Members Update

Circular to Members 16th April 2010

2010-04-18T02:03:00.000-07:00

Spring Schedule
The Spring Schedule starts on Monday. The full schedule is on our web site:
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/schedule.html

Four new members get the new season off to a great start. Respected North East journalist Jon Smith joins Anthony Da Costa in “2 from Three” at 3pm on Wednesday. Michael “Patto” Patterson, a very experienced broadcaster with Alpha Radio for many years, has a Thursday afternoon show at 3pm. If you can’t wait until next Thursday, Patto can be heard tomorrow (Saturday) standing in for Gary Burgham on Saturday Edition for the day. Martin Lowes has a lively afternoon show each weekday from 1pm to 3pm. Caroline Hinde has a new Saturday lunchtime show, The Packed Lunch, from 12 noon to 2pm each week.

On the third Thursday in each month a special Morning Magazine programme will focus of issues relevant to older members of the community.

There are new programmes from Ray Oxley, Vintage Chart Show (3pm Saturday), and Ronnie Walker makes a welcome return with his popular “Juke Box Record Hop” (9pm Wednesday repeated 4pm Saturday). Michael and Val Fryer feature Brass and Military Band Music with Bandstand which returns on the first Sunday each month for a live show at 1pm.

Scott Patrick is taking a break over the summer period, but we look forward to welcoming Scott and the team back in a future season. “As the Crow Flys” with Ewan Allinson is extended to a two hour show from 7pm each Thursday.

A variety of feature and documentary programmes are currently being planned including the activities of The TCR Hub, The Barnard Castle Vision, HMYOI Deerbolt, The Castle Players, Barnard Castle Meet and The Swaledale Festival Barnard Castle Day. A Teesdale Yesteryear programme will also feature archive recordings of a classic Brass Band Concert and a recording of “Around the Hollow Hills” a play written by local journalist Jim McTaggart.

General Election
As we are in an election period, important legislation governing broadcasting of election material comes into force. The Representation of the People Act describes a number of things that we need to do whenever we broadcast any material related to elections. To fall foul of these requirements is a criminal offence. If you are in any doubt over these matters then please speak to Peter Dixon.

We intend to feature programmes with interviews from perspective candidates from the main parties. If you would like to get involved in our election coverage then please let Peter Dixon know.

Presenter Opportunity
Due to other commitments the following show requires a stand in presenter:

Sunday Review – 9.00am to 11.00am – Sunday 18th April
Breakfast Show 7.30am to 9.00am - Tuesday 11th May
Breakfast Show 7.30am to 9.00am - Friday 14th May
Breakfast Show 7.30am to 9.00am - Tuesday 18th May
Breakfast Show 7.30am to 9.00am - Friday 21st May
Breakfast Show 7.30am to 9.00am - Tuesday 25th May

If you would like to stand in for any of these shows then please let Peter Dixon know.

Outside Broadcasts
We have planned a number of outside broadcasts and if members volunteer to do more, these can easily be added to the schedule. Currently we have plans for broadcasts from the Barnard Castle Vision Box:

Whit Saturday – Saturday 30th May – 9am to 12noon
Swaledale Festival in Barnard Castle Day – Sunday 13 June – 9am to 1pm

Please let Peter Dixon know if you would like to get involved or produce an outside broadcast.

“Walk with Us” say Macmillan Cancer Support
Radio Teesdale are Macmillan Cancer Support’s media partners for their Hamsterley Forest Walk on Sunday 25 April. Several of our members have also registered to do the walk. We plan to have a stall promoting Radio Teesdale at the event. If you would like to help out then please contact the office. We will provide a Radio Teesdale T-Shirt to everyone who takes part.

Sony Awards 2010 Notes
Congratulations go to Andover Sound, BBC Guernsey and Moray Firth Radio for being nominated in the Station of the Year (less than 300k). Ex Pulp man Jarvis Cocker following in the footsteps of Katey Wallace....nominated for the 2010 Rising Star Award at the Sony Radio Awards.

Circular to Members 19/2/10

2010-02-19T13:39:00.000-08:00

Fundraising
Hopefully you will already be aware from our web site that Radio Teesdale has been awarded £12,692 from Ofcom from the latest Community Radio Fund. Since Radio Teesdale began broadcasting on a full time license in March 2007 this is the third award received from Ofcom and a very positive statement from them as to how they view how we have operated in the last 3 years. The funds are to support the fundraising activity of the station in order to help secure its longer term future. This is fantastic news, but of course there is still a lot of fundraising work to do to keep us operational.

In the last six month we have secured a number of important Service Level Contracts. These are project, often referred to as SLAs (Service Level Agreements) that allow community radio stations to engage with relevant organisations for the delivery of output of social benefit, in return for funding. These are of a high priority in terms of the station activity and programming. To remind you, we need volunteers to get involved in the following projects:

Working with young people and documenting the TCR Hub construction/opening.
Producing programmes with the young people at Deerbolt
Producing material and presenting a series of 12 x 2hr programmes about older people
3 further programmes about the Barnard Castle Vision Projects. These follow one that is almost ready for broadcast on the Witham Hall developments.
Finalising a programme about community projects receiving Leader Funding.
Members Meeting to progress the TCR Hub Programmes & Related Activities

In order to progress the activities required to complete the documenting of the new TCR Hub project (mentioned above) we will we holding a working meeting for any members who are interesting in getting involved. There will be lots of opportunities to extend your skills as training will be given in interviewing, editing and putting together documentary style programmes. The project also involves working with young people. It also gives the opportunity for leading manageable media initiatives.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday the 10th March from 6.00pm to 7.30pm. Any member (or member wishing to join) is welcome to come along and get involved. If you intend coming it would be helpful if you could let Peter Dixon know so we can make sure we have the right level of resources available.

School Visits to our studios
We have school visits to the studio for Tuesday 23rd February, Wednesday 24th and Wednesday 3rd March. In this time we will have well over 100 young people through our doors. If you would like to help the young people get the most from their day and are free during the day then please let Peter Dixon know.

Outside Broadcasts
We have outside broadcasts planned for Thursday 4th March and Thursday 11th March as well as Barnard Castle Whit Saturday Morning 29th May. Again, if you would like to get involved then let Peter Dixon know.

We have already committed to the Meet that we would broadcast live from the Vision Box on the Whit Saturday morning. If we have enough volunteers we could also broadcast during the Whit Monday (as the parade passes by!). If you would like to get involved and make that happen then let us know.

Media Partners
We are running a scheme where we become media partners with community organisation. Radio Teesdale provide the organisation with media advice and generally produce programmes or programme features about events and/or activities. In return the organisation includes our logo in their printed material. This is all done free of charge and spreads the word about the station’s extensive community activity and reminds people of our frequency. A copy of the media partner logos are on our web site:
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/mediapartner.html
Organisations currently working with us in this respect include The Witham Cinema, Swaledale Festival, Georgian Theatre Royal and McMillan Cancer Support.

If you know, or are involved in, any organization that would like to get involved in this scheme then please contact the office during office hours.

Work experience
We have already had two work experience students in the office this year doing great work and another is joining us for two weeks from Monday. Others are booked in for later in the year. If you know of any students interested in media studies, broadcasting, marketing or journalism looking for work experience then please put them in touch with our office.

Leader Celebration
John Atkinson from Radio Teesdale compered the Leader Celebration evening at the Morritt Arms on the 11th February. Radio Teesdale were also featured in a video of successful projects. This video is soon to be put on line. Look out for details on our web site in the next week.

Radio Teesdale on the CMA web site
The Community Media Association are creating a web site that has a photo for every day of the year (all 365 of them) to represent Community Radio. Radio Teesdale was selected for day 21
http://photo365.commedia.org.uk/2010/02/02/radio-teesdale/
Robin and Ruth flying the flag for Radio Teesdale.

Twitter
Radio Teesdale constantly updates the Twitter page with information on things happening at the station and items being posted on the Listen Again web site. We can be followed on
Follow us on www.twitter.com/radioteesdale
The latest tweets appear on the home page of our web site.

Presenting Opportunities
We are looking for presenters to stand in for the following shows:
Monday Breakfast Show 7.30am to 9.00am 1st March
We are looking for volunteers to share the rota for the Saturday Breakfast show (8am to 10am) from the 20th March onwards.
Spring Schedule

A reminder that the Spring Season will be from the 19th April to the 18th July. We intend to take a careful look at the schedule well before this time. We would, therefore, ask you to let Peter Dixon know of any initial programme proposals and ideas you have by Friday 5th March. Likewise, if you currently produce a programme then please let us know of your intentions for the Spring Season (and any alternate times you will have available for producing live programmes).

AGM
Our next AGM will take place this coming Monday (22nd February) at 7.00pm at Enterprise House. All members are welcome to attend.

2010-01-31T00:04:00.000-08:00

TEESDALE COMMUNITY BROADCASTING LIMITED
TO ALL REGISTERED AND PAID UP MEMBERS

Notice of Annual General Meeting (2008-09)

22nd February 2010 at 7.00 pm at Enterprise House

You are cordially invited to the 6th Annual General Meeting of Teesdale Community Broadcasting Limited to be held at Enterprise House at 7.00 pm on Monday 22nd February 2010.

AGENDA
Apologies for Absence
Adoption of Minutes of 2007 / 2008 AGM
Adoption of Revised Memorandum & Articles of Association.
Chairman’s Report
Treasurer’s Report and Presentation of Annual Accounts - 2008-09
Election of Officers and Directors
Appointment of Auditors
A.O.B. – (An Open Discussion Forum after closure of AGM).

Note:

A copy of the minutes of the 20/1/9 AGM are attached and are currently posted on the Radio Teesdale web site at http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/agmminutes.html

The details of the adoption of revised Memorandum & Articles of Association are contained on the Radio Teesdale web site at http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/memorandum-of-association.html

As per the Articles of Association of Teesdale Community Broadcasting Limited, under new Articles approved at the last AGM, one third of the existing Directors must retire from office. This represents two Directors – Alastair Dinwiddie and Brian Lister. Both are eligible for re-election (according to Article 45) and offer themselves for re-election to the Board of Management.

Any nomination to the Board of Management must be proposed and signed by a member qualified to attend and vote at the meeting for which notice is given. This proposal must be received at the registered office no less than fourteen (14) days prior to the date of the AGM. Also, the nominated person must give notice in writing of their willingness to be elected. The notice shall give the particulars of that person which would, if they were so appointed, be required to be included in the Register of Committee Members.

Written notice of any item for inclusion under A.O.B. after the formal business and closure of the AGM, must be received not less than three days prior to the A.G.M.

Current Directors are as follows:-

Alastair Dinwiddie Chairperson
Alastair Dinwiddie Financial
Charlotte Stow Marketing
Brian Lister Technical
Keith Jones Youth and Community Relations
John Atkinson Business Development
Diane Sparke Upper Teesdale
Simon Allen One North East
Helen Dexter Co-opted (Legal Adviser)
Andy Leitch Co-opted (Fund Raising)

Company Secretary Pat Estall

It is proposed to assemble after the meeting for a social. Venue to be declared at the meeting.

PLEASE CONFIRM YOUR ATTENDANCE BY FRIDAY 19th February 2010.

Most of our information is sent out electronically

DO WE HAVE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS?

Correspondence to:

Charlotte Stow, Business Marketing Director,

Teesdale Community Broadcasting Limited,

Enterprise House,

Harmire Enterprise Park,

Barnard Castle,

Co. Durham,

DL12 8XT.

Tel: 01833 696600 E-mail: enquiries@radioteesdale.co.uk

Circulation: All Directors and Members of Teesdale Community Broadcasting Limited.

Teesdale Community Broadcasting Limited, a Company Limited by Guarantee

Registered in England No. 04813885

Registered Office:

Teesdale Enterprise Agency

Harmire Enterprise Park

Barnard Castle

Co. Durham

DL12 8XT

Directors:

A.M. Dinwiddie (Chair) Simon Allen J.W. Atkinson K. Jones Brian Lister Charlotte Stow Diane Sparke

Co-opted Members:
Helen Dexter (Legal Adviser)
Andy Leitch (Fund Raising)

Company Secretary: Patrick Estall

Teesdale Community Broadcasting Limited

Election to Board of Management

Nomination Form

I propose………………………………………………………………………………..

for the position of………………………………………………………………………

to sit as an elected representative on the Board of Management.

Name of Proposer:……………………………………………………………………..

Signature of Proposer:………………………………………………………………...

Date:……………………………………………………………………………………

I, ………………………………………………………………………………………..

am willing to stand for election to the Board of Management

for the position of………………………………………………………………………

and duly sign to that effect.

Name of Nominee:……………………………………………………………………..

Signature of Nominee:………………………………………………………………...

Address:………………………………………………………………………………...

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Tel:……………………………………………………………………………………..

E-mail…………………………………..........................................................................

Date:……………………………………………………………………………………

Note to Active Members 15/1/10

2010-01-15T13:31:00.000-08:00

Radio Teesdale on the Telly tonight (Friday)
ITV reporter Ben Chapman has spent the week in Teesdale filming features for the 6pm ITV news. The focus has been on how we have coped with the bad weather. Ben filmed our Breakfast Show this morning, the Lunch Show as well as talking to Ken Cook, our weatherman, and Station Manager, Peter Dixon. There are some photos on our photo gallery.

Ben will be live in the studio tonight (ITV 6pm) talking about his week in the studio and will show the film recorded at our studios.

We also understand that the TV show that was partly filmed last year in our studios “Put your money where your mouth is” will be aired on prime time TV in the near future. More details as we get them.

Snow, Snow, Snow and even more snow!!!
Well done to all our presenters and other members who have battled through the snow to create programmes during the bad weather. The Breakfast Show in particular has been widely praised throughout Teesdale for the information that we have been able to pass to the community. Several schools have told the parents of their pupils to listen to Radio Teesdale rather than ring the school for news of closures.

Tweet, Tweet & Twitter
Radio Teesdale is registered on Twitter and we publish at least 3 or 4 (up to about a dozen) tweets a day. We are finding it a great way to post information about things going on at the station. All tweets appear on the home page of our web site for a period. You can see the history of tweets on our twitter page http://twitter.com/radioteesdale
It is the quickest (apart from calling into the office!) ways of finding out the current news and gossip.

Top 100 Listen Again Features
We have published a list of the top 100 Listen Again items from 2009. It’s a very interesting cross section of the interviews and features that we did last year.
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/listenagain.html

A New Season Starts on Monday
We are starting a new season on Monday which will run until the 18 April. Ron Walker with Juke Box Record Hop and Dixon J Scott with Teesdale Country are resting both of their programmes for this season. Well done to both of them for great programmes, and we look forward to hearing them back on Radio Teesdale in the near future.

Best of luck to Ewan Allinson with “As the Crow Flys” which has moved to the new live spot of 8pm on Thursday evening. We also extend a warm welcome back to Ray Oxley with his popular Comedy Hour and a new Chart Show, which features the music chart from a given week in the past.

If you are thinking about a new show for the next season, now is the time to start planning. We can always record pilots at any time. Often it can take several weeks/months to finalise a format before a programme proposal is settled and agreed up. For reference, seasons for the remainder of the year are:

Spring 19 April to 18 July 2010
Summer 19 July to 17 October 2010
Autumn 18 October 2010 to 16 January 2011
The full Spring schedule will be on our web site later this afternoon.

North East Radio Station of the Year
In case you were not already aware……Radio Teesdale has become the North East Station of the Year in the Radio Academy Nations & Regions Awards 2009. This qualifies Radio Teesdale for the 2010 Sony Radio Academy Awards Station of the Year which is held around May of next year. We have had an enormous amount of feedback and congratulatory notes from listeners and people in the Teesdale community and UK radio community. Helen Goodman, our local MP, was kind enough to write to us and say,

“I am delighted that Radio Teesdale has been selected as the North East Station of the Year in the Radio Academy Nations & Regions Awards 2009. I would like to pass on my congratulations to you and your hardworking members. You programmes provide a valuable resource of information and companionship to local residents and it is clear that the award recognises Radio Teesdale's commitment to the needs of the local community.”

Note to Active Members 18/12/9

2009-12-18T23:26:00.000-08:00

Christmas Schedule
We are currently finalising the Christmas Schedule. Details can be found in the office and will soon be posted on the web site as well as being sent to the local press.

Radiothon
Many thanks to everyone who raised money during the Radiothon. A very special thanks goes to Anthony Da Costa who raised several hundred pounds. Very well done Anthony. The total raised topped £2,200. If you have any outstanding sponsorship money to delivery we would be grateful if you could pass it to Katey or Peter as soon as possible. The event was a great success from a fundraising point of view. It also had 24 great programmes that had a input from over 40 community guests.

Journalism Training Material on-line
You may be interested to know that the public will be able to gain online access to master classes delivered by some of the BBC's best-known journalists, including John Simpson and John Humphrys, under plans announced yesterday.

BBC executives plan to let licence-fee payers use the corporation's internal training website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/journalism/
which includes thousands of hours of material, as part of a range of partnership agreements. Rival news organisations and broadcasters will also be able to use the material.

New Members of the Radio Teesdale Management Board
We are delighted to let you know that the Board of Management has invited two of our members to become Directors. Firstly Andy Leitch who has a vast experience in Banking, Education, Business and Fundraising. Andy also presents the Monday Breakfast and Sunday Supplement programmes. Secondly, a recent Radio Teesdale member, Helen Dexter who is a partner with the solicitors tilly bailey irvine. A Barnard Castle resident, Helen brings a wealth of experience to the board. She became the first lawyer in North East England to be awarded a fellowship of the Agricultural Law Association (ALA). We are sure all our members send them the good wishes in their new roles.

Next AGM
We are currently planning on holding the next AGM on Monday the 22nd February at 7.00pm at Enterprise House. A few things need to be organised before this is confirmed and an official notice will be issued in due course. In the meantime you may like to make a note in your diary.

Following the last AGM it was noted that some amendment and corrections needed to be made to the Memorandum of Association. This work has now been completed and the proposed changes are set out on our web site page:
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/memorandum-of-association.html
This has resulted in some changes being required to the Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures:
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/grievanceanddisciplinaryprocedures.pdf

North East Radio Station of the Year
Hopefully you are already aware that Radio Teesdale has become the North East Station of the Year in the Radio Academy Nations & Regions Awards 2009. This qualifies Radio Teesdale for the 2010 Sony Radio Academy Awards Station of the Year which are held around May of next year. Fred Marden, the North East Chairman of the Radio Academy visited the Radio Teesdale Offices to present the glass trophy.

Run out of ideas for Christmas pressies….the perfect gift!!
We have reduced the price of Radio Teesdale T-Shirts to £5 and Mugs to £4. Ideal gifts for all occasions. Buy now while stocks last!!!

Happy Christmas
Finally, Happy Christmas to all our Listeners and Members and all best wishes for 2010.

Radio Teesdale Top North East Radio Station

2009-12-02T14:25:00.000-08:00

Fresh on the success of our first Radiothon, last weekend, in which we raised around £2,200 we have today received more very exciting news.
We are delighted to let you know that Radio Teesdale has been selected as the North East Station of the Year (under 300,000) in the Radio Academy Nations & Regions Awards 2009.

These awards give an opportunity for stations with a Total Survey Area (TSA) under 300k to be recognised in their branch and to qualify for the 2010 Sony Radio Academy Awards Station of the Year. This is open to all types of radio station - community, BBC and commercial. So, Radio Teesdale will be representing the North East is the process to select the National Station of the Year (for listeners less than 300k) in the Sony Awards. There are only 11 regions so this is a significant honour.

