Bradford.

BCB Mancom News – Dom Burch Reports

Non-descript white man

I’d like to personally thank Ash Creedon and Lorna Kook for their time serving Mancom. Ash has had to step down, due to work commitments taking her away from Bradford, and Lorna has retired from full time employment and is taking a well-earned break. Lorna was an active member of Mancom for over a decade and made a valuable contribution at every meeting, be that ensuring we always considered the voices of staff and volunteers, or putting in place an employee handbook alongside Mary and Pam. I’m pleased to say Lorna is not saying goodbye to BCB but is enjoying the early months of retirement by throwing herself into her painting and other passions. We look forward to welcoming both Ash and Lorna back in the future.

I’d also like to welcome Kirran, Tony and Di who have all joined Mancom. It is great to keep adding new people to the board, and ensuring we have a diversity of voices around the table, sharing their experiences of living, working, and volunteering in our community.

On Saturday we hosted a quarterly strategy session where we conducted a full governance health check on BCB. Although it sounds a dull topic, it is an important one, and we made great progress.

Anyone interested in the work that Mancom does on your behalf, please don’t be shy, get in touch. Or come along to our next Volunteer Social event on Tuesday, 28 January 6pm.

Featured Programme Of The Month

Close up view of a turntable and stylus playing a record

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 The Record Shack with Cleveland Harris.

A new programme on BCB that goes out every Sunday 12-1am, on The Record Shack you can expect to hear anything and everything so long as it’s on vinyl.

New Volunteers Training

A man wearing a red jumper giving instructions to a bunch of people

We’ll be inviting potential new volunteers to come along to BCB on the first Tuesday of every month in 2020, from 12-1pm.

Our first session will be on Tuesday 7 January from 12-1pm.

We’ll also be delivering a six week Introduction To Radio training course on Tuesdays from 11am-1pm, starting on Tuesday 14 January. As we write, five new trainees will be on the course, with the opportunity for more people to start alongside them, after we’ve met them on Tuesday 7 January.

If you know anyone who’d like to find out more about volunteering opportunities at BCB, please ask them to email hello@bbcradio.co.uk or call 01274 771677 and speak to Jonathan Pinfield.

BCB’s Piano

A lovely looking digital piano with music scores laid out above the keyboard
Our piano awaits for any budding or curious musician

We now have a piano in the studio on long term loan. Please feel free to come along and play it.

If you don’t want to perform in public, you can always plug in some headphones and practice away. You can also take it into the studio if you have a musical guest.

Sky News Training

A colourful logo for Internews, local voices, global change

As part of the CMA / Internews project, we were invited to take part in a day’s journalism training with Sky News. This was at the Sky News studios in West London at the end of November.

Kirran, Shamim and Mary went down to London for what was an excellent day. It gave us a great and timely perspective on journalism, how a news agenda is created, and explored issues around keeping within the law. The training was really well delivered by senior journalists from the foreign news team.

We had a tour around their news rooms – and got a great insight into how Sky operate in this post-Murdoch era. Hopefully this will be repeated again next year.

Record Your Demo

An audio mixing desk full of buttons, faders and inputs

We have a 16 channel Presonus desk with recording software hooked up and ready to go in the editing room.

We think this could be useful for anyone wanting to record a simple music demo. We have a guitar, piano and microphones available on site, all of which could be captured together in real time, or as a track at a time to build up a song.

10 Today

A mature asian lady wearing a bright red tshirt that says, 10 Today Champion

We met up last week with the evaluator for the 10 Today project. This is the 10 minutes of exercise that we broadcast every day at 2pm.

Many thanks to everyone who attended the evaluation session and gave Tessa their feedback on the project.

This is a pilot project funded by Sport England and hopefully they will decide to develop the project even further.

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – October 2019

Black History Month

A diverse group of people looking pensive around the radio recording desk
Presenters during a hands on radio workshop

Well done to everyone who contributed to our Black History Month coverage.
It was the most extensive coverage we’ve ever had on BCB.

Throughout October a team of people, coordinated by Nigel Guy, produced and presented programmes and features focusing on the contribution of African and Caribbean community members.

This culminated on Sunday 27th October with BCB hosting 12 hours of live broadcasting celebrating BHM (… and of course the award winning buffet!)

Thank you again to everyone who took part and worked so hard to make it a success.

Lend Us Your Voice

A graphical representation of a bald silhouette with half circles echoing from the mouth

We’re looking for BCB volunteers to take part in a series of jingles to celebrate people’s experiences of volunteering here at BCB Radio.

We are aiming to recruit more volunteers over the next few months, so we want to know what you enjoy about volunteering with us, or if there’s a specific moment or event you would like to share with us. Think Positive!

We’ll be on hand to help putting the jingles together so don’t worry if you haven’t done one before!

Please contact Jo Kenyon for more info jo.kenyon@bcbradio.co.uk

Drive and About Bradford Team meeting

A couple of people seated and chatting happily over piles of paper on a blue table

On October 21st, we held a get together for the Drive and About Bradford teams.

This was a really useful way of bringing together the staff and volunteers who currently work together to produce those programmes and to work out ways to make them even better.

We all appreciated the importance of everyone’s contribution and recognise how much time and effort goes into making those programmes happen. Several actions were suggested and these are starting to be implemented.

These meetings will be held every quarter – next one in January 2020.

Islamophobia Awareness Month

A logo of a white hand pointing up set against a ghaslty dirty yellow background

November is Islamophobia Awareness Month. The theme of the month is ‘Muslim Changemakers’.

On BCB we are working with young people from MEND (Muslim Engagement and Development) to present more positive media images of the Muslim community and individuals and to raise awareness of Islamophobia.

If you’d like to be involved in any way, to suggest people for interview or to take this as a theme for your programme, please contact Mary or Jonathan.

Featured Programme Of The Month

A group of 4 people forcibly smiling at the camera, crowding around the radio desk

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 Research Matters by Marcus Rattray – Professor of Pharmacology and Head of the School of Pharmacy & Medical Sciences at University of Bradford.

Research Matters is a new BCB programme – the second edition went out two weeks ago – and goes out every four weeks. The show highlights and celebrates the amazing research coming out of the University of Bradford and chats to the people undertaking it.

Youth Music Live

A graphical representation of all things radio related tinted blue on white background

Our Youth Music Live! project is delivered thanks to funding from the Youth Music charity, and is aimed at young people aged 12 -25.

As well as featuring more young and local music on BCB, we’re offering great learning opportunities for young musicians.

Our next Masterclass events are on Sunday 3rd November and Saturday 7th December.

Our November date is at the Brick Box Rooms and will concentrate on everything you need to create a great performance in a small space. With input from Kirsty Taylor and Dom Sheard, it’s a chance for young musicians to pick the brains of experienced Bradford talent.

December’s event will focus on computer generated music at the Design Exchange in Little Germany with shi and Kriss Blank of Weirdspace, a popup makerspace in the heart of Bradford interested in supporting and promoting creative technology.

More information and registration details can be found on the dedicated website at: https://bcbradioyouth.music.blog/

Congratulations to Ann Morgan!

A person with pink hair and spectacles looking slightly surprised and smiling, holding a transparent, possibly glass structure with both hands

BCB would like to say a massive congratulations to Ann Morgan for her success at this year’s Yorkshire Gig Guide Grassroots awards.

Ann won the award for Outstanding Media on the night. Congratulations Ann! A fitting reward for all your hard work!

Save the date – BCB AGM Saturday 30 November!

Words written in uppercase with chalk on a green board with a dark wooden border

The BCB AGM will be held on Saturday 30 November in the morning at BCB Studios. More details to follow but put the date in your diary.

Music Lessons at BCB

A person with glasses holding a guitar is writing something for another person holding a guitar to look at

A new group is sharing their guitar skills on Tuesday mornings at BCB.

The session is for just 30 minutes, but allows us to pick up knowledge and ideas from each other to improve our playing.

The group has been helped on its way by the donation of a guitar – so there’s now a BCB guitar kicking around. Feel free to give it a go.

Other instruments have been suggested and a breakout cello lesson has reportedly occurred. If you want to be involved, or want to offer something new at a different time, then let us know.

Baby Week Bradford

A bright banner with lots of colours and hearts

The 2nd Annual Baby week Bradford takes place from 4th to 10th November, featuring over 40 free events across the district.

During the week, there will be something for everyone – fun activities for families and babies such as messy play, story and rhyme time, mini music sessions, outdoor play, a wetland walk and baby raves!

Tune in to BCB Drive every day next week for our Baby Week Coverage. There’ll be features throughout the week at 4:05pm.

More information can be found at www.babyweekbradford.org.

‘Tapping’ up Talent at BCB!

Two silver taps, one with a red band and the other blue, infront of white kitchen tiles

A big thanks to this month’s BCB Gold Star Volunteers!

As everyone will have noticed, over the last few months there’s been a problem with our hot water tap in the kitchen at BCB.  But no more!

On Tuesday Dave Shera, alongside his glamorous assistant Banaris Iqbal, came in and replaced the kitchen taps. We now have two shiny, elegant, functioning taps in the kitchen.  Simple pleasures….

Thanks again Dave. And tune in to Dave’s ‘Tap Twenty’ on Wednesday’s Afternoon Stretch!

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – September 2019

General Election – Advance Warning

a white board with large black letters POLLING STATION tied to black metal spikey fence

At the time of writing we don’t know when a General Election might be held but it feels like one is definitely on the horizon!

Obviously we have a six week ‘purdah’ period leading up to the election where we have to adhere to OFCOM’s election guidelines so we need you to be aware of this in any programme planning you’re doing. We will send out the election guidelines to you again when we know the date.

Black History Month

Black history month logo with red, green and yellow triangles on its side, the words, Know the past, shape the future underneath it

October is Black History Month

Here at BCB, we want to reflect and celebrate the contribution and life experiences of Bradford’s African and African Caribbean communities.

We’d like to encourage all people from those communities, and any others, to contribute to Black History Month broadcasting.

If you’ve got any ideas for programmes, stories or want to present programmes, please get involved by contacting jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk or call us on 01274 771 677.

Youth Music Project

an advertisement looking for young people interested in music

BCB is delighted that we have been awarded funding from the Youth Music Foundation to support the development of youth music in Bradford.

BCB will be supporting young people aged 12-25 to develop more opportunities for young musicians to perform live in Bradford, in venues appropriate for young people from diverse communities and backgrounds.

Through a series of regular workshops young people will learn all the skills needed to put on live events themselves, hearing from industry professionals, venues and promoters. Young musicians will also be mentored to develop skills around how they can promote themselves to venues.

If you’re interested in taking part in these sessions and being involved, please contact david.carpenter@bcbradio.co.uk

Channel 4 Visit BCB

a group of casually dressed young people in front of the bcb building

As part of their Bradford visit, BCB hosted Sinead Rocks, Channel 4’s Head of Nation and Regions in August. While here, Sinead spoke to some of our young volunteers about what they do at BCB, their lives and their aspirations for the future.

Sinead herself started out at Belfast Community Radio, so it was great to have her tell that story to the ambitious youth of BCB!

BCB September Get Together: Wednesday 18 September 6pm

a group of seated people around a large table in a darkened room posing for the camera

The next BCB Get Together is on Wednesday 18 September at 6pm. It’s a great opportunity to meet up with other BCB people, find out what we’re all up to and have your say about any BCB issues that you want to raise.

We are currently creating a BCB plan for the next five years for all our areas of activity – broadcasting, volunteering, training, community engagement, etc. and it would be great to have your input – including of course on new premises.

Do come along and have your say!

Featured Programme Of The Month

a young person of colour removing his headphones

This month’s featured programme is Urban Vibes with Elton Munaiwa.

Urban Vibes broadcasts on BCB every Friday 11-12 midnight. The show aims to bring you the best music on Friday night – playing the best in urban music, hip-hop, grime, rap and drill.

Elton also brings in artists from all over Bradford to play their music live on BCB.

BCB Volunteer Receptionist – Wednesday mornings

large blue bcb logo

Are you free on a Wednesday morning? Do you have a cheerful and friendly disposition?

BCB is looking for a volunteer to cover reception duties on Wednesdays 9am – 12 noon.

This will include answering the phone and the door, generally welcoming people to BCB. If you are interested or know someone who might be, please contact mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

New Volunteers

a large group of people posing for a photo in the studio

We are always looking for new volunteers to get involved with BCB.

We have a new volunteers session on the first Tuesday of every month to meet people and for them to find out more about BCB.

The next session will be Tuesday 1st October at 12 noon so if you know anyone interested please contact jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

Exam Results

a close up photo of an examination paper of multiple choice circles

Congratulations to all the young volunteers at BCB who had exam results in the last couple of weeks. Good luck in your next steps!

Internet Woes

a yellow paper with the words, Sorry NO INTERNET Today, scrawled on it in black sharpie

You may have noticed that our internet services have been disrupted recently. We’ve had significant problems with our internet service provider – problems they seem to be unable to fix. As a result we’re looking to change provider in the near future.

This has meant that Listen Live and Listen Again services have been disrupted. We’ve also been unable to reliably run outside broadcasts, and staff and volunteers have had to cope with loss of internet whilst trying to work in the building.

Big thanks to Richard Bruce for implementing resilience features that mean we’re less affected by an outage. We’re sorry for all the inconvenience this has caused, but much of it is beyond our control.

Minidisc Clear Out

a stack of worn-looking minidisc players

We’ve got approximately 12 old minidisc players/recorders that we want to get rid of.

Before we put them on Ebay, we’re offering them to BCB members for the price of £20. Any funds raised will go back into the running of the station.

The models are Sony:

MDS-JE330

MDS-JE530

MDS-JE780

Looking at Ebay they do seem to have some value. Prices seem to be roughly £30 – £60, but can be much higher for mint condition examples (ours are not mint!). They have been tested as far as turning them on and being able to load, play and eject a minidisc – audio output has been checked via the headphone socket and phono connection. They were used mainly to load audio to computers when we had portable minidisc recorders.

If you do want one, please let us know by Friday 13th September 2019 – contact david.carpenter@bcbradio.co.uk (if you need one but can’t afford it, speak to us anyway). Any that are left after that date we will try to sell on Ebay.

They are currently piled up near the computers in the station if you want to check them out in person.

NB we still have minidisc players in the studios (and backup machines should they fail). If you want to just listen to some old minidiscs, or to record them to digital – you could also come in and do that in a studio.

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – August 2019

City of Culture 2025

City of Culture 2025 text logo

Bradford has just announced its intention to bid for City of Culture 2025. This is a competitive process and the title is awarded by the DCMS every 4 years.

If successful, this would be an amazing opportunity for Bradford to grow and thrive, celebrating the culture that we already have in the city, providing widespread opportunities across the District for communities to participate in cultural activities, and contributing to social and economic regeneration.

BCB’s Mary Dowson has agreed to serve as Interim Chair of the bid group.

The search is on now to recruit a Director of the City of Culture bid.

http://www.bradford2025.co.uk

Bradford Literature Festival and Bradford Festival 2019

A person talking into a microphone standing next to a person wearing black headphones

Thanks so much to everyone who contributed to our coverage of both the Bradford Literature Festival and the Bradford Festival.

The BLF was such a great event and a real privilege to welcome so many writers and artists to Bradford. And other than the deluge on Saturday teatime, the sun really shone on the Bradford Festival!

Really good for us to work in partnership with BLF and Bradford Festival to bring the festivals to as many people as possible via the radio.

Climate Crisis Campaign on BCB

Two silhouettes of a bald person with background images of grass and dry, cracked clay

Following on from our launch on the 5th of June for World Environment Day, BCB is moving ahead with raising awareness of the issues of Climate Crisis and the Environment.

We are starting by organising two regular slots per week:

About Bradford Thurs 11.15am
Drive Monday 4.30pm

We will of course cover other issues as they arise.

If you’d like to be part of BCB’s ongoing environment group, or have ideas for stories for the slots, then do get in touch with hello@bcbradio.co.uk

Volunteer Training and Development (aka summer fun!)

A man wearing a red jumper talking to a crowd of people
Jonathan Pinfield training an eager group of future broadcasters

We realise that sometimes we train BCB volunteers to a certain level, and then leave them there! But there’s so much more for you to know e.g. using Cool Edit, troubleshooting in the studio and becoming a studio manager.

And of course every presenter needs to know about complying with the Ofcom guidelines.

So with this in mind, Jonathan Pinfield will be delivering training sessions with existing BCB volunteers in August and September on Mondays from 3-4pm and Tuesdays from 6-7pm.

Editing & scheduling your programme in QNXT
Monday 5th August 3-4pm
Tuesday 13th August 6-7pm
Monday 2 September 3-4pm
Tuesday 10 September 6-7pm

Studio Managing & fault-finding in the studio
Tuesday 6th August 6-7pm
Monday 19th August 3-4pm
Tuesday 3 September 6-7pm

Ofcom Guidelines
Monday 12th August 3-4pm
Tuesday 20th August 6-7pm
Monday 9 September 3-4pm

If you’d like to attend any of these sessions, please pop into BCB, call 01274 771677 to chat to Jonathan Pinfield or email jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk to confirm which date(s) you’d like to attend.

Featured Programme Of The Month

Spiky long grass on a background of blue skies and white clouds

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 Women and The Climate.

Women and the Climate is a new show on BCB hosted by Kirran Shah and shi Blank and goes out on BCB every fourth Thursday at 6pm.

On the show Kirran and shi talk to the women who are involved in climate change activism and climate change research in the Bradford district to find out about their work.

Making Sense of Media

Making sense of media text logo

At an event in London on 18 July, Ofcom launched its Making Sense of Media Network.

This aims to bring people together to share the best ways of improving the media literacy skills and on-line knowledge and understanding of UK adults and children.

Mary Dowson was invited to attend the event and with a noticeable lack of acknowledgement of the role of community media, asked senior figures in both the DCMS and OFCOM about ‘how they planned to include community radio organisations in moving forward the media literacy agenda?

Watch this space!

Saltaire Festival – we need you!

A crowd of people on a road lined with stalls

As usual in September, we will be covering the Saltaire Festival (Friday, 13 – Sunday, 22 September).

