Penrith and the Border MP Neil Hudson showed his support for community radio on a recent visit to Eden FM’s new studio.
The Eden FM team relocated in November to its new home at Newton Rigg with a revamped studio, transmission site with the support of the Leo Group who provided the community station with its new home to continue operating the community radio station from.
Eden FM has been on air broadcasting its community radio station run by volunteers as a non-profit organisation to Penrith and the Eden Valley since 2014 when Ofcom awarded the station a full-time community radio licence broadcasting, music, conversation and local news.
On his visit to the Eden FM studio Neil Hudson said: “Rural areas like ours are disproportionately reliant on local radio stations to boost people’s mental health and keep them informed. Therefore, I was delighted to hear from the Eden FM team that their new studio has allowed them to increase their output and the station is doing incredibly well.
“Local radio is the beating heart of communities up and down the land, providing news that matters to people, bringing people together and even keeping regional dialects alive. I’ve stood up in the Commons to support them time and again and I will keep pushing on this issue.”
Across Cumbria local radio is facing big changes as the cuts to BBC Radio Cumbria and other local BBC stations see less local production and more networked programming.
The former local independent radio station CFM was recently rebranded to Greatest Hits Radio with most of its programming now networked.
Eden FM is one of three of community radio stations in Cumbria that are still producing local programming and serving the local communities with a mix of music,chat, news and local events.
Penrith and Edens local community radio station is facing a busy few months ahead for its volunteers as they prepare to apply to Ofcom for the renewal of its licence to continue broadcasting to the community for another five years. Eden FM is also launching a new schedule with new shows coming to the community station.
The station is looking for more volunteers to support the community radio station as it prepares for its third licence renewal for another five years. To find out more about the volunteer opportunities with Eden FM email lee@edenfm.co.uk
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