The aim of the awards is to celebrate programming that caters for the needs of a local or regional UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man audience. Each regional branch awards one Nations & Regions Award to the station that the judges feel demonstrated the most consistently outstanding output.

The short details of the award are currently on the Sony Radio Awards on page:
http://www.radioawards.org/categories/index.php?E1

Congratulations to everyone involved in Radio Teesdale. Very well done.

The Chairman of the North East Region, Fred Marden, will be visiting the Radio Teesdale Offices on Wednesday 9th December at 2.30pm to present the trophy. Please come along and meet Fred if you can.

Note to Active Members 6/11/9

2009-11-08T15:20:00.000-08:00

Fundraising – your involvement is vital for the continuation of Radio Teesdale
The facts are simple. Unless we continue to raise £60k each year (£5k per month) to cover basic costs then Radio Teesdale will cease to exist. Radio Teesdale has no long term funder or guaranteed source of income. We have no choice but to continually raise funds whether it is by advertising, sponsorship, successfully applying for grants, undertaking commercial activities such as training for businesses or completing discrete projects for sponsor organisations.

There is no mechanism for the station to run at a loss. If that such a thing were to happen services would need to be withdrawn.

Raising funds is not the domain of any single individual. We would urge all members with an interest in the continuation of Radio Teesdale to think about how they can contribute to raising funds. Over the years we have aimed to develop a wide portfolio of incomes to reduce the risk of reliance on any particular source. These are some of the areas where you can directly contribute to this important area:

Community Radio Projects
In recent weeks we have secured or submitted proposals to a number of organisations that will result in our running project which generally result in our creating programmes for disadvantaged groups or community initiatives. These are all very much in line with our core community values and objectives. We need volunteers to lead and/or work on these in order that we can meet our commitments:

Working with young people to record programmes about the TCR Hub
Working with young offenders at HMYOI Deerbolt
4 Programmes about the Barnard Castle Vision
Working with and producing programmes featuring the needs of older people.

Funding applications.
We have identified a number of applications that could provide funding for Radio Teesdale. We need people willing to work on completing the applications and then identify other opportunities

Radiothon sponsorship form for members
The Radio Teesdale Fundraising Radiothon runs from 12 noon on 27th November to 12 noon on the 28th November. We would urge members to pick up a sponsorship form and ask their friends, family, colleagues, etc to sponsor Radio Teesdale to “complete” the broadcast. Some of our members have already extended this idea and are raising money through organising and quiz and another is seeking sponsorship for having their hair shaved! You can pick a form up from the office or download it on our web site - http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/sponsorform.xls

If you are unsure about how you can help raise funds then please speak to either Peter Dixon, Katey Wallace or Charlotte Stow.

Training
We will be running a new 5 week training course for anyone interested in creating community group based programming. It will be from 10am to 12am each Wednesday morning from 13th January to 12th February.

The course will suit anyone new to radio interested in creating programmes featuring community groups or someone interested in supporting community groups and sectors of the community make programmes (like those mentioned in the “Community Radio Projects” above).

Community Festive Fayre 2009 21 November at Bishop Auckland College
Radio Teesdale has agreed to take a stand at the event which runs from 10am to 2pm. Can you help out? It’s a great opportunity to talk informally to potential new members and/or listeners. We could also arrange for some of those there to ring into the live shows running that morning.

Barnard Castle Christmas Tree Lights Switch On
Barnard Castle Town Council has asked Radio Teesdale to be involved in the event which takes place from 6pm on Friday the 27th November. Through our contacts at Sunderland Empire we have arranged for John Challis (Boycie from Only Fools and Horses) and Steve Luck to switch on the lights. If you would like to be involved, let Peter Dixon know.

Middleton in Teesdale Christmas Tree Light Switch On
Would you like to get involved in creating a special programme featuring the event on the late afternoon of Saturday the 28th of November? We would need someone to present the show from the studio and at least one person at the event. If you can help, please let Peter Dixon know.

New Concordia CD
Teesdale choir Concordia have released a new CD. We are in the process of creating a programme about it. Copies of their CD can be purchased (with the retail profit part going to Radio Teesdale) from our office. In a few days we’ve sold 6…they make a lovely Christmas present!

Christmas Programming
If you would like to make a special programme for the Christmas Schedule (live or pre-recorded) then please let Peter Dixon know. All pre-recorded programmes will need to be fully completed and ready for broadcast by noon on Friday the 18th December – which is only 6 weeks away!

Radio Teesdale Web Site
Radio Teesdale now has a Twitter Site with several tweets being added each day:
http://twitter.com/radioteesdale
The tweets are also instantly displayed on the home page of our web site.

Note to Members 01 October 2009

2009-10-01T13:21:00.000-07:00

Radio Teesdale Radiothon Fundraiser – your involvement is vital for the continuation of Radio Teesdale
The Radiothon Fundraiser scheduled for the 27th and 28th November is going from strength to strength. Presenters have been allocated for all 24 hours and a sponsor has been secured for each hour. We are currently working on arranging for community groups to be part of each and every hour. It also falls on the Barnard Castle Christmas Light Switch On and we are going to be broadcasting LIVE for at least 3 hours from the Vision Box.

This is a great opportunity to involve a whole variety of members of the community in our activities. The reaction to date has been outstanding. First and foremost, however, this is a fundraising event for the station. Each month we have outgoings of £5k. Without this level of income Radio Teesdale will cease to exist. We can not run the station at a loss….so unless we continue to raise funds (which is becoming more and more difficult as public funds are less available) the stark truth is that we would go off air. We would urge every member to collect a sponsorship form from the office, or download it at:

http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/radiothon.html

and start collecting sponsors for the event. If you collect money in advance you can bring it into the office at any time and hand it to Peter Dixon or Katey Wallace who are keeping a record of monies collected.

If you would like to be involved in any aspect of the organising of the event then please let Katey Wallace know.

Autumn Schedule starts 19 October
Many thanks to all those who have already proposed new programmes for the new season. We will be having another series of folk/blues history from the team of Walt and Mick. Andrew Harrison and Sarah Fells are busily recording a monthly Book Programme.

The seasons throughout this next year are:
Autumn 2009 – 19/10/9 to 17/1/10
Winter 2010 – 18/1/10 to 18/4/10
Spring 2010 – 19/4/10 to 18/7/10

Presenters/members who haven’t done so already should confirm the continuation of their show, propose new ones or suggest programme time changes by Thursday 8th October, at the latest.

If you would like to join the teams presenting Weekday Breakfast, Saturday Breakfast or Drive Time then please let Peter Dixon know.

Broadcasting from the Vision Box a great success
We have now completed three full broadcasts from the Box. Each has been extremely well received by members of the public passing and calling down. Last Friday we held a coffee morning in support of Macmillan Cancer Support. Together with one held at Enterprise House, we raised £215 through selling coffee and cakes made by members in just a few hours.

The next outside broadcast will be this Saturday (3rd October), between 9am and 12 noon, on Farmers’ Market Day. Good luck to Cat Chapman and Gary Burgham.

Training
We have now completed 3 of the 5 weeks of the current training course. This is being attended by ten new members who have been enthusiastic participants in the sessions. Check out the photos on the gallery!

Fundraising Soul Night
On Saturday 12th September Radio Teesdale and the Witham Hall held “A Solid Gold Soul Night.” Radio Teesdale Soul Show presenter Kevin Sowerby did a fantastic job spinning the discs. The evening was a great success and netted Radio Teesdale £139 towards our funds.

Radio Teesdale Web Site
Radio Teesdale now has a Twitter Site with several tweets being added each day:
http://twitter.com/radioteesdale
The tweets are also instantly displayed on the home page of our web site.

Congratulations to Alex James
I am sure that everyone at Radio Teesdale would like to join us in wishing Alex James every success in his new shows on Sun FM. It is a great achievement and very well deserved. Alex joined us when he was only 15 years old and proved to be a natural talent from day one. He will be presenting two 6 hours shows each weekend! Sadly this means that he will not be able to continue his Sunday lunchtime show on Radio Teesdale, but he will be back for various one off specials.

Passed the half way mark!
On the 27th September we passed the half way mark through our first five year full time license. Everyone involved in Radio Teesdale should take great pride in the many achievements reached so far. Well done everyone!

Note to Active Members 24 July 2009

2009-07-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

New Summer Schedule underway
The Summer 2009 season on Radio Teesdale is now well underway. Congratulations and good wishes to presenters in new live shows Dave Chippy Chipchase for his new “Metal Gods Rock Show” (Monday 7pm to 9pm), Martin Cluderay (Drive Time Wednesday 5pm to 7pm) and Andy Leitch (Monday Breakfast Show 7.30am to 9.00am). Also, Michelle Grancourt has already produced two pilot programmes called "Teesdale Playlist" and "Ska Top" with more planned. Well done Michelle. Several of the repeat shows have changed times so check out the schedule for more information:
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/schedule.html

The seasons throughout this next year are:
Autumn 2009 – 19/10/9 to 17/1/10
Winter 2010 – 18/1/10 to 18/4/10
Spring 2010 – 19/4/10 to 18/7/10

Presenting Opportunities
With the holiday season well and truly upon us there are lots of opportunities to stand in and do a programme that you normally would be able to commit to for a full season. Let Peter Dixon know if you would like to do some different shows. Specific opportunities include:

Breakfast Show – Wednesday 5th August (7.30am to 9.00am)
Drivetime – Wednesday 5th August (5.00pm to 7.00pm)
Breakfast Show – Wednesday 12th August (7.30am to 9.00am)
Saturday Edition – Saturday 15th August (10.00am to 12.00noon)
Drivetime – Wednesday 19th August (5.00pm to 7.00pm)
Breakfast Show – Wednesday 19th August (7.30am to 9.00am)
Saturday Edition – Saturday 22nd August (10.00am to 12.00noon)
Breakfast Show – Wednesday 26th August (7.30am to 9.00am)
Sunday Morning Review – Sunday 6th September (9.00am to 11.00am)
Sunday Morning Review – Sunday 13th September (9.00am to 11.00am)
Breakfast Shows alternate Thursdays (7.30am to 9.00am)

Outside Broadcasts coming soon!!!
The mobile studio equipment purchased by the Barnard Castle Vision has been arrived and is in the process of being commissioned. The studios have been re-wired to allow outside broadcasts to “play” through the desks. During this week Durham Net finished off all the internet connections and we did a trial broadcast to the studios from the Vision Box in Galgate. It worked perfectly! We hope to be broadcasting programmes from “The Box” in the near future. If you would like to get involved in producing outside broadcast programmes then please let Peter Dixon know. We are looking for people to get involved in setting up the equipment, making sure everything is working ok in the studio and scheduling and coordinating all the programmes and events.

Summer Food Festival Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th August
The two day festival takes place at Thorpe Farm, Greta Bridge just off the A66. Several Radio Teesdale presenters have been asked by the organisers to host various events. The Barnard Castle Guild have very kindly offered to let Radio Teesdale have a corner of their stand in order that we can sell our merchandise and promote Radio Teesdale. If you would like to get involved (it gives you free entry!) then let Peter Dixon know.

Fundraising Soul Night
On Saturday 12th September Radio Teesdale and the Witham Hall are jointly holding “A Solid Gold Soul Night.” Radio Teesdale Soul Show presenter Kevin Sowerby will be getting everyone dancing the night away to soul, classic Motown, Atlantic and Stax. Live music will be provided by the Funk Soul Brothers lead by local singer Tom Richardson before band members depart for college and university. Put the date in your diary. Ticket information will follow shortly. Let Peter Dixon know if you’d like to help out in the organising of the event.

The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning
Radio Teesdale is delighted to be supporting Macmillan Cancer Support’s “Feel Good! World’s Biggest Coffee Morning” on the 25th September. The idea is to get your friends, family or colleagues together to share coffee and cake. And don’t forget to donate. Radio Teesdale is planning on hosting coffee morning in the centre of Barnard Castle as we broadcast an extended lunch time programme (11am to 1pm) live from the Barnard Castle Vision Box in Galgate. At the same time we will be holding a coffee morning, with the Enterprise House Team, at the reception at Enterprise House. If you would like to get involved in any capacity then please let Peter Dixon know.

Training
We have now completed two weeks of the “Introduction to Studio Presentation and Audio Production Course.” It’s a great bunch of new members who are all doing extremely well on the course. Many thanks to Malcy and Andrew Harrison for helping out on the running of the sessions and acting as a mentor to may of the new members. Watch out for photos coming shortly on the web site.

The training course quickly became oversubscribed so we have decided to run a 5 week course from the 16th September (Wednesdays 6pm to 8pm). If you, or someone you know, would like to get involved then please let Peter Dixon know.

Radio Teesdale Web Site
The Radio Teesdale web site is constantly being updated with new information. Chris Ord does a fantastic job. With great design flair he very quickly updates the site with material he is sent. Things posted since our last e-newsletter that you may have missed include:

Our 2nd Annual report to Ofcom:
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/ofcom.html

The minutes of the last AGM:
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/agmminutes.html

Information on other interests/roles that the Radio Teesdale Board Members have:
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/boardmembers.html

Details of the top 20 Listen Again Features over the last year:
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/listenagain.html

Competition Page - Where listeners can enter competitions without having an email:
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/competitions.html

Competition winners’ page:
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/competitionwinners.html

Our Policy page. This page has been in place for some time but we are constantly updating it. A Policy Document of Radio Teesdale’s Adverting Policy will be posted next week:
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/policydocuments.html

T-Shirts for Sale
Now that Summer is with us and the days are warmer…it’s time to wear your T-Shirts! Radio Teesdale T-Shirts are available in Small, Large and Extra-Large priced at £10 each. Available from the Radio Teesdale Office.

Note to Active Members 24 June 2009

2009-06-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

New Summer Schedule commences 20th July 2009
The Summer 2009 season on Radio Teesdale starts in just over three weeks time. We will be looking to finalise the new schedule by 10/7/9, so that presenters are clear about timings and we can pass the information to the press. Consequently, it is very important that new programme proposals, requests to be involved in regular programmes (Drivetime, Saturday Breakfast, etc) requests for live programme time changes, etc are submitted by Friday the 3/7/9 at the very latest.

The seasons throughout the next year are:
Summer 2009 – 20/7/9 to 18/10/9
Autumn 2009 – 19/10/9 to 17/1/10
Winter 2010 – 18/1/9 to 18/4/9
Spring 2010 – 19/4/9 to 18/7/9

New show and presenter on Radio Teesdale
We extend a warm welcome to “Chippy” who for the last few weeks has been presenting the “Metal Gods Rock Show” at 8pm on a Thursday Evening. This week the show has an extra hour, starting at 7pm. Chippy previously presented his show on Bishop FM and judging by the emails and texts already has a good following.

Training
We will be starting an “Introduction to Studio Presentation and Audio Production Course” for three weeks on a Wednesday evening from 6pm to 8pm from the 15th July.

If you would like to attend the workshop type sessions or you would like to help run them or support those attending then please let Peter Dixon know.

Congratulations
Well done to Michael Storey who has just successfully completed his degree course. Judging by his great work at Radio Teesdale he has a bright future ahead of him in the world of broadcast journalism.

We also need to say a big thank you to Kate Startup who has been with us for the last few weeks. Kate joins us from Stafford University where she has just successfully completed her 2nd year broadcast journalism course. In the time she has been with us she has carried out a whole variety of interviews and cleared a big backlog of editing.

Themed Promotional Activities
As you will be aware we have been continuing with our successful campaign with local businesses. On a weekly basis (running from Friday to Friday) we will be running focused “Radio Teesdale Guides.” These are a series of 15 second pre-recorded announcements that will be played in all live programmes and within our automated output. Details can be viewed on our web site at:
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/25advertise.html

Campaigns arranged for the next few weeks include:
Computers & Technology & Home & Summer Garden (deadline 26/6/9)
New Businesses in Teesdale (3/7/9)
Out and About in Teesdale (17/7/9)

Competitions
We have formed good relationships with a whole variety of PR companies, theatres and agencies that are able to provide competition prizes that are of interest to our listeners. We are currently running a competition for a trip for 2 to London with travel, hotel accommodation, theatre tickets and meeting the cast of a top West End show.

If you are interested in coordinating our competition activity (contacting PR companies, selecting prizes, producing proof of transmission, arranging scripts, contacting winners, etc) then please let Peter Dixon know. It’s an interesting job for someone who has a few hours to spare each week.

Radio Teesdale on the Richmond Georgian Theatre web site
The theatre in Richmond now includes the Radio Teesdale interviews with their performers and production teams on the various event pages of their web site:
http://www.georgiantheatreroyal.co.uk/

T-Shirts for Sale

Now that Summer is with us and the days are warmer…it’s time to wear your T-Shirts! Radio Teesdale T-Shirts are available in Small, Large and Extra-Large priced at £10 each. Available from the Radio Teesdale Office.

Note to active members 27/3/9

2009-03-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

Double Celebration for Teesdale
It was a double celebration for Teesdale at the Digital 08 Awards in Newcastle last Wednesday. Radio Teesdale won the “best not-for-profit web site” award within the Digital Users section and the Barnard Castle Vision won “best use of mobile phone technology” for “The Box”, within the Digital Innovators section. All the details are on the Radio Teesdale web site home page:
http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/
with an audio report at:
http://www.canstream.co.uk/radioteesdale/index.php?id=241
with photographs at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/RadioTeesdale/RadioTeesdale2009#
Well done to everyone involved in all aspects of the web site.

Happy Birthday Radio Teesdale
Today, 27th March, marks the second anniversary of the start of broadcasting from Barnard Castle on 105.5FM on our full time license. Well done to all our active members for a fantastic 2 years so far.

New Spring Schedule commences 20th April 2009
A quick reminder that as Easter falls during the last week of the Winter Season we need to finalise the Spring season by Friday the 3rd April. Anyone who has not yet confirmed their availability or desire to propose a new programme should speak to Peter Dixon early next week.

Presenting Opportunities
Due to holidays and work commitments there is an opportunity for anyone interested in presenting the following programmes:
Tuesday 7th April – Drivetime – 5pm to 7pm
Thursday 9th April – Thursday at 4 – 4pm to 5pm
Saturday 11th April – The Saturday Edition – 10am to 12noon
Sunday 12th April – Sunday Review – 9am to 11am
Tuesday 14th April – Drivetime – 5pm to 7pm

Radio Teesdale Junior Activities
The Radio Teesdale Poetry Competition closes this weekend. A judging panel will pick the winners within the next few weeks.

Members Meetings
We are currently reviewing the format of our Members’ Meetings to increase their value to the station and the members. It is envisaged that the next few meetings will be, in the main, in the format of a workshop. If you have any thoughts and ideas on content then please let Peter Dixon know.

Note to Active Members 13/3/9

2009-03-15T03:44:00.000-07:00

Radio Teesdale cited in Ofcom’s first annual report on Community Radio
With 130 community radio stations broadcasting across the UK, Ofcom has just published their first annual report on community radio. The areas to find the report on their web site is:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/features/commradreport#content

http://ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/cr_annualrpt/

The report makes the point that not all community radio stations have elected boards, like radio Teesdale. It is encouraging that Radio Teesdale was cited as an exemplar in the accountability section of their report. The report section 5.37 starts:

“Each community radio station must demonstrate that it is accountable to the community that it wishes to serve. Accountability can be manifest in a number of ways - for example, the Management Board of Radio Teesdale is made up of community representatives who are elected at its AGM and the Board is constitutionally accountable to the membership. The membership of Radio Teesdale is free of charge and fully inclusive, with members ranging in age from 11 to 80+ years old. Of a membership of 180, there are now 110 people who play an active role in the running of the station at any moment in time. An officer of Teesdale District Council has been co-opted onto the Board of Management and attends meetings. Members of the Management Board of Radio Teesdale hold regular meetings with organisations responsible for community volunteering, tourism, business support and start up, and a group set up to create a ‘Vision for Barnard Castle’ over the next 20 years. Furthermore, listener feedback is extensively encouraged in programmes. In every live programme, listeners are encouraged to ring the studio (on a line direct to the presenter). Pre-recorded announcements requesting listener feedback are also played during live programmes and during non presenter led automated hours. “

This is a clearly recognition from Ofcom of how well the station is run in terms of accountability and engagement of members and the community.