We want to recruit a few BCB people who maybe live in the Shipley / Saltaire area to pre-record some interviews in the run up to the festival at the beginning of September so we can run a daily item.

If you think you can get involved, please contact carole.moss@bcbradio.co.uk

Live Outside Broadcasts

Diverse group of five women and a man in front of a blue marquee

We’ve got some exciting outside broadcasts coming up!

The Bradford Food & Drink Festival Friday 9 – Sunday 11 August
TThe Bradford Classic car weekend Saturday 17 & Sunday 18 August
Saltaire Festival 13-22nd September
The Organic Gardeners Question Time at Cliffe Castle Museum Saturday 21 September
UCI Road World Cycling Championships Saturday 21 – Sunday 29 September

If you’d like to find out more about how you can get involved in any of these events, please pop into BCB, call 01274 771677 to chat to Jonathan Pinfield or email jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

‘What Difference Does the Media Portrayal Make to Bradford?’

Four people seated in an auditorium in front of a screen displaying a crowd of people sitting on deck chairs in Centenary square

This was the title of a public debate held at the Science and Media Museum on 11 July.

It was a joint event organised by the NSMM, BBC and the Museum’s Research project, which BCB is a partner of.

It was chaired by Bradford Council’s CEO Kersten England with an invited panel of speakers including Tim Smith, Head of BBC Yorkshire and Jo Quinton-Tulloch, Director of NSMM.

We recorded the event and it will be broadcast on BCB106.6fm on Sunday 4th August, 3 – 4.30pm.

Congratulations to Mercy Katola

Portrait of a person wearing a beige turtleneck jumper

We would like to wish our Mercy Katola, presenter of Floor Fillers and a member of the Migration Matters team.

A massive congratulations on being accepted for a BA Honours Degree in Media and Communications.

Well done, Mercy and we wish you well in your new adventure in education!

Our Top Ten

A smiling person with glasses and headphones driving the studio desk with four guests on the other side of the desk

Do you know a community group / organisation working hard in the Bradford District?

We’re currently looking for groups to take part in BCB’s Our Top Ten programme.

The show goes out live on Tuesday’s between Midday and 1pm and is a chance for a group to chat about the work they do and play their 10 favourite music tracks. It’s a great opportunity for them to promote who they are and what they do.

If you know of anybody who might be interested please contact Jo Kenyon on hello@bcbradio.co.uk

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – July 2019

Philip Hesse RIP

magazine article printout of Philip Hesse

We are really sad to announce the death of Philip Hesse.

Phil was a long term -volunteer at BCB, presenting the jazz programme ‘Tell me When the Tune Starts’ and ‘The Classical Hour’. He was also the Tuesday night BCB station manager for many years and served on the BCB Management Committee.

He first came to BCB as a trainee in the late 90s and stayed committed to BCB for the best part of 20 years. He was a truly lovely man and will be missed by us all.

Our condolences go to his wife Shirley and their four children. The funeral is in Carlisle on Mon 1 July.

Bradford Live! Youth Music project

black fat text on white background

BCB has been successful in an application to Youth Music Foundation.

Broadly, the project will work with young people to help them gain skills and experience in performing live, producing music-focused radio programmes, and working with local venues to put on regular gigs. The project will launch in the summer.

Special days and Celebrations

bcb Logo

Over the past few months BCB has hosted and been involved with a number of special days and celebrations marking important days and events.

Wednesday 5th June was World Environment Day, and across the day BCB broadcast a day of special programming to climate change and environmental issues.

On World Refugee Day, Thursday 20th June, refugee voices talking about their personal experiences were front and centre on About Bradford and Drive as well as other programmes across the day.

Likewise we marked the Windrush celebrations – the Carnival of Roots and Culture which took place in Bradford on 22nd June with a weekend of festivities – by broadcasting live the event.

Bradford Festival Coverage

Bradford Festival logo is white letters on blue background

It’s that time again! Bradford Festival is once again returning to City Park in July with a fun filled roster of music, art and much more! As always BCB will be right there at the heart of the action broadcasting over the three days.

The festival runs from Friday 12th July until Sunday 14th July.

Do you want to be involved with BCB’s Bradford Festival broadcast this year? Please contact jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

Above the Noise

black and white photo of a lady playing a record on a turntable
Ranjit Kaur, aka Radical Sista, DJing at a daytimer with DJ Farooq Ahmed, one of BCB’s DJs from the early days, in Bradford in the late 1980s. Photo: Tim Smith

The exhibition at the NSMM has now finished. BCB was very proud to be part of the 15 Bradford stories portrayed in the exhibition. Lots of positive feedback.

We’re hoping to reproduce some of the content of the exhibition at BCB, giving you a second chance to see it if you didn’t get to the museum!

Featured Programme Of The Month

human profile on a sepia background

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 The Feelgood Factor with Donnel Usher.

The Feelgood Factor goes out every Saturday 10-11am and it is the best way to start your weekend. Jam packed with the latest tunes alongside the classics, it’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face and kick your day off on a positive note.

If you want to feel good about yourself, your city and the people around you then tune in to the Feel Good Factor.

10 Today project – getting Radio-Active!

bcb Logo

Following the launch of the 10 Today project at the beginning of May, we’ve been broadcasting the exercises on the radio every day at 2pm.

We now need to get people doing them – and to tell us that they are!

We particularly want to encourage groups of people (over 55s) to come together to do the exercises – or to incorporate the 10 minutes of exercise into other activities they are doing.

Please get in contact with Mary if you can help with this in any way.

Congratulations to Brooke Scaife

human profile on a sepia background

BCB would like to congratulate Brooke Scaife, host of Brooke’s Scaife’s House of Funk and long term BCB volunteer, on getting a first class honours in her Broadcast Media Technologies degree from Leeds Beckett University. We wish her all the best with future plans and endeavours.

Bradford Dragonboat Festival – Get Involved 2020

explosive colours on a black background

Exciting news! Bradford’s Dragon Boat Festival is the biggest dragon boat festival in the UK, and attracts international attention.

This year, they initiated the Media Cup, and next year, thanks to the organisers who have kindly said that BCB can take part for free, BCB will be entering a boat.

Stay tuned for further details of how you can get involved. In the meantime, get in the mood by catching up with last weekends coverage, including some exclusive news.

Summer 2019

a large moving crowd of people walking down a road with marquees and tents on either side

Exams are over, summer’s just about here, and BCB is gearing up some summer activities for young people.

Get in touch about your plans for the summer and we’ll help you build a programme of things for you to do. Ideas so far include, doing some live broadcasting, maybe doing some filming, and more opportunities to work together with other young people.

BCB Get Together – Tues 9th July 6pm

bcb Logo

We are planning the next BCB Get together on Tuesday 9th July 6pm at BCB.

We want to continue to hear from everyone about their needs and desires for the next BCB premises so we can make sure that we build in from the start just what it is that makes us special. We do hope you can come!

Bradford Literature Festival Coverage

a lonely bicycle

BCB will be broadcasting live from the Bradford Literature Festival every weekday 5.30 – 6pm.

We’ll be broadcasting from the lobby of the Midland Hotel reflecting the Wonderful World of Words. If you want to be part of the BCB team, do get in touch and let Mary know.

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – April 2019

Above The Noise exhibition at NSMM

black and white photo of a lady playing a record on a turntable
Mystery lady DJ with DJ Farooq Ahmed, one of BCB’s DJs from the early days

Thanks to everyone who attended the launch of the Above the Noise Exhibition on 14 March.

The BCB story is featured as part of 15 Bradford Stories and includes photos, interviews and all sorts of BCB memorabilia. So do visit the National Science and Media Museum to see the exhibition which runs until 16 June.

We’re planning a BCB group outing (date TBC) so if you want to be involved, let us know.

More information here.

Get Involved with our Live Outside Broadcasts

a group of diverse people at the city park

BCB is always looking for new people to get involved with our live outside broadcasts. We’ve got loads coming up as well as training for those looking to get involved.

If you’d like to be involved in any live outside broadcasts this year (roles include being a roving reporter, providing technical support and driving the desk in the studio):

District Elections results live outside broadcast on Friday 3 May from midday
The Bradford Festival from Friday 12 – Sunday 14 July

A list of all the live outside broadcasts that BCB is planning to do in 2019 has been emailed out.

We are also planning a series of training sessions for volunteers who might be interested in taking part in live OBs but haven’t been involved before. There is a meeting to plan future live OBs on Tuesday 16 April at 6pm focusing on the Elections Results live broadcast.

If you’re interested in any of the above or have any questions get in touch with jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk or contact him at BCB on 01274 771 677.

Ten Today project – More Community Champions needed

a group of people exercising at BCB

The Ten Today (Exercise on the Radio) project will be launched on 9 May!

The project is to encourage the over 55s to engage in physical activity by doing 10 minutes exercise three times a week. BCB will be broadcasting the exercises at 2pm every day as part of this Sport England pilot project.

BCB needs to recruit more Community Champions to promote the project and encourage groups in the community to take part. So – we need YOU!

There are two short training sessions coming up:

Wednesday 10 April
Thursday 25 April

Please contact mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk to attend a session. (NB the training is being held at Anchor Housing not BCB.)

Ofcom Broadcasting Code – Please join us at BCB

the ofcom Logo is red with rainbow highlights

Following our recent correspondence with Ofcom, BCB will be hosting a series of mandatory Broadcasting Code sessions. We have to do this to stay compliant with broadcast law and the conditions of our licence.

Each session will last around one hour. The sessions will go through the Ofcom Code and chat about what that means to you as a presenter, our contributors & guests and for programmes on BCB.

The sessions are:

Thursday 11 April, 11-midday
Monday 15 April, 2-3pm
Wednesday 24, April 6-7pm
Tuesday 30 April, 5-6pm

Every presenter must read and understand the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, so it will also be helpful if you can read it before you attend one of the sessions.

Here’s a link to the Ofcom Broadcasting Code: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code

Please confirm with Jonathan Pinfield which session you can attend. Confirm by email at jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk or ring BCB on 01274 771 677.

5th June – World Environment Day Broadcast

a growing plant on fresh tuft of dirt

Wednesday 5 June is World Environment Day and BCB will be launching our new Climate Change Campaign.

On the day, BCB will be broadcasting a range of interviews and programmes devoted to this topic. To help plan the day, and to put Climate Change issues high on BCB’s agenda, we’re looking for as many volunteers to be involved as possible.

If you’d like to be involved a meeting will take place on TUESDAY 23rd APRIL at 1pm *CHANGE OF DATE*. The meeting will identify how to best take the campaign forward and who we need to involve.

If you’re interested but unable to attend this meeting, please let us know and we will keep you in the loop.

World Autism Day 2019 Celebrations

3 people in a recording studio
From left to right – Hammad Ul Haq, Adam Patterson and Shamim Akthar

Tuesday 2 April was World Autism Awareness Day, an annual day that aims to raise awareness of the disability and share the experiences of those who live with it. BCB celebrated the day with a series of special broadcasts.

The guests on Our Top Ten were Bradford Specialist Autism Services. Also Shamim Akthar, Adam Patterson and Hammad Ul Haq were live on the day with a programme called Autism And Me, where they discussed their personal experiences of autism on a day-to-day basis.

Featured Programme Of The Month

a digital photo of grassy field and blue sky with clouds

Every month we shine the spotlight on one particular programme we broadcast on BCB. This month we’re telling you about Keep It Green in 2019.

Keep It Green In 2019 is presented by Martin Bijl. The show goes out on BCB every fourth Tuesday 6-6:30pm. The first show went out on Tuesday 26 March and the next show will be on Tuesday 23 April.

The show talks to Bradford people, organisations and initiatives working to protect the local environment and looking for more sustainable ways of living – which can be anything from keeping house plants to working allotments!

BCB Get Together – date for your diary

bcb Logo is very blue in colour

The next BCB Get Together will be on Thursday 2 May at 6pm.

Congratulations to Claire Kearns!

a portrait of a women smiling over a grey brackground

BCB would like to congratulate long term volunteer and former staff member Claire Kearns on passing her Masters in Sound Art with a distinction.

Claire has been studying for the MA over past year at London College of Communication. We wish her the best of luck with her plans for the future!

Adam Paterson raises £351.61 for BCB

a man with many headphones draped over him, holding a representation of a cheque

We would like to thank Adam Paterson for the £351.61 he raised for BCB. Adam raised the money by taking part in the Bradford Epilepsy Action 10K on Sunday 17 March, which he completed in 56 minutes and 19 seconds.

The money raised will hopefully keep BCB supplied with working headphones for the foreseeable future. Well done, Adam!

West Yorkshire Police on BCB

west yorkshire police badge emblem

We’re planning to have a regular radio feature on BCB in collaboration with West Yorkshire Police. They’re really keen to understand the issues that are particularly concerning people in Bradford so that they can address them on the radio.

If you’ve got any particular policing /crime/safety issues that you’d like to be covered, please get in contact with BCB Broadcast Manager jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk.

Easter Holidays: When BCB will be….

the word 'closed' in read

Over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, Friday 19 April to Monday 22 April, BCB will be closed. BCB will re-open on Tuesday 23 April. If you usually come into BCB to record on these dates then you will need to make arrangements to come in on another day.

If this raises any issues or you have a questions please email jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk.

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – March 2019

Above The Noise – BCB to feature in National Science & Media Museum exhibition

Logo of National Media Museum

The BCB story will be featured as one of the 15 stories that make up the Above the Noise exhibition at the National Science & Media Museum. You may have noticed the timeline that was on the wall at BCB for several weeks.

We asked everyone to contribute their memories, significant dates, moments etc. The timeline is being reproduced as part of the exhibition which opens on Thursday, 14 March and runs till June.

More information here.

Radio Venus – International Women’s Day

Logo of National Media Museum

Thanks so much to everyone who contributed to the International Women’s Day Radio Venus broadcast on BCB.

We had more than 45 women involved in presenting and producing programmes, and over 50 contributors to the programmes. It was a really full, lively day, and this was reflected in the very varied content of the programmes.

You can easily listen again to the programmes here on the BCB website. The Women’s Radio Workshops are continuing at BCB every Thursday, 2-4pm.

Contact Julie.longden@bcbradio.co.uk for more information.

Membership Reminder

The word MEMBERSHIP in pastel blue with a hand holding a marker at the end of a line underneath the writing

We would like to remind everyone that it’s time to renew your annual BCB membership, and thanks to those who already have. BCB is a membership organisation and anyone who broadcast with us needs to be a member.

It costs BCB £60 an hour to be on air, so membership subs are vital are to keep the organisation going.

We keep the annual membership fees low – £5 unwaged, £10 waged, £25 for organisations. However we also encourage people – if they can afford it – to contribute £5 per month through a standing order to further support BCB.

If anyone wishes to set up a standing order with BCB our bank details are:

Unity Trust Bank
Account name: Bradford Community Broadcasting Ltd
Sort code: 60-83-01
Account number: 20029867

You can also pay your membership to Joseph directly when you are next in BCB.

If you are unsure whether you have paid your membership for 2019 please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk and he can check if you’re up to date, or check when you are next in the studios.

BCB Get Together – report back and future date

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Thanks to everyone who came to the BCB Get Together on 27 February. We had a number of good lively discussions!

In particular we discussed the OFCOM Broadcast codes and the importance of all programmes being compliant with this code. All BCB presenters need to ensure they are aware of how this might impact on their programme.

Here are the links to the code and the very useful guidance notes.
Please do have a read.

Broadcast Code Full
Programme Guidance

We also talked about recruiting more volunteer station managers and an Outside Broadcast team for BCB. With a bigger pool of people we can make sure we can continue to do all that we do – and maybe even more! In the evenings and weekends it’s the dedication of the station managers that make it all possible.

We’ll be offering training sessions very soon, so if you’re interested do get in touch with jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

The next BCB Get together is on Tuesday, 2 April at 6pm.

Featured Programme Of The Month

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Every month in the BCB newsletter we shine the spotlight on a particular programme. This month we’re telling you about Migration Matters, a new programme that has recently started on BCB.

Migration Matters broadcasts monthly on a Saturday 7:30 – 8pm. The show is presented by Chinghai, Mercy, Ibrahim and Wendy, who meet every Monday to plan, produce and record the programme.

The strapline for Migration Matters is ‘Raising every voice’ with the focus on the lives of the people who have moved to Bradford and made their homes here. It explores the issues and challenges that they and other people face in making the move.

BCB Volunteer Fundraisers: Adam, Banaris and David

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BCB would like to thank a group of volunteers who have been working hard over the past few month to raise funds for BCB.

Adam Paterson, BCB’s weather person and affectionately known to all as Mr Weather, will be running in this year’s Epilepsy Action Bradford 10k on Sunday 17 March and has already raised £300 in sponsorship money for BCB.

If you’d like to sponsor Adam please email him at adam.paterson@bcbradio.co.uk

Likewise, Banaris Iqbal and David Carpenter are planning a sponsored tandem cycle again to raise money for BCB. Thanks Adam, Banaris and David.

All volunteer fundraising is hugely appreciated by BCB, so if you have any ideas feel free to run them by us.

New Volunteer Training Starting

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On Tuesday 12 March BCB will be welcoming a group of eager volunteers for another course of radio training.

The course will last six weeks and take place every Tuesday 1 – 2:30pm. It will cover the technical aspects of the radio studios, planning a radio programme, presenting and co-presenting, live outside broadcasts, training on the equipment involved and broadcast law.

BCB is always looking for new volunteers to get involved. We host a new volunteer session on the first Tuesday of every month (12 – 1pm). These sessions are a great way for people to find out about the opportunities that BCB has to offer and get involved.

The next session will be Tuesday 2 April.

If you know anyone who wants to volunteer at BCB, please get them to email Joseph (joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk) for a new volunteer form and more information.

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – February 2019

Ten Today: Exercise on the Radio!

Happy people getting active

Thanks to everyone who attended the Information Sessions this week. It was a very positive response – and really good fun too!

The Active Ageing project is aimed at getting the over 55s into activity by coming together to do 10 minutes exercise on the radio – anything from lunch clubs, community centres, knitting groups, book groups and also good for people at home.

Exercises will be broadcast at 2pm every day on BCB.

