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VIDEO: Town's champion of the airwaves
Celebrating another Luton success story - community radio Diverse FM
A group of Bury Park youngsters who wanted to start a community radio project 10 years ago were told by the powers-that-be that it was "too ambitious."
Luckily they persevered and today Diverse FM broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is run entirely by volunteers and has recently pulled off an audacious coup from right under the nose of the BBC - it has won the franchise to broadcast all Luton Town games and regularly attracts an audience of more than 2,000.
In fact so successful is the little station with the big heart that one of its founder members, Ashuk Ahmed, 47 - who was awarded an MBE last year for his services to the community - is currently applying for a major lottery grant.
He explained: "We're at maximum capacity. We really need a station manager, a training co-ordinator and an administrator. We don't even have a sales rep."
It's all a far cry from Diverse FM's first broadcast which took place in Ashuk's kitchen on hired equipment.
Ashuk said: "Our volunteers come from 75 different ethnic backgrounds. We broadcast in Polish, Arabic, Bengali, Gujerati, Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi. The programmes usually contain advice and information for their audience as well as entertainment."
When Diverse FM won its first full-time licence in 2007, it cost 15,000 a year to run the project. "Now it's more like 50,000," Ashuk said. "We're the victims of our own success."
They also started running accredited courses about the basics of broadcasting which have proved enormously popular. More than 300 young people have benefited from the training.
- The next NEET training programme starts on April 16. If you'd like to take part call 01582 725500 or email admin@diversefm.com
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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