Themed Promotional Activities
After reviewing our advertising campaign strategy we had decided to make a further range of advertising opportunities available to local businesses. On a weekly basis (running from Saturday to Friday) we will be running focused “Radio Teesdale Guides.” These are a series of short pre-recorded announcements that will be played in all live programmes and within our automated output. The response to this next week’s campaign (based on Mothers’ Day activity) has been a great success. It has all come together within a few days. Broadcasts will start tomorrow. if you are interested in helping work on these activities then please let Katey Wallace or Peter Dixon know.

Web and Business Awards
The Radio Teesdale web site was shortlisted as a finalist for the Internet and ICT Award in the prestigious nebusiness Awards sponsored by Knowledge IT in conjunction with the Journal and ncjMedia. Unfortunately we did not collect the top gong at last night’s ceremony, but it was an incredible achievement considering the winning company employed over 60 ICT experts.

The Radio Teesdale’s web site has now also been shortlisted for the Digital 08 Awards in the Best Not-For-Profit Website category.
http://www.northeastdigitalawards08.co.uk/explore/digital-users/website-awards/best-not-for-profit-website/
Thank you to everyone who voted for us during the shortlisting process. The outright winner will be selected by a judging panel. The result will be announced at a ceremony at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle on the 25th March.

New Spring Schedule commences 20th April 2009
A quick reminder that as Easter falls during the last week of the Winter Season we need to finalise the Spring season by Friday the 3rd April. Therefore, all programme proposals and information about availability needs to be provided by Friday the 27th March at the latest.

Due to work commitments from the end of April Gary Burgham is unable to continue with his Drive Time spot (although his Saturday show is unaffected). We, therefore, have an opportunity for anyone interested in presenting or copresenting the Tuesday Drive Time programme.

Radio Teesdale Junior Activities
Katey Wallace has done a great job in setting a variety of activities involving young people. The closing date for the schools poetry competition is on the 27th March. We have visited the vast majority of Teesdale schools and spoken to an incredible 2300 children. We have recorded 70 school “shout outs” which are constantly being played as part of our programming. Startforth School and Barnard Castle Prep School have classes visiting the station next week with more school visits being planned. Also, well done Andrew Harrison for creating school worksheets based on an interview carried out with top children’s author Michael Morpurgo.

Radio Teesdale on the Richmond Georgian Theatre web site
Radio Teesdale is delighted to have created a great relationship with the theatres in the region. The theatre in Richmond now includes the Radio Teesdale interviews with their performers and production teams on the various event pages of their web site:
http://www.georgiantheatreroyal.co.uk/
There are currently seven interviews highlighting their Spring Programme.

Bishop FM
Bishop FM members have been visiting our studio:
http://picasaweb.google.com/RadioTeesdale/RadioTeesdale2008#5308147526887920274
We look forward to working with them to extend Community Radio services to the Teesdale and Wear Valley areas. If you are interested in getting involved as we progress these discussions then please let Peter Dixon know.

Members Meetings
We are currently reviewing the format of our Members’ Meetings to increase their value to the station and particularly the involvement of the members. It is envisaged that the next few meetings will be, in the main, in the format of a workshop. If you have any thoughts and ideas on content then please let Peter Dixon know.

Want to work in Radio – Conference in our region?
Sunderland University is holding a Radio Academy Masterclass on Saturday the 21 March from 9.30am to 5.00pm. Speakers include Graham Mack of TFM, John Foster of BBC Tees and “setting the scene” is our very own Brian Lister. More information is available on:
http://www.radioacademy.org/events/masterclasses/sunderland/

Dixon J Scott number one in the charts!
Radio Teesdale “Teesdale Country” presenter is currently has the number one Country download song – with his track “Photographs” - on the highly popular Soundclick Independent and Unsigned artistes download site:
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7380086
Well done Dixon J Scott!

Gin Soaked Boy
Radio Teesdale wish local Teesdale Band “Gin Soaked Boy,” including Radio Teesdale member Dave Kidd, all the very best in Sunday’s Regional Final of Live & Unsigned.

Note to Active Members 26 Feb 2009

2009-02-26T08:44:00.000-08:00

Web and Business Awards
I am delighted to tell you that Radio Teesdale’s web site has been included in the Digital 08 Awards in the Best Not-For-Profit Website category. Whether we win or not is based on votes received. You can cast your vote for Radio Teesdale by following the link on our web site or home page or this link. You only have today and tomorrow to vote!

http://www.northeastdigitalawards08.co.uk/view/40/

Please register your vote now.

I am delighted to tell you that we have been shortlisted for the Internet and ICT Award in the prestigious nebusiness Awards. Details of all categories can be found at:
http://www.nebusinessawards.co.uk/awards-shortlist/durham-business-awards-shortlist.aspx
Included in our category is everyone from Website Developers to independent businesses all with superb websites. From all of these Radio Teesdale’s website has been chosen as one of the 3 finalists. The results will be announced at an awards dinner at Ramside Hall on the 12th March.

New Spring Schedule commences 20th April 2009
We are now around 50% of the way through our Winter schedule. This has gone very well. Congratulations to everyone involved, particularly those with new programmes and formats. Although it is still six weeks until we start our Spring season, it is useful to start thinking about it now. As Easter falls during the last week of the Winter Season we need to finalise the Spring season by Friday the 3rd April. Therefore, all programme proposals and information about availability needs to be provided by Friday the 27th March at the latest.

Volunteers helping with the re-broadcasting of live programming
Many thanks to Malcolm Proud for volunteering to take live programmes from the audio logger and prepare them for repeat broadcasting. As mentioned previously, without this volunteer support we would not have been able to maintain the level of repeat programming that we currently do. Well done Malcolm.

If you are interested in regularly working as part of our editing team we would be delighted to hear from you. After a little training it is not difficult to do. We never have enough resources to re-edit all the interviews and features that we could do. It’s a great way to productively practice your editing skills.

Bishop FM
As many of you are aware, Bishop FM has been awarded a community radio license to broadcast in the Wear valley area. They currently broadcast various programmes on their internet site. We are delighted to say that we have been having preliminary discussions with them about how we can support them and work with them to spread the word about the benefits and advantages of community radio. We wish them all the very best as they work towards setting up a transmitter for FM broadcasting later this year. If you are interested in getting involved as we progress these discussions then please let Peter Dixon know.

Radio Teesdale Junior Activities
We are constantly looking at ways of involving the Teesdale Community in our activities. Katey Wallace has done an excellent job in setting a variety of activities involving young people. We have a Junior Section of our web site. You can follow the button on the home page of our site. Activities include a poetry competition for young people. Katey has also been visiting Teesdale schools to inform teachers and pupils about our activities and how they can get involved. We have been collecting and broadcasting an impressive set of station announcements made by the pupils at all the various schools visited.

Radio Teesdale National News
As you may well be aware, a number of changes have been taking place with our national news service. Although we still obtain the national news through IRN they are in the process of changing their bulletin provider from ITN to Sky News. We have used the opportunity to improve a number of our station identifiers.

Teesdale Learning Partnership
Teesdale Learning Partnership is holding an open day at Enterprise House on Wednesday 11th March from 3pm to 8pm. We plan to feature the event on Drive Time that day. If you would like to show any visitor around the station at any time during that period, then please let Peter Dixon know.

Themed Promotional Activities
We are planning a series of monthly promotional campaigns, throughout the year, during which we aim to attract related sponsors and advertisers. Often these are coinciding with national/regional campaigns or interest awareness initiatives. The first three of these will be “Supporting Local Traders,” “Animals and Pets” and “Health, Beauty & Fitness.” If you are interesting in getting involved or know any organisations that we should contact then please speak to Katey Wallace.

Membership Details
Carolyn Proud has been doing an excellent job updating our members records and making sure they are properly recorded in our email/outlook system. If you think your details have changed (prefered email address, change of address or phone number) let please let us know.

Note to Active Members from the Chairman 2/2/9

2009-02-02T12:19:00.000-08:00

Dear Members

Thanks to all of you who made the effort to turn out on a cold evening for the AGM on the 20th January 2009. It was great to see such a large enthusiastic gathering in one place. I hope you found it useful. We have much to celebrate.

The AGM is a formal occasion, following a structured agenda, intended to give members a chance to review our achievements in the last year, approve the accounts and ratify our plans for the way forward. There were a number of points raised during the meeting however that prompt me to drop you a line to clarify the current structure of your organisation.

We have come a long way since 2002 when a small group formed the board, adopted a standard set of constitutional rules appropriate for a typical ‘social enterprise’ and started the process of obtaining a licence, raising funds, purchasing equipment and finding premises leading to our first one month test transmission. By then membership had risen to around 50 multi-skilled individuals. Today we have 240 members, some 46 of whom attended the AGM.

In March 2007 we finally went live full time and it was clear that the work load would be too much and too varied for a small group of volunteers to manage without a formal structure with tasks delegated to optimise the use of individual capabilities and the amount of time each volunteer is able to commit. Hence the decision to appoint a Station Manager, our first employee, to manage the operation of the Radio Teesdale leaving the board to focus on corporate governance, financial, funding and strategic issues. The Station Manager is responsible for all operational issues including management of the station team and volunteers, programming and delivery, and dealing with our partners, suppliers and the community. Whilst main board members represent all members, the first point of contact for all matters is the Station Manager; he reports to the board on progress once a month and in turn delegates operational tasks to volunteer members according to their interest and level of commitment. Only in the event that individual member’s concerns cannot be resolved by the Station Manager are they then referred to the board. We have experimented with various operational structures over the years to support the Station Manager, from a formal ‘Operating Group’ to the current less formal structure with monthly meetings to manage the numerous tasks. The latter is apparently the members preferred option.

A ‘social enterprise’ is of course a unique type of organisation in that rather than maximising shareholder value it aims to maximise social gain; in our case to have fun, engage the community as a valuable resource and make brilliant entertainment. Other than the Station manager we are all volunteers, and as members we all, including the Station Manager, ‘own’ Radio Teesdale equally. There is no hierarchy such as shareholders, management or a workforce in the traditional sense and members give what they can without making unreasonable demands on any other member. Of course the Station Manager could not do his job without the respect of members and their acknowledgement of his operational authority.

Clearly we do, as an organisation, have to make certain formal commitments such as meeting OFCOMs license regulations, delivering official accounts, ensuring the health and safety of all members, meeting sponsor and funder requirements, raising finance, detailing strategy and budgets, and so on. These responsibilities are accepted on the member’s behalf by the main board, and requires volunteers with certain unique competences. Hence the board co-opts volunteers when appropriate and we ask members to ratify these decisions at the AGM.

As Chairman I consider it one of my primary responsibilities to ensure we have a cohesive efficient well qualified team on the board, with the common goal, able to meet these responsibilities on our behalf. Board members are chosen with care and your current board, I believe, more than meets these criteria although, as our business, the environment we operate in, and individual circumstances change we are constantly keeping an eye open for new skills. Any member who feels they would like to contribute in these areas is always welcome to approach the board and offer their services. If they fill an appropriate need and are committed to the common goal, the board will co-opt them. This can happen at any time in the year and should therefore avoid ‘contentious’ elections at an AGM. There is no upper limit to the number of board members although we are conscious there is an optimal manageable size.

We are still a young organisation, learning as it grows, and as a result our constitution is something of a work in progress. We will continue to review it in the coming year and will seek member’s approval for any modifications at the next AGM as normal.

I hope this all makes sense and clarifies the points raised at the AGM. We should be very proud of what we have all achieved thus far. There is no doubt that we are becoming an increasingly important part of the Teesdale community, more and more people tell me how much they enjoy and value our output, and I hope most importantly each one of you enjoys your part in the adventure.

I end with the fantastic news that we have been successful with an application for £15k of funding from OFCOM, towards the cost of employing a Station Manager, so our immediate future remains secure.

Sincerely yours,

Alastair Dinwiddie
Chairman Radio Teesdale

e-Circular Christmas 2008 (23/12/8)

2008-12-24T00:27:00.000-08:00

We hope this reaches everyone in good health and you are all looking forward to Christmas.

Christmas Schedule
We are in the process of putting the finishing touches to the Christmas and New Year schedule. Congratulations to all our presenters who have pre-recorded programmes and Christmas specials. We have over 100 hours of pre-recorded programmes (on top of the many live shows we have planned) to fill the holiday period. A copy of the full extended week’s programme is available on the web site at:

http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/xmasradioteesdale2008.pdf

New Winter Schedule commences 19th January 2009
Attention, of course, now turns to our Winter schedule which commences on Monday 19th January. All new programme ideas and suggestions are most welcome. In order that we can begin the process of making changes, etc I would be grateful if you could let me know as soon as you are able as to ideas you have for new programmes, availability for regularly scheduled programmes (such as Breakfast, Drivetime, etc) or if you are not able/planning to continue with a particular programme into the new season. This information is needed by the 7th January at the latest in order that we are in a position to finalise the Winter season within a few days of that time.

Various Community Events
Well done to everyone who supported our involvement in the switch on of the Middleton in Teesdale and Barnard Castle Christmas Tree lights. Our involvement has been praised and well received in many quarters. Alex James did a sterling job hosting the two live special shows. As part of the build up and in these shows we spoke to 15 people from the community. Many thanks to all the others involved in the days including Malcolm Proud, Katey Wallace, Annalisa Ward, Cat Chapman, Gary Burgham, Ian Kirkbride, James, Sam Norton, Carolyn Proud and Ron Walker. The Barnard Castle Town Major said some kind words about our voluntary involvement:

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/southdurham/3982438.Praise_for_festival_volunteers/

Our reporting of the snow and school closures on the 4th and 5th December also should how important community radio can be. Each day we spoke to all 20 schools in Teesdale and established details of their closing/ opening. Well done to John Atkinson and Ian Kirkbride for presenting the information so clearly to the listeners.

One year broadcasting to the upper dale
The 20th December marked the first birthday of our transmitter in the upper Dale. The start of our transmission from Romaldkirk marked a major change in the activities of Radio Teesdale and greatly increased our involvement in activities across the whole of Teesdale.

Christmas get together
Ian Kirkbride and Marc Waggitt have been looking into organising a Christmas get together. Based on their various research and comments from members they have arranged an informal event at the Golden Lion in Barnard Castle at 4pm on the Tuesday the 30th December. If you can not make that specific time then feel free to drop in a later. They have arranged a few nibbles.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to make 2008 a highly successful year for Radio Teesdale. Many people have played a part in producing a highly varied and entertaining range of programmes. The growing involvement of members of the community in Radio Teesdale’s activities is a key reason for its success. Plans are underway to make sure we continually improve this in 2009. Radio Teesdale really means – It’s Yours.

A Happy Christmas to you and all your families.

Agenda for Members' Forum Meeting 17/12/8 7.00pm

2008-12-15T16:06:00.000-08:00

Previous Meeting
Members News
Finances, Budgets & Fundraising
Any other business
Next Meeting

Members’ Forum Notes & Action Points

2008-12-15T16:04:00.000-08:00

20 November, 2008. Time 18.00

Present:
Malcolm Proud, Carolyn Proud, John Atkinson, Ron Walker (part), Michael Fryer, Val Fryer, John Dent, Ruth Dent, Peter Dixon (chairperson)

Apologies.
Peter Martin, Michael Little, Ros Evans.

Matters Arising
PD congratulated Michael Little regarding his talk to the music society featuring one of his radio programmes.
Sound equipment (4 microphones with leads and stands) had been purchased and partly funded by £170 from the Lions and £100 from Glaxo Community Care Group. Their contribution was greatly appreciated.
PD stated that the last funding bid to Media Box was not successful. It had started out as promising but it seemed that a preference had been given to video. The next bid is due into Ofcom for the 3rd December.
£80,000 needed to be raised each year, £70k of this is contributed to running costs, with £10k on capital expenditure. He envisaged that the next year will be a lot harder. Approximately £20k of the income in 2008 has been made through commercial sources (Manager/Company training carried out by the station manger, sponsorship and advertising).

Fundraising
PD explained the current problems regarding fundraising, and the difficulties the service would experience if further funding is not an immediate priority.
RW tabled a possible scheme for a 5 week ‘£1,000 Draw’. The idea was discussed in detail and although the basic idea was considered a good one, the details set out were agreed to be too risky as a first venture into this market. RW agreed to look at an alternative with less risk, possibly running at Easter time. A lottery license could be obtained relatively quickly.
RW/MP would investigate a raffle, running around a Valentine’s Day theme.
PD plans to make Radio Teesdale Merchandise available in outlets in Teesdale.

Any Other Business
Subject to members being available to control the live desk it was agreed that in 2009 we would observe a 2 minutes silence at both Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day.

Date of Next Meeting
17/12/9 at 7.00pm

e-Circular No 12 2008 (18/11/8)

2008-11-18T07:47:00.000-08:00

A few important pieces of information for our members:

Presenting Opportunities
There are a number of presenting opportunities:
Breakfast – Thursday 4th December (7.30am to 9.00am)
Drive Time – Thursday 11th December (5.00pm to 7.00pm)
Breakfast – Thursday 18th December (7.30am to 9.00am)

If you are able to do present any of these programmes then please let Peter Dixon know.

Funding
As we regularly say, by far our biggest challenge is funding. This is a common concern amongst community radio stations and we are no exception. Regrettably we were unsuccessful in our Media-Box application.

If you would like to lead any aspect of a funding project (event organising, grant application, sponsorship/advertising activity) then please let me know.

Ideal Christmas Presents - Radio Teesdale T-Shirts and Mugs
At the moment we have a large stock of T-Shirts (Small, Large, Extra Large) available at £10 and Coffee Mugs for £5. We need to sell these items as soon as we can in order to release the capital tied up in them. They make great Christmas presents and stocking fillers! We are talking to a few retail outlets, including John Wright music store in Barnard Castle, about them selling the items for us. In return we will be promoting on air the fact that they are for sale at their locations.

Community Involvement
Alex James and Kevin Sowerby have volunteered to help produce live programmes to coincide with the switch on of Middleton in Teesdale lights (Saturday 29 November) and Barnard Castle lights (Saturday 6 December). It is likely the shows will be broadcast from 4pm to 6pm each day.

For the Barnard Castle event we have been offered a Market Stall where we will be able to sell merchandise if volunteers come forward to manage it. The Barnard Castle event is also going to have Radio Teesdale broadcast on their sound system.

We have also been asked by Montalbo School in Barnard Castle if we want to take a stand at their Christmas Fair, in the evening of the 27th November, to sell merchandise.

If you would like to volunteer to be involved in any of these activities then please let Peter Dixon know.

Christmas Schedule
Another thank you to all those who have come forward with proposals for Christmas programmes. A reminder that pre-recorded material will need to be completed by Thursday the 18 December. If you would like to produce a programme during this period then please let Peter Dixon know.