Active Ageing launches in April and we need lots of Community Champions to spread the word and encourage people in their networks and communities to join in.

There will be a half day training session arranged for the beginning of March so if you’re interested, do get in touch with Mary Dowson (mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk) for more information.

Simon Cox at BCB

BCB Staff and members sitting around a table looking happy

In January, BCB held two more training days with Simon Cox, a senior investigative reporter at BBC radio current affairs, as part of BCB’s work with Internews.

The sessions took place on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 January and focused on improving interview techniques, investigative journalism, producing features and Saturday was a special session for BCB’s young volunteers.

Congratulations to Ali Pabai – new British Citizen!

2 gentlemen and a lady standing on a carpet
Ali and Mary at the ceremony

On 17 January one of BCB’s long term volunteers, Ali Pabai, received his British citizenship.

Ali has been in the UK for over 10 years and in a formal ceremony at City Hall, he was awarded citizenship from the Deputy Lord Lieutenant.

He asked BCB’s Director Mary Dowson to accompany him to the ceremony as his ’older sister’! She was very proud to be there with him and we wish him well for the future.

BCB EGM

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It was a really good turn out for the EGM on 15 January – thanks to everyone who contributed to a good and lively discussion. The main focus of the EGM was to adopt a new set of objects that would be more fitting for our application to become a charity.

The meeting accepted the five objects that were proposed – the objects are around being a recreational charity, social inclusion, education and training, community capacity building, equality and diversity. These will be circulated by email to all members.

Radio Venus on International Women’s Day – Friday 8 March

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We’re moving towards the 8 March 8 IWD broadcast. We’ve had several workshops for women and girls in January and some great ideas coming forward. The workshops will continue throughout February – every Thursday 2-4pm and some Saturdays too.

Look at the website for details. If you’d like to be part of the broadcast, or know any new women who might want to join in – or have ideas for content please let Julie or Mary know.

Saturday Opening for Young people

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We’re aiming to open from 1pm – 4pm on the third Saturday of the month throughout 2019 but check the dates on the website, because sometimes they may change!

Young people will need parental and guardian’s consent before they can come, so check the website for more details or contact David Carpenter (david.carpenter@bcbradio.co.uk)

For more information, visit https://www.bcbradio.co.uk/projects/work-with-young-people/

TedX Bradford

A group of people being interviewed
Kirran and Dom at TedX Bradford

BCB was very proud to broadcast live from the Tedx Bradford event at NSMM on 16 January. In a packed Pictureville cinema we heard from a series of innovative and inspiring speakers who really gave an insight into the great things that are happening in Bradford, and the people making them happen.

We broadcast live over the lunchtime, with Dom and Kirran talking to speakers, organisers and attendees. It was a great event for Bradford and well done to Kamran and Imran from 30 Chapel Street for organising the day.

Featured Programme Of The Month

A group of people sitting by the driving desk in the studio
Organisations involved in the Family Learning Festival chatting about their work and involvement

Every month we shine the spotlight on one of the shows that BCB broadcasts and tell you more about it. This time we’re giving you more information about Our Top Ten.

Our Top Ten broadcasts weekly on BCB 106.6fm and is live every Tuesday between 12-1pm. It’s also repeated on Wednesday at 9-10am. On the show, we invite local organisations to chat about the work they do in Bradford and pick ten of their favourite tracks of music.

If you know an organisation that you think might be interested in taking part in the show, do email Jo Kenyon (hello@bcbradio.co.uk).

Congratulations to Banaris Iqbal – Exhibition Feature

Portrait of Banaris against a white background

BCB’s Banaris Iqbal is all to set to feature in a photography exhibition called Forty.

The exhibition is the work of local photographer Shy Burhan and aims to capture the ‘individual truths’ of being and turning forty in 2019, and we’re assured by Banaris that his portrait and story will include his time at BCB!

The full exhibition will be shown at The Holding Space in Saltaire from 1 February.

Know-it-alls wanted

A 3D rendering of the word Wiki carried by six miniature mannequins

We’ve been slowly working on a BCB Wiki. This is an interactive knowledge base that lets us document the stuff that’s important and share it amongst ourselves.

All the workstations now have a link to the BCB Wiki on the desktop and in the browser bookmarks so feel free to have a poke around.

We hope that people will be keen to edit/improve/expand the knowledge base.

You’ll need a login to do this (anyone can read it, but only logged in people can change it), and as this is internal only for now, you’ll need to ask David Carpenter (david.carpenter@bcbradio.co.uk) for an account.

Unbreaking News

The word News in blue lettering written out by a disembodied hand

For quite a long time now, the Programming and Editorial Team have been discussing how BCB might cover news in a different way. Rather than responding to a ‘Breaking News’ agenda, which is mostly dictated by PR companies, we’d like to find ways of making sure that we give prominence to the things that are actually important to people in Bradford.

We’ve come up with the idea of Unbreaking News, following stories in depth throughout the year and from lots of different angles.

The first theme that we have decided on is Housing and Homelessness.

If you’d like to contribute to this theme, please get in contact with Carole Moss (carole.moss@bcbradio.co.uk).

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – December 2018

The ‘BCB Story’ to be featured at NSMM

Logo of National Media Museum

We are really pleased that the BCB Story will feature as part of a major exhibition at NSMM March – June 2019.

So if you’ve got any BCB posters, t-shirts, flyers, programme guides etc – or have held on to any old equipment then please do let me know asap. We are putting a BCB timeline on the wall at BCB this week so that you can start to contribute any significant events from the last 27 years to make up our BCB collective memory.

Send your contributions and enquiries to mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

‘Internews’ training project

BCB Staff and members sitting around a table looking happy

We had a really good training day with BBC producer Simon Cox at BCB on Tues 27th November.

12 people attended the training day where Simon focused on ways to tell stories more creatively, making radio features and packages.

Thanks to everyone who came and the others who expressed an interest in the training. He will be coming back to run two more training days Fri 25 and Sat 26th January so please let me know if you’re interested.

We are still finalising the content so if you have any ideas for training areas that you would like to know more about do tell us and get in touch! mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

BCB Membership 2019

The word MEMBERSHIP in pastel blue with a hand holding a marker at the end of a line underneath the writing

As you may be aware, we ask everyone who broadcasts at BCB to become a member and sign up to the aims and values of BCB. We keep annual membership fees very low – £10 for waged, £5 for unwaged. Membership runs annually from the AGM – so your 2019 BCB membership is now due.

We are also encouraging anyone who can possibly afford it to consider a monthly standing order – for example just £5 a month, the price of a couple of cups of coffee, would make a massive difference to us.

If you can possibly set up a standing order here are our bank details:

Unity Trust Bank
Account name: Bradford Community Broadcasting Ltd
Sort code: 60-83-01
Account number: 20029867

Can you help?

bcb Logo

We’re looking for existing volunteers who would like to help our work with young people. No experience is necessary, but if you do have any youth work qualifications or experince then let us know.

We’re hoping to run regular Saturday sessions for young people here at BCB in the new year.

We could do with some additional help on our regular afterschool sessions where we are working with some young people who need some one-to-one support.

Tuesday (3pm -7pm)
Friday (3pm -6pm)

If those times are no good for you, we may be able to use you elsewhere so do get in touch.

More information, or to express an interest please contact David Carpenter – david.carpenter@bcbradio.co.uk

Featured Programme Of The Month

Stock photo of a three people seated with hands pointing at an unfilled certificate

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 Business Matters.

Business Matters is a look at everything business related (previous topics have included the fate of the Bradford and Bingley building, Bradford business Seabrook Crisps being under new ownership and the latest on the Bradford Broadway and the Kirkgate centre).

Give that old guitar a new lease of life

A partial photo of an acoustic guitar over a yellow wall background

Has anyone got a unwated (but decent!) acoustic guitar that would be happier hanging around the studion at BCB rather than in your cellar/attic/shed?

We think that having a guitar around might just open up a few possibilities (e.g. when musicians drop in, young singers etc).

We’re starting with a guitar, but maybe this is just the start of something bigger…

Bring it on (in the new) Home, Alan!

Alan Anderton profile photo over a grey background

Good luck to Alan Anderton, long time presenter of BCB’s ‘Bring it on Home’.

Alan has just moved across the Pennines …. but we’re hoping that, with the wonders of Northern Rail, he’ll be able to carry on presenting his fortnightly programme.

BCB AGM 2018

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Thanks to everyone who came to the BCB AGM on Sat 24th November. It was great to have such lively interest and discussion, particularly around the issue of fundraising. There were some great ideas coming forward as to how we can raise a greater percentage of our income ourselves and have a bit more control over our own destiny.

Congratulations to Kathy Dyson who was elected on to the BCB Management Committee and Banaris Iqbal and Joe Sheeran who were re-elected to serve another 3-year term.

And a very big thank you to Shamim for supplying the traditional BCB samosas!

BCB get together – postponed from Tues 4 Dec to the Tuesday 11 December 6pm.

The word Postponed stamped in large red and bold letters

Following the exciting discussions at the AGM, we are changing the date of the next get together to Tues 11 Dec. The focus of this meeting will be mostly on fundraising and so all the people who put their hands up to be part of the fundraising group are very actively invited to attend!

A bit of a BCB Festive Do!

An old school red radio wearing a christmas hat

We’re having a festive get together on Monday 17th December 6.30pm at BCB.

Phil Lickley has kindly agreed to host a Festive Quiz so get your team organised. Quiz will start at 7pm. Come along and have a bit of festive fun with your BCB colleagues! Just bring anything that you want to drink and share – a few nibbles will be provided. Let us know if you’re able to come! Get in touch hello@bcbradio.co.uk

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – November 2018

The National Museum Project

Logo of National Media Museum

As part of our partnership project with Leeds University and the National Science and Media Museum, BCB is carrying out a series of radio interviews with NSMM staff that we are calling ‘Behind the Scenes at the Museum’.

The idea is to record and broadcast a series of interviews that give an insight to the different roles that people have at the museum. They will be recorded ‘in situ’ at the museum. We need a small team of people to record the interviews so if you’re interested in being part of this project do let Mary know.

A Big Thank You

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As part of our commitment to be a great place to work, not just a great place to volunteer, members of Mancom have been conducting staff 1-2-1s this month.

It’s important we take time to listen to one another, take on board feedback, tackle issues, and constantly seek to improve what we do as a team.

As ever what shone through was how dedicated the staff team are, how hard they work on our behalf, and how pivotal they are in keeping us all on air.

One of our core values is recognising and celebrating success, so I’d like to say a personal thank you to David, Griff, Kath, John, Jo, Joseph, JP, Julie, Mary and Steve.

Get creative with your radio! Internews / CMA project

Internews logo, many colours over a globe-like thing

As part of this partnership project we have been allocated 3 days training with Simon Cox, a very experienced BBC investigative journalist and programme maker. He will be working with us here at BCB. We have asked him to deliver training in about being more creative in radio, producing radio features and documentaries, and looking at issues around Investigative Journalism. He may also be able to offer some ‘one to one’ support too.

The first day of training will be at the end of November – probably the 26th or 27th. This is a great opportunity to learn new radio skills and become more creative in your programme making.

We’d like as many people as possible to take advantage of the training. If you are interested in taking part please let Mary know asap.

Leaders’ Quest

Happy people sitting in the front section of BCB headquarters

We hosted Leaders’ Quest https://leadersquest.org/ on their visit to Bradford earlier in the month.

20 of their participants teamed up with a similar number of BCB volunteers, including eight young people, to create radio items based on a future vision of the district.

Four groups pre-recorded their creations and another group delivered a 30 minute live show on the day.

This is the third time we’ve hosted Leaders’ Quest and again we all thoroughly enjoyed it.We look forward to seeing them again next year.

You can hear the audio on our website at: https://www.bcbradio.co.uk/projects/leaders-quest-october-2018/

BCB AGM Sat 24th Nov 2018 – save the date!

A crowd of people sitting and listening to a man talking, facing them

We will be holding our AGM on Saturday 24th November 10am. This is a great opportunity to meet up with other BCB people, share ideas, contribute to future planning – and of course have a customary samosa or two! So put the date in your diary – have been sent out by email.

‘Ten Today’ – Community Champions Needed

A large, rounded, capital D in white over an orange square logo

‘Ten Today’ is the title of our new ‘Active Ageing’ project. This is a Sport England project in partnership with Demos, Anchor Housing, and Cornwall Hospital and Community Radio and focuses on encouraging the over 50s to become more active by doing 10 minutes gentle exercise x three times a week. We’ll be broadcasting the exercises daily on BCB.

We need to recruit volunteer Community Champions to raise awareness, encourage people to join in, and support participation in community venues. Training will be given.

Interested in finding out more about being a Community Champion? Please contact mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk.

New volunteers training started

A group of teenagers presenting on microphones with their backs to the camera

Some of you may have seen a fresh group of faces around BCB in the past few weeks, in particular on Monday afternoons 2-3:30pm. The reason for this is that BCB has just started a fresh round of volunteer training that will last for the next six weeks.

Currently, we are working with seven people to develop their studio and radio skills with a view to each person creating their own programme idea and broadcasting with BCB.

If you know anyone who interested in future BCB radio training, please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk to enquire about our monthly volunteer “meet and greet sessions”.

Young People’s Work

School logo with colours of pastel blue and dark maroon

BCB Radio is continuing to work with The Academy at St James in Allerton and Belle Vue Girls School during the school day to create news bulletins, features and pre-recorded shows.

Our Tuesday evening sessions are proving popular with up to a dozen young people attending to create content for the BCB Xtra slot in the schedule (6:30pm each day).

BCB This Month

Women of the World logo, red star over yellow star, like a bang effect

BCB this month: WOW FM! We will once again be taking part in the Women of World Festival 16-18 November, broadcasting live from the event at Kala Sangam on Saturday afternoon.

People’s Powerhouse – we will be broadcasting live from the event at Valley Parade on Tues 20 November.

Featured Programme Of The Month

Old school camera graphic with the word FILM written over it

Every month we shine a spotlight on a programme on BCB and tell you more about that show. This week, we’re telling about you about The Film Show.

The Film show is a new programme on BCB that is hosted by Bethan Surr, and broadcasts on BCB alternate Saturdays between 6-6:30pm. The show is a recap of the latest film releases and a look forward to films coming out in the future.

BCB Congratulations To

Profile photo of Dave Forrest behind a grey wall

Dave Forrest who has started a new job as volunteer manager with the Alzheimer’s Society which unfortunately means he can no longer do his Wednesday breakfast show.

Thanks for all those years of early mornings Dave! Mick Dundee who has become the father of two lovely twin girls. He may truly have entered into the ‘Unknown Zone…!’

Dipak Mistry who sadly will be giving up his Friday Drive as he is starting a new job with Suma. (Happily, he’ll continue his endless quest to unpeel ‘The Onion’ on Saturday nights!)

BCB Get Togethers

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Thanks to everyone who came to the October Get Together- the next two dates for 2018 are Tues 6 Nov and Tues 4 Dec at 6pm. Do try to come along.

Family Learning Festival

Poster design featuring 2 young kids, a boy wearing a hard hat and a girl holding a hammer

BCB took part in the Family Learning Festival offering families a chance to create, make, and build a radio show. Three families booked into take part and the shows will be broadcast in the 6:30pm BCB Xtra slot on Wednesdays in November.

The Family Learning Festival saw libraries, museums, and other creative organisations across the district offering learning events to families during the half-term holiday.

More information: https://www.bradford.gov.uk/libraries/children-and-young-people/family-learning-festival-2018/

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – September 2018

Bradford Bubble Up – RadiH20

Two people in silver capes being interviewed

Giant water slides down Darley Street, choreographed dance routines around the fountain in the mirror pool and much, much more!

Over the first weekend of September (7-8th), Bradford Bubble Up created waves in the city centre with its celebration of creativity and BCB was part of the action, hosting a series of interactive talks on the themes of water that were broadcast live on 106.6fm.

Thanks to everyone who helped in the organisation of RadiH20, and to those who braved the rain and helped out on the day.

Leaders’ Quest In Bradford

Rectangles in many colours

Leaders’ Quest brings together individuals / leaders from all walks of life in cities around the world to explore their own leadership and how they can affect positive change.

Leaders’ Quest are returning to Bradford in the first week of October (Saturday 6th October) hosting the group, and providing them with another broadcast challenge.

Refugee Radio on BCB 106.6fm

Refugee Radio is a pair of golden headphones over a golden globe

In September, BCB started building a group of Bradford-based refugees to make a series of radio programmes around their experiences of being a refugee in the city. The sessions take place every Monday 2-4pm.

Do you know anyone who might want to get involved with the programme? Please email Julie.longden@bcbradio.co.uk

Featured Programme Of The Month

Bradford Uni logo is very pink

Every month we shine the spotlight on a one particular programme on BCB 106.6fm. This month, we’re telling you about Life, The University and Beyond.

Life, The University and Beyond is a monthly programme, broadcast every fourth Monday 6-6:30pm.

The show is hosted by Mark Garrett, Director of External Affairs at the University, and features a whole host of guests from different facilities at the University of Bradford. The show is a look at the exciting projects, events and research taking place at the university.

New Volunteer Training starts Monday 15th October

People crowding around a mixing desk

On Monday 15th October, a new series of volunteers will begin a six week radio training course with BCB. The sessions will be every Monday and will run from 2-3:30pm.

BCB is always looking for new volunteers and hosts a monthly meet and greet session for anyone interested finding out about the opportunities at the station.

These sessions run on the first Tuesday of every month and the next session is on Tuesday 2nd October.

If you know anyone who is interested in volunteering at BCB, please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

Congratulations to Alex Lacey!

A happy person in a red hoodie

BCB would like to congratulate Alex Lacey, who has previously presented The Guide and The Indie Show, on being accepted to study a masters in media production at Birmingham City University.

We wish Alex the best with his studies and with anything he decides to do in the future!

CMA Conference 2018

People sitting on plastic chairs

The Community Media Association annual conference took place in Sheffield over the weekend of 15/16 Sept. Over 150 people attended the event from organisations across the UK.

