TD1 Radio Launch date: Monday 1st December at 6pm

The idea of TD1 Radio is something I've been working on for the last year or so.

I've always had an interest in local radio ever since I was at school and have been involved with hospital radio, local BBC and local commercial radio over the last 21 years.

Now that Ofcom have been advertising community radio licences this is a chance for the town to have its very own radio station and have its own local voice.

We won't know until next year when Ofcom are likely to advertise an FM licence for the Scottish Borders, so until such time as they are in a position to advertise one, we've decided to launch on the Internet to get our name firmly placed in the minds of local people and also to hopefully enable us to get established, get some funds behind us and put us in a better position to apply for the FM licence when it comes around. (The non-refundable application fee is £600 alone)

Since our website and Bebo page were launched, we've got over 30 people who have expressed an interest in what we are doing.

One of the first people to get in touch with me was Zander Law, who's involved in Borders Hospital Radio at present and who, alongside me, will be one of the key figures at TD1 Radio.

We keep everyone up to date with developments via a mailing list and we held our second "management meeting" for want of a better description, on October 2nd. This will allow us to get signatories for our bank account, sort out roles within the station structure, and discuss programming ideas as well as hear what others think about our plans.

We do really want to involve the local community and encourage local individuals and groups to come forward and make or be involved in making programmes for us.

We're also planning to ask local shops and businesses to put up an A4 poster advertising our launch (see image) so that as many people as possible get to know about us. Not much point in launching and running a station if no-one knows about you. We'll also do another poster campaign a week or so before we launch so people don't forget about us and possibly again after the New Year once we're up and running.

David Henderson
Station Manager
Galashiels Community Radio - TD1 Radio
Tel: 01896 821847

www.td1radio.co.uk

www.bebo.com/td1radio