Public notice:- advertisement.
Gateway Community Media CIC, better known by its trading name of Gateway FM, is holding its Annual General Meeting in the Dining Room at Laindon Community Centre on Friday 29th January at 7.00pm for a prompt 7.30pm start.
Although the formal part of the meeting is for members, you are welcome to sit in and listen. Once the formal meeting is over, you are welcome to come and talk to any of the Directors and to offer your points of view, for the Company’s aim is to deliver a range of services involving local people to meet local needs.
Perhaps it would help give you an idea of what the station does when you realise that not only has it broadcast on FM as frequently as the law permits, but has also applied for a full 5 year licence to broadcast round the clock.
It also broadcasts over the internet. However, community radio involves far more than broadcasting. Gateway FM continues to provide training courses throughout the year. Some of the courses fit within Key Stage curricular plans; some offer nationally accredited qualifications in subjects such as Radio Presentation, Radio Journalism and Sports Reporting.
The station regularly hosts young people on work placement and provides a range of volunteering opportunities for people of all ages. It offers support to a range of community and charitable organisations and events: the Gateway FM gazebo and roadshow team being a familiar sight around the area, providing music, PA, entertainment and event hosting resources.
We live in a fascinating part of the country: it makes sense for our local radio to reflect that fascination — the history of the area, its customs and dialects, its people and their origins, the different cultural traditions to be found, our local wildlife and our future hopes and plans.
It can look at political issues and how they impact upon us. It can look at our health and healthcare provison; at law and order, local policing and emergency provision. It can help reach both old and young, aims to be accessible when you are at home or on the move, with up to date and useful information about the local things that are relevant to you. Accordongly , it seeks listener involvement, for we can all help each other if we network effectively and let the station know of local incidents, traffic or travel trouble spots.
Gateway FM has been active in seeking out and promoting talented local people, for it is an ideal showcase. So if you are an instrumentalist, a singer or member of a choir, band or orchestra: the AGM provides a quick way to make contact.
If you are a lover of poetry, involved in drama, a writer, a comedian or an enthusiast for a particular musical genre (e.g. classical, folk, country, blues, rock, jazz, reggae, swing, Celtic) then your enthusiasm may be just the quality needed for you to become a great presenter of the art form, performance or music you love. Once again, the AGM provides a good point of contact.
Of course, our community is made up of many different people from different backgrounds. In order to better reflect and represent that diversity, Gateway FM has already featured regular Russian, African and Polish programmes in which the presenters, speaking mainly in English but also in their mother tongues, introduce music from the lands of their birth and also talk of the differences they have observed in terms of diet, ideas, homelife, customs and culture.
The station is seeking many more people from different traditions, from different parts of the world who would like to train to present programmes that will introduce unfamiliar music and fresh perspectives to the wider community of listeners. After all, the more we understand each other , the more we recognise how much we have in common: appreciating differences rather than fearing them.
Interested? Then do come along to the meeting and find out more.
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