Back in 2018, Rhondda Radio were offered a full FM Licence and we offered them a Vision Fund grant of £5,850 to support process, upgrades and transmitter costs.
They came back to us for a Micro Fund grant and were awarded £4,000 for their Fach FM project to bring Rhondda Radio to the Fach. With just one transmitter, they simply couldn’t reach most of the Upper Rhondda Fawr. They installed their equipment at the Ferndale Shooting club, a receive aerial, broadcast antenna and FM broadcast equipment.
“Our Fach FM project has allowed us to bring our community radio station to many more people. We conducted a ‘launch’ leaflet drop to the communities of Ferndale and Maerdy and we had a great launch day at ‘Scoops and Smiles’ in Oakland Terrace Ferndale. This gave us the perfect opportunity to promote the station and engage with local residents. Since the launch we have seen a big increase in engagement with residents both on-air and on social media and we now have many advertisers on board from the Fach who keep coming back for more! Every resident from the Upper Rhondda Fach can now tune in to a good signal on FM.
Our Fach launch day was a great success. We were delighted with the feedback we received on the day and we broadcast the event live from Ferndale. We had many acts on stage with lots of local community groups and businesses present. Of course, our project is on-going and we hope to be broadcasting to the Rhondda Fach for many years to come, and as stated earlier, our engagement with this community has grown significantly.”
This was a clear application from a community radio station that wanted to ensure the same service and coverage across the Rhondda Fawr and Fach in the fund area of benefit. They have a team of volunteers that work hard and the station offers opportunities for volunteers to learn new skills, make friends and provide an invaluable service to the community.