Many of you know about Spotted in Ely, or SIE for short. We have been around a few years now in fact eight years to be precise. We started small created by Mark Cooney on social media and we grew and we grew and now we have over 30,000 followers.
Many of you will have used our social media platform either to promote, report or share something or to discover, be informed or generally be entertained. The community of Ely and surrounding areas have been able to share stories, events, fundraiser and even advertise jobs since we began all those years ago.
We have attended events, business launches, groups and other social gatherings to spread the news within our area for those who could not physically attend. This became more relevant during recent events, when we could share events with the community in lockdown.
Mark had a dream and that was to take this to another level with a radio station, just for the local community, Ely and surrounding area. In 2020 this radio station started to become a reality; Mark recruited others to help him create “ELY RADIO”. This was to be a not-for-profit organisation and there for you the community.
We created a Community Interest Company (CIC) called “Good Vibes Local” this covers all the legal stuff and confirms us as a not-for-profit organisation. Good Vibes is more than a radio station, it covers Spotted in Ely and anything we do as a community interest group.
So, moving forward, in December 2020 “Ely Radio” Launched, and we have now been broadcasting twenty four hours a day seven Days a week, for over fifteen months. Making us Ely’s biggest Music variety.
Currently we are internet based, you can listen via our app, via a generic internet-based speaker system such as Alexa, on a computer or even your phone. As community radio station we have amassed listeners in our local area who tune in on a regular basis, however to our surprise we have regular listeners across Europe, we have even received feedback from Japan and Australia.
The radio is managed and run by volunteers; alt our presenters are volunteers with connections to the local area. These presenters use their own equipment and broadcast from their homes.
The radio station has become a new arm for Spotted in Ely, both working side by side, allowing our reach to the local community to expand and grow. Recently our advertising of events has increased, and we have managed to help people from the local community with employment opportunities through our vacancy adverting links both on Radio and our Social media page. We have recently received our first radio sponsorship which helps businesses to promote themselves through our social media.
What’s our future, we intend to expand, currently there is no availability for us to transmit on FM and or DAB but hopefully this will happen soon, and we will be easier to listen to in more locations. From one man’s hopes in 2014 we have achieved so much. Mark saw his dream of the radio station come to life, he even managed to present his own show for a short while before his terminal illness took that away from him and him away from us. We at Good Vibes have carried on his legacy and look forward to a future supporting you the community.
If you would like more information or to help, please email accounts@spottedinely.com
Press release from Good Vibes Local
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