This year a group of ‘Young Curators’ had a great involvement in shaping the content of the festival and there were young people represented on all the panel sessions. Julie Longden, Kirran Shah and Mary Dowson were there representing BCB. Mary also attended the Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE) AGM that took place at the same time.

BCB Get Together – Monday October 8th 6pm

BCB logo

Having had a rest for the summer, the next BCB get together will be on Monday 8th October.

As we now know we are going to have to move (again!) we’ve started to look for new premises, with one proposal in the very early stages of development. We want to start to discuss together what we want to see in any new premises – it’s really important to have your input on this as we want to make sure that we hold on to what makes BCB special for everyone.

We also want to get your thoughts on the BCB schedule, how we can develop new programmes, maybe broadcast more live music from venues –and what type of breakfast show we should be developing.

And BCB becoming a charity too. So please do come along, meet other BCB people, and contribute to the discussion.

Transmit, Transform – Community Journalism training project

Internews logo, many colours over a globe-like thing

BCB has been chosen to be one of three Community Radio stations in the UK to be a pilot project to raise the profile of community journalism. The project is a partnership between Internews and the CMA, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

There will be three training days, delivered by BBC World Service journalist Simon Cox, over the autumn. The dates are still to be confirmed but if you are interested in taking part in the training and have ideas for specific training that you’d like to have, please let Mary know.

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – August 2018

Bradford Bubble Up – RadiH2O!

shiny logo

On September 8th-9th we are thrilled to be taking part in Bradford Bubble Up, a huge party celebrating the hidden currents running through our city – not only our secret waterways, but also our creativity and spirit.

We need your ideas and help over the weekend!

From 1-5pm on Saturday and Sunday, BCB is hosting a live broadcast, with a live audience in City Park around the themes of Bradford, water and creativity – such as the history of the Bradford Beck, the stories of the Windrush generation, songs and poems about water. It’s an exciting opportunity to be really creative with the idea and be involved with other arts organisations in Bradford.

So if you can be part of the RadiH2O team over the weekend, please email jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

Transmit, Transform

Internews logo with the words local voices global change

BCB has been selected to be one of three UK Community Radio stations taking part in a pilot project called Transmit, Transform. This is a partnership with the Community Media Association and Internews, funded by Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

The project is focusing on the important role of community journalism in these times of declining sources of reliable information and the rise of ‘fake news’. The project will be launched at the CMA conference in mid-September and there’ll be opportunities for BCB people to take part in a series of training workshops at BCB over the Autumn.

New Volunteer Training

A crowd gathers around Johnathan at the driving desk

This month, BCB will be starting a fresh series of radio training sessions, providing potential volunteers with broadcasting and editing skills.

The sessions will begin on Monday 24th September and last for six weeks.

The next new volunteers session is on Tuesday 4th September (12-1pm) and is a chance for anyone who is interested in getting involved with BCB to find out the opportunities available.

If you know anyone who is interested, they can phone us on 01274 771 677 or email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

Make Your Mela Day!

A crowd of happy BCB presenters

On Thursday 16th August, Bradford’s City Park played host to the Make Your Mela Day – a colourful Asian-inspired family event featuring a range of art and activities from cultures across the continent – and BCB was at the heart of the action.

On the day BCB broadcast live 12-8pm, joining the rest of Bradford to enjoy the fun and ask peoples thoughts on a Mela returning to Bradford.

As always, the day wouldn’t have be possbile without the hardwork of BCB’s volunteers and staff. So a big thank you to those who were involved on the day.

Are you interested in getting involved with BCB’s live broadcasts? Then there’s always space to get involved! Please email jonathn.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk to enquire about any live OBs we have coming up in the future!

Featured Programme Of The Month

A motion blurred photo of a large school of cyclists on a road

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 The Cycle Show!

The Cycle Show broadcasts on BCB every fourth Monday. The show documents all things bike and cycling related within the Bradford district. This could be anything from local bike groups looking for members, world record attempts happening right here in Bradford or recycling and re-use schemes.

It is hosted by Benji Charlton and David Carpenter.

New Programmes – Welcome to BCB!

BCB logo

Every month, we tell you about new programmes that have started on BCB 106.6fm this month.

This month we’ve seen a number of new presenters and new programmes on BCB Xtra youth strand (6:30-7pm) as a result of our youth radio workshops over the summer.

Well done to Adam Paterson, Shantelle, Nadiya and the Graffitti team (Katie, Declan, Amy and Charlie) and all the other young people who taken part in programmes over the summer.

North Parade Street Party

A large crowd of people donning sunglasses in the North Parade amongst food stalls

On 16th August, North Parade Street Party returned to the street at the top of town for it’s fifth consecutive year.

Despite the torrential rain, punters huddled into bars and cafes for a wide range of local talent performing across the day.

BCB sampled the delights of the festival, broadcasting live 2-4pm and generally joining in the fun of the day.

Bingley Music Live 2018

A gathering of packed audiences on a field looking at a screen covered in a large tent

On the weekend of 31st August – 2nd September, Bingley Music Live returns to Myrtle Park with a stellar line-up of big acts and local talent.

Across the festival weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun) BCB will be bringing the sights and sounds of Myrtle Park to the airwaves 5-6pm.

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – July 2018

BCB will be on the move … again!

outside view of the oastler market

Bradford Council Executive met on 10 July and approved the proposal to move the Oastler Market down to the old M & S building on Darley Street.

This will result in the present market site being demolished – which of course means that BCB will be on the move again! The time scale for the market move is three years – i.e. spring 2021, so we are starting to explore options, think about the move, and what BCB would want in a new building. So – get thinking! This will be the focus for our September BCB get together.

Bubble Up Bradford – 8/9 September – keep the date!

shiny logo

BCB is planning an adventurous broadcast in City Park as part of the Bradford Bubble Up! weekend, marking the end of the Great Exhibition of the North. Working with Brick Box, the event organisers, and using the broad themes of the event – Bradford and Water – we’re planning to broadcast on both Saturday and Sunday with a live audience participating in the broadcast in City Park.​

We’re looking for musicians, writers, poets, creatives as well as water experts, local historians etc (basically people who know stuff about water!) to take part in the broadcast. So keep the date – we’ll need all BCB hands on deck for the weekend. And if you have any broadcast ideas of what we could do over the weekend, particularly re: Bradford and Water, please do share them. We’ll have a get together to plan the weekend very soon.

Cafe West Community Radio Group

logo of an outline of a steaming red cup of coffee

In July, every Wednesday morning, BCB has been working with a group of eight women at Café West in Allerton to make a programme about the issues in their community. Cafe West is a Healthy Living Centre based in the heart of Allerton and providing services to the community.

The women range in age from 30 to 50. They are women of colour, white women, Polish, English, Scottish and Irish. But in their entirety they are all working class women who have been raised and live on council estates.

They have got a lot to say about a range of issues and in the coming weeks they will be making radio programmes about their lives on the estate, their childhood memories, what it means to be a good neighbour and much more. So watch this space!

BCB Schools Out youth radio sessions

generic text poster

Over the summer holidays BCB is offering three weekly sessions for young people to learn radio skills and participate in BCB Radio.

The sessions are on Monday, Tuesday and Friday afternoons throughout August. They are mostly aimed at 11 -18 year olds so if you’re interested in coming along, or know someone who is, then just let David know david.carpenter@bcbradio.co.uk

Bradford Science Festival

humans among a dalek

Daleks and eight foot robots in Bradford City Centre? It must have been Bradford Science Festival, which took place at the National Science Museum, City Park and Bradford Broadway 20-22 July.
BCB was at the heart of the action – see picture of Gail Simpkins and Ann Morgan with said Dalek in City Park, broadcasting live 1-3pm on the Saturday and Sunday of the event.

BCB at Bradford Festival and BLF

a couple of people being interviewed

July was a busy time for BCB and festivals in Bradford. We broadcast live from City Park for much of the Bradford Festival weekend – basking in the sunshine for a change!

As over 500 events took place across the city for Bradford Literature Festival, BCB was at the heart of the action broadcasting live each day.

BCB presented the fantastic range of talks and activities taking place, as well as chatting to some of the prestigious speakers – bagging an interview with Suzi Quatro no less!

It was great to be a part of this year’s festivals and a big thanks to all the volunteers who helped BCB’s involvement run smoothly.

Radio Venus Workshops

a bcb volunteer interviewing a lady in a hijab

Radio Venus is a weekly training programme for women that takes place at BCB every Thursday 2-4pm.

The sessions provide a space for women to work together and talk about the issues that affect their lives and develop their ideas about stories they want to include in programmes.

The supportive environment of this space has allowed many women to learn about radio who would otherwise have been too scared.

We are currently training a group of six women, who are producing four shows about mental health. The first of those went out Thursday 19 July.

In addition to doing a joint programme, they are also venturing into planning their own shows, taking part in BCB’s Round Table discussion show and taking on public speaking in their lives.

If you know anyone women who would like to get involved with the training, please contact Julie.longden@bcbradio.co.uk

Featured Programme Of The Month

country flag

Every month, we focus the spotlight on one BCB show and tell you more about it. This time we’re giving you more information about Palabras Lejanas.

Palabras Lejanas is presented by Clara Martin Cruz, and broadcasts on BCB every four weeks, Tuesday 6-6:30pm. The show is in a mixture of Spanish and English and focuses on Spanish news and cultural issues.

Deleting Files – It’s Nearly August!

delete key being pressed

As some of you will have noticed, we have made a real effort in July to organise and clear up the M: drive, which had become unorganised and home to a lot of files that may not belong there.

We have moved any files that shouldn’t be on the drive into a folder marked ‘To Delete (August 2018)’. As it says on the folder, we will be deleting all these files this month.

If you anything stored on that M:Drive which isn’t audio stored in Myriad, please move/remove these files as you could be at risk of losing them.

If you have any questions, please email david.carpenter@bcbradio.co.uk

New Programmes On BCB

BCB logo

Each month in the newsletter we’re going to celebrate the new programmes that have recently started on BCB!

This month we draw your attention to Bollywood Beats (Sammiyah Ahmed), Poetry Out Loud (Kirran Shah) House of Funk (Brooke Scaife), The Carers’ Show (Carers’ Resource) – apologies for any that we’ve forgotten to mention. And if you’ve got an idea for something new that should be on BCB then put a programme proposal to the BCB programming group – it meets on the first Wednesday of the month.

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – June 2018

Summer In The City: BCB Live OBs

Bradford City Mirror pool

Summer has well and truly hit Bradford! So we thought we’d tell you about some events you can join BCB for.

– Bradford Literature Festival (30th June – 9th July)
– Bradford Festival (13th – 14th July)
– Bradford Science Festival (21st – 22nd July)
– Bingley Show (21st July)

If there’s anything we should know about please pass on any details to hello@bcbradio.co.uk.

BCB Volunteer information and GDPR

many icons of privacy related matters

In the light of GDPR, we’ve been reviewing the information that we currently keep about our volunteers, why we keep it etc. We had a good discussion about this at the last BCB Get Together.

We’ve now designed a new form to gather that information and will use this as an opportunity to talk to all our volunteers and get to know each other better. We’ll be starting this process over the next few weeks so this is an advance warning!

Bradford Festival Coverage

Bradford Festival logo is white letters on blue background

It’s that time again! Bradford Festival is once again returning to City Park on 13th / 14th / 15th July with a fun filled roster of music, art and much more! As always BCB will be right there at the heart of the action broadcasting over the three days.

The festival runs from 4-9pm Friday, 12-9pm Saturday and 12-8pm Sunday, 13-15 July, 2018

Do you want to be involved with BCB’s Bradford Festival broadcast this year? Please contact jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

Award-winning British folk band The Demon Barbers, pioneering Italian fusion band Sweet Life Society, and popular local Americana band Waiting for Wednesday will headline over twenty music acts at this year’s Bradford Festival in July.

Feedback On Radio Programmes

speech balloons of many colours

At the BCB Get Together in June, we talked again about giving feedback on programmes. It’s something that’s been raised by several BCB volunteers and we realise that we don’t have a system for doing this – which means that it doesn’t really happen!

We’ve now come up with a framework for giving feedback and are going to pilot it this month.
If you’d like to be part of trying this out, then please let Mary know.

Featured Programme Of The Month

closeup face

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 Keep On Movin’ with Kirran Shah.

Keep On Movin’ broadcasts on BCB fortnightly 5-6pm. The show aims to start your Saturday night in the best possible way with the finest selection of disco around. It’s certainly something you don’t want to miss!

IT updates

Generic line drawing of a computer

Did you know that the website and all of the IT at the station is maintained by volunteers?

As the new machines are being more widely used we’re getting good feedback about them. If you’ve not tried them yet, please do. Staff should be able to help if you need them, or book a time for someone to give you a tour.

This means more time to sort out the back end infrastructure. We’re cleaning up the Myriad server by removing old files and creating better places for everyone to save their stuff. In turn this should mean backups are more secure, and less strain on critical infrastructure.

BCB School Projects

BCB logo

This is the news… from Academy at St James, Allerton and Belle Vue Girls school.

We’ve been working with pupils to create a weekly news bulletin to be broadcast after the main news on Drive on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Find out what’s important in the world of these 9 – 12 year olds!

Work experience placements are in full swing with both school pupils and college students looking for experience over the long summer break.

We’re gearing up for our summer provision, if you have ideas or want to be involved, let us know.

Bradford Literature Festival Coverage

a lonely bicycle

Bradford Literature Festival celebrates the written and spoken word. This year’s festival takes place 30 June – 9 July in venues across the city and features 500 writers. Once again BCB will be covering the festival as it unfolds.

For the duration of the festival BCB will be broadcasting live from 5:30pm onwards Monday to Friday chatting to those taking part.

Do you fancy getting involved? Get in touch and email mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

Bradford Science Festival – Get Involved With The Broadcast

a nice looking poster design featuring a girl flying with a yellow balloon

Bradford Science Festival returns this summer with another weekend of sensational science. Produced by the National Science and Media Museum and taking place at the Museum, Bradford’s City Park and The Broadway, once again BCB will be involved!

We’ll be broadcasting live from City Park on Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 July from 1-3pm – and we’d also like to record programmes at the Science & Media Museum and at the Broadway too.

If you want to make sure our Bradford Science Festival programmes go with a bang, please get in touch with Jonathan to get involved.

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – May 2018

Young People’s Work

a yellow stuffed bear with colourful eyepatch

As part of our Children In Need project, we’ve been working with Belle Vue Girls School over the last six weeks which has been great fun. We’ll be continuing to work with them in the run up to the summer. We’re going to start a project with The Academy at St. James in Allerton in the next school term, and we’re busy with young people on work placement from schools and colleges.

We’re seeing a few more young people coming into the station on a weekly basis and putting shows out in the BCB Xtra slot at 6:30 each day. Tuesdays, after school into the early evening (3pm – 7pm), is a good time to signpost young people to us.

New Volunteer Sessions – Get Involved With BCB

Jonathan welcoming new volunteers

If you know anyone, or you want to find out more about what we do, we’re inviting people to join us on the first Tuesday of every month to find out the opportunities that BCB has to offer.

The date of the next session is Tuesday 12th May 12-1pm.

If you, or somebody you know, is planning to attend the session or you have any questions please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

Featured Programme Of The Month

closeup face

Every month, we focus the spotlight on one show we broadcast and tell you more about it. This time we’re giving you more information about When Big Joan Sets Up.

When Big Joan Sets Up goes out every Friday 10-11pm and is hosted by Phil Cope. Taking its name from Captain Beefheart and conducting itself in a Peelite manner, the programme is dedicated to promoting the best new music it feels deserves to be heard.

You can catch up with previous shows T https://www.mixcloud.com/philcope796/stream/

IT updates

Generic line drawing of a computer

Did you know that the website and all of the IT at the station is maintained by volunteers?

The new workstations are now in place and fit for purpose (many thanks to the efforts of a number of people troubleshooting teething problems!). We’re keeping a couple of old machines around for now, but we’ll be supporting them less and less, and putting our limited resources into the new ones.

We have two external CD drives for the new machines available (as they don’t have one built in) and the editing room is now back in action for people that need to edit with speakers, or for training.

We’re continuing efforts behind the scenes in the racks room to try to make the backend systems more robust, and we hope to be replacing the Studio 1 internet (travel/weather) machine soon.

Contact David Carpenter for more info, or to get involved.

The Museum Project

logo for the museum

BCB is delighted to be partner to an exciting new research project entitled ‘Bradford’s National Museum’. It’s a three-year project working with the National Science and Media Museum and the University of Leeds and is looking at how the NSMM can better connect with Bradford and its communities.

BCB is currently leading on the ‘Open Conversations’ element of the project, talking to people about Bradford and the NSMM to get a range of opinions and experiences. BCB has been asked to be a partner to the project because of our community links and networks, and because of the wide range of volunteers involved with BCB. So be prepared to be taken into a studio and asked a few questions!

BCB Values

a lightbulb and other things

Over the past few months, BCB has been working with it’s volunteers to agree a set of values that define who BCB is and the work it does. Here is the final version of what was agreed:

Equality and fairness

BCB actively includes and reflects Bradford’s diverse communities and those groups and individuals encountering social or economic disadvantage, recognising and reflecting the lived experiences of those diverse groups, and advocating on behalf of the less powerful.

Respect and kindness

Ensuring that we have a culture of respect, that everyone who encounters BCB is welcomed and treated fairly and respectfully, creating a sense of community and showing kindness to each other.

Being bold and courageous

Making sure that we are confident in what we do, not being afraid to ask questions, challenging power and holding people to account – and finding creative ways of doing things that provide alternatives to the mainstream or status quo.

Recognising and celebrating success

Creating a culture where we recognise and reflect the positive contribution that people make both within BCB itself and throughout Bradford and beyond.

Striving for excellence, doing the best we can

Constantly reflecting on what we do and how we do it, having dialogue and listening to each other, making positive changes and working together so that we are able to do our best for BCB and for Bradford.

Jo Kenyon Passes Driving Test

a clown car on a grassy field
The car that Jo passed the test in

BCB would like to extend massive congratulations to Jo Kenyon, who many of you know as JoJo, who has just passed her driving text! Congratulations Jo and well done!

