shmuFM Communities Creating Radio

By Yvette Zarzoso, Volunteer, and Denise Scollay, Community Capacity Worker, shmu
Station House Media Unit (shmu) is a community-managed, needs-led organisation contributing to social, economic and digital inclusion in its target communities by engendering personal development and community capacity building through participation in the processes of community media production.  Based in the Woodside area in Aberdeen, shmu serves the six regeneration areas of North and Central Aberdeen: Cummings Park, Middlefield, Northfield, Seaton, Tillydrone and Woodside.  It is the only cross-platform community media resource (video and radio production, publications, and digital access) operating in the North of Scotland. Successful pilot projects have made the organisation a nationally recognised centre of excellence and created models of good practice in: regeneration; digital inclusion; adult and family literacy and numeracy; community capacity building; personal and community development.
In 2003, a community consultation identified a demand for the development of community radio in the area. In addition to organising a series of tasters and training sessions in radio, our volunteers participated extensively in Restricted Service Licences (RSLs).  Positive feedback from participants and audiences alike ensured this new area of work was embedded in the organisation’s future plans and vision. An active nucleus of participants worked to secure the resources required to establish an Internet radio station and began broadcasting in 2005.  shmu has secured a 5-year FM license from Ofcom to broadcast over a 10km range to our 6 target regeneration areas in North and Central Aberdeen. Since its launch on October 20, 2007, shmuFM 99.8FM has developed a full programme of live shows from 7am to 12am seven days a week which features a broad range of programming e.g. documentaries, news, community profiles, radio plays, interviews, recordings of local bands and musicians and magazine-format shows.  Our weekly schedule involves approximately 75 volunteer presenters, 20 volunteer production team members, 50 guests and 8 staff members.  shmuFM establishes a new, free platform for communication for the most deprived areas of Aberdeen. shmuFM offers individuals real opportunities for involvement which develops their skills, knowledge and confidence.  Our commitment to community development means individuals and groups are supported and encouraged to get involved in the development, production, and presentation of programmes that will enable them to contribute their views and opinions on important local issues.
Community Shows Background: Prior to the launch of the station, the idea of having local community shows was raised by volunteers who thought the radio could be used as a tool to inform and celebrate the news and events in the local areas.  They also felt this platform could address the need for better communication within each of the regeneration areas.  These shows would also help give local people a voice in their communities, increase their confidence and help with social life.  They would also serve as a medium that highlights the positive news and events of the communities and would also help dispel any negative, pre-conceived ideas and stigmas of those living outwith the communities.  After the need for the community shows was identified, the shmu staff worked together to create space in the weekly radio schedule to accommodate the shows.  It was decided to have them broadcast live Monday to Friday 10am to 11am and have them repeated from 7pm to 8pm.  This  meant that there were only five slots available for the six regeneration areas shmu serves.  Due to their proximity and overlapping in services, Cummings Park and Northfield share the hour on Mondays as 'Cumming North', 'Middlefield Matters' airs on Tuesdays,  it's 'Woodside On A Wednesday', 'Tilly Talks' is on Thursdays and 'Seaton Speaks' on Fridays.  These are the only shows that are repeated on a daily basis because of their significance in community capacity building.  Volunteer Recruitment: shmu had led previous efforts during the Internet radio station to encourage local agencies and community projects to develop similar community shows.  However, these groups didn't feel that they had the resources to host these programmes.  It was thought that by having volunteer hosts for the FM shows, the agencies could then participate as guests and supply content for the shows.  The next step for shmu radio staff was to recruit and train volunteers from each of the regeneration areas.  To encourage participation, meetings were organised in each of the areas that were open to all local people and community workers.  Posters were designed to advertise the radio and the meetings with details of when and where they would be happening. The aim was to target others who were not involved in their local projects or any community activities. The posters were displayed in all the public places in each area i.e. shops, community centres, libraries, doctors, dentists, schools and any other public places the community accessed.  These efforts proved successful as a large number of interested people turned out for each of the community meetings.    Volunteer Training: Training was planned and organised for the 12 volunteers interested in participating.  All volunteers go through the initial radio training for presenters.  