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HIV Hour Wins Grant From The Rainbow Fund
RadioReverb’s ground breaking weekly show HIV Hour, which is dedicated to Brighton’s HIV positive community, has been awarded a £1000 grant by The Rainbow Fund.
A prestigious fund that was created to continue the legacy of the city’s AIDS Memorial, The Rainbow Fund provides much needed funds for volunteer-lead projects for LGBT+ and HIV/AIDS organisations in Brighton and Hove.
HIV Hour is made by people with HIV for people with HIV; being presented by Sue who has been living with HIV for 11 years. The show received the funding due to the important role it plays in supporting local people with HIV and raising awareness of HIV positive community in Brighton.
Station Director Tracey Allen said “The whole team at RadioReverb are delighted that The Rainbow Fund have awarded grant funding to HIV Hour. It’s a show we are hugely proud of and are grateful for the Rainbow Fund’s continued support.”
HIV Hour airs on RadioReverb every Thursday at 7pm.
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RadioReverb’s ‘The Write Songs’ introduces celebrity food writers to Brighton’s air waves
The Write Songs is returning to RadioReverb 97.2FM on Wednesday 28 March with the songs behind the books, this time by some of Britain’s most successful food writers. In a spin on Desert Island Discs and Paperback Writers’ ‘chat and play’ formula, food journalist and podcaster, Gilly Smith explores with her guests the songs that made their books sing.
Gilly explained “The Write Songs is about looking at the process of writing, listening to the songs my guests listen to while they’re writing and that transport them to where they take us in their books. Our sponsors at City Books are curating a reading list around the themes which come up in each episode, so it’s a must listen for book fans.”
Over the next eight weeks, RadioReverb listeners will go into the homes of The Observer’s Rising Star of 2015, Ukrainian food writer Olia Hercules and James Beard award winner, Diana Henry. The audience will also travel to River Cottage to meet Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s deputy, former Brighton resident Stephen Lamb; to Dartington Hall to meet TV’s Urban Chef, Oliver Rowe and to Soho’s Quo Vadis to meet cocktail queen, Kay Plunkett-Hogge. Plus, Italian food writer Valentina Harris and ambassador of Pakistani cooking, Sumayya Usmani and finalist in the Jane Grigson Trust New Food Writer Awards, Skye McAlpine take us back to their exotic childhoods through the music that still sings through their books.
The show will broadcast every Wednesday evening at 6pm and the final two shows on the 9th and 16th May will broadcast at 7pm following RadioReverb’s nightly Brighton Festival broadcast.
The Write Songs will also be repeated on Thursdays at 1pm and Fridays at 4am. A Podcast of the show can also be found using RadioReverb’s Listen Again service.
Listeners can hear RadioReverb at 97.2FM, on DAB+ and on-line at www.radioreverb.com.
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RadioReverb Announce Brighton Festival 2018 Partnership
RadioReverb, Brighton’s not for profit radio station, is delighted to announce that they will be Broadcast Media Partner for Brighton Festival 2018, following last year’s partnership.
RadioReverb will broadcast a daily, hour long live show from their studios in Brighton’s Open Market, between 5pm and 6pm from 1 May until 1 June. Each show will then be repeated at 10pm each evening, and then again at 9am the following morning, giving RadioReverb listeners every opportunity to keep up to date with what’s on at Brighton Festival 2018
RadioReverb originally started broadcasting during the Brighton Festival in 2004, for only two weeks. It was then awarded a full community broadcasting licence from OFCOM in 2007. 14 years after RadioReverb first covered the festival, it will still be the best place to keep up with the latest festival news in 2018.
During last year’s Brighton Festival, RadioReverb broadcast 15 live radio shows and released 69 podcasts dedicated to Festival events, a grand total of 30 hours of audio. Highlights included coverage of ‘For The Birds’, ‘Five Short Blasts’ and ‘Collisions’ as well as an interview with Guest Director Kate Tempest.