BCB Get Together – Tuesday 26th June

BCB logo

Following on from the success of our previous volunteer meetups, the next one will be held on Tuesday 26th June at 6pm

The get togther will be held at BCB and all who attend are welcome to come for a curry afterwards!

BCB Cycle Group

a lonely bicycle

We’re looking to start a Bicycle User Group (BUG).

This is a chance for anyone interested in the needs of people who want to cycle to and from BCB, or as part of their work at BCB to have a voice.

Contact David Carpenter if you are interested.

World Refugee Day – 20th June

a nice looking poster design featuring a girl flying with a yellow balloon

BCB will be celebrating World Refugee Day with a day of refugee-focused broadcasting.

We will be hearing from the many volunteers and organisations across the Bradford District that support refugees, as well as the stories of those people who have come to our city seeking asylum, either recently or many years ago. If you’d like to be part of this broadcast, please contact Mary or Julie.

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – March 2018

Young People’s Work

BCB logo

Over the last month or two we’ve been working with Ravenscliffe Youth Club, Step2 health project, and Clough Clubs in Buttershaw to help groups of young people make radio. Shows have been broadcast in the BCB Xtra slot at 6:30pm.

We’ve also had a number of young people coming to the station in small groups or as individuals. Special mention to Adam Patterson who is providing the weekend weather for us and ‘Moshua’ who has recently joined us and is producing a weekly rock show. The Wowsers, Speaker’s Corner, and Teen Chat continue to offer thoughtful and insightful shows discussing the issues relevant to them and other young people.

We’re offering set times for young people to come to into BCB. These are Tuesdays after school into the early evening (3pm – 7pm), and alternate Saturdays.

In the coming months we’re getting ready to host a number of young poeple on work placements, and we’re starting a 6 week project with Belle Vue Girl’s school. We also exploring relationships with a couple of primary schools.

For more information, contact David Carpenter at david.carpenter@bcbradio.co.uk.

New Volunteer Sessions – Get Involved With BCB

Jonathan welcoming new volunteers

If you know anyone, or you want to find out more about what we do, we’re inviting people to join us on the first Tuesday of every month to find out the opportunities that BCB has to offer.

The date of the next sessions is Tuesday 4th April at 12pm and will last one hour.

If you, or somebody you know, is planning to attend the session or you have any questions please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

Featured Programme Of The Month

Aerial view of Bradford's Mirror Pool

Every month, we focus the spotlight on one show BCB broadcasts and tell you more about it. This week we’re giving you more information about The Guide!

The Guide broadcasts on BCB at 1-1:30pm every week Tuesday to Friday and is hosted by a different presenter each day. The show is a round-up of the wonderful, interesting and exciting things happening in Bradford whether that be a gig happening at Topic Folk Club, latest play to come to the Alhambra or an exhibition at The Peace Museum.

If you have heard of anything in Bradford that you think should be covered on The Guide, please email hello@bcbradio.co.uk

IT and Website

Generic line drawing of a computer

Did you know that the website and all of the IT at the station is maintained by volunteers?

They do a really great job, but are up against it in terms of time, resources and equipment. We’re working on an improvement plan for 2018. If you want to see the plans, help out, or simply have your say, please get in touch with David Carpenter at david.carpenter@bcbradio.co.uk.

Leader’s Quest!

Group of adults huddling for the camera

Last week, Bradford welcomed 20+ people from the ‘Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy’ an important organisation concerned with climate change.

They were here in Bradford for 3 days as part of a Leaders Quest challenge. BCB was asked to host them for Monday afternoon. We provided them with a creative group activity – making radio of course! Thanks to the great team of BCB volunteers who supported the participants. Here’s a link to the blog post of one of the participants who really understands what Bradford has to offer.

Pears Foundation / Speakers Corner

Young adult females in modern black attire and hijabs smiling #iamperfectasme

For the last 9 months BCB has been working with young people involved in Speakers Corner. This strand of work, focusing on giving young people a voice, has been supported by the Pears Foundation.

A celebration event was held recently in Leeds where the good work of our project was highlighted – and a quote from one of the young women was used as the final thought to close the event: ‘Give us the power and the confidence to make change’.

International Women’s Day 2018

Mary behind the desk caught off guard for the camera

The early morning snowfall didn’t stop us celebrating IWD on Mar 8th! We had a great schedule of programmes for the day made by women broadcasters.

Over 50 women took part in the broadcast and for many it was their first time on radio.

One of the highlights of the day was the series of interviews ‘Windrush Women’ recorded by Maureen and Sandra Rowe, featuring the stories of women who came to Bradford from the Caribbean in the 1960s. The women’s radio workshops are continuing at BCB on Thursday afternoons 2 – 4pm.

BCB Get Together – Tues 24 April 6pm

Groupf photo of BCB community

We held our first BCB Get Together 2018 in March.

At the AGM in December, we decided to hold informal sessions for volunteers, staff, and Mancom to come together on a more regular basis, with the opportunity for everyone to work together to shape BCB as well as a providing a social space for people to get to know each other better.

Over 20 people came along to the first one with some great ideas and contributions. So do try to come along to the April session. As Banaris likes to remind us – ‘your input is our output’!

Elections – BCB Coverage

 

As you’ve (hopefully) seen, we’re now in the Election Period, with Bradford District elections taking place on Thursday 3 May. As presenters, please take some time to read the elections guidelines – and if you need any clarification on these, please contact Jonathan Pinfield at BCB.

Ann Morgan has started doing some groundwork for our elections coverage from now until the results are announced on Friday 4 May. We’re planning elections coverage over the next few weeks – we’d like to broadcast a Hustings programme from venues in the Bradford district – and we’ll also be broadcasting a live results programme on Friday 4 May from the results stations at Richard Dunn Sports Centre & Keighley Leisure Centre (venues tbc).

If you’d like to be involved in our elections coverage, the first planning meeting is at BCB on Tuesday 3 April at BCB at 6pm. If you’re not available to come along, but you’d like to be involved, please email jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – December 2017

BCB AGM – Wednesday 13th December 7pm

BCB logo

It’s that time of year again!

The AGM will be at BCB studios. Its a great opportunity to get together with other BCB people and catch up with what we’ve been doing this last year. It’s been another challenging year and we do need to continue to work together to find ways to ensure that BCB remains a vital part of Bradford life, reflecting the real experiences of Bradford’s diverse communities, and offering opportunities to all.

Please check with Joseph that your membership is up to date for 2017. On the night we’ll be accepting membership payments for 2018 and will also accept outstanding payments for 2017. We’d also like you to consider if in 2018 you could possibly make a monthly standing order contribution to support the future of BCB.

And please consider standing for the BCB Management Committee. We need people to serve on Mancom to steer the work of BCB over the coming year. Nomination forms are available from BCB.

If you have any queries regarding membership, then please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

BCB Xtra – Young talent on BCB

Young presenters at the driving desk

Over the last few weeks we’ve seen some great developments in the daily 6.30pm BCB Xtra strand.

Through the training we’ve been doing over the summer and our Saturday workshops, new teams of young people have started to produce exciting new programmes. Listen out for Real talk with Rahbia, Teen Chat, Speakers Corner, the Wowsers – and lots more to come.

Featured Programme Of The Month

Bradford mirror pool

Every month, we focus the spotlight on one show BCB broadcasts and tell you more about it. This week we’re giving you more information about The Guide.

The Guide broadcasts on BCB at 1-1:30pm every week Tuesday to Friday and is hosted by a different presenter each day. The show is a round-up of the wonderful, interesting and exciting things happening in Bradford whether that be a gig happening at Topic Folk Club, latest play to come to the Alhambra or an exhibition at The Peace Museum.

If you have heard of anything in Bradford that you think should be covered on The Guide, please email hello@bcbradio.co.uk

Media Against Hate Workshops

a line of people in front of a projection screen

BCB was proud to participate in the third and final Media Against Hate workshop in Hamburg.

Mary Dowson gave a presentation as part of this EU project which has brought together journalists, media practioners and civil society organisations to look at ways of combating hate speech and ending discrimination in the media. The event was held in conjunction with the first Conference on Media and Migration Awareness organised by the Refugee Radio Network.

Over 100 people from many countries attended the events, sharing experiences of how the media covers migration and the refugee experience.

Merry Christmas! BCB schedule over the holidays

red old school radio with a christmas hat

As you will all be aware, Christmas is fast approaching! From the 22nd December to 2nd January BCB studios will be closed, so please can you book studio time from this week to get a week or two ahead over the Festive period.

Please record your programme on a cart on the correct week:

We’ll be closed from Friday 22 December until Tuesday 2 January.

If your pre-recorded programme is due for broadcast before 23 December, please pre-record it before Friday 15 December.

If your pre-recorded programme is due for broadcast between 23 December until 4 January, please pre-record it before Thursday 21 December.

Please get a week or two ahead as soon as you can, to give us time to schedule each programme onto our automated Q-Nxt schedule.

Please check with Jonathan or Joseph that we’ve scheduled your cart once you’ve recorded it – and check when it’s done!

New BCB Staff

BCB logo

BCB is very pleased to welcome two new members of staff who will be joining us in December.

Julie Longden will be joining us as the Community Radio Engagement Worker, and Dave Carpenter as the Youth Radio Development Worker.

These posts are funded by Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Children in Need and will enable us to develop further work with disadvantaged communities and young people in Bradford.

Bradford College Show on BCB

Bradford College logo

We are delighted to be working again with the Creative Media students at Bradford College. As part of their course they have been coming to BCB on Wednesday mornings, getting hands-on experience of how to use the broadcast studios.

They’ll be back with us again in 2018 when they will be producing and presenting radio programmes live on BCB.

WOW FM!

2 women interviewing another woman

BCB was part of the second amazing WOW Bradford festival which took place over the weekend of 16 and 17 November.

The Women of the World festival brought together hundreds of women, men and young people who participated in a series of workshops and sessions looking at issues of gender equality and exploring the diverse experiences of women in Bradford – and beyond!

Thanks to all the BCB women who presented WOW FM! live from the festival on Sunday afternoon, reflecting the festival, the people and the issues discussed.

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – June 2017

BCB Open Day – 25 Year Celebration!

A scary green puppet

On 17th June BCB held an open day for people to find out more about BCB, how to get involved with us, and to celebrate 25 years of community radio.

The day was a fantastic success! Throughout the day, a number of local organisations had stalls at BCB telling everyone present about the important work they do in Bradford’s communities, all soundtracked by local bands playing live. West Yorkshire Fire Service even brought an engine for people to look around.

We would like to thank all of the BCB volunteers who rolled up their sleeves on the day and made the day what it was. An even bigger thanks to Jo Kenyon who arranged and organised all the activities that took place on the day.

Volunteering Fair

2 BCB presenters under a tent

As many of you know, BCB relies on the hard-work and enthusiasm of its volunteers drawn from all areas of the Bradford district.

So, in June BCB headed down to City Park to take part in the volunteering fair and tell the people of Bradford what BCB is about and encourage people to get involved.

If you know anybody who would like to get involved with BCB, as a presenter, producer or supporting our broadcast, please email hello@bcbradio.co.uk and ask for a new volunteer form.

Featured Programme Of The Month

Tipping Point logo

Every month, we shine the spotlight on one programme on BCB and tell you more about it. This month we’re telling you about The Tipping Point.

The Tipping Point broadcasts on BCB 106.6fm on a monthly basis, and can be heard every fourth Tuesday between 9-10pm. The show aims to wander freely within genres looking for connections and links, sometimes skirting close to the edge but only occasionally falling over.

Bradford Literature Festival

A group of people being interviewed and interviewing
Mary Dowson, Cath Webber and Carole Moss interviewing Mark Garrett from the University of Bradford

400 writers, 300 events, 10 days and 1 city – it can only be Bradford Literature Festival, that started its full-to-the-brim series of events on 30th June.

The festival ran until 9th July and featured talks and performances from artists such as Lemn Sissay, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Peter Tatchell and Germaine Greer.

Throughout the festival, BCB brought its listeners a taste of events from 5:30pm every day.

‘Hear my Voice’- BCB Refugee Day Radio

BCB Refugee Radio flyer

Refugee Week takes place annually around the world in the week around World Refugee Day on the 20 June.

Every year Bradford’s organisations join together to host a series of events to showcase the talent and expertise that refugees bring with them to the UK.

On World Refugee Day (Tuesday 20th June), BCB broadcast ‘Refugee Radio’ a refugee-focused day, with many refugees and asylum seekers broadcasting for the first time.The day featured interviews with local organisations supporting refugees coming to Bradford, including personal stories from refugees.

Sounds Of The City Showcase

two men on stage with microphones

On Saturday 8th July BCB celebrated two years of the Sounds Of The City Project with a live showcase of some of the acts that have benefited from the programme.

Sounds Of The City was a project funded through the National Foundation For Youth Music aimed at giving Bradford’s young artists opportunities to perform and be heard that they wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

You can listen to showcase on BCB 106.6fm or listen live via www.bcbradio.co.uk/player.

BCB Out and About

BCB logo

Over the coming months, BCB will be about and about broadcasting live from events in the Bradford district.

As usual, BCB will be at Bradford Festival (28th-30th July) broadcasting the music and other delights that are taking place over the weekend. Then we’ll be at Bingley Music Live in Myrtle Park interviewing the punters and some of the acts playing.

Here’s a preview of some of the outside broadcasts that BCB will be doing over the coming months:

9.07.17 – David Hockney’s Big Party in the Park
22.7.17 – North Parade Street Party
22.7.17 – Bingley Show
28-30.7.17 – Bradford Festival
12.8.17 – Bradford Classic Car Show
2-4.09.17 – Bingley Music Live

If you wish to be involved with any of these OBs, please email jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk with your availability.

Goodbye….or Adieu!

At the end of June, two of BCB’s long serving staff members left their roles.

Dan Carroll profile

Dan Carroll, our Youth Radio Worker since 2006, has been instrumental in using his immense creativity to encourage young people’s participation in BCB, develop our broadcasting offer and to keep BCB moving forward.

Janice Weale profile

Janice Weale has been our Finance Worker for over 15 years, doing her very best to keep BCB on the straight and narrow!

We thank them both for their amazing commitment to BCB over so many years and are delighted that they are both planning to stay actively involved in BCB.

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – May 2017

Drive Live From The Record Cafe

a woman in glasses and 2 men talking over a microphone
Lorna and Dom chatting to Keith Wildman, owner of The Record Cafe

Every year, Record Store Day aims to celebrate the importance of independent music stores, and to increase footfall in these important community hubs. It aims to do this by offering a selection of limited edition releases only available on the day.

Record Store Day takes place on 22 April each year. To build up to the day, BCB broadcast Drive live from The Record Cafe, which sells records and is just across the road on North Parade.

Creative BFD #4 – Adventures In Photography

very colourful poster featuring a woman behind a camera

On Thursday 4th May, the fourth Creative BFD event will take place at BCB.

Our fourth event will feature Shy Burhan, professional photographer. Shy will discuss how photography has become increasingly important in the digital age, and will provide tips and tricks for anyone interested in becoming a professional photographer.

The event is free for all to attend, but you need to book via the EventBrite link below:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/creative-bfd-4-adventures-in-digital-photography-tickets-32723032471

Featured Programme Of The Month

a bright logo featuring a rooster of sorts

Every month we shine the spotlight on a particular programme from BCB’s broadcast schedule. This week, we’re spotlighting Bantams Beak.

Bantams Beak broadcasts on BCB 106.6fm every Saturday 1:30-2pm. The show is hosted by Steve and Margaret, and is a weekly roundup of Bradford City news, thoughts about last week’s match and build up to the weekend’s game.

Tour De Yorkshire on BCB

a gathering of people waiting in anticipation
Crowds gathering at Saltaire before the race started

Over the last weekend of April, the Tour De Yorkshire made its way through the Bradford region. The race brought punters out on to the streets all around the district.

BCB was live and broadcasting on Sunday 30 April from 10-1pm. We had reporters at various points on the route reporting live as the race happened.

We would like to thank all our volunteers for their hard work in making the broadcast such a success.

Speed Skating on BCB

a busy looking flyer featuring a female ice skater

Bradford Ice Speed Skating Club will be hosting the Bradford Open at Bradford Ice Arena on 6 May 2017 for the first time since the club reformed.

This is a free event for competing short track skaters across the UK, and is a great chance to see Britain’s best skaters leading up to future Olympic projects.

Doors open at 3:45pm and we will be broadcasting LIVE from the event on BCB 106.6FM from 6pm with live streaming on our Facebook page.

Brand You at BCB

a bright flyer with pleasing colours to attract millenials

In the coming months, BCB will be running a series of workshops, in conjunction with Bradford Council, to help prepare young people for the world of work.

The courses are for young adults aged 16-19 and will help improve communication and interview skills, alongside the opportunity to learn new skills around radio production and film editing.

If you are interested in the course, or know anybody who is, please email daniel.carroll@bcbradio.co.uk for information on how to get involved.

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BCB Newsletter – April 2017

BCB Roll Out The Red Carpet

a man squats over a length of red carpet, seemingly happy
David Wilson approves BCB’s new red carpet treatment

As some of you may have seen, the BCB office and studios have been re-fitted with new carpets – including a stretch of red carpet guiding guests from reception to the studios.

David Wilson, Director of Bradford City of Film, was the first official guest to take to BCB’s red carpet.

BCB would like to thank everyone who got involved with helping fit the carpet – whether that was lifting boxes or moving desks, it was greatly appreciated.

BCB at #Y17

two men squabbling over a microphone
Sir Gary Verity (left) with BCB’s Jonathan Pinfield

On Thursday 23 March organisations from around Yorkshire gathered in York for the Y17 Conference to show off all the interesting, exciiting things happening in Yorkshire.

BCB was there in full force, rubbing shoulders with The Kaiser Chiefs and Sir Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome To Yorkshire, and making sure Bradford was represented!

Featured Programme Of The Month

a black and white logo

Every month we shed the spotlight on a particular BCB programme. This week we’re telling you all about The Cutting Room.

The Cutting Room is hosted by David Wilson, Director of Bradford City of Film, and broadcasts monthly on Thursdays, 6 to 6:30pm.

The show is a round-up of local film news happening in and around Bradford, shining a spotlight on films being made in the region.