The training included learning how to put together a radio programme, how to gather content, and learning technical skills like running the studio desk, recording equipment and editing software.  As part of this training a staff member supported the volunteers in signing a contract agreeing to the broadcasting rules.   Ongoing training is given to the volunteers to support them through their learning process.  shmu provides new training opportunities continually to meet people's constantly evolving needs.  The shows have been a vocational benefit for the community production teams as well as enabling people to have more confidence in their skills. During this process an individual learning plan was completed with each volunteer. The individual learning plan gives volunteers the opportunity to express what they would like to achieve from their experience and if they would like to get involved in any other training.  When staff have a better understanding of the volunteers' expectations they can better support them through the experience.  The individual learning plan is also used as a measurement for volunteers to track how they feel the experience will affect their personal life i.e. confidence building, meeting new people and whether they become involved in any other community work after being involved in the radio work.  There will be follow-up every six months.  Production Support: It was essential to the success of the shows to have relevant content for each community.  To develop this content, the production teams for each of the community shows are supported by staff at shmu and local agencies.  This has proved difficult in some of the communities, as not all the local agencies and projects have been as involved as they could be.  To better feed community information into the community shows, shmu staff created the Newsdesk.   shmu collaborates with staff from these organisations to gather and collate up to date and relevant information regarding the local area through the newsdesk.  A simple 'News Form' was sent out to all the community agencies, projects and groups so they could easily supply information to the shows.  This has been successful in gathering all the event and and 'what's on' information, but we still lack sufficient news items for the local areas.  Staff aim to use the shmu's good rapport with local agencies and organisations within the regeneration communities to improve their efforts in providing more content for the community shows.  The volunteer presenters for each show have also been active in seeking content for their shows. Many are taking the initiative to contact local councilors and city services to come onto their shows as guests.  This has provided a platform for more positive dialogue between these agencies and the local people they serve.    Community Benefits: The community shows are beneficial to the listeners as they can find out what is on in their areas.  At the start of the community shows, many agencies were eager to work in conjunction and support the production teams.  These local groups and agencies find the shows to be a useful platform to promote and inform the communities about what is happening at their organisation.  In general, the people involved in the community shows have enabled the community organisations to have better communication with shmu and in some cases with each other. The feedback from the communities has been extremely positive and this in turn has had an excellent impact on the production teams.  Listeners from the areas are emailing and phoning the shows.  Many of the people who work in the communities are happy to be guests on the community shows and have regular input.  When out in the communities delivering shmuFM promotional material local people are more aware of the station and are happy to take posters to help with advertising the radio station.  They feel connected to the station because they have family members and friends involved in the radio work. “The radio is a good medium to reach people who are hard to target. It has created the opportunity for local people to learn new skills in an informal setting which is helping break down barriers to learning.” - Fiona Gray – Project Coordinator at Northfield Community Centre. Outcomes: The shows have helped empower the communities through capacity building via a process of lifelong learning. The production teams have not only acquired new skills but also have a higher level of confidence. This is demonstrated through their willingness to participate in developing the shows, visiting the communities, interviewing and recording various community members.  In this short few months the community shows have become an asset to the communities they serve.  The outcomes have been positive both in terms of skills and knowledge for individuals and communities. “The radio has definitely had a positive impact in the Woodside community. People are coming into the local project and asking about the radio and how to get in touch with someone there. This has been from both young people and older members of the community. It has also given local people the ability to discuss regeneration issues and encourage people to tackle these issues.  The radio is good for new people moving into the area as it informs people about local events and the local projects.” - Mark Lovie – Project coordinator at Fersands & Fountain Community Project.
The following three stories of volunteers demonstrate the powerful impact of the community shows on the participants and community.
