Turn it Up to 11 - Happy Birthday shmuFM!
On Saturday 20th October shmuFM, celebrated its 11th birthday! That is almost 4,000 days of community radio! We spent the week talking to staff and volunteers about their memories of the launch and their first shows.
We caught up with our Founder and Chief Exec, Murray, about it's launch all those years ago (and raked up some old photos too!)...
"I can’t believe that we have been broadcasting on FM since Oct 20th 2007 – it’s been quite a ride – a bit of a rollercoaster at times, but it’s been absolutely fantastic.
The launch itself is a bit of a blur – everyone, staff and volunteers alike, had been flat out working towards the target of the 20th October and at times we doubted that we’d make it! One of the biggest challenges was to get the FM transmitters commissioned - that only happened hours before the deadline! Then there was the intensive training of all our presenters... and organising of over 50 sets of keys for volunteers!
The day itself was fantastic – we put up a marquee and got some live bands arranged to record and broadcast as part of our first live show. It was the 20th October so, being in Aberdeen, it could have been snowing, but I seem to remember that the sun was shining, and it was warm, so most people were outside.
The first show was hosted by Colin Digby – still a regular presenter at shmu – with the first song played live on FM being ‘we are family’ which says it all.
We are still absolutely committed to our FM service, and know that our new building will provide exciting new opportunities for shmuFM. We are hugely excited about the introduction of our Community TV platform which will provide another fantastic new platform for our volunteers and communities. Watch this space…!"
Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate our radio birthday! We had a great day! #moretoshmu
