Congratulations to all who work with or at community radio station, Vectis Radio!
They’ve been given a license by Ofcom (the UK’s controlling body) to broadcast over FM radio.
Previously Isle of Wight radio had an exclusive license to broadcast from and to the Island.
The license enables Vectis Radio to broadcast over Newport, the ‘capital’ of the Isle of Wight.
Going since 2010
Vectis Radio has been broadcasting over the Internet since 2010, so have certainly shown determination.
The radio station was awarded the licence because of their particular focus on serving young people, local musicians and community groups.
Listen online at Vectis Radio
Word from the founder
Ian Mac sent us the following – obviously very happy about today’s news. Quite right too.
“The enormity of it hasn’t really sank in yet.
“I am absolutely over the moon for a number of reasons.
“Firstly for the hard work and effort that 30 Vectis Radio volunteers has put in over the years, especially the team that filled in the application. They worked tirelessly for weeks and on the day when I had to get the application in, our Internet went down with 20 minutes left on the deadline. We managed to make other arrangements and get the application in on time – Thank goodness we did.
“Other reasons for my sheer delight are the amount of people that we are now going to be able to help build confidence and communication and give opportunities to – people of all ages and abilities to broadcast.
“I’m also very happy because my dream is about to become reality although I am told all the hard work starts now!
“Our hopes are that our FM license covers a 5 mile radius of Newport means that we can embrace Newport and hopefully it will embrace us and we can prove to be a real community radio station and an asset to the town.”
Image: theslowlane under CC BY 2.0
Update 17:20 Added the words from Ian Mac