Science and Media Museum Re-Launch

inside the S&M museum

Ahead of the launch of the Science and Media Museum’s new exhibition, BCB was lucky enough to get a sneak peek in March.

Follow the link below to get a taster of some of the treats you can experience in Wonderland!

https://www.facebook.com/pg/bcbradio/videos

About Bradford Live From Mind The Gap

opened door to the entrance of building
The entrance of the venue beckons you to enter

Throughout March, BCB continued its series of live About Bradford’s from community centres, and community centred organisations in and around Bradford.

One of the venues that we sent our About Bradford programme to was Mind The Gap, England’s largest learning disability theatre company, where we chatted to some of the artists there.

Creative #BFD #3 – Adventures in TV Journalism

a colourful poster featuring a young asian man sitting in a train

The next Creative #BFD event will take place at BCB on Thursday 13th April, and will start at 6:15pm.

Our Creative BFD events aim to shine a light on the Creative Industries across Bradford. Our next guest will be Umar Farouq, journalist at ITV Calendar. In his previous role he was a social media journalist with The Times. He has also worked for the Telegraph, Guardian, Sky and the BBC.

If you with to attend the event, please book your tickets via the Eventbrite page below. Also, please share the link with anyone you feel may be interested!

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/creative-bfd-3-adventures-in-tv-journalism-tickets-32686676730

International Women’s Day – Radio Venus

two white women with dyed hair behind a large microphone
Maria and Rachel recording a very special edition of Buffet

Wednesday 8th March was International Women’s Day, and BCB celebrated the day with a schedule of all female brodacasting!

Following on from the day, BCB is organising a series of women only workshops on various aspects of mobile journalism. If this sounds like something you want to get involved with, please email mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

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BCB Newsletter – March 2017

BCB’s New Logo

BCB new logo

As some of you may have seen on BCB’s Facebook and Twitter, we now have a shiny new logo!

This logo is part of a wider re-brand for BCB that will include the front of BCB’s studios being changed with our new logo, and a general refresh and tidy up of the BCB studios.

A Lick Of Paint for BCB

A man on the floor with paint
Graham Glover hard at work

Over the last two weekends in February, a group of BCB volunteers and staff picked up their paint brushes and rollers to help make BCB’s reception and kitchen areas look a bit fresher!

We would like to thank everyone who came down and helped out over the two days!

Over the next few weeks, we’re looking to paint more of the BCB studios. If you’re available and interested in taking part please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

Featured Programme Of The Month

A group of people in the studio

Every month, we pick a programme from BCB’s broadcast schedule to show off and tell you more about. This week, we’re going to be telling you all about Our Top Ten!

Our Top Ten broadcasts on BCB 106.6fm every Tuesday 12-1pm. Every week on the show we invite local Bradford-based organisations to come and chat on air about the work they do and play 10 of their favourite music tracks!

Recent guests include Queensbury Queens Of The Mountains Cycle Club, Save The Kings Arms Pub Campaign and Bradford Assembly.

If you know any Bradford-based organisations that you think would make an interesting, and would be keen to take part, please email Jo & Kath at news@bcbradio.co.uk

Bradford Sports Awards 2017

A group of people

Congratulations to the athletes and organisations who triumphed at the second annual sports awards at the Bradford Hotel on Thursday 2 March.

You can listen to the some of the highlights here: https://audioboom.com/posts/5668711-winners-celebrate-at-the-bradford-sports-awards-2017

About Bradford Live From Bradford’s Community Centres

man infront of building
Ian at Rockwell

As part of our silver anniversary, over the next year we will be broadcasting our About Bradford from 25 community centres around Bradford.

In February, we’ve been out and about in Bradford and District Senior Power, and Rockwell Community Center, to celebrate the fantastic work they do in their respective communities.

If you know of any community centers or organisations that might be interested in publicising the work they do through this, please contact daniel.carroll@bcbradio.co.uk

Help Us Promote Your Show on Facebook and Twitter

Facebook and Twitter logos

As some of you may know, BCB puts out a tweet for every single programme that we broadcast to make sure the hard work you put into making them is maximised.

To make sure we do this in the most effective way possible we have created a form for presenters to complete when they record a show.

When you click on the link below you will be asked to describe the content of your show in 140 characters (the maximum length of a tweet) and provide a picture (generally tweets with a picture encourage a better response and engagement).These responses will then be posted/scheduled to post on BCB’s Twitter on the day your programme goes out.

If you wish your tweet to be scheduled, it needs to be uploaded via the form before 5pm Monday-Friday either prior to the day your show is broadcast, or on the day your show is broadcast. Please find the link below.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/WSM3MCY

Creative Streets BD

Jonny Noble on the streets of Bradford

We’re looking forward to getting involved in the Creative Streets BD project at the top of Bradford.

Here’s Jonny Noble, City Centre Manager at Bradford Council, telling you all you need to know about the project.

International Women’s Day – Radio Venus

IWD poster

Wednesday 8 March is International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. To celebrate and mark the day, BCB will be broadcasting programmes produced and presented by women, for women all day with Radio Venus.

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Radio Venus Workshops – Make a Movie on your phone!

Following on from our recent IWD Radio Venus workshops and broadcast we are planning to organise regular women’s training events/workshops/get togethers.

The first one will be Make a Movie on your Phone!. Jenny Eells, who you may know from the My Bradford project, is going to run a hands-on practical session to show us how easy it is to make a film on our phones. So whether it’s recording a family event, starting a political campaign, or recording your band the techniques are all the same!

You just need to have a smart phone – an iPhone or an Android – to have a go at making your film . If you are interested in coming, I’ll send you further information re downloading editing apps etc

There are two workshop dates:

1. Wed 22 March 5pm – 6.30pm
2. Saturday 8 April 11am – 12.30pm

Please email me to book your place asap – numbers are limited.

(And if you have any ideas for future sessions that you’d like to see happen – or even better, make happen! – then let us know. It’s all about sharing the skills that we have, not being experts.)

Best wishes,

Mary

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International Women’s day Broadcast

Tune in from 8am- midnight for a full day of fine female broadcasting on BCB Radio! Bradford women have their say – loud and proud!

Some of the daytime highlights:

08:00 – 09:00 Venus Breakfast Kirsten England, CEO of Bradord Council joins Maria and Rachel

09:00 – 10:00 Fiona Broadfoot is Carole Moss’s guest on One to One

10:00 – 11:00 Hear we Are Shamim Akhtar hosts 60 mins with great Bradford women including Bradford born author Abda Khan, Jenny Ramsden and Asma Malik

11:00 – 12:00 About Bradford Claire Kearns et al broadcasting Live from the Womens Health Network event

12:00 – 13:00 Womens Roundtable Liz Firth and guests discuss the female news agenda

13:00 – 13:30 In Conversation Dr Geetha Upadhaya talks to Mary Dowson

13:30 – 14:00 Speakers Corner Collective Young activists having a voice

14:00 – 16:00 Afternoon Stretch guests join Cath and Val to discuss the issue of FGM and 50 years since the Abortion Act

16:00 – 18:00 Venus Drive Live reports from the City Hall gender debate, IWD events , flash mob in city park, interviews and guests

Check out the website for the evening programme!

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BCB Newsletter – January 2017

Live Music On BCB

a gaggle of local musicians

Throughout the year, BCB is going to be broadcasting a fortnightly series of live music sessions.

The aim of the sessions is to provide a platform for local musicians to get their music heard, and for BCB volunteers to gain experience in co-ordinating live music on the radio.

If you want to get involved, or know any local musicians interested in taking part in a session, please email daniel.carroll@bcbradio.co.uk

BCB Premises Clean Up and Revamp – Saturday 18 February

outside the bcb building in bradford

As part of our jubilee year we’re giving BCB a bit of a refresh. At the AGM I talked about how we would like to hit the reset button. Reimagining our future. I talked about how proud we are of our past, but also how we have to be realistic about the present economic environment we are operating in.

Mary also reminded us of our ‘do it yourself’ attitude when we first started out.
Hence why in this spirit we are going to give the building a makeover. Think DIY SOS but without Nick Knowles and Laurence Llewelyn Bowen getting in the way.

We’re looking for an energetic group of volunteers to give up their weekend to give the walls a lick of paint, help clear up all the clutter, and regrout the sink in the kitchen.The paint has been donated, the brushes are borrowed, the elbow grease is ours. If you’d like to lend a hand on Saturday 18 February please get in touch. Finally, we’re planning to spend £5000 donated by the Asda Foundation to replace carpets in the reception and open plan office area.

We’d love to do the whole building, but at present we simply can’t spare the funds.

Dom, Chair of BCB

The People’s Brexit Debate

Brexit BCB poster

Do you have an opinion on Brexit? BCB is looking for people from the Bradford region to take part in its live discussion and debate programme on the Brexit decision.

The programme will take place on Saturday 4 February between 3-4pm.

If you’re interested in taking part, or know somebody who is, please visit this link to book your place. Alternativley, email Ann Morgan at ann.morgan@bcbradio.co.uk

Featured Programme Of The Month

Drive time hosts

Every month we shine the spotlight on a particular area of BCB’s programming. This month we’re telling you all about our Drive programme.

Drive is one of BCB’s flagship magazine programmes alongside About Bradford and goes out live on 106.6fm Monday to Friday 4-6pm. The show is presented by different presenter(s) each day, and features a series of interviews stretching a cross a variety of issues.

The first hour of the show is dedicated to lighter news, such as local fundraisers, community issues etc. The second hour of the show is dedicated to the biggest news stories & issues affecting Bradford that day, but also touches upon national and international issues.

Bradford Bulls Live on BCB

Bradford stadium

BCB is pleased to announce that it will once again be providing live commentary of every Bradford Bulls fixture, home and away, this coming season.

The Bulls kick off their season at the Lightstream Stadium against Hull KR on 5 February.

For a full list of fixtures that BCB will be covering, visit http://www.loverugbyleague.com/club/bradford-bulls/schedule

BCB Video & Visual Content

BCB logo

To supplement our broadcast output, BCB has started producing a range of videos and other visual content (live-streaming etc) over the past month around the most important issues affecting Bradford.

If you know of anything happening in Bradford that you think is important and relevant to Bradford, please email news@bcbradio.co.uk

To see the videos we’ve done so far, and to see the sort of content and format BCB is looking for, head over to our Twitter and Facebook via the links below

Twitter: @bcbradio
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bcbradio

Radio Workshop for Women and Girls: Sat 11 February 11-1pm, BCB Studios

International Women Day logo

BCB will be celebrating IWD on Wed 8 March with our Radio Venus broadcast – ’24 hours of Fun, Feminism and Fine Female broadcasting!’ This is our 23rd IWD broadcast and this year, more than ever before, we need as many women as possible to take part.

So we’re holding a Radio Workshop at BCB studios to get women involved, share programme ideas, plan the broadcast, meet other BCB women – and learn new radio skills.

No experience? No Matter! – there’s something for everyone to do. The theme for IWD this year is: Be Bold For Change. So go on, be bold and get involved! Come to the workshop if you can, bring your friends too. To be part of the Radio Venus team, or to get more information please email: Venus@bcbradio.co.uk – or speak to Claire, Carole, Shamim or Mary.

Posted in News, Newsletter

BCB Newsletter – December 2016

Lord Mayor Visits BCB

3 men behind the driving desk
Cllr Reid pictured here with Graham and Michael

In December Cllr Geoff Reid, the current Lord Mayor of Bradford, popped into BCB’s studios.

While he was here the Lord Mayor took a look around and joined Michael and Graham on Afternoon Stretch to chat about his time so far in the role. Cllr Reid chatted about the funds he is raising for Young Minds, as part of his Lord Mayor’s appeal.

BCB AGM 2016

a group of people sitting in an art gallery

On Tuesday 13 December, BCB held its Annual General Meeting at Impressions Gallery in City Park.

As shown in the picture above, Dom Burch, BCB’s Chair, spoke to the members of BCB about the board’s vision for the future. Alongside this BCB’s treasurer Naeem Nawaz spoke about BCB’s finances, and members of the staff team ran through the impact they felt BCB had in the wider community this year.

Thanks for all who came along – and a special thanks to Phil Lickley for putting together and hosting the quiz after the formal proceedings!

Northern Gas Network Funding

poster with details

We are pleased to tell you that BCB is one of three local organisations that has secured funding from Northern Gas Network’s Community Promises Fund.

Under the scheme, BCB has been given £4000 to produce radio features and content around STEM industries (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and careers in these fields.

If you know anyone who may be interested in taking part in the creation of this content, please email daniel.carroll@bcbradio.co.uk

Featured Programme Of The Month

Blowin logo

Every month we shine the spotlight on one show from the wide array of programming that BCB broadcasts every day. This week we are telling you a little more about Blowin.

Blowin (without an apostrophe) is a weekly music show hosted by Rob Walsh that goes out on BCB every Sunday 9-10pm. Blowin’s music policy is not to have one and any one show that can work it’s way from the Heptones via the Grateful Dead to Blind Willie McTell has got to be worth an ear check.

Sunbridge Wells Launch

a group of people sitting in an art gallery
BCB’s very own Graham Glover photobombing Graham Hall, owner of the tunnels

On 10 December, Bradford’s newest shopping venue Sunbridge Wells opened its doors to the public. BCB was present at the launch, speaking with some of the shop owners and punters!

BCB’s Fran Coldrick was given an exclusive look around the tunnels before they opened for her Braggin’ About Bradford programme, and Fran Holling, who presents our Drive Time show every Monday, has her own unit in the tunnels.

Festive Thanks From BCB

BCB logo

As we approach the end of 2016, BCB would like to thank everyone who has dedicated their time to BCB this year.

As a whole, the amount of hours volunteers have spent at BCB in 2016 amounts to 7672 – so BCB would particularly like to thank all our volunteers for the hard work they put in to their shows, and the special effort they make to keep BCB running over the year.

In addition, BCB would like to thank all the guests and contributors who have made themsleves available throughout the year!

BCB Opening and Closing Times

outside the bcb building in bradford

From Friday 23 December to Tuesday 3 January, BCB will be closed for the festive period.
Please ensure any programmes scheduled for broadcast over this period are edited and in their correct broadcast carts by Friday 23 December. If you have any issues, please contact BCB’s Broadcast Manager Jonathan Pinfield on 01274 771 677.

As mentioned above, BCB will re-open on Tuesday 3 January.

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BCB Newsletter – November 2016

WOW FM!

group of women in a room

Over the weekend of the 4-6th November, WOW! Bradford (Women of the World festival) took place at Kala Sangam Arts Centre.

This great festival featured a number of discussions, panels and lectures that celebrated women and girls and explored some of the obstacles they face.

As part of the festival, BCB ran two radio workshops called “WOW! FM”, where we broadcast live from the festival 3-4pm on Saturday and Sunday. The programmes were one hour radio specials featuring speakers and participants from the festival, and also gave the opportunity for a team of BCB’s women presenters to take part in a live broadcast. Thanks to everyone who took part!

BCB AGM 2016

AGM notice

Is the date in your diary? On Thursday 13th December, BCB will host it’s AGM at Impressions Gallery at 7pm.

This is a great opportunity to get together with other BCB people and catch up with what we’ve been doing this last year. It’s been a tough 12 months and in these very challenging times, we need to find ways of working together to ensure that BCB remains a vital part of Bradford life, reflecting the real experiences of Bradford’s diverse communities, and offering creative opportunities to all.

If you have any items to be put on the agenda for the AGM, they should be submitted by email or in writing by Monday 5 Dec.

So do come and join us at the AGM – and have festive drinks together too! We look forward to seeing you on the 13th – please let us know if you’re coming or send your apologies if you can’t make it.

Broadcasting Live Music on BCB

retro microphone

In 2017, BCB is looking to extend its coverage of live music from Bradford and local venues in the region.

If you are interested in getting involved with these broadcasts, or have any ideas to contribute to this push, there will a meeting at BCB on Tuesday 6th December at 6pm.

If you plan to attend the meeting, please email daniel.carroll@bcbradio.co.uk to confirm your attendance.

Featured Programme Of The Month

Flag of Ireland

Every month in the BCB newsletter we shed a spotlight on a particular BCB programme. This month, we’re telling you about Echoes of Ireland.

Echoes of Ireland is presented by Joe Sheeran, and broadcasts on BCB every Sunday 12-1pm, Monday 9-10am and Wednesday 12-1pm.

The show specifically celebrates the culture of the Republic of Ireland through playing traditional music and also spoken word. To achieve this aim, every fourth week the show is broadcast in Gaelic.

BCB Out and About

BCB logo

This month, BCB was out and about broadcasting live from various events in Bradford.

In November, we covered Bradford College’s management team getting their legs waxed for Children in Need, Bradford’s Christmas lights switch on and we were at City Park to welcome Bollywood megastars, Ranveer Singh and Vani Kapoor to Bradford.

BCB is always looking to cover events live on location that are important to Bradford. If there is anything you think we should be covering, please email jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk with information about the event.

“From The Ashes” at BCB

intense discussion around a table
Attendees discussing their memories of the mill

At the end of November, BCB hosted an exclusive screening of “From The Ashes”, and invited those featured in the film to come and watch.

“From The Ashes” was created by BCB in partnership with Cecil Green Arts. The film brings together the recorded recollections of those who used to work at Drummonds Mill, which burnt down earlier this year, with pictures from the mill’s history.

The film was initially used as part of Lister’s Lantern Parade, whose theme this year was memories of the mill.

BCB Staff and Management Committee Away Day!

BCB people
BCB crew at Seabrooks

On Thursday 10th November, BCB’s Staff and Management Committee gathered together at Seabrooks’ offices in Bradford for an away day! A rare treat for us all indeed!

The purpose of the day was to imagine what BCB might be look like in the future, and for BCB’s Mancom and staff to work together to plan and explore that vision.

Throughout the day lots of great ideas were put forward, and lots of crisps were eaten! (We estimate that Dan was just one flavour away from eating all of the Seabrooks range……). We would like to thank Seabrooks for having us!