Building Works at Enterprise House
Anyone visiting Enterprise House over the last week will be aware of the noisy building work that is going on their. We have also had to deal with possible power shut downs. The builders and the office staff have been most helpful and have changed their timings to suit key recordings and broadcasts. So far the greatest effect has been on studio 1. Members should be aware that between 9am and 4pm on weekdays, in the next few weeks, it is possible that from time to time the studios will not be operational.

Members Forum
The Action Points of the last Members’ Forum meeting are on the Members Update section of the web site.

http://radioteesdalemembersupdate.blogspot.com/

The next session is timetabled for Thursday 20 November 6.00pm. The agenda is:

Previous Meeting
Members News
Fundraising
Any other business
Next Meeting - Wednesday 17 December 7.00pm to 8.30pm

Radio Teesdale Members’ Forum – Action Points from Meeting 22/10/8

2008-10-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

Present
Charlotte Stow, Linda Britton, Michael Fryer, Val Fryer, Ron Walker, Michael Little, Anthony Da Costa, Malcolm Proud, Ruth Dent, John Dent, Peter Dixon.

Previous Meeting
The Child Protection Procedures reviewed and amended at the last members meeting was updated by Suzie Blackburn. It was approved by the Radio Teesdale Board. The document was also submitted as part of our documentation for the Media-Box application. Peter Dixon (PD) will publish the document on the web site.

Members News
Michael Little (ML) is presenting music (based on his Radio Teesdale activities) at the Music Society in Darlington that evening. Everyone wished him good luck. ML will take some car stickers to hand out to those there.

Prelude is at Dalton Village Hall on the 14/11/8. This was an ideal What’s On item and will be included in the What’s On Features. Information of this nature should always be encouraged to be sent into the office.

We are using the extensive database managed by the Village Halls. A page will be put on the Radio Teesdale web site to allow members of the community to send us in details of What’s On events.

Promotion of Radio Teesdale and it’s programmes
A simple generic competition page will be created on the web site to allow people to fill is a form with all the details. Like the What’s On form this would then be emailed to us.

Malcolm Proud and Ron Walker (RW) will organise a fundraising Christmas Raffle. RW will look at the idea of organizing a short (5/10 week) weekly draw.

PD would progress a Lottery License from TDC.

Charlotte Stow (CS) tabled a draft Marketing Plan that was reviewed and added to through discussion at the meeting. CS took notes and would develop the plan. Some of the items would require a cost. The items need to be prioritized with this in mind.

Computer and Internet Resources
PD tables a “wish list” of computer equipment including office PC, editing PC, studio internet connected PC, UPSs for Broadcast Equipment, outside broadcast equipment, mikes and cables for live recording. The list was reviewed. CS will look for and apply for funding opportunities for the equipment.

The Schedule Changing Process
The process of changing the programme schedule on a quarterly basis was explained and discussed. PD agreed to review a specific issue raised regarding the timing of a changed repeat programme.

Any Other Business
Radio Teesdale has to keep members' contact details confidential. However, we would explore the options of making those members information available to other members if they explicitly wish it to be available.

Next Meeting
It is appreciated that throughout our membership there is a variety of times that they would be able and not able to attend. Meeting days and times will vary to allow all members the opportunity to attend a meeting. The next meetings will be at:
Thursday 20 November 6.00pm
Wednesday 17 December 7.00pm

e-Circular No 11 2008 (22/10/8)

2008-10-21T06:24:00.000-07:00

A few important notes that we would like our active members

Autumn Schedule

The Autumn Schedule is now underway.

http://www.radioteesdale.co.uk/schedule.html

Thank you to everyone who has contributed towards putting together a very exciting Schedule. Details and a copy can be downloaded from the home page of the web site. This schedule runs until Sunday the 18th January 2009.

A special thank you to those presenters who are not continuing their shows into this next season for all the hard work over the last season and we look forward to seeing you back on air in the not too distant future (Christmas specials, next season, etc, etc). This includes Scott Patrick, Malcolm Hockham and Wayne Mann (on the Drivetime....Sunday Supplement can still be heard on Sunday mornings). Also, best of luck to all the new presenters or those with new shows including Malcolm Proud, Kate Ruddick, Katey Wallace, Anthony Da Costa, Dixon J Scott and Richie.

There are a many reasons why we changing the schedule each period. It allows presenters to be clear about their commitment, it provides variety for the listeners and encourages them to listen to other aspects of our programming and very importantly it gives us the opportunity to allow new members to be given the opportunity to take over parts of the schedule. In order that we can plan ahead for next year the 2009 seasons will be:

Winter 2009 – 19/1/9 to 19/4/9

Spring 2009 – 20/4/9 to 19/7/9

Summer 2009 – 20/7/9 to 18/10/9

Autumn 2009/10 – 19/10/9 to 19/1/10

Members’ Forum

The next members’ forums have been scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday 22 October at 10.00am to 11.30am. The agenda items are:

Previous Meeting
Child Protection Procedures
Members News
Promotion of Radio Teesdale and it’s programmes
The Schedule Changing Process
Computer and Internet Resources
Action Points
Any other business
Next Meeting - Thursday 20 November (6.00pm to 7.30pm).

Presenting Opportunities

We have created a programme called "Music to make you smile" which will be a pre-recorded show for Monday Evening. If you would like to record a one off (or several) for this series, then just let me know.

There is also still the opportunity to present the Thursday Breakfast show on a fortnightly basis. Marc Waggitt is kindly standing in this week, so it will actually be for only be for six programmes. An ideal opportunity to “dip your toe” in the Breakfast Show presenter area.

Press Contact

We are constantly working with the press to improve our communication methods. We are planning on issuing regular (probably fortnightly) bulletins to the press containing a summary of 2 to 4 stories with information of photo availability, etc. All the information will also be published on the web site. This will give the individual media organisations the opportunity to come back to us on stories that are of particular interest to them at the time. If you have a Radio Teesdale related story that you would like including in bulletin then please let Peter Dixon or Linda Britton know or send them a copy of the text that you would like including.

Members are reminded that they should not contact the press directly without first consulting either Linda Britton, Peter Dixon or Charlotte Stow. Nor should any member publish any material pertaining to come from Radio Teesdale in any forms of media (including web sites) without first discussing it with these people responsible for media coverage.

Christmas

Thank you to everyone who has responded so far to the request for ideas for the special Christmas Schedule from the Wednesday 24 December to Friday the 2 January. We already have several ideas in production and Kev Sowerby will be presenting a live show on Christmas Eve from 9pm to midnight. Any pre-recorded material will need to be completed by Thursday the 18 December. If you would like to produce a special programme during this period then please let Peter Dixon know.

Arts Award Centre

Radio Teesdale has been registered as a centre for the Arts Award. Accreditation in these awards will be available to young people as part of the Media-Box project, to create more youth led programmes, if our funding application is successful.

This email, together with previous notes to members is posted on our Members Update blog site:

http://radioteesdalemembersupdate.blogspot.com/

e-Circular No 10 2008 (3/10/8)

2008-10-03T22:10:00.000-07:00

A few important notes that we would like our active members to be aware of……

Autumn Schedule
The Autumn Schedule will commence on Monday the 20th October and go through to 18th January 2009. We will be having several new programmes including ones featuring country music, the history of folk music, dance music and quirky news stories. It is not too late to submit a programme proposal, but you will need to be quick. We are always looking for regular/stand-in presenter for our regular magazine programmes (Breakfast Show, Saturday Breakfast, Drive Time, etc). If you would like to become involved in presenting or co-hosting these programmes then please let Peter Dixon know. As always, for a variety of reasons, we will change some of the timings of programmes in the new season so now is the time to raise any suggestions. If you have not done so already, presenters should confirm their wish or continue their commitment to continue (or otherwise) with existing programmes by 10th October at the latest. It is also very helpful if you if you could offer alternative times for live programmes.

Christmas
It is not too early to be thinking about the Christmas Schedule. In fact several presenters are already working on special programmes. Last year we created a fabulous collection of one off programmes and best of re-edits of work carried out in 2007. With the back catalogue we have amassed over the last year there are even greater opportunities during this next season. We will be creating a special Christmas Schedule from the Wednesday 24 December to Friday the 2 January. Any pre-recorded material will need to be completed by Thursday the 18 December (only 10 weeks away!). If you would like to produce a programme during this period then please let Peter Dixon know.

Fundraising through Sponsorship, Advertising and Grant Applications
Fundraising is one of the prime activities necessary for Radio Teesdale to survive and develop as an organisation. We need to generate income of around £80k per annum. As we have mentioned previously we plan to do this through various means.

If you know any organisations that would be interesting in sponsoring programmes or advertising on Radio Teesdale then please let Katey Wallace know.

We have just submitted a £18k application, together with our project partners TCR and UTASS, for Media-Box funding. The project will enable is to work with young people (13 to 19 year old) to create a series of radio programmes. Our application made it through the first round. A special thanks need to go to Andrew Harrison for his valuable contribution. We will hear if the final round application is successful in mid November. The project would start immediately and will be complete by the end of January 2009. If you would like to become involved in the project then it please let Peter Dixon know now as we the project will start immediately and all those directly involved will need to have an up to date (less than 3 years old) CRB check.

Digital Recorder
The digital recorders are being used extensively in training and for various interviews which is great news. It means that we need to ask for recorders to be loaned on a 48 hour basis (or back on Monday if they are taken out on Friday). The recorders, or indeed any other equipment, must not be removed from the office unless they are signed out.

Members’ Forum
The next members forums have been scheduled for:
Wednesday 22 October at 10.00am.
Thursday 20 November at 6.00pm.

e-Circular No 9 2008 (22/7/8)

2008-07-22T05:25:00.001-07:00

The new Summer Season is now well underway with new programmes like Catfish Karaoke (Thursday 3pm to 5pm) and the return of the Potting Shed (Saturdays 7pm to 9pm).

Members Forum
Tonight (Tuesday 22/7/8 6pm)
The aim of the regular meetings is for members to get together to meet each other, hear any news, talk about issues facing Radio Teesdale, review how we can continually improve, work out action plans and provide the opportunity for volunteers to take responsibility for developing the ideas. The main focus this evening will be on the policy for working with children and young people following the creation of a draft policy by Suzie Blackburn. It will be your chance to contribute to this important area of activity for Radio Teesdale.

It is open to all members, so feel free to bring a new member with you and we will sign them up on the night. The agenda for tonight’s meeting will be:

1.Members News

2. Actions from previous meetings

Recruitment Open Day (early September)

“Out and About in Teesdale”

3. Review of Draft Policy for “Working with children and young people at Radio Teesdale.”

4. Items for the next meeting

Presenting Opportunities

Due to holiday and work commitments the following shows require a stand in presenter:

Saturday Edition (10.00am to 12.00noon) Saturday 2nd August
Drive Time (5.00pm to 7.00pm) Tuesday 5th August
Drive Time (5.00pm to 7.00pm) Tuesday 12th August
If you are able to present any of these shows then please let Peter Dixon know.

Training

We are planning a 5 week training course on sound recording and broadcast skills (using the studio desk and editing). We have had enough responses to enable us to confirm that we will run a course starting Wednesday 10th September from 9.30am to 12 noon. If we have sufficient numbers registering an interest we will also run a course on an evening. Let us know if you would like to attend.

Fundraising through Sponsorship and Advertising

As we have regularly mentioned in these circulars, fundraising is one of the prime activities necessary for Radio Teesdale to survive and develop as an organisation. Our income, through sponsorship, advertising or through grant funding needs to generate a net income of around £80k each year if we are to continue the level of activity that has been possible over the last year. As a social enterprise we constantly need to be looking for creative ways of generating income. Over the next season we are planning on piloting a scheme where a designated sponsorship and advertising manager will develop all our activity in this area. This approach has been recognised as best practice in a number of organisations operating in the social enterprise sector. We are pleased to let you know that Katey Wallace has been engaged to develop this area for us on a part time basis. If you would like to be involved in this area of activity or in fundraising events generally then please contact Peter Dixon. If you know of any organisations that might be interested in sponsorship or advertising opportunities on Radio Teesdale then please contact Peter or Katey.

Computer Skills

We are currently looking for a volunteer to help manage our computer systems. If you think you have the necessary skills then please let Peter Dixon know.

e-Circular No 8 2008 (15/7/8)

2008-07-22T05:21:00.000-07:00

Radio Teesdale Summer Season

The new Summer Season on Radio Teesdale commenced yesterday and runs through until the 19th October. Highlights of the new season include even more live shows. We are also providing the opportunity to listen again at scheduled times for several of your favourite shows including Folkal Pont, Moondance and Bandstand.

Our What’s On coverage has continually extended over the year so we are delighted to announce an additional What’s On Hour, from 4pm to 5pm on a Monday. There’s a new programme on a Thursday afternoon, Catfish Karaoke, on Thursday afternoon form 3pm to 5pm with Malcolm and Richie. The show includes a new radio mini series – Bridgegate! There is also a welcome return of the “Potting Shed” with Malcolm Hockham (at the new time of 7pm to 9pm on a Saturday evening). Malcolm promises lots of interesting discussion on gardening and rural issues with a good bit of humour thrown in.

Several young people have joined Radio Teesdale over the next year and at least four groups of 12 to 16 year olds have been working on different programme ideas. These youth led programmes can be heard each week on the new regular spots of 4pm Saturday with a repeat on 9pm on Sunday. Programmes will be brought to you by various young people in Teesdale including Jamezy, Luke, Jamie and Marianne. We wish our young presenters all the very best of luck.

A copy of the schedule is attached - this version isn't for general distribution, but we thought you would like to see the different ways (live, pre-recorded, etc) that we are currently producing programmes.

Presenting Opportunities

Ben Sadler will be presenting our Thursday Breakfast show (as well as some Saturdays) on alternate Thursdays commencing 31st July.

Due to holiday and work commitments the following shows require a stand in presenter:

Breakfast Show (7.30am to 9.00am) Tuesday 29th July
Drive Time (5.00pm to 7.00pm) Tuesday 29th July
Saturday Edition (10.00am to 12.00noon) Saturday 2nd August
Breakfast Show (7.30am to 9.00am) Tuesday 5th August
Drive Time (5.00pm to 7.00pm) Tuesday 5th August
Drive Time (5.00pm to 7.00pm) Tuesday 12th August

If you are able to present any of these shows then please let Peter Dixon know.

If you would like to join one of the regular presenter as a co-host there are lots of opportunities to get involved. It’s also a great way of practicing before taking on a show of your own. Again, just let us know and we’ll set something up.

Training

We are making final preparations for a 5 week training course on using the studio desk and editing. The course will start w/c 8th September. If we have sufficient numbers registering an interest we will run a course during the day and one on an evening. Let us know if you would like to attend.

Computer Skills

We are currently looking for a volunteer to help manage our computer systems. If you think you have the necessary skills then please let Peter Dixon know.

DJing opportunity in the community

Staindrop Primary School are looking for a disco/DJ to help them with their end of year disco on Thursday the 17th from 6pm to 8pm (for primary school age children). Let us know if you are able to help them and we’ll put you in touch with the organisers.

Merchandising

If you would like a T Shirt (various sizes) for £10 or Mug for £5, then supplies are available in the office.

Members’ Meeting

The next members meeting will be at Enterprise House at 6.00pm on Tuesday the 22nd July. The aim of the regular meetings is for members to get together to meet each other, hear any “hot news,” talk about issues facing Radio Teesdale, review how we can continually improve, work out action plans and provide the opportunity for volunteers to take responsibility for developing the ideas. It is open to all members, so feel free to bring a new member with you and we will sign them up on the night.

If you are interested in any way in any of these activities then ring the office (01833 696750), email studio@radioteesdale.co.uk or call in.

e-Circular No 7 2008 (27/6/8)

2008-06-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

Music on Radio Teesdale

A copy of the new Radio Teesdale Music policy is available to view at any time on our web site on a page where we will be putting useful document. You can follow the links ABOUT > POLICY DOCUMENTS.

Radio Teesdale Summer Season

The summer season starts on Monday the 14th July. Each season is a chance to propose a new programme and have it allocated a spot on the schedule as well as to change timings and formats of existing programmes.

If you would like to present a regular show, new series or one off programme then please let us know. Programme proposal forms and “planning clocks” are available on the web site on the ABOUT > POLICY DOCUMENTS page mentioned above.

Out and About in Teesdale

As part of our programming we are hoping to produce an “Out and About in Teesdale” programme. The idea is to pop along (maybe you are attending already in another capacity) to a Teesdale Community Activity and to record a quick piece that can be broadcast. The hope is that it will enable us to attend more of the many community events (carnivals, fairs, markets, gigs, etc) that we are invited to. Eventually we would bring this together as a regular programme, but in the meantime we can play individual pieces as part of Drivetime and the automated system. If you are interested in getting involved in any capacity then please let us know.

On a specific event, Michael Fryer is looking for any volunteer to help make recordings at the Teesdale Brass Band Competition on Sunday 6th July at the Bowes Museum.

Presenting Opportunities

After many years working on air and behind the scenes Mr Andy has decided to take a rest from the radio. I’m sure everyone will join us in thanking him for his hard work over the years.

Marc Waggitt has agreed to take over the Monday and Wednesday Breakfast show slot and we all wish him the best of luck with the show. Due to holiday and work commitments the following shows require a stand in presenter:

Drivetime (5pm to 7pm) Monday 7th July

Breakfast Show (7.30am to 9.00am) Tuesday 29th July

Breakfast Show (7.30am to 9.00am) Friday 1st August

Breakfast Show (7.30am to 9.00am) Tuesday 5th August

Breakfast Show (7.30am to 9.00am) Friday 8th August

We are also looking for someone to do alternative Thursday Breakfast shows from the 17th July.

If you are able to present any of these shows then please let Peter Dixon know.

If you would like to join one of the regular presenter as a co-host there are lots of opportunities to get involved. It’s also a great way of practicing before taking on a show of your own. Again, just let us know and we’ll set something up.

Advanced Car Driving

A few months ago we asked if anyone was interested in taking an advanced driving assessment. A number of people expressed an interest. We are now in a position to arrange the first assessment tests. The idea is that one member would be selected to go on an advance driving course (free of charge) and report on their experiences on our Drive Time programme. We will be contacting those that previously expressed an interest, but if anyone else would like to go on the free assessment, on this basis, then please let us know.

Volunteer Open Day

We are planning on having an Open Day in September to recruit new members and volunteers. If you would like to get involved in organising and helping at the event then please let us know.

Merchandising

If you would like a T Shirt (various sizes) for £10 or Mug for £5, then supplies are available in the office.

Members’ Meeting

The next members meeting will be at Enterprise House at 6.00pm on Tuesday the 22nd July. The aim of the regular meetings is for members to get together to meet each other, hear any “hot news,” talk about issues facing Radio Teesdale, review how we can continually improve, work out action plans and provide the opportunity for volunteers to take responsibility for developing the ideas. It is open to all members, so feel free to bring a new member with you and we will sign them up on the night.

If you are interested in any way in any of these activities then ring the office (01833 696750), email studio@radioteesdale.co.uk or call in.

e-Circular No 6 2008 (21/5/8)

2008-06-01T01:22:00.000-07:00

Training
Teesdale Live on a Friday Evening (7pm to 9pm) has been a great success. Each programme has featured a live band performing over 6 songs during show. The quality of the sound has been very great. Peter Levett has engineered the broadcasts using an extra mixer desk and microphones. Peter has offered to train any members who are interested in learning how to use this equipment. You will only need to attend one session, but Peter has kindly offered to run two workshops to enable the maximum number of people to attend. The sessions are from 6.30pm to 8.30pm on:

Wednesday 28th May
Thursday 29th May

Please register your interest in either of the workshops as soon as possible as places are limited.