This year’s Festival, with an exciting new programme Guest Directed by the Turner Prize-nominated visual artist and Brighton resident David Shrigley, is expected to be more dynamic than ever, and RadioReverb’s coverage will be to.
Emma Robertson, Head of Press and PR at Brighton Festival commented: “We are delighted to be working with RadioReverb again this year following our successful partnership last year. Our Guest Director David Shrigley is a Brighton resident himself and a passionate advocate of the city, so it feels particularly apt to be working with a radio station at the heart of the community.”
RadioReverb is ‘the sound of your city’ with its team of home-grown broadcasters, producing a vibrant mix of independent, locally relevant, advert free, speech and music programmes firmly rooted in the Brighton community.
RadioReverb Director Tracey Allen said: “We are delighted that RadioReverb is continuing its partnership with Brighton Festival and we have some very exciting coverage planned for 2018. As a community, not-for-profit station, RadioReverb is a perfect broadcast partner for Brighton Festival, an arts festival that is bedded in the fabric of the local community and something that deeply connects with our listeners.”
Listeners can hear RadioReverb on 97.2FM, on DAB+ and on-line at www.radioreverb.com.
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Mayor Mo Marsh and Caroline Lucas MP Show Support For RadioReverb And Preserving Independent Radio
Brighton and Hove Mayor Mo Marsh joined RadioReverb’s team of presenters and volunteers on Saturday 3 March to support Brighton’s community radio station’s annual fundraiser.
The ‘Reverbathon’ was a 12-hour broadcast in which, for one day only, RadioReverb’s usual schedule was scrapped, with presenters and listeners coming together to support the station live on-air. The object was to raise funds to keep RadioReverb independent, playlist-free and advert-free.
Mayor Mo Marsh attended the event at RadioReverb’s studio in Brighton’s Open Market where she praised the station’s “wonderful diverse offering which I’m going to be tuning in to more”.
She also added that local independent radio is “important to anywhere and I’m delighted our city as usual is particularly strong in this offer.
“There is no funding for RadioReverb apart from what you donate so if you want to keep your local radio station live, serving a wonderful diverse community – particularly the house bound, the vulnerable, people who can’t get out – radio is a vital link. Please, please donate!”
Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavillion, also contributed a message of support: “I will urge people very seriously in Brighton and Hove to get out there and support the Reverbathon.
“Give even just a couple of quid if you can because independent voices in the media are needed more than ever. Brighton is such an independent city – it deserves and needs good independent radio.”
Volunteers and supporters of RadioReverb raised over £2,000, through sponsorship and donations, for the community radio station during the community event.
Many local businesses supported the Reverbathon through sponsorship, including key donors such as VegFest, Brighton’s Finest, Avonside Television, Stripey Lemon, The Best Of Brighton & Hove, Flowers Unlimited, Butler’s Wines, Network My Club and The Basketmaker’s Arms.
Additional funds were raised through audience donations, online and at the Open Market based studio where volunteers exchanged pastries, cakes, mugs and tote-bags for donations while the broadcast was played on outdoor speakers. All donations and sponsorship pledges raised a total of £2,167.
All the money raised will go directly back into running the station, upgrading equipment and bringing new shows with local voices to the airwaves.
Following Juice 107.2’s recent buy-out by Global (Europe’s leading radio company who also run Capital, Heart and Classic FM) RadioReverb is likely to become increasingly important as an independent broadcaster in Brighton.
RadioReverb Director Tracey Allen said: “This year’s Reverbathon has been an incredible success, especially as the day proved how having an independent radio station supports the city, local traders, businesses and charities – and with no programming restrictions or adverts to get in the way!
“RadioReverb really is the sound of the city and the donations raised will ensure local voices are preserved in Brighton.We’d like to thank everyone who supported the Reverbathon, with donations, time, energy and enthusiasm.”
RadioReverb, as a not-for-profit station, is reliant on donations for its funding. The Reverbathon may be over but you can still support RadioReverb all year round by pledging a donation online: https://www.radioreverb.com/donate/