Staff and volunteers at Diverse FM are celebrating the news that they have won a full time community radio licence which will allow them to broadcast across Luton and surrounding towns and work more closely with local people from all walks of life.
The licence was awarded after a bid was submitted to Ofcom back in November 2004. Diverse FM hopes to launch the community station next year. Young people from Mitalee Youth Association initially founded Diverse FM but at present it is run by an independent Steering Committee consisting of people from different community backgrounds.
Ashuk Ahmed who is coordinating the project said ?We hope to engage people from all walks of life and provide them with accredited training programmes and opportunity to gain real life experience in radio broadcast, through which we hope to increase their employment prospects in the media.
He also said ?This is the news that we have been waiting on for a very long time, community radio will provide us with the opportunity to bring the diverse community together from across the town and work even more closely with the diverse community that exists in Luton.?
The programmes will reflect the diverse communities that make up Luton. The station also aims to train community volunteers to help run the station 24 hours a day.