The British Library has chosen Bristol community radio station, BCfm , to form part of the nation’s radio collection archives. The local, Easton based radio station has been chosen among 50 other stations in the UK as part of a pilot project, with the potential to develop into a long term service.
Currently the live radio broadcasts are kept on the BCfm website for three months but now that they have been selected to be part of the national archive, they will be preserved for future generations.
Out of a total of 700 radio stations across the UK, BCfm was selected. The British library will be preserving hours of spoken word and news content from the local radio station.
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Over the last few years the radio station has been training local people in making their own podcasts and radio presenting as part of their involvement in the national Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project. In part, the projects are about preserving old audio recordings and digitalising them so they can be included in the Bristol archives.
The station is best known for it's multi award-winning One Love Breakfast show. The community radio station prides itself on amplifying the voices of Bristol's diverse communities and is currently the host of the South West's biggest LGBT+ radio show.
Now that BCfm is being included in the National Radio Archives, more voices from Bristol will be saved for future generations. It is estimated that 92 per cent of current UK radio is not being properly preserved, with only 2 per cent being made available for potential future use and research.
BCfm Station Manager, Patrick Hart said: “This is another validation of our position in the city, for over 15 years we’ve been representing and amplifying the voices of our everyday and under-served communities, I’m so proud of our team”.
BCfm Development Lead, Marcus Smith said “It's an honour and privilege to have been selected. There's 700 radio stations in the country and BCfm got selected, which is amazing.
"It just means so much, we're mostly a volunteer-run organisation. We've got [around] 200 volunteers that do a whole host of things like presenting, producing and work behind the scenes.
"It's just really nice that all their hard work and passion is being recognised by a national body and will be around for years and decades and future generations to enjoy and learn from.
"What sets BCfm apart is that we have a lot of people on our station with a Bristolian accent. We have voices of real people in the city, from working class backgrounds, the Somali, Polish and Spanish communities.
"We give people a chance from all sorts of different backgrounds and communities who may not necessarily get that opportunity elsewhere.
"If anyone is doing research on local history, this will be a really useful resource where they can hear local voices and have a local perspective on things."
The Community Radio station currently based in Easton Community Centre suffered a brief pause in production in 2019 when a fire destroyed their studio. Donations came flooding in and they were quickly back up and running and have since been involved in several community oral history projects.
BCfm began broadcasting in 2007 and was recognised at the 2021 Community Radio Awards where they received a Gold award for Innovation and a bronze award for podcast of the year. The 12 Communities, 1 Bristol podcast is a local oral history podcast covering various communities across Bristol.
Their recent inclusion as part of the National Radio Archives means that more of Bristol's oral history can be preserved. Their latest oral history project; Your Bristol Life , paid for by National Lottery Heritage funding, will be available to the public very soon.
There are 60+ weekly shows broadcasting 24 hours a day in different languages, including Polish, Somali and Spanish. You can listen to BCfm on 93.2FM and DAB in the Bristol area or online at BCfmRadio.com and smart speaker (“Play BCfm Radio”).
