Mast hurdle setback for soon-to-air Huntingdon radio station

HUNTINGDON’S new community radio station looks set to clear its last hurdle soon and begin broadcasting to the area.

Plans to put HCRfm on the airwaves have been hampered by a mast setback – the mast it had used for previous broadcasts was proving too costly for the station and an alternative site had to be found.

On Monday night at the Marriott Hotel in Huntingdon, 70 of the station’s army of volunteers and friends were told that the Luminus Group had stepped in to find a new site – on top of Suffolk House in Huntingdon – and that the station was awaiting the green light for a new frequency from Ofcom.

Station manager Bill Hensley told The Hunts Post: “The reason the first broadcast has been delayed was that it was too expensive to use the existing mast. We have since had to go through Ofcom for frequency clearance for the new site.

“This has given us a new broadcast area, which has to be approved by Ofcom. We expect a response in about 10 weeks.”

Mr Hensley added that everything else was nearly ready for broadcasting to begin – the studio has been built at the Saxongate Centre in Huntingdon and will be wired up in the next fortnight, and 75 volunteers are ready for action.

HCRfm’s new soap is also taking shape, with six weeks of episodes ready to hit the airwaves, Mr Hensley added.

Funding, he said, was getting harder to find and he appealed for more people to become Friends of HCRfm – the fundraising arm of the station, which organises events to bring in money. Half of the costs for HCRfm have to be funded through off-air activities, the remainder through advertising.

INFORMATION: Volunteers can fill in a form on the station’s website, www.hcrfm.com. to get involved. Bill Hensley can be contacted on 07767 823424. More actors are also needed for the soap – e-mail scott.andrews@hcrfm.co.uk – as are female presenters.