Introduction

Welcome to Hayes FM - Film & Media. Welcome to our radio service 91.8

91.8 Hayes FM is a community focused local radio station based in Hayes in Greater West London, England.

We are unlike any other radio station. Our programmes are the most diverse you will hear, so confident are we about the output, that we can say you will not hear another format like ours anywhere in the world..!!

91.8 Hayes FM is different from most other radio stations in that we are non-commercial. We are not obligated to sell advertisements on the air in order to keep the station operational, though we are allowed to. This allows us to be different with our format and accommodate many different musical tastes into our programming.

Our music output encompasses classic hits to the best new music, interspersed with the biggest hits from around the world!!

Summed up, we are the collection of many formats on one station. Similar to the way a TV station is programmed, there are blocks of programming (like a TV show) with different tastes of music. As a result, our format is reflective of the area we serve.

History

The story of Hayes FM is a story of being at the right place at the right time, 2 ideas coming together at the same time.

In 2002, Hayes and Harlington undertook an extensive public consultation exercise, via the office of the local MP, John McDonnell, to look at ways local voluntary and community groups could engage more fully with the communities they serve. The public consultations concluded that current mechanisms of dissipating information to the community were not working.

Radio was put forward as one tool that could effectively provide a platform for different communities to engage with each other and for the 300 voluntary groups to engage with the communities and for them to engage with each other.

At the same time, Sutish K Sharma, who was working at the BBC at that time, came across the Community Radio Order bill. He came up with the idea of a local radio station for the Greater West London area, similar to a local BBC radio format, that would engage communities from all 3 west London boroughs, offer inclusion, and regeneration for all, part of the ‘act local think global' agenda. He got in touch with the local MP, there was a meeting of minds and thus began the process of a local radio station for this area.

So Hayes FM was born. A Board of Trustees was set up; a company limited by guarantee was formed with charitable status with our own constitution, and a set of values.

Further public consultations followed, including a 1 month broadcast in 2003. Working with our local college, Hayes FM developed accredited training courses and in November 2004, we submitted an application to OFCOM for a local community radio licence.

Our Audience

The target communities are those people who live, work and study within a 4-5 mile radius of the centre of Hayes in the south of the London Borough of Hillingdon.

This encompasses the following areas: Hayes, Harlington, Heathrow Airport, Siposon, Harmondsworth, West Drayton, Yiewsley, Hillingdon, Uxbridge, Northolt, Greenford, Southall, Hanwell.

The core target area has a resident population of 250,000 with an estimated additional 50,000 working within the area. With a younger than average population the community comprises a diverse ethnic mix within a small, distinct geographical area. Ethnically the composition of the local population is English (55%), African Caribbean(6%) and South Asian (24%), by that we mean, Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan with small numbers of Nepalese, and Bangladesh. There is also a sizeable Irish community (5%), Polish, Kurdish and Somalian communities, as well as a small Arabic and Eastern European community.

There is also a growing mixed race community (5%). The people of this area experience greater incidence of material and social deprivation than the rest of the local borough with a higher incidence of unemployment, greater morbidity with a shorter life expectancy, significant homelessness and overcrowding and higher levels of isolation amongst older people.

Award of a Licence

On February the 15th, Hayes FM was awarded a local radio licence to broadcast from the centre of Hayes Town over a 4-5 mile radius for 5 years. Hayes FM plans to begin it's broadcast from June 2007.Our future plans is to develop radio further across the 6 West London Boroughs, develop our on-line services and to develop film, TV and video projects.

You will just not find another radio station like 91.8 and we hope while you are with us, be it in a volunteering capacity or as a staff member or as a listener you will enjoy your stay.

The future for our area suddenly looks very promising!!

Sutish K Sharma.

Manager