Radio Regen

Since 1999, Manchester-based charity Radio Regen has enabled more than 5,000 residents of disadvantaged areas of Manchester, Salford and the North West to get on air. Our ground-breaking experiment in how community radio tackles disadvantage and aids regeneration has included more than 25 temporary Restricted Service Licence (RSL) broadcasts and two full-time stations. These have been backed up by accredited training in radio production for local volunteers as well as art, youth and community development projects.

At Radio Regen we have been pioneers in this exciting new sector of the UK media. We gained two of the 16 Access Radio Pilot full-time licences with ALL FM 96.9 for Manchester's A6 Corridor (Ardwick Longsight & Levenshulme) and Wythenshawe FM 97.2 (WFM). These are staffed by volunteers from the broadcast areas who receive accredited training and are supported by a staff team.

At Radio Regen we believe that community radio delivers skills, builds community spirit and connects communities to the agencies tasked to serve them in a way that no other tool can. Over our first six years we have formed partnerships with local housing associations, health organisations, councils, refugee groups and schools amongst others.

Training is a central part of our activities and we offer several radio production courses in conjunction with Manchester College of Arts & Technology (MANCAT).

We have also been pivotal in securing political support for the introduction of community radio across the UK. Our Community FM conferences in Manchester in 2004 and 2005 helped would-be licencees develop their station concepts and apply for licences for forthcoming start-ups.

The years 2005 and 2006 has seen community radio stations gaining licences and going live across the UK. To help facilliate this, Radio Regen are launching a Professional Skills Centre, a "national centre of excellence" for community radio. We have also compiled a handbook and training materials titled "The Community Radio Toolkit" that will help others benefit from what we have learned in our first six years.

Radio Regen is supported by