COMMUNI T Y HUB
LET’S GO GIRLS
F emale, aged 16 or above and want to try new a new fitness activity? Then head to the Let’s Go Girls estival on 10 July for an evening packed with things to try from the Active Lifestyles team. Try bounce, cardio tennis, pilates, bootcamp,
coreXperience, yoga, kettlebells, disco and even a class called Strictly Come Dancing. It takes place at Hills Road Sports and Tennis centre, with registration at 5.30pm, events from 6pm. eventbrite.co.uk
T he future of local radio has come into focus these past few weeks with the decision by Heart to drop its local breakfast shows, regionalising its operations in Milton Keynes. Cambridge was a relative latecomer to local radio. BBC Radio Cambridgeshire was part of the second wave of local stations when it made its debut in May 1982, some 15 years after BBC Local Radio made its debut in Leicester. Independent Local Radio started in the UK in 1973: LBC was the first, with Capital a week later. Radio Orwell from Ipswich was the first station in the east in 1975. Then came CNFM, the first commercial station to have only an FM frequency, the name coming from Cambridge and Newmarket. It became Q103 in June 1994, and ten years ago, Q103 became Heart. Over time, the decision was taken to reduce the amount of local programmes on the station. Our own Cambridge 105 Radio, where we’ve presented Cambridge Breakfast since August 2018, launched on 9 July 2010, having taken over the licence from the old 209 Radio. -But what makes a local show? If you’re sitting in a radio studio playing songs that have been decided by a computer in London, telling jokes written for you by someone in Worcester, then it really doesn’t matter where you are. Ofcom, which is responsible for media regulation, tells us that people value local news, and radio is second only to TV here. Four in five users say they are satisfied with the quality of the news CAMBRIDGE 105 RADIO’S BREAKFAST PRESENTERS JULIAN CLOVER AND LUCY MILAZZO REMEMBER WHAT’S GREAT ABOUT KEEPING IT LOCAL RADIO GAGA
provided through these platforms. More than two fifths (44%) of adults consume news through the radio. Of these, three quarters (74%) use any BBC station for news and just over half (55%) use any commercial radio station for news. So, we know our half-hourly bulletins will be heard and hopefully appreciated. If you live in the city or South Cambridgeshire, you’ll want to know if you can get into work or school, so a local station like Cambridge 105 Radio will give you up-to-the-minute travel updates. But South Cambridgeshire is about more than news and travel. It’s surely also about local voices, which doesn’t necessarily mean a Cambridgeshire accent, though a few help! We know the area in which we live, and firmly believe
that meaningful community engagement is at the heart of active local democracy. And all of this starts with us all listening to local voices. On Cambridge 105 Radio we also know that local means getting out there to events like The Big Weekend or Cambridge Folk Festival. We’ll also reflect who’s on stage at those events through shows like The New Music Generator and Strummers and Dreamers. Back in those early days of local radio there were regular features and music shows during the week and at weekends. On Cambridge 105 Radio, we give that a contemporary slant with food, books, cinema, plus soul, rock, country and folk. Despite the many brands that have come and gone, local radio in Cambridge continues to thrive.
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C A M B S E D I T I O N . C O . U K
J U L Y 2 0 1 9
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