Members’ Meeting
The next members meeting will be at Enterprise House at 6.00pm on Tuesday the 10th June. The aim of the regular meetings is for members to get together to meet each other, hear any “hot news,” talk about issues facing Radio Teesdale, review how we can continually improve, work out action plans and provide the opportunity for volunteers to take responsibility for developing the ideas. It is open to all members, so feel free to bring a new member with you and we will sign them up on the night.

Presenting Opportunities
Marc Waggitt has been standing in for Ian Kirkbride and Mr Andy on the breakfast shows as well as the occasional Drive Time slot. Well done Marc for stepping in. We are currently looking for a presenter to stand in for the following shows:

Sunday Review 9am to 11am Sunday 15th June

Drivetime 5pm to 7pm Tuesday 17th June

Sunday Review 9am to 11am Sunday 22nd June

Drivetime 5pm to 7pm Tuesday 24th June

Morning Edition 10am to 12noon Saturday 28th June

From (and including) the 30th June Gary Burgham will be stepping out of the Monday Drive Time chair, so we are looking for a regular presenter for that programme. Work commitments prevent him getting to the studio for the show. Gary’s other involvements are unaffected. Well done Gary for a great series of shows.

If you are able to present any of these shows then please let Peter Dixon know.

If you would like to join one of the regular presenter as a co-host there are lots of opportunities to get involved. It’s also a great way of practicing before taking on a show of your own. Again, just let us know and we’ll set something up.

Music on Radio Teesdale computer system
If you have some music that you think should be played on Radio Teesdale as part of the non-specialist music shows, but currently isn’t on the computer system then please let us know. One of our volunteers will gladly put it onto the computer system for you. Please allow a week to have it copied, but specific tracks can usually be done more quickly than that. If you would like to be trained in how to put music onto the computer system then, also, please let us know.

Computer Systems
Mr Andy has done a sterling job improving the computer systems. Funding for the equipment was received from The Good Fund. As well as the web streaming and Listen Again facility we now record all of our live programmes at broadcast quality, to enable us to more easily edit them for re-broadcast. We have also increased the size of our Myriad system hard discs as well installed an automatic backup system. Well done Andy.

Merchandising
If you would like a T Shirt (various sizes) for £10 or Mug for £5, then supplies are available in the office.

Outside Events
If you would like to help coordinate, or just be involved in, any of the various community events which Radio Teesdale are invited to become involved in (such as fairs, markets, gigs, etc) then please let us know.

Station Blog
Don’t forget to check out the station blog on the web site, which is updated at least weekly with news of things going on at the station:

http://radioteesdalecommunitystation.blogspot.com/

If you are interested in any way in any of these activities then ring the office (01833 696750), email studio@radioteesdale.co.uk or call in.

Notes & Action Points from Members Meeting 18/3/8 (7.30pm)

2008-04-20T01:17:00.000-07:00

News
• The office is to be moved to a new room, next to the two studios. This should have lots of logistical and technical advantages.
• The web streaming and listen again features are to be tested next week.
• The Spring Schedule will be in operation from Monday the 14 April.
• Fundraising and sponsorship is a key priority. Packs to be created so that members can issue them to potential sponsors that they meet. (Action BL/PD)
• Merchandising (shirts, pens, mugs & balloons) has been ordered and will be delivered before the birthday celebration event. This locks up a considerable amount of funds (£4k) so it is important we account for and sell these items as soon as possible. A Merchandising Coordinator is required (action – members)
• The local elections are on the 1st May. Ros Evans will identify a schedule of events leading up to the elections. Mick Brennan will also look into the possibilities of how we could reflect this in our programming.

Lone Working Policy
The previously distributed statement on Lone Working was accepted as a good principle by the members.
“No member of Radio Teesdale would be expected to work on their own in the Radio Station building if they do not want and we would encourage them not to work on their own”.
PD to speak to individual presenters as the programme schedule was being developed.

Music Policy
The music policy was discussed including the difference between specialist/non-specialist music shows, automated system. It was pointed out that as well as decade categorisation, music could be identified as different styles, but this is labour intensive and a volunteer would need to take responsibility for seeing that it was done and maintained. Action - Ros Evans, Graham Henley and Brian Lister volunteered to look at the music policy.

Birthday Celebrations
Cat Chapman outlined the work done today and request volunteers to help out the various actions before and on the evening (Action – members to contact Cat Chapman).

Items for next meeting
The next meeting will be held at 6.30pm on Tuesday 22nd April. Future meetings will be held at different times (e.g. during the day) to give opportunities for others to attend. Items to be included in the agenda for the next meeting:
• Booking studio for recordings
• Increasing the number of volunteers (and sustainability of programmes)

e-Circular No 5 2008 (11/4/8)

2008-04-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

Radio Teesdale is now on line. We are delighted to let you know that you can listen to Radio Teesdale at any location through our web site on the Internet or using a wireless radio.

www.RadioTeesdale.co.uk

A new look web site gives easy access to your station at any place at any time.

We are also launching our “Listen Again” facility where interviews, performances and programme features from our archive will be placed so listeners can listen at a time that suits them. We will be adding a whole variety of archive material over the next few weeks. If there are any sound recordings that you would like including in this feature let us know and we’ll do our best to include them. Well done Andy Greener and Chris Ord who have both worked hard on the necessary computer systems and the web site.

Funding News

We are also delighted to let you know that Teesdale District Council (TDC) is supporting Radio Teesdale with District Council Grant. In making the announcement, TDC said, "Councillors recognised the importance of Radio Teesdale’s expansion plans, with a grant of £15,000…… It demonstrates that the Council recognises the importance of working in partnership with a range of organisations to provide sustainable services for people in Teesdale "

Members’ Meeting

The next Members’ Meeting will be at 6.30pm on 22nd April at Enterprise House.

Outside Events

Can you help out on the Radio Teesdale stand at the first Middleton Farmers’ Market on Sunday 27th April at any time from 10.30am to 4.00pm. If we can “man the stand” over that time we intend to extend our live broadcasting on the day to cover the whole period. If you can help out then let the office or Cat Chapman know.

e-Circular No 4 2008 (17/3/8)

2008-04-20T00:27:00.000-07:00

Birthday Celebration

A date and venue has now been set for the main celebration – Friday the 28th March at the Jersey Farm near Barnard Castle. Cat Chapman is coordinating the activities around the event. She is very open to all ideas that you may have and would be delighted if you wanted to join the team of organisers. More details of the event will follow shortly, but please put it in the diary!

Members’ Meeting

A date has been set for the Members’ Meeting previous referred to in these e-circulars. It will be at Enterprise House at 7.30pm on Tuesday the 18th March. The aim of the regular meetings will be for members to get together to meet each other, talk about issues facing Radio Teesdale, review how we can continually improve, work out action plans and provide the opportunity for volunteers to take responsibility for developing the ideas. It is open to all members, so feel free to bring a new member with you and we will sign them up on the night.

Training

We have now finalised the day when we can start the three week sound recording and editing course mentioned in earlier circulars. The course will run on Tuesdays 26th March, 1st April and 8th April from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. In order to meet the funding requirements for the course could you please let us know if you are interested in attending as soon as is possible and before the 14th March. You will need to register by completing a simple form that is available in the office at Enterprise House.

Web Stream and Listen Again Facility

We are in the process of setting up a web streaming facility that will also have the capability of our archive programmes and interviews on our web site. Watch this space for more details.

To make the latter work effectively we need volunteers to help with the simple editing tasks of “toping and tailing” interviews and putting them on the web site. We may well be able to set people up with the ability to do this from their own homes.

Radio Teesdale make news – Worldwide!

On Wednesday morning, a simple mistake made during the breakfast show meant that presenter Mr Andy was talking to himself for over an hour while the automated playout system was being broadcast. This fact was quickly picked up by friend of Radio Teesdale, the Northern Echo reporter Jim McTaggart. Then the fun started…….

The story has been followed up by a host of media organisations. The Press Association, many of the national papers (including the Times, Guardian, Sun, Mirror and Telegraph) featured the story today. ITV sent a film crew to the studio and did an “and finally” spot at the end of the local news last night. The news is also reported on lots of web sites such as Channel 4 and Virgin Radio as well as a number of overseas newspapers in France and Italy. An update tonight on the BBC web site will cover reaction to the fabulous publicity this has brought to Radio Teesdale. There are some photos and more details on our web site home page, the blog and photo gallery.

Throughout the numerous interviews that have taken place in the last few days we aimed to turn this into a very positive story. We have made it clear that this is a community venture run brilliantly well by a whole variety of volunteers. Very well done Andy for always looking to see how this news can benefit Radio Teesdale.

Presenting Opportunities

If you would like to join one of the regular presenter as a co-host there are lots of opportunities to get involved. It’s also a great way of practicing before taking on a show of your own. For example, Robin Wallington has done a great job on Morning Magazine helping Ruth Dent. Robin now hopes to present programmes “solo” in our next season.

Specifically we are looking for a presenter to stand-in on Wednesday 19th March on the Drive Time programme.

Spring Programme Schedule

Do you have ideas for a programme or regular spot on Radio Teesdale? The Spring programme schedule will be starting on the 14th April, just over a month away! We are aiming to finalise the schedule by the 31st March to give us time to launch the new season in the press. So, if you would like to do a programme or feature then please let us know.

Merchandising

We are in the process of selecting a range of merchandising (mugs, shirts, pens, etc). If you have any particular views on this then please let us know. Images and examples are available for viewing in the office.

What’s On Interviewing Team

We are now being regularly approached by theatres, event organisers and agents to interview a variety of interesting performers who are visiting the area. Recent examples of great interviews, that have created a range of interesting programmes and features, have included Mark Whiteley, Darren Day, Craig Hill, The New Seekers, Dan from Blue Peter & Potted Potter, The Conspirators and Phil Cool. If you would like to join the team carrying out these interviews then please let us know.

Advanced Driving

Thank you to all those who responded to the last e-circular. We are currently getting in touch with the Advance Driving Association to see how best we can involve those that are interested.

More Ways of Getting Involved:

As well as the various things mentioned above, if you are still wondering what to do to support Radio Teesdale then here is another idea……

Help organise our involvement in various community events. We have been invited to the first Middleton in Teesdale Farmers’ Market of 2008 (Sunday 27th April, 11-4pm) and the Middleton in Teesdale Carnival (Saturday 2nd August). We have been invited to a meeting about the later on the 27th March at 7.30pm. Would you like to coordinate our involvement? Special thanks to Cat Chapman & Marianne Dixon for their help at the Event Guide launch on Tuesday the 26th Feb.
Fundraising - As we have said on many occasions, by necessity, fundraising needs to be considered as one of our primary activities this year.

If you are interested in any way in any of these activities then ring the office (01833 696750), email studio@radioteesdale.co.uk or call in.

e-Circular No 3 2008 (15/2/8)

2008-04-20T00:25:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to all those who responded to last week’s e-Circular. Now that we have our first full season of broadcast behind us and are well into our second our activities will hopefully begin to expand throughout 2008.

Birthday Celebration

A reminder, that the 27th March marks our first birthday. Members of the local media are already talking to us about doing special features. Thank you to those that have volunteered to get involved in organising celebration events. Others, very much welcome with ideas and help in organising the events. Let us know if you would like to get involved.

Radio Teesdale Leaflet

During this week a Radio Teesdale leaflet has been delivered to every (13 thousand of them!) property in the Radio Teesdale area.

Event Guide

The new Teesdale Event Guide will be published on Tuesday the 26th February. The launch is at the Bowes Museum at 4pm. Radio Teesdale will have a stand there and we will feature interviews on Drive Time. The Radio Teesdale schedule will be published in full within the guide.

Training

Several people have expressed an interest in attending a short (3 week) training course on “Editing” and “Using the studio.” Plans are currently underway to start it during week commencing 17th March.

The sessions could run on various days. Let us know if you are interested and what evening would suit you best. We will try and fix it to the days that suit most people the best.

Presenting Opportunities

We are delighted to let you know that Gary Burgham is taking over the regular Monday Drive Time Slot. We are still looking for people to join the team that present the breakfast shows on a Thursday and Friday morning.

For the next few weeks, while Richie is away, we are also looking for members able to work with Andy Leitch on the Sunday Supplement show (11am to 1pm).

Interviewing Team

A reminder that the What’s-On team welcome help in terms of re-using relevant material primarily created for other programmes or for people to carrying out various original interviews. If you would like to be part of the team that carries out general interviews then please let us know. We try to cover all the local events, community productions and performances within our various programmes and as part of the playout system.

It is also encouraging that many well know people who are performing in the North East are very pleased to support Radio Teesdale and give their, usually extremely busy, time for interviews. In the last few weeks our team has interviewed Sir Thomas Allen (the original “Billy Elliott”), film producer Rupert Ryle-Hodges, comedian Paul Sinha, Simon MacCorkindale (Casualty and many more TV/film roles) and two legends in the folk world – Dave Pegg (of Jethro Tull and Fairport Convention) and Simon Nichol (of Fairport Convention). Already in the diary for coming weeks are top comedians Mark Whiteley, Craig Hill and Phil Cool as well as singer and TV star Darren Day.

In Conversation with…..

We have been able to turn several of the interviews mentioned above into full programmes. Liz Franklin interviewed Dave and Simon from Fairport Convention in advance of a gig they are doing at the Sage in Gateshead (22nd Feb). Peter Martin has skilfully mixed a whole variety of music into the dialogue to highlight the group’s work as well as many of the people that have influenced them and are mentioned in the interview. Brilliantly well done Liz and Peter! The show goes out on Sunday at 8pm and will be repeated next Saturday at 5pm. It really is must hear radio!

Advanced Driving

Could you improve your driving skills?

We have come to an arrangement the with Advance Driving organisation to feature aspects of beter motoring in a series of features in our Drive Time programme. They have offered to test one of our members and put them (totally free of charge) through a training programme until you pass your advanced Driving Test. If you have had a driving license for over three years, all you need to be willing to do is go through the training programme and come and talk about it on air. Let us know if you are interested.

More Ways of Getting Involved:

As well as the various things mentioned above, if you are still wondering what to do to support Radio Teesdale then here is another idea……

Our target is to have a trailer for every single programme, or series of programmes, that are broadcast on Radio Teesdale. There is probably no better way of advertising a particular show. At the moment less than 50% of our programmes have trailer! If you would like to get involved in any way (scripting, making voice-overs, selecting music, editing) your help would be most welcome.
Help “man” the Radio Teesdale stand at the Event Guide launch on Tuesday the 26th Feb (4pm to 6pm).
The Community Media Association (CMA) - The CMA AGM is to be held in Sheffield at 12 noon on Saturday 23rd February. If you are interested in representing Radio Teesdale at this event then let us know.
Fundraising - As we have said on many occasions, by necessity, fundraising needs to be considered as one of our primary activities this year. We have a great deal of work to do in this area. We have put together a pack that describes how organisations can become sponsors or advertisers on Radio Teesdale. Let us know if you would like a copy. As always, if you would like to be involved in this area of activity or know of any organizations that would benefit from involvement in Radio Teesdale then please pass on the information.

If you are interested in any way in any of these activities then ring the office (01833 696750), email studio@radioteesdale.co.uk or call in.

e-Circular No 02 2008 (27/1/8)

2008-04-20T00:22:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to all those who responded to last week’s e-Circular. Now that we have our first full season of broadcast behind us and are well into our second our activities will hopefully begin to expand throughout 2008. For example, we need to increase the already growing number of community groups that have an active involvement in Radio Teesdale. Fundraising (see later) is another fundamentally important area of activity.

We are constantly seeking members willing to take on responsibility for new activities or current activities to allow others to move onto new things. We will continue to issue these circulars, and we have plans for a paper newsletter, as a way of spreading some of the identified needs and requirements. The Radio Teesdale door is (literally) always open for those wanting to call in to talk through ideas.

We also recognize that as individuals work on specific programmes they don’t always get the chance to meet other members. So, we plan to hold regular organised sessions whereby members can come and meet and talk to others, learn about new things happening, make suggestions and “sign up” for some of the numerous things going on. Essentially, this should be a session that should be member driven and have (as always) a focus on our listeners and the community as well as the needs of our members. Hopefully, the members will provide as much of the content of these sessions as is possible. It is envisaged that, at least initially, it will be held on either the Wednesday or Thursday of the third week in the month. Do you have any views on the date, time, agenda items, content, etc, etc? Let us know.

Training

Again, thank you to those that have responded to the last circular on the important area of training. Several people have put their names down for the next accredited training course.

There has also been some interest in our running some sessions on “Editing.” These could take the form of trainer led sessions, workshops or drop in sessions. These would run in parallel or between the accredited training courses (but are certainly not a replacement for the broader ranged accredited training).

The Editing Workshops could run on Monday, Wednesday or Thursday evenings (or during the day if there was a demand). What do you think? Any time more appropriate than another? Would you be interested in coming along?

Funding

By necessity, fundraising will be a major part of our activity this year. We have been making contact with many businesses in and around Teesdale with a view to talking to them about the variety of sponsoring and advertising opportunities at Radio Teesdale. We have a great deal of work to do in this area. As always, if you would like to be involved in this area of activity or know of any organizations that would benefit from involvement in Radio Teesdale then please pass on the information.

Presenting Opportunities

Thank you to those that have responded to the request for presenting opportunity on specific programmes. As a reminder these are:

Monday Drive Time (5pm to 7pm)

Thursday Breakfast (7.30am to 9am)

Friday Breakfast (7.30am to 9am)

We hope to draw up a schedule of dates and presenters for these programmes so if you would like to be included then please let us know.

Birthday Celebration

A reminder, that the 27th March marks our first birthday. Thank you to those that have volunteered to get involved in organising celebration events. Others, very much welcome. One suggestion has been to try and get together as many people from Teesdale as we can that have the same birthday – 27th March!

More Ways of Getting Involved:

As well as the various things mentioned above, if you are still wondering what to do to support Radio Teesdale then here is another idea……

· Go along to community events and record performances to carry out interviews with those involved. It has only been organised at the last minute (today in fact!) but tonight Peter Dixon is attending the service at St Mary’s Church in Barnard Castle (starts for 6.30pm) to record performances from a group from Basotho in Africa who will be singing Gospel songs. The group will also be performing at GSK social club tomorrow (Monday 28th January) evening (starts 7.30pm) if you would like to see them. There are lost of opportunities to attend similar events across the dale.

If you are interested in any way in any of these activities then ring the office (01833 696750), email studio@radioteesdale.co.uk or call in.

e-Circular No 01 2008 (23/1/8)

2008-04-20T00:19:00.000-07:00

Listener Feedback

It’s always great to hear from the members of the community that we have been set up to serve. We are delighted to report that several listeners have called and rang into the office and said kind things about the music and the programmes. One listener emailed in today and said, “Since starting to listen on my evening drive home, I have been knocked out by the quality and variety of the music played. It is an education, it is engaging, and what a pleasant contrast from most of the dumbed down offerings from other stations.” Praise indeed. Well done to everyone involved in making and supporting our programme making.

Programme Schedule

The special Christmas schedule was a huge success. Congratulations and well done to all those concerned in putting together an interesting and varied range of programmes. “Something for everyone.”

Likewise the new Winter schedule has received various positive comments from listeners. We especially offer good luck to all the new presenters who have joined the team.

Spring is just around the corner! One of the things we learnt from the Autumn schedule is that the following season soon comes around. The seasons for 2008 are provisionally scheduled to be:

Spring - 14 April to 18 July

Summer – 19 July to 17 October

Autumn – 18 October to 16 January 2009.