BCB Treasurer Naeem Nawaz is let loose in the Studio

Naeem Nawaz behind the desk

Following a day of crunching numbers with BCB’s Director Mary Dowson, Naeem Nawaz, BCB’s Treasurer, was let loose in the studio!

Throughout the day, Mary and Naeem had been drafting BCB’s 2017 budget, working out a detailed cash flow.

Naeem will be addressing BCB’s AGM about the challenges facing BCB in 2017.

BCB’s New First Aider – Jo Kenyon

BCB logo
Jo loves BCB, we love her too!

BCB now has a newly qualified first-aider in our very own Jo Kenyon. Well done, Jo!

Jo is in the bulding Monday to Friday 12:30-6pm, so if you have any issues don’t hesitate to come and find her.

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BCB Newsletter – October 2016

BCB Gets Silver At The Yorkshire Gig Guide Awards!

award and certificate on the table

At The Yorkshire Gig Guide Grassroots Award 2016, BCB got Silver in the category for Outstanding Media. Al’s Dime Bar – whose show Dime Time goes out BCB every Tuesday 11-12am was also recognized on the night.

BCB would like to thank all of it’s staff and volunteers for its support in being recognised at the awards!

BCB Xtra Open Day!

teenagers on the driving desk

On Wednesday 26 October, BCB held an open day for young people aged 13-19 to find out more about our youth-led strand of programming BCB Xtra.

We are always looking for new people to get involved with BCB Xtra. If you know of any budding DJs or presenters who might be interested in getting involved in our BCB Xtra strand, please email daniel.carroll@bcbradio.co.uk

Youth Music Update!

youths looking at a screen

Music production workshop have been taking place at Belle Vue Girls School.The aim of these sessions is to introduce sequencing and synthesis. Over the October half-term we recorded a special radio programme which provided a beginners guide to song-writing with local musician Imani Hekima.

In October BCB has also started work with Snoop to produce a special radio programmes around the work they do.

Featured Programme Of The Month

a blackboard with economics in chalk

Every month in the BCB newsletter we shed a spotlight on a particular BCB programme. This month, we’re telling you about Why Don’t Economists?

Why Don’t Economists? is a monthly programme that broadcasts on Wednesdays and is hosted by Marie McCahery. The show discusses alternative economic views, and dissects current economic practice, with experts in the field of study.

BCB At The WOW! Festival

WOW festival poster

In the first weekend of November (5-6th), Bradford will host the Women of the World festival, and throughout the weekend BCB will capturing all the action from the festival.

The Women of the World festival celebrates women and girls, and looks at the obstacles that stop them from achieving their potential. You can find out more information about the festival and all the events taking place via https://issuu.com/southbank_centre/docs/wow_bradford_2016_brochure_final

BCB Staff and Management Committee Away Day!

BCB logo

On Thursday 10th November, the BCB staff team and Management Committee members will be attending an away day at Seabrook House.

On the day BCB’s studios will be open as normal, and studio managers will be available to assist any volunteers who might need help.

If you have any questions please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

Black History Month 2016 Programmes and Features!

black history month logo

As some of you may have seen in last month’s newsletter, October was Black History Month, and the theme for this year was ‘Africa, Mother of Mankind’ which celebrates heritage and culture.

To mark the month, volunteers at BCB produced a series of features for our magazine programmes About Bradford and Drive, and a series of of more indepth programmes – such as Kath Canoville’s Global Meltdown Black History Month special and Jenny Powell’s Black in the Day.

BCB at the Listers Lantern Parade!

lanterns lit in the night scene

On Saturday 15th October, thousands of lanterns were paraded through Lister Park. One part of the proceedings was the ‘Out Of The Ashes‘, a project that aimed to document the stories of those who worked at Drummond Mills before it burnt down.

For this project, BCB worked with Cecil Green Arts to provide recordings of Drummond Mill workers recalling their memories of time spent in the mill that were played at the parade.

Following on from this, BCB is now looking for stories from women who worked in Drummonds Mill. If you know anyone who might be interested in taking part, please email claire.kearns@bcbradio.co.uk

Older People’s Fortnight!

full of life logo

Well done to our Senior Moments team for their excellent coverage of Older People’s fortnight at the beginning of October.

We covered a wide range of the extensive programme of events that celebrated older people across the Bradford district.

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BCB Newsletter – September 2016

Sending off the Rock Against Racism Exhibition in Style!

a local dj
A local DJ on the set

On Thursday 1st September, to send off the Rock Against Racism exhibition in style, Impressions Gallery and BCB Radio brought an eclectic and diverse group of musicians and spoken word artists,united in the belief that racism has no place in our society.

The night saw live peformances from Imanni Hekima, Mila Lee, Nick Toczek and Vanessa Maria as well as sets from BCB DJ’s. BCB broadcast all of these sets live.

BCB would like to thank everyone who made the night such a success!

BCB Welcomes Touchstone Interfaith Group

Bradford Community Broadcast

Every Wednesday, BCB will be hosting Touchstone Women’s Interfaith Group between 9-12pm in the larger of the two meeting rooms.

The group will be meeting in the room during September and October, so say hello if you see any members in the building!

#LoveBradford World Record Attempt – Well Done Bradford!

Ann Morgan
Ann Morgan interviewing the Guinness World Record Attempt adjudicator of the attempt live at City Park

On 15th September BCB broadcast and took part in the #LoveBradford World Record attempt.

The attempt was for the longest chain of people making heart-shaped hand gestures, and Bradford broke the record with 2,331 people gathering in City Park on the day!

BCB would like to thank all of its volunteers who took part, and to congratulate Bradford for being successful in its attempt!

Featured Programme Of The Month

a group of people sitting by the desk

Every month in the BCB newsletter we shed a spotlight on a particular BCB programme. This month, we’re telling you about Round Table!

Round Table is broadcast on BCB every Friday 12-1pm by a variety of different presenters. The show invites three different guests from different communities in Bradford to discuss the week’s biggest headlines.

If you know anybody that would like to take part in our Round Table programme, please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

BCB Live at Saltaire Fesitval

Saltaire

This year’s Saltaire Festival took place between 9-18th of September, and once again BCB was present and broadcasting from the festival.

BCB would like to thank all the volunteers who helped make the broadcast so succesful on Saturday 16th September.

Bingley Music Live 2016!

group photo
BCB’s Phil Lickley, Michelle Dalgety, Ann Morgan, Stevie Le Shaw drying themselves off at the festival

John Robb, We Are Scientists, FLING, Age of L.U.N.A and As Sires Fall – these are just a few of the bands and acts that BCB interviewed during Bingley Music Live

If you’re interested in getting involved with any of BCB’s live outisde broadcasts, providing support or broadcasting, please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk to check if you’re subscribed to BCB’s mailing list.

Sarah Lockyer RIP 2.2.58 – 24.9.16

Sarah Lockyer
Ann Morgan interviewing the Guinness World Record Attempt adjudicator of the attempt live at City Park

We are very sad to report the news that BCB presenter Sarah Lockyer died on 24 September. She was diagnosed with cancer at the end of April and died just 5 months later aged 58.

Sarah was a committed and talented volunteer, presenting Health Matters and Drive programmes. She will be greatly missed by us all at BCB and our love and condolences go out to her family and friends.

Lates at the National Media Museum

media museum

On Thursday 29th September, the National Media Museum hosted another of its Lates evenings.The theme for the evening was Faces and BCB provided the music for the duration of the event!

The next Lates will be on Thursday 8th December, and the theme will be Wearable Tech!

Find out more information about the Lates via the National Media Museum website http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/planavisit/adultevents/lates

CRC (Centre Resolution Conflicts) AGM at BCB

group meeting
The CRC AGM at BCB

The Centre Resolution Conflicts (CRC) of Bradford is a community-led peace and conflict resolution-training centre, who meet regularly at BCB. In September, the group held it’s AGM.

BCB has rooms available for hire at reasonable prices for any organisation looking to meet. If you, or anybody you may know, would like to hire a room please contact joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

Black History Month – October 2016!

Black History Month logo

As some of you may have seen in last month’s newsletter, October is Black History Month. The theme for this year is ‘Africa, Mother of Mankind’ which celebrates heritage and culture.

To mark the month, BCB is looking to produce a series of features and programmes. If you have any ideas for features or programmes, please contact our broadcast manager Jonathan Pinfield at jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

Listers Lantern Parade

lanterns on parade

On Saturday 15th October, dozens of lanterns will light up the sky as they wound their way through Lister Park, Bradford, for a pretty,night-time parade.

The theme of this year’s parade is ‘welcome’ and ‘stories from the mill’, and BCB has been working with Cecil Green Arts to record the stories of the people who worked in Drummonds Mill. These stories will be part of an audio visual display shown at this year’s lantern parade

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BCB Newsletter – August 2016

Live from Bradford: Love Music, Hate Racism

love music, hate racism

As we approach the closing weekend of Rock Against Racism exhibition, BCB will be working together with Impressions Gallery to bring together an eclectic and diverse group of musicians and spoken word artists for live event at Impressions Gallery.

The acts confirmed so far are

– Imanni Hekima
– Mila Lee
– Nick Toczek

The event will be take place on Thursday 1st September from 6-8pm and BCB will be broadcasting the event live on the night.The event is free to all, so it would be great to see as many people from BCB as possible!

Find out more about the event here.

Welcome to Caleb – BCB’s New Community Reporter!

Bradford Community Broadcast

This month, BCB’s second intern Caleb Spencer started in his role as Community Reporter. Caleb will be stationed with BCB for the next six months alongside Henri who started in the role earlier this summer

Henri and Caleb will be in the office 9-4pm Monday to Friday, so if you see them say hello and make them feel welcome!

New BCB Radio Training Dates

BCB studio masterclass
Our Broadcast Manager, Jonathan Pinfield, delivering one of many studio masterclasses to the new trainees

As you will know from previous newsletters, for the past few months BCB has been running a series of radio training courses. Following the success of these sessions, BCB will be providing another set of training sessions throughout the coming months.

The sessions will begin on 4th October and will run through to 6th December, and we are inviting anybody looking to get involved to an open day on Tuesday 11th September (11-12pm).

If you know anybody would like to get involved the sessions please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

Featured Programme Of The Month

Yorkshire Music Collective

Every month in the BCB newsletter we shed a spotlight on a particular BCB programme. This month, we’re telling you about the Yorkshire Music Collective!

The Yorkshire Music Collective show broadcasts on BCB 106.6fm on a weekly basis every Thursday 10-11pm and is hosted by Michelle Dalgety. The show promotes the music of Yorkshire acts and artists and regularly features local musicians live in session!

BCB’s Picnic On The Pavilion

Picnic onthe pavilion

On Friday 5th August, BCB hosted it’s annual Picnic on the Pavilion and a great time was had by all (see Dom Burch and Lorna Kook presenting our Drive Time show live from the event right with Councillors Richard Dunbar and Beverly Mullaney)

Thanks to everyone who came down on the day!

Drummond Mills Fire Stories With Cecil Green Arts

Drummond Mills Fire
Throughout September, BCB are working in partnership with Cecil Green Arts to capture people’s stories of Drummonds Mill. ‘Out of the Ashes’ will house memories from some of the workers at this iconic mill, as part of a sound installation for the lantern parade in Lister Park this October.

If you know anybody who worked at the mills who would be willing to contribute to the project, please email claire.kearns@bcbradio.co.uk

Congratulations to BCB Xtra Presenters

Bradford Community Broadcast

In August, students across Britain collected their GCSE and A-Level results. BCB would live to congratulate all its BCB Xtra presenters for their fantastic GCSE and A-Level results, and we wish them the best of luck in there future endeavours!

BCB at Bingley Music Live

Bingley Music Festival poster

This year’s Bingley Music Live will be taking place from Friday 2nd September to Sunday 4th September, and BCB will be broadcasting live from each day of the festival at the following times.

Friday 2nd September 4-6pm
Saturday 3rd September 2-4pm
Sunday 4th September 1-3pm

Be sure to tune in to our coverage throughout the weekend on BCB 106.6fm or Listen Online via https://www.bcbradio.co.uk/player.

Older People’s Fortnight

Full Of Life

As part of Older People’s Fortnight, BCB is offering two radio taster sessions for people over 50 to discuss how they could get involved.

The two sessions will run on the following dates:

Tuesday 27th September 10:30-12pm

Friday 7th October 10:30-12pm

If you know anyone who wants to attend either session please get them to call 01274 771 677 to confirm their attendance.

Love Bradford World Record Attempt

Love Bradford!

On Thursday 15 September, BCB part of the Love Bradford world recod attempt in City Park

The world record attempt is to create the ‘longest chain of people making heart-shaped hand gestures’. People must link arms to connect with the others around them and make the popular heart-shape gesture with their hands.

This #LoveBradford event will start with registration from around 11.30am on Thursday, 15 September, with the world record attempt happening at 1pm.

It would be fantastic to see as many people from BCB there as possible! You can register to take part in the event via https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lovebradford-world-record-attempt-tickets-26323117152

Black History Month – October 2016

Black History Month

This years’s Black History Month will take place in October and BCB is looking to make a series of features and programmes to mark and celebrate the month.

If you’re interested in taking part in these programmes, or have ideas you wish to contribute, there will be a Black History Month meeting on Thursday 7th Septemer starting at 5:30pm.

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BCB Newsletter – July 2016

BCB at Bradford Festival

Dipak and Pete chatting to Anne McNeill, Director of Impressions Gallery
Shamim Akhtar and Phillip Lickley at the festival on the Sunday

This year’s Bradford Festival ran from 8-10th July and BCB broadcast live from City Park throughout the weekend.

We would like to thank everyone who helped, broadcast or otherwise, with this year’s Bradford Festival coverage.

New Training Cohort at BCB

Bradford Festival
Our Broadcast Manager, Jonathan Pinfield, delivering one of many studio masterclasses to the new trainees

On Tuesday 26 July, BCB welcomed a group of 10 new volunteers to its latest set of training sessions.

BCB is always looking for new volunteers to get involved. If you know anybody who interested in volunteering with BCB and/or undertaking some radio training, please email jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

A Tribute to Karl Dallas

Bradford Festival

On 21 June BCB was very sad to hear of the death of one of our longest serving and most creative volunteers Karl Dallas, after a period of illness.

To celebrate Karl’s life and achievements we will be putting together a special tribute programme for broadcast on BCB.

We are looking to anyone who knew Karl to contribute stories and get involved with the programme. If you wish to contribute to the programme please email jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

How is Bradford reacting to Brexit?

Bradford Festival

Over the next few months, BCB is looking to a do a series of features and programmes exploring the local impact of Britain’s decision to leave the EU.

Is this something you want to be involved in? Do you know any organisation, group or person who wants to contribute their opinion to the debate or is hosting an event around Brexit? Please email news@bcbradio.co.uk

Join Us For Our Picnic On The Pavilion

Bradford Festival

On Friday 5 August (3:45-7pm) BCB will be hosting its annual Picnic On The Pavilion and everyone is invited.

Feel free to bring along a picnic and catch up with friends from BCB, and we will also be broadcasting our Drive Time programme live 4-6pm.

To keep track of everything that’s going on with the event, like and share the event page on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/events/151108475319450/

The Jo Cox Memorial room – What do you think?

Bradford Festival

In July’s BCB Management Committee it was proposed that the Training Room in BCB studios be renamed The Jo Cox Memorial Room, in honour of the Batley and Spen MP who was tragically murdered on 16 June 2016.

Before we make a decision we want to know the thoughts of our volunteers on the name change. Please email your views on changing the name of the BCB training room to the Jo Cox Memorial Room to joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

BCB’s Photos and Biogs!

Bradford Community Broadcast

Over the next few months BCB is looking to make some improvements to its website. One of the things we want to drive forward with is the Our Presenters section of the site, and we’re really keen to get more of our presenters on the site with photos and biogs.

To do this, we’re inviting anybody who still needs a presenter picture and/or biog to BCB on the following dates:

Saturday 11 August 11am -12pm
Thursday 18 August 6pm – 7pm

If you wish to attend one of the sessions or cannot attend please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

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BCB Newsletter – June 2016

BCB at Rock Against Racism Launch

Dipak and Pete chatting to Anne McNeill, Director of Impressions Gallery
Dipak and Pete chatting to Anne McNeill, Director of Impressions Gallery at the launch

On Thursday 16th June, Impressions Gallery in Bradford launched its Rock Against Racism exhibition. At the event BCB’s Dipak Mistry and Pete Chapman broadcast live from the launch, and Dipak and Kath Cannovile also DJed at the event.

BCB’s EU Referendum Coverage

Our roving reports Ann Morgan and Phil Lickley

In June, BCB worked in partnership with BBC Radio Leeds to host,record and broadcast an EU Referendum Debate special. The debate consisted of a panel discussion with audience members and our roving reports Ann Morgan and Phil Lickley getting the thoughts of audience members.

As well as being a partner in BBC Radio Leeds’s EU Referendum debate, BCB also broadcast its own debate featuring Yorkshire MEP’s Amjad Bashir at Bradford College.

About Bradford Out and About

Bradford community center

Throughout June, BCB took its About Bradford into the community centers of the city,broadcast the show live on location and celebrate the amazing work community centers do to service there areas

On 1st June, About Bradford was live from Rockwell Community Center, and, on 14th June, the show was live from Kirkgate Community Center in Shipley.

Throughout July, we are hoping to arrange more About Bradford’s live from community centers.

Featured Programme of the month

We're all good STUFF

Every month in the BCB newsletter we shed a spotlight on a particular BCB programme. This month, we’re telling you about IT Stuff.

IT Stuff broadcasts on BCB 106.6fm every fourth Thursday and is brought to you by Dave Spencer, Shi Blank, Kris Blank and Dick Thomas. The show is a monthly roundup of wonderful and wacky news from the world of information technology and features regular updates from IT events taking place across the Bradford region.

Hear the latest installment (no pun intended…) of IT Stuff here

Lates – National Media Museum

Lates National Media Museum

On Thursday 16th June, BCB was once again involved with the Lates at the National Media Museum, with BCB’s Patrick Thornton providing the music for the events,

The theme for the night was brains and saw artists and scientists from the whole of the UK, from different walks of life bring there brilliant minds together to get to know the brain a little better.

