An online community radio station in Croydon was celebrating this week after gaining an official FM radio licence from Ofcom last week – one of just six in the country.
Croydon FM Community Interest Company (CIC) was awarded its license after proving to the regulators that its service was a central part of the Croydon community because of its focus on the opportunities and wellbeing of its youth.
Established as a volunteer-led online radio service in 2018 by DJ and local resident Clive Campbell, Croydon FM offers listeners a range of live daily shows of music and important discussions such as mental health, crime and life aspirations. It also provides a platform for local music talent as well as community outreach and fundraising work.
In a statement on the radio station’s website, the Management Team at Croydon FM said: “[We] would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire Croydon FM family, out world-wide listeners, followers on social media and members across the community who have supported Croydon FM endlessly along the way – stay tuned as the journey continues!”
In 2018, Croydon FM ran The Youth Project, a series of radio production workshops that aimed to engage young people with creative media in a safe environment. This led to the CIC winning a Mayor of Croydon “Business in the Community” Award.
The station was very fortunate to have been awarded a license as Ofcom have declared in its report that “this will be the last round of community radio licensing on FM or AM for the foreseeable future.”
With over 40 volunteer DJs, presenters and producers and over 1000 live shows recorded at its premises in St George’s Walk, Croydon FM takes pride in it being a “platform for members of the community from different backgrounds to express themselves through music and discussion”.
They said that their shows are “set to grow exponentially with the new FM service providing opportunities for local people.”
Among the stations awarded licenses yesterday were two other East London community radio stations: Rainbow Radio in Forest Hill and Select Radio, which Ofcom described as being aimed at “younger people who live, work or study in the London boroughs of Croydon, Southwark, Bromley, Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley.”
There are more than 300 community radio stations currently on air in England and Scotland. Community radio services are provided on a not-for-profit basis, focusing on the “delivery of specific social benefits to a particular area or community,” according to Ofcom.
