We can’t believe that it is almost five years since Black Cat Radio was first awarded a licence by OFCOM to broadcast to St Neots and the surrounding villages.

And we have just sent off our application for an extension tour licence. It was thrilling to read back our initial application, to find we have achieved or exceeded almost all our key initial aims.

We were able to bolster our application with a large number of testimonials from influencers in St Neots. Well, not just influencers. One loyal listener wrote to us and said “I found Black Cat Radio during the early stages of the Covid pandemic.

The listener said 'working on the outside of my house, I was fed up with the same old stuff on the bigger radio stations and was looking for something different.

'I’d heard of Black Cat Radio but never really took it seriously, but one afternoon I chose to tune in and listen. The rest is history, my dial, so to speak, has not moved since'.

One presenter who is at the heart of what we do is Ernie Almond, who presents our weekday morning show from 9am till midday, five days a week.

Ernie has been known as one of the country’s top children’s entertainers and he has been treating children with magic, ventriloquism and balloon modelling since our latest royal parents were children themselves.

His act was featured in Andrew Morton’s A Royal Christmas and for 25 years, Ernie entertained and compered at London’s Mansion House for the annual Lord Mayor’s Children’s Party.

He has regularly broadcast for BBC local radio and thinks he’s presented every time slot known to British radio! Whilst presenting a late-night music and chat programme The Club he met Jonathan Vernon-Smith and together they formed an on-air partnership which produced Ern & Vern - an outrageous comedy show that ran for seven and a half years, much of that time broadcast across the BBC eastern region.

These days, Ernie is happily ensconced with us at Black Cat Radio. The BBC’s loss is our gain. His programme includes recordings from around the area, with interesting people and people with something to say. And whilst he’s been broadcasting from home since last March, he simply can’t wait to get back to St. Neots to meet with the listeners once more.