All new ideas are most welcome. If you are not doing a programme and would like to then come into the office and have a chat about it. Programme proposal forms (which might help the thought process) are available from the office or the web site.

If you have some ideas and would like to become involved and take responsibility for creating and delivering the actual programme schedule itself then your contribution would be most welcome. Just let us know. There are lots of areas where (even without any experience) you can make a positive contribution to making Radio Teesdale an even greater success in 2008.

Funding

We are delighted to let you know that we have received funding from the “Good Fund” to the tune of £6,050. The money will be used to pay for extra costs (due to steelwork required) on the Transmitter, vital studio equipment and towards setting up a web streaming service.

Over the coming months we will be increasing our effort to attract business sponsors and advertisers. We need to raise at least £25k per annum from this if we are to continue to fund our current level of activity. If you would like to get involved in part of the fundraising team or simply have leads of potential sponsors them please let us know.

Presenting Opportunities

We are looking for either occasional or regular presenters for a couple of programme spots. In particular:

Monday Drive Time (5pm to 7pm)

Thursday Breakfast (7.30am to 9am)

Friday Breakfast (7.30am to 9am)

In addition, due to prior commitments we are looking for presenters to stand in for the following programmes:

Wednesday 20th February

Wednesday 19th March

What’s On

The What’s-On team welcome help in terms of re-using relevant material primarily created for other programmes or for people to carrying out various original interviews. As well as a variety of local performers we have interviewed, the last few weeks, Maggie Bell, Mark Watson, Pete Langford of the Baron Knights and Pauline Black ex of The Selector to name a few.

Training

Our current training session is due to finish in early March. If you are interested in joining a new course or have any views of what sort of things you would like covering in a training course then please let us know.

Marketing Material

We now have available the official Radio Teesdale car stickers. We hope that every one of you will sport one in your motors, windows, etc. They are, of course, available in the office (as well as over 30 locations throughout Teesdale) for collection. We are currently evaluating other promotional goods.

Over the coming year we expect to increase the press releases that we issue. On Friday lunchtime we expect to have a 12 foot python in the studio…should make an interesting story!! If you are interested in getting involved (writing press releases, contacting press, taking photographs, etc) then there are lots of opportunities.

Birthday Celebration

The 27th March marks our first birthday on air with a full time license….doesn’t time fly? Various celebrations will be arranged to mark the event. If you would like to get involved in arranging events and maximising our publicity campaign around this time then please let us know.

More Ways of Getting Involved:

As well as the various things mentioned above, if you are still wondering what to do to support Radio Teesdale then here are a few more ideas……

· Make a one off programme. Our schedule is set up to include occasional programmes – ideal if you have a particular subject, issue or item that you would like aired but have not got the time available to do a complete series.

· Help us work on the schedule community events (Farmers’ Markets, Fairs, Processions) that we will be attending during 2008.

· Sit in on our Drive Time or Breakfast show as a co-presenter. You don’t have to worry about the pressures of managing the desk. It’s a great way to get a feel for the studio and start your “broadcasting career.”

· Join our editing team. We are constantly looking to enhance our programming with interviews, short edits of previous recordings, programme trailers, etc. If you are making recordings yourself it also gives you easier control over the final product.

· Give talks to Community Groups. Tonight Peter Dixon is going to Middleton Guides and we plan to include them in the Drive Time programme. We have a number of requests to visit organisations and some are visiting the studios. If you would like to talk to them about Radio Teesdale that would extend the work we can do in this area.

· We now have access to a set of extensive resources for preparing sound features on new film releases. Putting together features is a great way to practice some simple editing and scripting tasks. You will also get the opportunity of attending press showings of films days or even weeks before they are open to the public.

· Make a “Six of the Best” programme. Again this is a regular spot on the programme schedule and we tend to repeat these programmes on various occasions.

If you are interested in any way in any of these activities then ring the office (01833 696750), email studio@radioteesdale.co.uk or call in.

e-circular to Active Members – 29/11/7

2007-12-02T02:13:00.000-08:00

Broadcasting from the main (Upper Dale) Transmitter
Plans are being finalised to enable us to erect what will become our main transmitter and aerial. We are now hopeful that the work will be completed before the end of the year. When the equipment has been commissioned we will then also broadcast from a site near Romaldkirk on frequency 102.1FM. Our frequencies will then be advertised as, “Broadcasting on 102.1 and 105.5 FM.” Leaflets and car stickers have been produced and will be circulated as soon as we go on air. As soon as a date is confirmed we will let you know.

Christmas on Radio Teesdale
A Christmas Schedule (Saturday 22/12/7 to Tuesday 1/1/8) is currently being drafted. If you would like to add a special programme to the schedule then please let Peter Dixon know.

All the recorded programmes that are to broadcast over the Christmas week will need to be recorded by Friday 21/12/7 to enable them to be included in the QNXT schedule. This is only 3 weeks away so please make sure you book studio time to do the recordings! Marianne Dixon has compiled a list of every Christmas number one in the last 50 years. Everyone is on the Myriad cart wall. A list is available in the office.

Christmas “Outside Broadcasts” and Radio Teesdale stands
Radio Teesdale is going to have a presence at several community events in the next few weeks. All members are very much welcome to come along support in whatever way they can:

• Switch on of the Barnard Castle Christmas Tree lights – 6.30pm Friday 30th November. Katey Wallace is introducing the event and acting as compere. The action starts at 6.30pm down by the Post Office in Barnard Castle. The Barnard Castle Town Crier will be presenting the Drive Time Show from 5.00pm until 6.00pm and interviewing organisers of the Barnard Castle late night shopping. During the What’s On show we will be talking to late night shop keepers and from the Witham Hall Christmas event. Radio Teesdale bringing three Barnard Castle community events together!
• Switch on of the Middleton in Teesdale lights – Sunday 2nd December. A Farmers’ Market starts at 4.00pm with Santa arriving at 7.00pm. We’ll have interviews on the Potting Shed show.
• Farmers’ Market at the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle on Sunday 16th December. Everyone is welcome to “man” a Radio Teesdale “stall” and organise interviews to the live shows that day.

Studio One
The acoustic boxes to the studio have now been installed. Several people have commented that it looks like an art installation from Tate Modern! Well done Kiddy, Ian Kirkbride and Sid. Studio 1 is now fully capable of live and recorded broadcast. In the near future we will be making Studio 1 the main broadcast studio. Studio 2 will then be used for pre-recording programmes and training. Any presenters not yet familiar with Studio 1 should be looking to familiarising themselves within the next few weeks.

Social Events
Enterprise House is holding a Christmas get together for all occupants of the building. It’s on Friday the 14th December from 4.00pm to 6.00pm. All members are warmly invited. There will be a few nibbles but because of the potential numbers involved they are asking people to “bring a bottle.”

We are currently planning an AGM and Upper Dale launch party for very early in the New Year. We plan to organise an event after the meeting – more details will follow soon.

Other Ways of Getting Involved:
If you are wondering what to do to support Radio Teesdale then here are a few ideas……

• Talk to people you know about sponsorship and channel it through the appropriate channels. We need to raise at least £25k per annum through sponsorship to make the station financially viable. There are details of the various rates on our web site. If you know any organisations that might be interested then please let Peter Dixon know.
• Help with the circulation of all car stickers and leaflets showing the dual frequency of Radio Teesdale.
• Join the team that are contacting potential sponsors that we have already identified. The role would be to talk to them about Radio Teesdale, establish if they are interested and then agree the details of the sponsorship such as item (show or feature) to be sponsored and the message. This can be done from the comfort of your own home if you wish. It would be a great thing to add to your CV if you are thinking of improving yours!
• Sit in on our Drive Time or Breakfast show as a co-presenter. You don’t have to worry about the pressures of managing the desk. It’s a great way to get a feel for the studio and start your “broadcasting career.”
• Join our editing team. At the moment, we have more opportunities that we can currently manage to re-edit material. Everyone who has worked in this area has said how quickly this has helped them with their editing skills and understanding of broadcasting. Editing is a lot easier than you might think…and it is very satisfying to hear your work being broadcast!
• Make a “My Teesdale” special programme. The idea is to talk to a Teesdale Resident about their life, love of Teesdale and play a selection from their “music collection.”
• Make a “Six of the Best” programme. Several have been broadcast already. Currently in production are shows featuring the Who and Genesis.

If you are interested in any way in any of these activities then ring the office (01833 696750), email studio@radioteesdale.co.uk or call in.

e-Circular No 22 – 21/10/7

2007-12-02T02:11:00.001-08:00

Training
We have now firmed up a date for the commencement of our next training course. We are planning on commencing the NCFE Level 2 (12 week) course on Tuesday the 20th November. If you would like to attend the course then please contact Elaine Laurie of Teesdale Training on 01833 696616.

Community Radio Licensing News
Radio Teesdale offers hearty congratulations to a number of north east community radio stations that have been awarded full time licenses over the next five weeks. They are Bishop FM (who also started a month RSL on the 20th October), Radio Hartlepool, Catterick Garrison FM, Spice FM (Newcastle), Utopia FM (Sunderland University) and Community Voice FM (Middlesbrough). These stations join the four stations currently broadcasting (NE1 FM in Newcastle, Cross Rythmn in Middleborough, Lionheart from Alnwick and ourselves) – a total of ten community stations now flying the flag for community radio in the North East.

Christmas on Radio Teesdale
Christmas broadcasting will start from Monday the 3rd December when presenters can introduce a Christmas song into the music rotation system (the current six sections being 50s/60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, noughties & current/new). We will also have special Christmas station idents.
If you would like to record a special additional Christmas show for inclusion in our broadcast then please let Peter Dixon know.

Studio Time
The studios are becoming increasing busy and the current broadcast studio was pretty much booked up all of last week. The second studio is now operational and has been used to record several programmes, interviews, trailers, etc. Work to improve the sound insulation is also underway.
More Ways of Getting Involved:
If you are wondering what to do to support Radio Teesdale then here are a few ideas……
• Sit in on our Drive Time or Breakfast show as a co-presenter. You don’t have to worry about the pressures of managing the desk. It’s a great way to get a feel for the studio and start your “broadcasting career.”
• Join our editing team. We are constantly looking to enhance our programming with interviews, short edits of previous recordings, programme trailers, etc. Everyone who has worked on this has said how quickly this has helped them with their editing skills and understanding of broadcasting. Editing is a lot easier than you might think!
• We now have access to a set of extensive resources for preparing sound features on new cinema releases. Putting together features is a great way to practice some simple editing and scripting tasks.
• Make a special programme for our Christmas broadcast. It might be a review of the year, the best bits of previous programmes, etc.
• Make a “My Teesdale” special programme. The idea is to talk to a Teesdale Resident about their life, love of Teesdale and play a selection from their “music collection.”
• Make a “Six of the Best” programme. Several have been broadcast already. Currently in production are shows featuring ABBA, The Style Council and Genesis.
• Log onto the discussion forum and add your comments! The Radio Teesdale Forum is open for all. To add messages you will need to register, but we have made it a very simple process. All you need to do is go to the web site, follow the link to “Forum”, click onto the “Register” button and provide a few simple details on the register screen.
• Help out with some of the odd light “building” jobs that need doing around the office. There are regularly a number of small DIY type jobs that need doing….if you have the skills then we’d love to hear from you.

If you are interested in any way in any of these activities then ring the office (01833 696750), email studio@radioteesdale.co.uk or call in.

e-Circular No 21

2007-09-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

Autumn Schedule

The Autumn Schedule starts on Monday!!! A big thank you to everyone who has made a great success of the interim schedule. During this period we have produced some fabulous programmes. In just 10 weeks from the 9th July (over a busy holiday period) we will have moved from the 2 hours each weekday to a schedule averaging about 8 hours of original programming every day of the week.

A copy of the schedule is available from the home page of the web site. Good luck to everyone with their new shows.

Lots of opportunities of becoming involved in programmes at all levels

There is a whole variety of ways you can become involved in creating programmes. In particular, we are looking for people to host the Monday Drive Time Show and to host some of our Breakfast shows. We are also looking for co-hosts for these regular programmes……..

Many of our programmes have a main presenter (who manages the desk) and a co-host. This has proved an extremely successful format. Having a co-host is also of considerable help to the main presenter. It also provides an opportunity for technically inexperienced members to make a significant impact and contribution to a programme. Many people who have done this have since moved on to produce programmes of their own. The Breakfast Show and Lunch Time Show teams are particularly keen to welcome new members in this way.

More ways of getting involved……..

· Create one of our “My Teesdale” Programmes - from 8pm to 9pm on a Sunday evening (but it could be pre-recorded). The idea of the show is for one of our team to interview a Teesdale Resident and to talk about their life. The guest would select some or all of the records in the show.

· Create a “Six of the Best” programme. The idea is to produce a short 30 minute programme featuring 6 significant songs with linking dialogue about a particular artiste or group. The shows will be recorded, using a whole variety of presenters. If you are a fan of particular performer or keen to do a little research then this is a great way to producing a mini programme.

· Record a mini feature. As part of our automatic playout system we insert mini sound features (interviews, information items and sound bites) of about 2 or 3 minutes long of interest to the local community. All contributions welcome.

· Produce a regular “What’s on Film” feature or film. We have access to the promotional material of all the new feature films. This includes film clips, soundtracks, actor sound bites, interviews, film synopses and much more. We also have press tickets to the press launch of films prior to the main release (although these are during the day in Newcastle). This is a truly brilliant resource for anyone interested in films who is wanting to compile a programme or a regular series of features.

· Help at one of our marketing stands. We will be taking stands at a Witham Hall community event next Saturday 22nd September (11am to 1pm) as well as the Middleton Farmers’ Market on Sunday the 30th September and the Barnard Castle Market on Saturday 6th October. Come along and talk to the Teesdale community about Radio Teesdale. Let us know if you can come to any of these events.

· Join our next training course. Our next training course has been postponed to Tuesday 2nd October. It will be the NCFE Level 2 Course in Radio Production Skill. Each session will run for two and a half hours from 6.30pm. It is a great way to improve your radio skills and gain a qualification at the same time! To book your place contact Elaine Laurie of Teesdale Training on 01833 696616.

If you are interested in any of the above please see Peter Dixon, give him a ring on 01833 696750 or email peter.dixon@radioteesdale.co.uk

And finally…..

If you would like items added to this regular e-newsletter then simply send information into the office by post, person or email (studio@radioteesdale.co.uk).

e-Circular No 20 (pubished 24 Aug 2007)

2007-09-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

Expanding the Programme Schedule

The philosophy with our programme schedule has been to grow it incrementally over the period prior to the launch of our main transmitter in the Upper Dale. The breakfast show is now two hours (7.30 to 9.30am). Katey Wallace, ably assisted by Richard Rainbow, has done a fantastic job launching the Lunch Time show (noon to 1.00pm). Her bubbly approach to live certainly brightens up the airwaves during the day. On Monday the Lunch Time team will be doing a 2 hour Bank Holiday special.

From this next week we will have (after 6.00pm each weekday) 15 specialist shows on the air, and others planned. Listeners can tune into expert chat of music genres across a wide spectrum including Irish, Vintage, Classical, Folk, Indie, Regional, Jazz, Progressive Country, Rock, World, Comedy, Dance and Soul. There is still room for more……….

Members Meeting

We are in the process of working on our “Autumn” schedule which we are looking to start on the 17th September. In order to help people work out how best they can contribute to the new programme schedule we would like to hold an open meeting with a few aims, namely:

· Give people an idea of the overall programme schedule and allow everyone to comment/make suggestions/improvements/etc.

· Receive feedback on what you think went well in your own programme format and how thing could maybe be improved.

· Allow folks to make contact with other presenters and form any groups that are relevant to proposing/creating individual programmes or streams of programmes.

The meeting is at 5.30pm on Thursday 30th August in the office at Enterprise House. If you can’t make this meeting then give Peter Dixon a ring and/or pop in and see him – he’ll be pleased to talk to you individually as well. I’m sure you will appreciate, this is a significant iterative process and contributions from all sources are always welcome.

It is expected that many folks will welcome the opportunity of withdrawing to the Red Well for refreshments after the meeting!

Broadcasting from the upper dale

The Engineers are doing their stuff during September so the plan is to have the Upper Dale on line very early in October. More details will follow over the next few weeks.

More ways of getting involved……..

· Submit a programme proposal for our Autumn Schedule. The next Radio Teesdale “Season” will start on the 17th September and will run until the end of December 2007. If you need help formulating any ideas you have for a programme then contact Peter Dixon at the office. The standard proforma for the programme proposals is on the web site.

· Join our next training course. Our next training course starts on Tuesday 11th September and run for 12 sessions until the 11th December. There will be no sessions on the 25/9/7 and the 23/10/7. It will be the NCFE Level 2 Course in Radio Production Skill. Each session will run for two and a half hours from 6.30pm. It is a great way to improve your radio skills and gain a qualification at the same time! To book your place contact Elaine Laurie of Teesdale Training on 01833 696616. There will be a charge of £10 per person for the full 12 weeks.

· Be part of our Marketing push. We will shortly be broadcasting from our second transmitter we intend to have a launch campaign to attract listeners. If you would like to contribute to the process (write press releases, take photographs, produce artwork, source merchandise, etc) then let us know how you would like to be involved with an idea of your availability for an initial meeting.

· Create a “Six of the Best” programme. The idea is to produce a short 30 minute programme featuring 6 significant songs with linking dialogue about a particular artiste or group. The shows will be recorded, using a whole variety of presenters, to allow us to play them as part of the playout system adding to the “live feel” of our broadcasting. If you are a fan of particular performer or keen to do a little research then this is a great way to producing a mini programme.

More Live Programmes

2007-08-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

We’ve reached another milestone this week by starting our live specialist shows from 6pm each evening. Val and Michael Fryer got us off to a great start with the "Vintage Generation" on Monday. Colin Robinson, Ritchie and Dave Kidd added to the great variety of styles and music output. Tonight (Friday) it’s Cat with “Getting Ready for the Weekend.” Next Wednesday we have the welcome return of Terry Willets with “The World of Jazz.”

Future programming plans include extending the Breakfast Show to 7.30am to 9.30am from the 6th August, a further hour of specialist shows together with a Lunch Time show (12 noon to 1.00pm) from the 20th August

Upper Dale Frequency Confirmed

Great news from Ofcom. Ofcom has just approved the frequency that we will be using for the Upper Dale site. This now enables us to make firm plans for the installation of the transmitter and the all important creation of our marketing material. By September we will be saying……………..

“It’s Radio Teesdale on 102.1 and 105.5 FM, broadcasting to the whole of Teesdale.”

Training Course

Plans are also underway for our first accredited training course in Radio Production. We will be the NCFE Level 2 Course in Radio Production Skill. It will be based at Enterprise House, start on Tuesday 11th September and run for 12 sessions until the 11th December. There will be no sessions on the 25/9/7 and the 23/10/7. Each session will run for two and a half hours from 6.30pm. It is a great way to improve your radio skills and gain a qualification at the same time! To book your place contact Elaine Laurie of Teesdale Training on 01833 696616. There will be a charge of £10 per person for the full 12 weeks.

Guest Book

We have reintroduced the guest book – a small book kept in the office. Please ask any of your visitors or studio guests to sign the book. In the past it has provided us with a useful set of comments.

Collaborating with Community Groups

We have continued our collaborative work with the Castle Players. This time it was with the youth section, The Turrets. We have recorded the play “45 Minutes” that they will be performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The 30 minute adaptation for radio was broadcast last night.

Private Web Page for the use of Radio Teesdale Members

More ways of getting involved……..

