TRR is an online community radio station serving the city of York. All of our content is produced by a dedicated team of volunteers with our programmes focussing on topics as diverse as Social & Environmental Justice, Poetry & Fine Art, Local Interest & History, Local Politics & Current Affairs, a very wide selection of musical genres and UK Wrestling. We are wholly community centric and participatory. Many of our volunteers have little to no prior experience in radio, although some have had successful careers in journalism and PR. TRR has already built relationships with local organisations including York St. John's University, United Response and others. A number of our volunteers have already gone on to work with local BBC Radio, other local services or relevant further education. We aim to provide a fantastic volunteer experience that opens up and democratises the production of local radio, but also top quality, in-depth local content that can't be found elsewhere in York.

What we'll deliver:

• A 24/7 365 radio stream featuring local, grassroots content
• Citizen journalism
• Media production training & opportunities
• A community hub

Why it's a great idea:

Community radio plays a vital role in keeping local people informed, facilitating democracy and building community resilience. We will provide in excess of 100 volunteering opportunities for local people when we are running at full capacity. These will include on-air, production, fundraising and administration as well as social media and technical positions. We will continue to build existing relationships with local academic institutions and ensure that young people are accessing the opportunity to create local radio. Our volunteers already come from a very diverse background with representation from 3 continents and an age range between 19 - 64. There are great benefits to people of all ages in getting involved, whether it being the social element, building confidence and team-working, up/re-skilling or simply enjoying learning a new set of skills. Increasing our output will mean the people of York have a a truly grassroots, unique and community-centric station to serve the city.

Steps to get it done:

• Buy modular building
• Install modular building at location (TBC)
• Sound-proof & install studio(s)
• Install necessary services (Power & Broadband)
• Recruit & train a new cohort of volunteers
• Launch Party

Between Sept '17 - April '19 we worked with 42 volunteers to produce 33 different programmes that totalled approximately 700 hours of live radio and generated 1,941 listening hours from 2,244 unique listeners. We have achieved all of this whilst only broadcasting for 10 hours a week between midday and 10pm on Mondays! (Not including all the special events that we have covered; Staxtonbury Festival [on FM], Bishy Road Street Party, Dyls Party in the Park, Macmillan Rocks, SASH Fundraisers, IDAS Fundraiser, Dunnington Fayre Goes Live, In the City Festival and more) Two Rivers Radio means different things to different people: · A social activity · Media industry work experience · An opportunity to learn new skills · A platform for marginalised or underrepresented groups and interests · A place to share individual or group passions · Confidence building · A supporter and champion of local and independent business