Radio starts in a great style

9:00am Wednesday 5th July 2006

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BROADCASTERS said they had received a 'staggering"' response from listeners after a new radio station station went on-air in West Oxfordshire for a trial run last weekend.

Just Oxfordshire 87.9 FM launched on Sunday, and will broadcast for a week as part of plans by organisers to set up a permanent radio station for West Oxfordshire.

The station has been playing a range of music, from indie and rock to pop, broadcasting from a West Oxfordshire District Council building, in Station Lane, Witney.

It plans to recruit volunteers, particularly young people, from across the district, to give them a chance to learn broadcasting, presenting, and news reporting skills.

Radio stations have to run for at least six months before listener figures are available, but Just Oxfordshire's organisers said they had been inundated with phone calls, e-mails, and people visiting the station's website.

Witney resident Andy MacLarty, who was able to set up the station after receiving a £51,000 grant from the West Oxfordshire Network, said: "We have been absolutely staggered by the response we are getting from people, and the positive things they are saying.

"People seem to be loving the fact that we haven't got a playlist, and we're playing what they want.

"There's never been anything like this in this area before, so it's quite exciting."

The station's trial comes as Witney gears up for its annual carnival on Saturday (see Page 13). It will be on-air until Sunday, and Mr MacLarty hopes to run another pilot later in the year, with the hope of gaining a full community radio licence from Ofcom at the start of 2007.