Once again Chelmsford, the home of broadcasting, is taking centre stage in the broadcasting arena. The Community Radio Station “Chelmsford Calling” will be returning to the airwaves on Friday 16th July, Saturday 17th July and Sunday 18th July 2004.  The frequency will be 87.7 MHz.
Community Radio Stations are established under the auspices of OFCOM (previously the Radio Authority) OFCOM states that Community Radio:
* Is primarily for the good of members of the public or of a particular community and in order to deliver social gain, rather than for commercial reasons
* Is intended primarily to serve a particular community (either people who live or work or undergo education or training in a particular area or locality, referred to in this document as a ‘neighbourhood’, or people who have one or more interests or characteristics in common, referred to in this document as a ‘community of interest’)
* Is not provided in order to make a financial profit, and uses any profit produced to secure or improve the service or for the delivery of social gain to members of the public or the target community
* Offers members of the target community opportunities to participate in the operation of the service.
Community Broadcasters operate under what are termed Restricted Radio Licences (RSLs). Over 4000 of these have been issued over the past 13 years and more will be issued in future. These licences allow the station to broadcast for up to 28 days and only two licences can be issued to a particular broadcast group in any one year. For FM the band used is 87.6 to 88.0 MHz and the output power will typically be in the range 25 to 50 watts ERP. It is intended that the broadcast range should be approximately 5 km radius from the station.
Chelmsford Calling is broadcasting from a site in Springfield with a nominal ERP of 15 watts so it should be audible over the whole of southern Chelmsford inside the bypass, the village of Boreham to the East, Writtle to the West and the Walthams to the North. It should also be possible to receive it at favourable sites on Danbury Hill.
The station’s intention is to broadcast a service for the “over sixties”. Programming will be primarily music based with recordings mainly from the 1920s to the 1950s. Some of the artists featured will be Glen Miller, Al Bowlly, Spike Jones, Ambrose, Geraldo, Bix Beiderbecke, Gracie Fields, Max Miller, Stanley Holloway, Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, Vera Lynn, The Andrews Sisters, Anne Shelton, Jimmy Durante, George Formby, Harry Roy, Billy Cotton, Mitch Miller, Henry Hall and many more. There will also be broadcasts of comedy programmes such as Hancock’s Half Hour, ITMA and The Goon Show.
The owner and operator is Jim Salmon and this will be the third time that his station “Chelmsford Calling” has taken to the air. Sadly, costs have restricted this broadcast to only three days   The first broadcast was from 6 to 15 July 2001 (a ten day licence) and the second from 28 December 2001 to 24 January 2002.(a 28 day licence)
He is shown here in his studio. Note the Marconi logo attached to the bottom corner of the control desk.
The station can be contacted at jim.salmon@tiscali.co.uk or chelmsfordcalling@tesco.net
If you are outside Chelmsford and wish to send a greeting to anyone in the reception area please contact Jim on these addresses.
More pictures of the station