Dougie Thomson Dougie first became involved in shmu through his interest in community magazines.  Before the radio launch he expressed an interest in participating in the radio work.  When the idea of the community shows was raised, Dougie came on board and actively led the way in their development.  “When I began as a presenter I had a terrible fear of the microphone but after 2 or 3 months of working in the community show I overcome that fear. I definitely feel more confident now working with others as part of a team. I was a bit technophobic but now I am really beginning to enjoy learning this new skill. I feel more confident going for jobs now because I have more experience with computers. I feel that the community shows are fulfilling a much needed role to inform and entertain the community about relevant information that affects them.” Dougie is still co-hosting the 'Woodside on Wednesday' and also presents his own 2-hour specialised music show, 'Americana Rag Bag' every Sunday.  He has also shown a strong interest in developing other issue-based shows.
Yvettte Zarzoso Yvette has been involved in the work at shmu for several years through the Tilly Tattle community magazine and she has since become a member of the Management Committee. More recently, Yvette has become actively involved in the radio work as a co-presenter on the Tilly Talks radio show. “I was asked by a member of staff at shmu if I would be interested in getting some radio training so I could help with the Tilly Talks community radio show. I felt apprehensive about this as I was lacking confidence in myself. I have always been quite active in my community by getting involved in community events so I thought I would give the radio a try. During the training process I felt my confidence grow which helped prepare me for the live shows. Also knowing the staff and some of the volunteers at shmu and feeling comfortable asking for help. Being part of the radio team has encouraged me to become more actively involved in my community and I am aware of some of the needs of the community as a whole. People in my area are now approaching me as they are recognising me as the person from the community radio show and they are using me as a platform to get their voices heard. My understanding of the purpose of the community shows is for local people to use the shows as a first point of contact for raising awareness of issues in their communities and I feel that is being achieved in the Tilly Talks. I feel the show is benefiting for the people in my area although the local organisations are still a bit slow in getting involved as much as local people are willing too.” Yvette is still co-hosting the 'Tilly Talks' community show as well as the Packed Lunch show which is on every weekday from 12-1pm.
Emma Cook Emma has been a resident in the Tillydrone area for 10 years.  Before getting involved in the radio work, she was unaware of shmu's services for the local people and other community groups and agencies.   “My first visit to shmu was to be a guest on a friend’s radio show. This was when I found out about the 'Tilly Talks' community radio show. My friend was also a co-host of the show and asked if I would be interested in getting some training and being a co-host for the show. I enjoyed my first visit and was curious to find out more about the radio work so I agreed to take part in the training and be part of the radio team. I found the training very interesting and I adapted to it really quickly and was eager to learn more. I have since started a course at college in radio broadcasting through my involvement at shmu and being part of the 'Tilly Talks' radio show. Although I was a bit unsure at the start, I totally love being involved and being part of the radio team and now I want to develop a career from this. The training I received from shmu was invaluable.“ Emma is still co-hosting the 'Tilly Talks' community show and has since started hosting the new health issue-based show which is being produced in partnership with the Public Health Forum.
Reflections for Future of the Community Shows: Developing the community shows has been a good learning experience in community capacity building for shmu.  We can continue to develop the community shows from the aspects that were successful and what areas have needed improvement.  Our recruitment process was effective because the shmu staff was committed to ensuring that the community shows were highly advertised in the target areas.  The staff wanted everyone to have an opportunity to get involved from the beginning.  We found our training programme was very successful for the volunteers. This was identified during the Individual Learning Plan process. They learned some complex communication and technical skills in an easy to understand and fun format.  We know that the community shows are increasing the dialogue about important issues in the areas from first-hand reports from local people.  Currently, we lack enough dedicated staff time to continue the active recruitment and training of more volunteers for the community shows.  One solution is the people who are currently receiving training will become involved in the community shows rather than being given their own show.  We had strong involvement in the beginning from the local projects and agencies.  This enthusiasm decreased for some of the groups after the launch.  Since then, staff have contacted these organisations and asked each to commit to a monthly appearance on their community show.  This has been positively received by most of the groups, however some still need more encouragement.  The community shows would improve overall if the local community projects and agencies would realise the full potential of these shows and start providing more news content.  shmu is addressing this issue by looking at ways to improve the Newsdesk, by involving more volunteers in gathering and producing the content.  shmu is committed to the growth of the community shows.  We will continue our support of volunteers, local projects and services working together to build their communities through the medium of community radio.

Last Modified : 12/03/2009