· Be part of our Marketing push. Now that we have our Upper Dale frequency and will shortly be broadcasting from our second transmitter we intend to have a full station launch campaign (complete with launch party!!) to attract listeners and contributors. We will be holding an open marketing meeting in two or three weeks time. If you would like to contribute to the process (write press releases, take photographs, produce artwork, source merchandise, etc) then let us know how you would like to be involved. Let us know your availability for an initial meeting and we’ll set if up based on when people can make it.

· Producing a specialist programme. We are in the process of expanding our weekday live programming into the early evening with a series of specialist programmes. Would you like to be one of the specialist shows to broadcast on Radio Teesdale?

· Create a “Six of the Best” programme. Rob Jones is currently developing a format for a series of 30 minute specialist shows. The idea is to produce each programme featuring 6 significant songs with linking dialogue about a particular artiste or group. The shows will be recorded, using a whole variety of presenters, to allow us to play them as part of the playout system adding to the “live feel” of our broadcasting. If you are a fan of particular performer or keen to do a little research then this is a great way to producing a mini programme.

· Supporting our live programmes. There are lots of opportunities (in the studio and the office) to play a part. It’s a great way of easing yourself into broadcasting!

· Join the team working with young people involved in Radio Teesdale. A great opportunity if you want to gain some experience in youth work or teaching. Susie Blackburn has planed a “Summer School” for junior members. She is organising a series of practical workshops on Tuesday 21st, Wed 22nd and Thurs 23rd August for children and young people (8-11 year olds in the mornings from 10-12am and then for 12-18 year olds in the afternoons from 2-4pm).

Communication to Active Members 2007/18 - 27 July

2007-07-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

Operations Management Team and other roles

You will be aware, through these newsletters and advertisements that have appeared in the local press as well as various web sites (including our own!) that we are re-organising the management of our operations activities. We are delighted to let you know that the following members will take on the Operations Management Team responsibilities of:

Marketing Manager – Linda Britton

Office Administrator – Laura Heaviside

Community Liaison Coordinator – Annalisa Ward

Volunteer Coordinator – Rachael Brayfield

Technical Coordinator - Peter Levett

In the programming team Ruth Dent is doing a great job carrying out the role of Guest Coordinator for the Drive Time show and Rob Jones is helping out on the programme schedule. Dave Commen has joined as an ICT Technician. Susie Blackburn working in our volunteer’s team as Youth Volunteer Liaison Worker and Andy Leach has agreed to take responsibility for Training Coordination. An organization structure of the operational activities is also on the web site.

Work Experience

A big thank you needs to go out to Elliot Enciso, from Staindrop School. Elliot worked in the office for a week as part of a school work experience scheme. He sorted out much of our music database and edited various interviews. He did a great job and we hope to see him back during his Summer holidays.

Live Programming is here to stay!

We are now well into our third week of live broadcasting (from Barnard Castle on 105.5FM). So far we have had an hour at breakfast time (8.00am to 9.00pm) and then an hour at drive time (5.00pm to 6.00pm) each week day. This has enabled a variety of presenters (whatever style of programme they intend to make later) to produce a magazine type programme. The programmes have a common format, with a focus on talk and features. Music is based on the station policy of playing popular music from the 50s right up to current releases.

Next week we will start with a series of specialist shows starting at 6pm. They will follow the weekday drive time programmes. The idea is to steadily increase the number of live programmes up to the time that we launch our first full season’s schedule, across the whole dale, in September.

· Monday we have Val and Michael Fryer with the “Vintage Generation” – the Fryers special brand of easy listening and classic tunes from the 1950s and beyond. This is followed at 7pm with Michael Little with “A Little Light Music” playing your classical favourites. The first programme is entitled “Invitation to a Dance.”

· Tuesday evening is Colin Robinson with the “Undercurrent” – with all the best in Indie music, with regular features on local bands.

· The regular Wednesday slot is “The World of Jazz” with Terry Willits. Terry is away the first week so on the 1st of August Richie will be playing an hour of classic New Country and Rock music.

· On Thursday Dave Kidd takes to the air with “Rock Through the Ages”.

· On Friday, get in the right mood for your night out with Cat with “Get Ready for the Weekend.” She’ll get the weekend off to a great start with top dance and hi energy tunes that will get you in the mood for a top night on the town. This will be followed by Ray Oxley’s “Comedy Hour”.

More ways of getting involved……..

· Producing a specialist programme. As mentioned above we are in the process of expanding our weekday live programming into the early evening with a series of specialist programmes. Would you like to be one of the first specialist shows to broadcast on Radio Teesdale?

· Supporting our live programmes. We hope that lots of people will help and contribute to the current live programmes. There are lots of opportunities (in the studio and the office) to play a part. It’s a great way of easing yourself into broadcasting!

· Suggest a guest for the Drive Time Shows. Every day we have a guest in each of our Drive Time hours. We’ve already booked a fascinating array of local people for the first few weeks.

On Wednesday 26th we had exclusive interviews with Richard Betton (Leader of Teesdale District Council) and Mark Lloyd (Chief Executive of Durham County Council) talking about the announcement of a Unitary Council for County Durham. On Thursday 26th August we also had a special phone in guest – Neville Staples of “The Specials” and “Fun Boy 3.”

Do you know someone that would make an interesting contribution to one of these shows?

· Help with some of the joinery work that needs doing in the studio. To improve the soundproofing we are intending to build and fix some sound absorbent pods to the walls of the studio. We also need various notice boards creating. Are you a keen DIYer with a few hours spare to lend a hand?

· Join the team working with young people involved in Radio Teesdale. A great opportunity if you want to gain some experience in youth work or teaching. Susie Blackburn has planed a “Summer School” for junior members. She is organising a series of practical workshops on Tuesday 21st, Wed 22nd and Thurs 23rd August for children and young people. The workshops will be for 8-11 year olds in the mornings from 10-12am and then for 12-18 year olds in the afternoons from 2-4pm. The workshops will be an opportunity to use radio equipment such as mixing desks, mini-disc recorders and editing software and hopefully put together a programme or two!

· Send in your photos. Our photo gallery now contains over 100 photographs. We’d love to publish your photographs. Do you have any old photos taken during our RSLs? Do you have a photo of yourself (or can you take one) of you doing your “day job” or in front of a Teesdale landmark? If so, send the electronic ones in or loan us the prints and we’ll do the rest.

· Work on the web site. In the next few weeks we will be migrating our web site pages into a new design! You don’t have to be a techy to do a useful job in editing pages, photographs, etc. Great opportunity for anybody looking to gain some media experience.

· Apply for a position on our Operations Team. This is an opportunity to taken on a managerial position at Radio Teesdale. Details and an application form are under the Operations Team section of the web site.

If you are interested in any way in any of these activities then ring the office (01833 696750), email studio@radioteesdale.co.uk or call in.

And finally…..

If you would like items added to this regular e-newsletter then simply send information into the office by post, person or email (studio@radioteesdale.co.uk).

What a great first week

2007-07-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

What a great fun week it has been. Our first week of live broadcasting. Twelve presenters all did a great job. They all worked very hard preparing for their shows and it really paid off. I’m very proud of them all. A great job. Several photos have been added to the photo gallery to record some of the action.

During the last week we also had our first work experience student working for us. Elliot Enciso, from Staindrop School, did a brilliant job sorting out our music system and editing a number of interviews and sound features. Very well done.

Next week should be as equally exciting. Within a few days we should be able to take calls into the studio. Listen into the shows for details of the number and when you can ring in. We will also have the debut of Alan Bradley, fresh from his holidays.

Live Programmes are on the way

2007-07-10T03:50:00.000-07:00

On Monday 9th July we will start with an hour at breakfast time (8.00am to 9.00pm) and then an hour at drive time (5.00pm to 6.00pm). This will enable a variety of presenters (whatever style of programme they intend to make later) to produce a magazine type programme. The programmes will have a common feel, be community based and focus on talk and features. Music will be based on the station policy of playing popular music from the 50s right up to current releases.

The Breakfast team is currently Andy, Richie, Dave Kidd and Eddy Slack. The Drive Time team is currently Alan Bradley, Cat Chapman, Wayne Mann, Ros Evans, Ruth Dent, Richie, Mick Brennan, Katie Wallace and Richard Rainbow.

The second studio is looking good

Brian Lister has done a fabulous job wiring up the two studios. Studio 1 has been set up in the room that has been our temporary office for the last month. Studio 2 is the original studio. It will be a few weeks before we can add the computer system to the new studio 1 desk, but we will soon be able to use the equipment for recording to mini-discs and tapes.

More ways of getting involved……..

· Get involved in producing our live programmes. We hope that lots of people will help and contribute to the breakfast and drive time programmes. There are lots of opportunities (in the studio, helping with research or providing backup in the office) to play a part. Would you like to present one of the hours, co-host or support one of these programme slots?

· Suggest a guest for the Drive Time Shows. From Monday the 16th July we will be having a guest in each of our Drive Time hours. We’ve already booked a fascinating array of people for the first two weeks. Do you know someone that would make an interesting contribution to one of these shows?

· Help manage the music on the computer system. We are now broadcasting music. There is a great deal of vital work to do to continually sort out and improve our music as well as simply bringing our music collection up to date. It’s a fairly time consuming task but not difficult after a short training session. Can you help out? Don’t complain about not hearing your favorite popular tunes – join in and make sure they are on there!

· Create some “stand by” programmes. As we start broadcasting music for a new computer system we will need to ‘close down’ the computer system from time to time for essential maintenance. So the listeners are unaware this is happening we will play pre-recorded programmes during this time. It’s a great way to practice your programme making skills. Would you like to record a 30 or 60 minute slot?

· Re-edit some previous music based programmes. Now that the restriction of playing music is lifted, do you have some previously created work that can be re-edited for broadcast during the automated sequence? It’s another way of brushing up on your editing and programming making skills.

· Make a comment on the discussion Forum. Log onto the discussion forum and add your comments! The Radio Teesdale Forum is open for all. To add messages you will need to register, but we have made that a very simple process. All you need to do is go to the web site, follow the link to “Forum”, click onto the “Register” button and provide a few simple details on the register screen. You’ll need to provide an email address to which you be sent a link. You should then, within a few minutes, receive an email to which you need to open and click the necessary link confirming acceptance that this is your valid email. You are then in business and can enter messages.

· Help with some of the joinery work that needs doing in the studio. To improve the soundproofing we are intending to build and fix some sound absorbent pods to the walls of the studio. We also need various notice boards creating. Are you a keen DIYer with a few hours spare to lend a hand?

· Join the team working with young people involved in Radio Teesdale. Susie Blackburn is starting to plan a “Summer School” for junior members – probably week commencing 20th August. A planning meeting will be held shortly. An early indication is required if you would like to be involved as CRB checks may be required.

· Apply for a position on our Operations Team. This is an opportunity to taken on a managerial position at Radio Teesdale. Details and an application form are under the Operations Team section of the web site.

If you are interested in any way in any of these activities then ring the office (01833 696750), email studio@radioteesdale.co.uk or call in.

And finally…..

If you would like items added to this regular e-newsletter then simply send information into the office by post, person or email (studio@radioteesdale.co.uk).

More ways of getting involved……..

2007-06-14T07:54:00.000-07:00

More ways of getting involved……..

· On Thursday 14th June at 6.30pm we are moving in the rest of the furniture kindly donated by Radio Cleveland. The items have to be moved the short distance from storage kindly loaned to us by the Honeyman Group at their offices at the top of the road. It’s an important job as we need to sort out the room and set thing up prior to the training course starting next week. If you’d like to give a helping hand then let us know. Lots of hands are required!!

· On the same evening at 7.00pm there is an open event on Unitary Local Authorities at the Methodist Church Hall, Scartop, in Barnard Castle. There will be speakers from Teesdale District Council and Durham County Council. If you would like to report on the event for Radio Teesdale then let Peter Dixon know and he will give you all the details.

· In our continued aim of improving communication between members and listeners we will be launching a Forum as part of our web site within the next week. This is part of a major initiative to continually improve our web site. If you would like to get involved in the web developments from a technical, content or artistic way then let Peter Dixon know.

Training
Our 5 week “Introduction to Radio Skills” training course is starting next week (19th June) at 6.30pm at Enterprise House in Barnard Castle. There has been considerable interest in the course with lots of new (and old) members booking places. If you’d like to join the training course then don’t delay – contact Teesdale Training on 01833 696616 to register your interest.

Programme Scheduling
Various people have booked into the studio as members begin to prepare programmes in readiness for live broadcasting. We will be having discussions with everyone who has submitted a programme proposal over the next few weeks as we start to put together the programme schedule. If you want to talk about your particularly ideas don’t hesitate to speak to Peter Dixon so that we can get down to sorting out the details.

Caitlin and Katy “Spring into Action”
Our work with the CMA, the Community Channel, the BBC and the BTCV on the “Spring into Action” campaign has been recorded. Our broadcasts as part of the campaign have included a very professional set of interviews with the Teesdale community group, the Rotters, carried out by 11 year olds Katy Robinson and Caitlin Brennan. All their work is being edited into a programme about the work of the community conservation group. At the moment we are broadcasting the first of their interviews. It’s fantastic to see two young people so actively involved in radio and clearly enjoying themselves in the process. Their work should also appear on the CMA web site over the next few weeks. Very well done girls.

Interview on the CMA web site
Peter Dixon has been interviewed by Alan Fransman of the Community Media Association. Alan interviewed Peter about the “Spring into Action” Campaign, volunteering and how things are going at Radio Teesdale. The recording is now on the CMA web site, and is available for anyone to download and listen to (and for other community radio stations to broadcast). You can find it at:

http://www.commedia.org.uk/about-cma/cmas-projects/spring-into-action/broadcast-partners/north-east/

CMA’s Comliteracy Project
We have now completed all the broadcast material on the CMA’s Comliteracy project for which we were awarded £1,000. Rob Jones scripted, edited and produced, along with a large array of contributors, three excellent public service announcements. Mick Brennan has also created a superb 20 minute programme. It features an interview with Radio Teesdale member and ex Deerbolt worker, Les Blair, talking about how media can support young offenders. The piece includes poetry from a former inmate of Deerbolt recorded as part of one of our Restricted Service License (RSL) broadcasts. The programme has been skillfully edited by Richard Rainbow. Well done to everyone involved.

Maximo Park
Colin Robinson has been doing some excellent interviews for Radio Teesdale recently. As well as putting together features on a number of local bands and gigs, Colin has had an exclusive interview with one of the UK’s leading band’s, Maximo Park. This follows an earlier interview with the group a couple of years ago as they were starting to hit the big time. This week should see a top 10 placing in the single’s chart for the second single 'Books From Boxes' taken from their album “Our Earthly Pleasures.” Well done Colin.

Advertising for Volunteers
As you are all aware, we are constantly looking out for new members and for people to take up roles within the Operations Team. Details are available on the web site if you or anyone you know is interested. Peter Dixon would be delighted to talk to you if you are. We are also planning a half page advertisement in a future issue of the Teesdale Mercury to help ensure that everyone in Teesdale gets the message.

Gary Burgham
The Comliteracy work built on the great work started by Gary Burgham who was taken ill on the day of our Comliteracy Workshop. Peter Dixon has spoken to Gary and he sends all his love to the members. He’s slowly recuperating after his operation and very much hopes to be back in action on the radio later in the year. We wish Gary a speedy recovery.

Communicating with Members
The old saying that you can’t communicate too much is very true of any voluntary organisation. We are constantly trying to provide information to members about Radio Teesdale activities (without inundating you all with daily emails!). Peter Dixon regularly posts comments, news and updates on the Station Blog page (17 posts since April!!). There is a link from the home page of the web site but keep checking it by saving this page direct to your favourites.
http://radioteesdalecommunitystation.blogspot.com/

If you would like items added to this regular newsletter then simply send them into the office by post, person or email (studio@radioteesdale.co.uk).

Getting Involved in Radio Teesdale

2007-06-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

Spring into Action
We have quickly organised, as part of the “Spring into Action” campaign in conjunction with the Media Trust, the CMA and Radio Cleveland a small “Teesdale & Cleveland Conservation Volunteering Fair.” Various voluntary conservation groups have been given the opportunity to exhibit in the “Open Centre” at Radio Cleveland’s Broadcasting House in Middleborough Wednesday 6the June 2007. The exhibition runs from 10am to 2pm and will feature groups such as Trees for Cotherstone, The Durham Wildlife Trust, Groundworks, Scrap Bank and Renew North East (where member Ian Kirkbride is a Director). Both Radio Cleveland and Radio Teesdale will be carrying out interviews throughout the morning. Everyone is most welcome to come along.

Getting Ready for Live Broadcast
Transmitter equipment for the upper dale site is on order. The equipment for the second studio, which will become the new main broadcast studio, has also been purchased and should be with us very soon. It will not be long before we have 2 studios!

Media Literacy Project
Rob Jones has produced, along with several members who provided the voices, three top quality and highly professional Public Service Announcements as part of the CMA’s Media Literacy project. Great work Rob. Mick Brennan has being doing some interviewing which is currently being edited to create the programme element of the project.

Making Radio Teesdale part of the “Day Job”
We have been talking to a number of people in various Teesdale organisations about thinking how their “day job” can involve working as part of Radio Teesdale. This applies to a wide range of individuals involved in such activities as marketing, public relations or general communicating with businesses, volunteers, tourists and members of the public. If you know of anyone who this might apply to then talk to them about Radio Teesdale and let us know if we can help them make “Radio Teesdale part of the Day Job.”

Business Cards
Prink Media Ltd has kindly donated the cost of producing various business cards. A set has been produced that can be used by any member. The cards are printed with all the office and contact details, with space for you to note your own personal details (name, mobile phone number, etc). Call into the office if you would like to have some for future distribution.

Training
The next “Introduction to Radio Skills” training course is starting to fill up fast. If you’d like to book your place on this 5 week course that starts on Tuesday 19th June then please contact Elaine Laurie on 01833 696616.

The Radio Teesdale Organisation
Radio Teesdale continues to welcome volunteers in a whole variety of capacities. An advert will shortly be placed in the local media promoting specific volunteer opportunities. If you, or someone you know, are interested in getting involved in the management of Radio Teesdale then please let Station Manager, Peter Dixon, know. Volunteer roles are listed online on the web site on the Volunteering and Operations Team links.

To explain a little about the structure of Radio Teesdale………Teesdale Community Broadcasting Limited is the company that was created to establish Radio Teesdale. It has a Management Board made up of volunteer members. The Radio Station Manager, Peter Dixon reports to this Management Board. He is the decision-maker for all day-to-day matters and is responsible for managing the station.
Peter manages the ‘Operations Team’ and through this team’s activities, volunteers are able to contribute fully and provide new ideas. Every member of the Operations Team has a vital role to play in developing Radio Teesdale. The role of the Operations Team is increasingly important in running the station on a day-to-day basis.

All Radio Teesdale volunteers are a vital and fundamental part of making Radio Teesdale a success.

To further expand on the recent brief note about members attending Management Board Meetings, we ask members to give three working days notice (to Pat Estall, Company Secretary) of their desire to attend a meeting in order that all the housekeeping aspects can be managed.

How can you actively get involved in Radio Teesdale?

2007-05-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

The studio has been very active this week. The place is really starting to buzz. If you are at all unsure about how you can become actively involved in the lead up to live broadcasting then here are a few ideas:

· Voice Over - Following a very productive workshop to explore Media Literacy issues in Teesdale, Rob Jones has scripted three Public Service Announcements. They are on the subjects of The Digital Changeover, Integrating Media Sources and Children’s Access to Mobile Phones. We are recording the announcements on Tuesday (29th May) evening at 7.00pm so come along if you would like to get involved in the session. The recordings will be broadcast nationally as part of a CMA and Ofcom campaign.