The theme for the next Lates is faces, and will take place Thursday 29th September 2016.

BCB at Bradford Festival – Get Involved!

Bradford Festival

This year’s Bradford Festival will take place between 8-10th July and, as always, BCB will be present and broadcasting live from the event. The times BCB will be broadcasting from the festival are as follows:

Friday 8th : 6-7.30pm & 7.30-9pm

Saturday 9th: 1-3pm, 3-5pm & 5-8pm

Sunday 10th: 1-3pm & 5-8pm

If you want to be involved in BCB’s Bradford Festival broadcast, be that presenting or otherwise, please email jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk with your availability

Get Involved With BCB

Bradford Community Broadcast

In the coming months, BCB will be offering a variety of traiining opportunities for new volunteers to get involved. We are specifically looking for people who want to be a part of our daytime broadcasting, and, on Tuesday 12th July from 11-12pm, we are inviting people down to discuss the opportunities we have.

If you know anybody who be interested in these training opportunities please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

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BCB Newsletter – May 2016

BCB at the Bradford Literature Festival

Bradford Literature Festival took place from 20-29 May, and BCB broadcast live from the festival from 5:30-6pm every night of the event.

Throughout the festival, BCB’s Mary Dowson and Carole Moss spoke to Harry Leslie Smith, British writer and political commentator, Peter Brook, CEO of Provident Financial, Sponsors of Bradford Literature Festival, as well as Jeff Tansy, Iain Bloomfield, John Hegley, Professor Paul Rogers and Anita Anand.

Rock Against Racism Launch

On Thursday 16th June, Impressions Gallery in Bradford will be hosting a launch event for their Rock Against Racism exhibition. As part of the event, BCB will be broadcasting live from the launch as well as DJing the opening.

The event is free and welcome to all, so it would be great to see some faces from BCB. Visit http://www.impressions-gallery.com/events/event.php?id=312 to find out more about the event.

About Bradford Out and About

In June, BCB will be taking About Bradford out and about into Community Centers in the city and broadcasting the show live from them.

On 1st June, the show will be live from Rockwell Community Center and on 14th June and from Kirkgate Community Center in Shipley. If you are involved with a local, Bradford based community center that has events you think we should be covering please email news@bcbradio.co.uk

Featured Programme of the month

Every month in the BCB newsletter we shed a spotlight on a particular BCB programme. This month, we’re telling you about the Here We Are show
Here We Are is a women’s group who came together to encourage other women to gain a voice in public life using the vehicle of local radio and community projects.

The aims of the group are to try and engage more women in decision-making and public life, to reduce social isolation of women in their communities, and to generally improve the lives of women and girls across the Bradford district.

The Here We Are show broadcasts on BCB radio every four weeks.

BCB Election Coverage


Donnel Usher, Dom Burch, Phil Lickely and David Clapham at Keighley Leisure Center

On Friday 6 May, BCB broadcast the results of the Bradford Council elections live. The broadcast went well, and our two teams of election reporters brought the results from each wards as they came in at the counting stations.

Lates – National Media Museum

On Thursday 16th June, Bradford’s National Media Museum will host it’s next Lates, and, as always, BCB’s Patrick Thornton will be providing the music for the night.

The theme for the night is brains and will see artists and scientists from the whole of the UK, from different walks of life and backgrounds to bring brilliant minds together to get to know the brain a little better.

Visit http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lates-brains-tickets-23235304421 to find out more about the event.

EurEval Visit – Dublin!

As part of the EurEval project, BCB’s Mary Dowson, Joseph Emmett, Graham Glover, Banaris Iqbal and Lorna Kook visited Dublin for three days for the next project meeting and attended the community radio Feile.

The next EurEval meeting will be in Vienna and representatives from BCB will attend the meeting.

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BCB Newsletter – April 2016

EurEval – Austrian Visitors to BCB!

As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, BCB welcomed Helmut and Michael from Austrian training organisation Commit to Bradford. Over the course of the week they were here, Helmut and Michael interviewed local politicians such as David Ward and Richard Dunbar, took in the local sights of the city and Michael even managed to squeeze in a trip to Citizen Khan at the Alhambra.

In the last weekend of May (Thursday 26th May – Sunday 29th May) a group of BCB volunteers and staff will visit Dublin for a EurEval project meeting.

Musician in Residence on Drive Time


Dipak Mistry, who presents Drive on a Thursday with Aisling Creedon, being bowled over by Evie Gallagher’s performance

At the turn of the month, as part of the Youth Music project we mentioned in last month’s newsletter, BCB welcomed a Musician in Residence to our Drive Time programme.

Over the course of the week, Mila Lee, Vanessa Marie and Evie Gallagher sat in on the first hour of the programme (4-5pm) and performed all the music for the hour.

Irish Republic Proclamation Weekend

To celebrate the centenary of the 1916 proclamation of the Irish republic, BCB was involved in a whole host of community activities to mark the celebrations. Over the course of the weekend we broadcast live from the Civic Reception held by Bradford Council to welcome the Irish ambassador’s visit, who were down in force at the Comoradh’16 1916 Commemorative Event (pictured above) and attended Irish language classes.

As part of BCB’s marking of the centenary, we also broadcast three programmes by Joe Sheeran, Claire Kearns and Ann Morgan, who visited Dublin as part of the Eureval project.

Featured Programme of the month

Every month in the BCB newsletter we shed a spotlight on a particular BCB programme. This month, we’re telling you about In Your Backyard

In Your Backyard is a monthly 30 minute programme hosted by Ian Forward and Malcolm Currie that celebrates the wonderous sights that can be experienced in the Bradford district. Every show is recorded on location as Malcolm and Ian document the history of the location, the wildlife they encounter and there general observations of the area.

BCB at the Polls

On Friday 6 May, BCB will be broadcasting the results of the Bradford Council elections live. Our two teams of election reporters will broadcasting the results from each wards as they come in at the counting stations (Richard Dunnes Sports Center and Keighley Leisure Center).These broadcasts will take place between 9-12pm on the day.

So spread the word that BCB will be the place to hear the latest developments in the local elections. We will also be posting the results as we get them to our Twitter feed (@bcbradio) so if you can’t catch our broadcast, you can keep up to speed there.

BCB News from Leeds Trinity

Every year, BCB links up with Leeds Trinity’s undergraduate Journalism course to provide the students with first hand experience of journalistic environment and news reading.

From 9th May until the end of the month,all of BCB’s news bulletins will be provided by the students, and a reporter from Leeds Trinity will be based in the BCB studios collecting local news for the bulletins.

WOW Festival Launch Event

On Tuesday 19th April, BCB’s Mary Dowson and Carole Moss attended the Bradford Women of the World festival (WOW) launch.Jude Kelly, CBE, Artistic Director, Southbank Centre was at the launch and announced Bradford as the first city in a three-year WOW Spirit partnership. The festival will take place in Bradford between 11-13 November 2016.

Training Update

In April, BCB started delivering a series of structured training sessions with our latest group of volunteers. The training has focused on building up the volunteers studio skills, and in the latest session the volunteers were recording a 30 minute demo programme.

BCB is always looking for volunteers to get involved. If you, or anyone you know, is interested in getting volunteering at BCB please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

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BCB Newsletter – March 2016

International Women’s Day Broadcast


Our group of Guides broadcasting live on International Women’s Day

On Tuesday 8th March,BCB celebrated and marked International Women’s Day by broadcasting a day of women only programming. The day was a great success and featured more than 30 women broadcasting, some of them for the first time.

EurEval – Claire and Ann visit Dublin

As a continuation of the EU Erasmus + project, “EurEval”, Claire Kearns and Ann Morgan visited Near FM in Ireland. Over the course of the weekend, the pair visited Glasnevin Cemetery, Kilmainham Gqol and the Guinness Factory (a trip which they assure us was for research purposes only).

While they were there they also captured the thoughts of the local community about the Easter Rising on it’s 100th anniversary and even had the chance to do some broadcasting.

During April, BCB will be hosting visits from our project partners from Near FM, Ireland, and Commit, Austria.

Featured Programme of the month

Every month in the BCB newsletter we shed a spotlight on a particular BCB programme. This month, we’re telling you about The Equity Show.

The Equity Radio Show is a monthly LGBT current affairs radio show that broadcasts on BCB Sunday 1-2pm. The show is hosted by Andy Suthers and Michael Swires, has recently featured LGBT Bradford,a charity working to support the LGBT community in Bradford, as guests on the show and also featured content from their recent Eurovision jaunt.

BCB Election’s Coverage

n the month of April, BCB will broadcasting a range of programming around the upcoming local council elections

Throughout the period, we be broadcasting live from various hustings taking place across Bradford and producing regular features for our Drive and About Bradford programmes with potential Councillors on the issues affecting Bradford. We will also be broadcasting live from the counts.

We would like to remind all presenters that as Wednesday 30th March the election period came into effect. This period will last until the close of polls of Thursday 5th May and requires anybody who broadcasts with BCB to adhere to a certain code of conduct.

Every BCB volunteer should have received an email stating the guidelines they must adhere to. If for for any reason you didn’t receive these guidelines, please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

If you’re interested in getting involved in our election coverage please email Jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

Make Some Noise Workshops

Over the weekend of the 19 and 20 March, BCB took part in the National Media Musuem’s Make Some Noise Festival. As part of the festival, BCB broadcasted live and gave the chance for people attending the festival to have a go at presenting!

We would like to thank all our members of staff and volunteers who helped make our broadcast, and presence at the festival a success.

BCB Welcomes New Volunteers

In March, BCB welcomed a new group of volunteers to the organisation. The group were invited to an open day on Tuesday 15 March (pictured above) and will began training Wednesday 6th April and continue through to Tuesday 31st May

BCB is always looking for new volunteers to get involved with all aspects of the organisations, although at the moment we are looking for volunteers who are interested in producing daytime, speech-based programming.

To inquire about the training and volunteering opportunities that we’re are offering please email joseph.emmett@bcbradio.co.uk

Sounds of The City Project


Ant Henderson aka Shades hard at work

Throughout March, BCB, has continued to deliver its Sound of the City project, funded by Youth Music. The project is led by Dan Carroll, and gives young people from Bradford, but in particular young people from disadvantaged areas, the chance to learn broadcasting and music production skills

One of the young people that Dan Carroll has been working with over the last month is Ant Henderson aka Shades. Through the Sounds of the City project, Ant produces a bi-weekly show that highlights the best local grime and rap artists from 6-6:30pm every second Friday. Ant is just one of the young people that BCB is continuing to work with as part of the Sounds of the City project.

Intern and Apprenticeship Update

We’ve been able to extend the recruitment period for Community Radio intern and Radio Broadcast apprentice. These are paid positions for 16-24 year olds, giving opportunites to gain skills and experience in the media industry (Creative employment)

If you’re interested in these roles, please email mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

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BCB Newsletter – February 2016

The month of February is special to us, and this one marked our 22nd anniversary. Can you guess how many broadcast hours that is? The answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.

Refugee Arts and Crafts group

BCB is pleased to be hosting a refugee arts and crafts group every Wednesday between 10-12pm for the foreseeable future.

BCB has a number of rooms that are available for hire for anyone looking to host an event. If you wish to book one of our rooms or want to know more information contact: bookings@bcbradio.co.uk

BCB’s New Chair – Thank you Joe, Welcome Dom!

After serving as Chair of BCB for more than 14 years, Joe Sheeran has stepped down from the post. Joe will remain an active member of our Management Committee and will be succeeded in the role of chair by Dom Burch.

Mary Dowson, Director of BCB and co- founder said that “Joe is one of a kind and he has been invaluable to the ongoing success of BCB over the years. Joe added “To have served as Chair of BCB for the last 14 years has been a real privilege for me”. Dom Burch said: “I’m delighted to be appointed as the new chair of BCB. It’s a wonderful community organisation that adds huge value to the city of Bradford and the wider district.”

In addition to appointing a new chair, BCB’s management committee also appointed Lorna Kook as company secretary, replacing Liaquat Hussain who will also remain on the management committee, and Naeem Nawaz as its treasurer.

BCB extends its sincerest thanks to Joe for his long years of service as Chair,and wishes Dom the best of luck in the role.

Oh, Vienna!

As part our EU Erasmus + project, “EurEval”, at the end of January BCB’s Mary Dowson and Shamim Akhtar went to a cold and snowy Vienna to meet up with our project partners for a training week. This was hosted by Commit, the Austrian training organisation for Community media. BCB delivered part of the training programme which focused on inclusion and creating a welcoming, positive environment for diverse volunteers. As part of the project Claire Kearns and Ann Morgan will be setting off for Dublin this week to spend some time at Near FM.

Featured Programme of the month

Young Voices is a weekly discussion programme that aims to engage Bradford’s young people in political debate. Each week a panel of five young people from across Bradford and the political spectrum voice their opinions on a single political issue.

Leading up to EU referendum,the panel will be discussing the question of whether Britain should leave or stay in the European Union. They will be joined by MEPs from each political party, with Labour’s Richard Corbett being confirmed for Tuesday 29th March.

Out and About with About Bradford

Over the last few weeks we’ve started taking our daily About Bradford programme on the road. Inspired by our outreach election programmes last May, we have broadcast About Bradford live from Windhill Community Centre, Gateway Centre in Ravenscliffe, Cafe West and Eccleshill Mechanics Institute, and we are broadcasting from more community centers in the near future. If you’ve got any ideas for locations for a live About Bradford, please contact Claire

LGBT History Month

Throughout February BCB has broadcast a series of features and interviews to reflect and mark LGBT history month. As well as One-2-One observing the month with a series of LGBT guests, including Bradford Councillor Richard Dunbar and Ann Hobbiss, we have been present at, and broadcast pieces from LGBT history month events across the city, such as the Jumpers for Goalposts LGBT History Month event at Bradford Brewery.

BCB’s Bradford Bulls Coverage Kicks Off

This month, the BCB sports team kicked off our live coverage of Bradford Bulls at home to Featherstone Rovers. With the backing of Provident, we will be broadcasting live commentary of each and every Bulls game this season as they try to gain promotion back to the Super League.

Celebrate International Women’s Day With BCB

Tuesday 8th March is International Women’s Day (IWD). To celebrate and mark the day Radio Venus will be broadcasting a full day of programming presented by women – a veritable oasis of female broadcasting!

This year’s theme is a pledge for gender parity. If you would like to get involved, be it contributing content or putting together a programme, contact mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

BCB is looking for new volunteers!

Over the coming months, BCB will be offering a number of different training opportunities for people looking to get involved. We are specifically looking for potential volunteers who are interested in producing and contributing to daytime, speech based programming. If you’re interested in these opportunities and wish to find out more about the opportunities BCB are offering contact jonathan.pinfield@bcbradio.co.uk

Making Some Noise at the National Media Museum

As part of the Make Some Noise festival, BCB will be hosting a series of radio production workshops at the National Media Museum. The festival will take place from Saturday 19th March to Sunday 20th March, will be open from 10-4pm each day and BCB will be hosting its workshops across the festival.

BCB Intern and Apprentice Opportunities – NOW!

BCB is currently looking for two young people, aged 16-24, to take on paid roles at BCB. The Internship is for 6 months as a Community Reporter focusing on arts, cultural and community activity; the apprenticeship is for 12 months as a Radio Broadcasting apprentice.

Both jobs are for 30 hours a week and are part of Bradford Council’s Creative Employment programme. It is a great opportunity for 2 young people to gain paid work experience in the creative industries – and for BCB to diversify its staff team. Both roles must start by the end of March. For more information contact mary.dowson@bcbradio.co.uk

Answer: If we were broadcasting for 22 years non-stop our grand total of broadcasting hours would be just under two million.

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Listen Again service

We are pleased to say that the Listen Again service has now been resumed. Thanks for bearing with us.

Posted in News

BCB Wins Award!

BCB106.6FM has been awarded the Radio Academy Nations and Regions Yorkshire and Humber radio station of the year for 2013. We were presented with the award at a ceremony in Leeds on December 19th.

The Chair of Judges said:
“Capturing the heartache and joy of life in its area, BCB punches well above its weight with passionate programming that handles its subject matter with respect and integrity. It clearly loves broadcasting to Bradford and delivers a product that the city can be proud of. The station sounded celebratory about the people and place that it serves – exactly how community radio should sound. You can clearly hear how this station has taken the time to genuinely integrate itself within the community. It feels totally at one with its audience.”

More on the 2013 Nations & Regions Awards.

Posted in News

Welcome

BCB106.6FM is the Community Radio station for Bradford, broadcasting distinctive radio programmes made by, and for, the people of Bradford.

BCB106.6FM broadcasts a wide range of radio programmes, reflecting the cultural diversity in the city. We particularly encourage the participation of those communities and individuals who are encountering disadvantage and exclusion, using community radio to bring people together across cultures, neighbourhoods and generations.

BCB106.6FM offers training and broadcasting opportunities for local people, giving a voice to those individuals and groups who don’t usually have access to the media. We encourage volunteers to  gain the skills they need to make their own radio programmes, providing the resources and support for them to do so.

Contact/Follow
Email: info@bcbradio.co.uk
Phone: 01274 771677
Twitter: @bcbradio
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bcbradio
Audioboo: bcb106.6fm

BCB Radio runs radio training courses for new volunteers throughout the year.
Contact us for more information.

Posted in News

Radio Venus 2024

Diverse group of BCB women posing

Radio Venus 2024 BCB celebrations International Women's Day 2024. Find out more!

Windrush75

The Windrush Generations Logo

A celebration of the 75th anniverary of Windrush across the Bradford District. Listen Here

Refugee Week 2023

Tune in for a unique range of distinctly Bradford shows and interviews on Refugee Week 2023.

On Air Now
Tue 19th Mar 00:00 - 08:00

BCB Music Showcase

Another chance to hear a selection of BCB's finest specialist music programmesListen Live

Black History Month

Black History Month 2022 logo

Listen again to a selection of our Black History Month shows celebrating Bradford’s African & African Caribbean communities.

10 Today project

A group of people exercising in jumpers

Let's do 10 mins exercise on the radio! Join us 2pm every day on BCB Radio 106.6fm Read more

Kindly sponsored by Exa Networks Logo