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Transcript of Closedown
The final two hours of the station was anchored by myself and gave the opportunity for many of our presenters to drop into the studio and have a chat on air (and have some food and drink) However station co-ordinator Dave McGealy had the final words:-
Record: Patsy Cline - Crazy
"Ah well perhaps that should have been the station theme tune, Crazy,
'cos at times when perhaps seemed little crazy the ideas that we have
put forward on 'The Voice Of Oldham' in that we have said that we
don't expect to please some of the people all of the time, but what
we do want to do is please all of the people some of the time, and
that way we'll have a large audience that doesn't listen to us all of
the time, but at various times.
What did we try to achieve? [The specialist slots]
We were very brave and went for a thing called 'Oldham Asian Network
[Monday 1pm - Midnight] that allowed the Asians living within
Oldham within their own language. And that was a tremendously brave
step - currently 11% of the population of Oldham is of Asian origin,
it is expected to rise over the next five years or so to 18 to 20% of
the population, therefore it's a large proportion of the Oldham
population we've go to except that these people live here and are
Oldhamers - we need to involve them in the community of Oldham
because if we don't we'll have problems in the future. So they are
Oldhamers, we are here, we are all one
'Heartbeat Radio' [Tuesday and Thursday 1pm - Midnight]
that we aiming at the over 60's, we can expect when you reach the age
of 60 - 25 to 30 years of life after that time therefore we've got to
make the most of it because it is a valuable resource we want to find
some way that Oldham can benefit from there experience and expertise
that's readily available from that section of the population.
'The Voice' [Sunday 9am - Midnight]
what did we do with 'The Voice', well that was aimed at the under
18's we need to take the youth of our town and take them with us as
we go into the future. They're not the horrible yobs that are so
often painted. They need to be able to see radio as a communication
medium, not just something on in the background making a big noise.
There is a tremendous amount of talent and enthusiasm among the young
people in Oldham. Lets get hold of it, lets tap into it and lets use
it.
'Oldham Music Radio' [Wednesday 1pm - Midnight]
Well...marvellous, we've got the best local talent I think that's
available in any town. We need to recognise it, we need to give it an
outlet to express itself and show what it can do.
'Oldham Events' [Friday 1pm - Midnight, Saturday 9am -
Midnight]
There is so much going on in Oldham it's difficult to fit it all in,
being involved in Oldham brings us together, makes us a town, makes
us worthwhile, and makes us do things. The live events that we
covered this time went down a bomb, they were brilliant. The drop in
centre and studio we had in Oldham Town Centre was wonderful, the
radio was accessible.
'The Voice Of Oldham' will be here. We do need to make sure that when
the license is issued, it is issued to 'The Voice Of Oldham' we
haven't got the big backings, we haven't got the newspaper groups
backing us that other radio stations have, or are hoping to have. The
difference being we're not in it for the money, we're in it as a
non-profit making organisation because we believe in Oldham and we
believe in the people of Oldham, we're not here to make money.
Vera Lynn is singing our last song, 'we'll meet again' we certainly
will meet again, we hope that it's on a perminate basis - with your
support it will be. Thanks."
(c) The Voice Of Oldham 1997