Johnny Beerling joins community radio bid

Former BBC Radio 1 controller Johnny Beerling is chairing a bid by Radio Skipton to win a community radio licence.

He’s joined up with Revolution programme controller John Evington to apply for a licence, aiming to provide the Yorkshire town with a local station.

Skipton was home to Yorkshire Dales Radio, aka Fresh Radio, which was recently sold to UKRD and re-branded as Stray FM and moved to Harrogate.

John Evington told the Craven Herald: “Rather than ‘talk at’ its community, the intention is that Radio Skipton will become a central part of it.

“This means creating direct links with our listeners, offering training opportunities and making sure that members of the community can take an active part in how the station is run.”

A board of trustees will oversee the running of the station with Johnny Beerling, who lives in the area, as its chairman.

Johnny Beerling: “Apart from reflecting local news and events we will embrace local sporting clubs, schools, youth activities, churches of all faiths, hobbies, societies and so on. In fact it is our intention that everything that’s happening in Skipton will be reflected on the airwaves.”