· Interviewing - We are currently putting together various elements of a programme about the impact of Social Exclusion and Media Literacy. Mick Brennan is working on a few ideas including Travelers and the Elderly. Contact Mick Brennan or Peter Dixon if you’d like to help out.

· More interviewing and recording - The CMA has also asked us to become involved in a “Spring into Action” campaign promoting Environmental Volunteering. This involves us recording nine interviews over the next three weeks. We can use local interviewees or ones provided by the CMA. If you’d like to get involved then contact Peter Dixon.

· What’s On Reporting - We are planning on expanding the “What’s On” feature of our Limited Service Broadcast. This will develop into a significant service throughout our broadcasting as well as the basis for various dedicated programmes. We need to include interviews with event organizers, etc. If you would like to join the “What’s On Team” then contact the office.

· Programme Preparation - With live broadcasting only a matter of weeks away, anyone thinking about creating a programme or programme feature is very welcome to come in to the studio to practice and record items for broadcast.

· Programme Features - We are continuing to change material for our limited service broadcast output. If you have an idea for that then let us know or come in and record an item for transmission.

· Join the Barny Meet Parade - We are entering the “Radio Teesdale Car” in the Barnard Castle Meet Parade. Everyone is welcome to join in handing out stickers and shaking the donation tins for the meet funds. The parade starts from the gsk (Glaxo) car park at 1.00pm but note that the surrounding roads close at 12.30 so make sure you arrive in good time.

· Represent Radio Teesdale at village events and shows – There are a variety of events (village shows, fetes, and carnivals) that Radio Teesdale could attend over the coming months. We have created several “props” for the recruitment events so it should not take a great deal of preparation. We would like to form a team to pull this together. If you are interested in joining in the fun at these Teesdale Community events, as well as representing Radio Teesdale in this way, then contact the office and let us know.

Do you need any support?

If you feel you would like to carry out a task but are not sure you can complete everything yourself then do not worry. Radio Production is all about teamwork. Here are a few ways that we can help you:

· Editing Support - New member Richard Rainbow is now regularly working in the studio editing interviews and sound files that members have created. If you can complete an interview Richard is happy to help you, show you how it’s done or completely edit it for you.

· Open Studio - The studio is available to use and practice at least 12 hours a day. It’s generally available to use from 8.00am to 8.00pm each weekday and by arrangement at other times. Just ring the office to make sure it’s not double booked.

· Studio Support - Various members of the team are available to support you while you are working in the studio, whether conducting interview, making programme sequences or simply practicing.

· Training - Do you need training in radio production? Would you like to attend an “Introduction to Radio Skills” training course? Our next course starts on Tuesday 19th June and runs for 5 weeks. To book a place or find out more details, please contact Elaine Laurie on 01833 696616

Operations Team

As we have mentioned before, we very much need to extend our Operations Team (responsible for the day to day running of the radio station) and increase our active members. If you are, or know someone else who may be, interested in taking on an active role in one of the areas covered by the Operations Team (Programming, Community Liaison, Volunteer Coordination, Front of House, Training, Accounts and Fund Raising, etc), then please talk to Peter Dixon. There is also more information on the web site under the “Operations Team” and “Volunteer” links.

Getting Ready for live programming

2007-05-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

A very warm welcome to all our new members. It’s great to have you on board.

Thank you !!!
Thanks to everyone who helped with the highly successful Radio Teesdale Recruitment Events. We had good local support from businesses and individuals, valuable press coverage……….and it was great to be out in the community and feel the genuine support there is for Radio Teesdale. One member of the community who attended on Monday has since called into the office, recorded a short story he wrote….and it’s currently being broadcast.

Getting Ready for Broadcast
We are currently ordering equipment for the second studio and making plans for the purchase and commissioning of the main transmitter at the upper dale site. Live broadcasting is now only a matter of weeks away. We are currently drawing up plans with a view to broadcast live programmes in July.

If you are planning a programme, the studio is available to use and practice at least 12 hours a day. It’s generally available to use from 8.00am to 8.00pm each weekday and by arrangement at other times. Just ring the office to make sure it’s not double booked.

Operations Team
We need to greatly extend our Operations Team who will be responsible for the day to day running of Radio Teesdale. If you are interested in taking on an active role in one of the areas covered (Programming, Community Liaison, Volunteer Coordination, Front of House, Training, Accounts and Fund Raising, etc), then please talk to Peter Dixon. There is also more information on the web site under the “Operations Team” and “Volunteer” links in the left hand panel.

Special Meeting on ‘Media Literacy’
Tuesday 22nd May - starting at 6.30 p.m.
At Enterprise House
This will be a special presentation and discussion designed by the Community Media Association, and centering on increasing understanding of radio and other media as a tool for communication. We need to have three Public Service Announcements and a programme recorded by the 31 May…………...it’s a great chance to practice some of the skills we’ll all need when we move to full time live broadcasting.

Remember to keep an eye on the website – and the Station Manager’s blog. Up-dates are being added all the time.

Radio Skills Course
(run in association with Teesdale Training, Bishop Auckland College)

Starting on: Tuesday 19th June and running for 5 weeks
Venue: Enterprise House
Time: 6.30 – 8.30 p.m.

This training is ideal for members who:
- have not taken part in previous training
- or, want to develop their practical skills in a structured environment

The course is also open to non-members – so spread the word. To book a place or find out more, please contact Elaine Laurie on 01833 696616.

Radio Teesdale Recruitment Events

2007-04-30T04:12:00.000-07:00

It is essential that we recruit more volunteers if we are to sustain full time broadcast. To kick start this process, we have booked three venues in Teesdale for Recruitment Events:
Wednesday 9th May - Staindrop Scarth Hall, Staindrop
Monday 14th May - Parish Hall, Barnard Castle
Wednesday 16th May - Middleton in Teesdale Village Hall
The event is open to the public from 7.00 – 8.00 p.m.
The general press release announcing the event is attached. There is a lot to do, so please make every effort to get involved.
- Attend the event
- Spread the word
- Bring a friend
- Help publicise the event beforehand – posters will be available for you to distribute
- Take an active part at the event itself
- Help set out and clear away the event

Detailing all the individual jobs would take at least another page of this Circular, so PLEASE TAKE THE INITIATIVE, and get in touch if you can help out.

Whatever you are able to contribute to the Recruitment Events and the Limited Service Broadcast, please keep in contact:
- Come on Tuesday evenings if you can (7.00 – 9.00pm at Enterprise House)
- Peter Dixon is now full time Station Manager - give him a ring at the Station
- Ask a key holder if you can come at another time.

Peter Dixon
Ros Evans
Peter Levett

We are the first community radio station in the North East to be broadcasting with a full time community radio license.
Let’s make history together

2007 - Circular No 9

2007-04-04T04:05:00.000-07:00

Limited Service Broadcast (LSB)

We need more material to broadcast – below are some suggestions as to how we can move forward on this.

Personal Contribution: Think about what you personally can contribute. Can you chat about the kind of shows you would like to hear? Do you know someone with an interesting story who you can interview? Can you tell jokes?!! BE CREATIVE!

Group Contribution: Think about what systems we need to build for live broadcast and contribute as part of a team – at the moment we are hoping to get a What’s On team together and record a What’s On feature each week. In live broadcast we will need to do this daily – so here’s a chance to prove to ourselves that we can do it.

Keep in contact:
- Come on Tuesday evenings if you can.
- Ask a key holder if you can come at another time.
- Ring Ros if you would like to come on a Wednesday afternoon/early evening – this is starting to be a busy and productive time.
- If you are unsure about how to contribute, just give us a call.
Peter Dixon
Ros Evans
Peter Levett

We are now the first community radio station in the North East with a full time community radio license.
Let’s make history together

We are also keen to have an up-to-date photographic record of our activities – anyone can submit a photo to us by e-mail or just dropped in to Reception at Enterprise House.

Photo Gallery

2007-03-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

We're have an online photo gallery of Radio Teesdale members and activities.

Please email your station photos to photos@radioteesdale.co.uk to see them featured in our station photo gallery.

Click on the image published for a larger version.

Look forward to seeing your photos here soon.

2007 – Circular no 7

2007-03-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

! FULL TIME BROADCAST ! It’s getting closer! Get actively involved now !

Limited Service Broadcast
Preparations are underway, and we need the input from all those who wish to be presenters/producers. Please submit a short piece about the kind of show you would like to present to the Myriad area specifically allocated for this purpose. If you have any difficulty in doing this, then please get in touch with any of the Operations Board, or Peter Dixon (studio tel: 01833 696 750 e-mail: enquiries@radioteesdale.co.uk)

Information will also be put up in the Studio to help with your contribution. These will include a ‘cue sheet’ for you to write down the content of your cart and also a ‘signing off’ sheet to get permission to broadcast original musical material which isn’t under standard copyright.

Remember, help, support and information is available at our:
Tuesday Evening Activity Sessions 7.00 – 9.00 p.m. At Enterprise House
NB This coming Tuesday (13th March) - as well as Studio activities - the funding group will meet again at 7.30 p.m. Your input would be most welcome

Website
Members Agreement We would like to inform all Members that the Members Contract has been up-dated and can be found on our website. It is now a much more comprehensive document, and makes interesting reading, so check it out.

There is now an area on the website about giving donations to Radio Teesdale – which can be as little as £20.00. As you know funding has become critical for the set up of the new Studio, which is necessary before we can go live, so please spread the word.

And Finally… Don't forget
Teesdale Community Broadcasting AGM is being held next Tues 20th March at 7.00 p.m.
PLEASE NOTE THE VENUE - it is at the Honeyman offices, one of the first buildings you come to when you turn into Harmire Enterprise Park.

2007 – Circular no 6

2007-02-23T10:14:00.000-08:00

FULL TIME BROADCAST - It’s getting closer!
Get actively involved now!

Myriad Presenter Areas
All presenters will need their own area on myriad to record and store items only relevant to their programme. If you need an area allocated, please contact Peter Dixon.

We will also be setting up an area specifically for Limited Service Broadcast items. We need lots of ready-to-broadcast material in this area and would ask all prospective presenters to submit items for this. There is more information about all this at our
Tuesday Evening Activity Sessions
7.00 – 9.00 p.m.
At Enterprise House

Future Training
Training is a key part of Radio Teesdale activity. We are in discussions with Bishop Auckland College to set up an accredited course in radio. Both Radio Teesdale and the College are looking for members who would be interested in delivering training.
Anyone interested should contact Ros Evans ros@radioteesdale.co.uk or leave a message on 01833 696750.

PR Group
We would welcome some new recruits for the PR Group which looks at publicity and raising the profile of Radio Teesdale. If you are interested in joining this group, please contact Ros Evans (see contact details above).

Rapid Response Team
We sometimes find out about funding opportunities when the deadlines for submission are very close. Applications for funding can be time consuming to fill out – but without funding, we have no Station.

We would like to hear from you if you would be able to contribute your time as part of a team dealing with funding submissions. There is currently an application to be completed for Mediabox for submission asap, so don’t delay in getting in touch. Please contact Peter Dixon on details given above.

KEEP PROGRAMME PROPOSAL FORMS COMING!!!
Remember that anyone wanting to present or produce a programme will need to fill out a programme proposal form

The forms are available from the website or from the Office.
If you are unsure about how to complete the form, or would like to discuss your idea with anyone, then the best way is to come to one of the Tuesday evenings.

2007 – Circular no 5

2007-02-14T13:16:00.000-08:00

FULL TIME BROADCAST - It’s getting closer!
Get actively involved now!

This circular contains quite a lot of different information – a lot is happening at the Station right now. Please read carefully and if you haven’t been in touch for a while – now is the time.

Full Time Broadcast
The Management Board have just made some very important decisions about the steps we are going to take to get on air. These have been carefully considered, taking into account our financial position, technical requirements, requirements from OFCOM and our active volunteer base. The main consideration is that we have funds for transmission equipment now, but not for a fully set-up studio that can be expected to take on the requirements of long-term extensive live broadcast. The decision made by the Board is to set up the Barnard Castle transmitter and deliver a limited service broadcast from the end of March.

The Board has set out a timescale for broadcast, which is set out below.
FEBRUARY - Radio Teesdale has now ordered a transmission aerial to be erected in Barnard Castle.
MARCH – Installation and test transmissions will take place during March. We hope that this will lead to the formalisation of our Ofcom license and the start of “Limited Service Broadcasting” to the Barnard Castle area from the end of March.
APRIL ONWARDS. The timescales are very much dependent on the success in securing various funding opportunities and grant applications. The future plans include setting up our new studio for the start of live broadcast and the installation of the Upper Dale transmitter.

This is obviously an exciting move forward – Radio Teesdale will be broadcasting by the end of March!!! But we need to be clear on the meaning of limited service broadcast. This will be pre-recorded programmes and information about the Station. We will not be getting income from sponsorship during this time, and we will not be able to afford the copyright subscription, so there can be no copyright material broadcast. We need to think beyond the formats we had for the RSL’s.

Why not be one of the first voices (or producers, or technical operators, or administrators) on Radio Teesdale’s permanent broadcast?
We are holding two Members Meetings (on the 20th and 27th February) where the detail of what we will broadcast during the Limited Service Broadcasting will be explored. We very much need you to contribute to that process. We intend to make these broadcasts of interest to our audience. Recording will be changed on a regular basis to keep them topical. Come along and get involved in the next stage in broadcast history of Radio Teesdale.

Remember this is the start of something big – be part of it!!!
Tuesday Evening Activity Sessions
7.00 – 9.00 p.m.
At Enterprise House

We will continue to meet each Tuesday for a variety of activities related to preparing for broadcast – particularly focusing on content for our limited service broadcast

Membership News
Long-time volunteer Michael Crampton has moved on to London (although he’ll keep up to date with our progress through these circulars) – we wish you luck, Michael, and every success – thanks for all your help over the years.

Michael Little, who presented a classical music programme, was helped by Michael with the technical side (checking levels, editing etc.) Michael (L) would now like the assistance of another volunteer. Please let us know if you can help.

Congratulations to Alan Bradley – now a proud father of a little girl.

Use of the Studio for personal/group practice.
Below are the times when key holders can currently provide supportive access to the Studio. Their names and phone numbers are set out alongside the timeslots. It will be up to you to contact the most appropriate key holder to make an appointment

Wednesday afternoon Ros Evans
Wednesday evening Peter Dixon
Thursday morning Ros Evans
Friday afternoon Peter Levett

Please also consider the following points:
All our time is valuable, so:
- key holders will not be expected to be at the Station unless a booking is made
- you must inform the key holder if you are unable to attend
- be considerate about when you phone and do so at a reasonable time of day and sufficiently in advance.

2007 – Circular no 4

2007-02-01T12:18:00.000-08:00

Tuesday Evening Activity Sessions
7.00 – 9.00 p.m.
At Enterprise House

Special Event
Tuesday 6th February
Presentation/workshop by experienced journalist and BBC correspondent Mark Holdstock

The Tuesday evening programme continues as follows:
Tuesday 13th February
Focus: preparation-for-broadcast activities for an hour, then meet up at the pub (The Red Well)
Tuesday 20th February
Focus: Studio desk/programme planning
We will continue to meet each Tuesday for a variety of activities related to preparing for broadcast – we will let you know details as they are arranged

Use of the Studio for personal/group practice.
Below are the times when key holders can currently provide supportive access to the Studio. Their names and phone numbers are set out alongside the timeslots.
It will be up to you to contact the most appropriate key holder to make an appointment
Wednesday afternoon Ros Evans
Wednesday evening Peter Dixon
Thursday morning Ros Evans
Friday afternoon Peter Levett

Please also consider the following points:
All our time is valuable, so:
- key holders will not be expected to be at the Station unless a booking is made
- you must inform the key holder if you are unable to attend
- be considerate about when you phone and do so at a reasonable time of day and sufficiently in advance.

music music music music music music music music
We are looking for Members who would like to take on some of the responsibility for the Management of the Myriad Playout System and Myriad Cart Database. If you are interested, please contact Peter Dixon on his number given above and we will provide some extra training

NOTICE TO ALL PROGRAMME MAKERS!!!!

Programme Proposal Forms
Following last week’s meeting on programming, we are now receiving programme proposal forms from Members. We would like everyone who has a proposal for a programme to submit a form as soon as they can. This will give us an overview of what live and recorded programmes we can put on air and how this will fit in with our programming framework.
The forms are available from the website or from the Office. If you are unsure about how to complete the form, or would like to discuss you idea with anyone, then the best way is to come to one of the Tuesday evenings. Otherwise, contact one of the names above for advice.

2007 – Circular no 3

2007-01-16T13:20:00.000-08:00

Tuesday Evening Activity Sessions
7.00 – 9.00 p.m.
At Enterprise House

Thanks for an excellent attendance last Tuesday, despite the awful weather.
We are now able to give you a timetable of activities for the next few Tuesday.

Tuesday 16th January
Focus: Studio desk/minidisk interviews
Tuesday 23rd January
Focus: programme planning
Tuesday 30th January
Focus: community involvement
Tuesday 6th February
Focus: news/journalism
Tuesday 13th February
Focus: Studio desk/programme planning

We hope to see you on there

Use of the Studio for personal/group practice.
Some of you have requested time for Studio practice, so we have set up the following system for you.

The system will work like this:
Below are the times when key holders can currently provide supportive access to the Studio. Their names and phone numbers are set out alongside the timeslots.

It will be up to you to contact the most appropriate key holder to make an appointment

Wednesday afternoon Ros Evans
Wednesday evening Peter Dixon
Thursday morning Ros Evans
Friday afternoon Peter Levett

Please also consider the following points:
All our time is valuable, so:
- key holders will not be expected to be at the Station unless a booking is made
- you must inform the key holder if you are unable to attend
- be considerate about when you phone and do so at a reasonable time of day and sufficiently in advance.

We hope to be able to extend this availability over the coming weeks – please watch this space for updates

Please note general contact details for Radio Teesdale are:
e-mail: studio@radioteesdale.co.uk or telephone Enterprise Reception on 01833 696750 to leave a message.

Members News
Congratulations to Radio Teesdale Member, Mick Brennan on his MBE – Mick, remember to take a minidisk recorder when you go to meet the Queen!

2007 – Circular no 2

2007-01-09T14:22:00.000-08:00

The Management Board is pleased to announce that Peter Dixon has been appointed Station Manager for Radio Teesdale.

The exact time that Peter will be able to take up the role on a full time basis has yet to be decided as it is based on a number of factors such as the timing of the release of funding and our broadcast start date.

In the meantime Peter will assume the role in a part time voluntary capacity. Peter will continue his position as Operations Director of Teesdale Community Broadcasting Ltd which forms the Management Board of Radio Teesdale.

Over the next few months Peter, along with the Management Board, will be working on securing further funding to ensure that we can fit out two studios at Enterprise House.

The role of our Members is vital at this time, and we would ask you to consider ways in which you can contribute now in the run up to full time broadcast. We would also urge you all to attend the Tuesday evening workshops we are organising over the next few months and start preparing for broadcasting.

If you would like to talk to Peter he will be at these Training sessions each Tuesday evening. This week he is leading the workshop on the use of the Myriad system.

Peter will also be in the office at Enterprise House from time to time. You can contact him there by email at peter.dixon@radioteesdale.co.uk
or telephone Enterprise Reception on 01833 696750.