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WFM History

Listen to our 25th Birthday show with some special guests

In The Beginning... (The 2000s)

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In 1999/2000 Radio Regen, originally our parent charity and governor, started running a course where all the participants had the chance to get themselves a BTEC qualification in Radio Production. Jason Kenyon, Dave Leneghan, Billy Barkley and Richard Jamison’s final task on that inspiring course was to put together a community radio station that would run for four days – and it did, on the 25th May Wythenshawe FM was born.

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25th May 2000, was the day that began a new era in community radio.  The station held a four day trial broadcast from the Wythenshawe Forum, and was joined by a number of local people, celebs and politicians all backing the project.

Then Radio Regen had a bright idea. “LET’S DO IT AGAIN!”, and on the 25th February 2001 they broadcast over 7 days with a new set of trainees running the station.

On 6th October 2001 Radio Regen had yet another bright idea “LET’S DO IT ONE MORE TIME!” This time it lasted 14 days, which gave us the experience and the skills to run a full-time, long-term, all singing, all dancing year-long community station or as the then government liked to call it, an “Access Radio”.
In April 2002, Wythenshawe FM reappeared but this time it was supposed for a whole year. Managed by three paid staff, they worked like superheroes, by day Jason Kenyon, Darren Jenkinson and John Phillips were mild-mannered radio support staff, by night they were gibbering emotional wrecks.  However, they survived and with the help of a fantastic volunteer base they got the station ready to go.
Then it came to LAUNCH DAY.

Wythenshawe FM hit Wythenshawe Town Centre with force, rocking the very foundations of the multi-storey car park. With live bands, line-dancing, karaoke, not to mention the world renowned Doughnut Challenge, (how many doughnuts can you eat in a minute), they didn’t break any records but did manage to eat a few hundred doughnuts!

Then the work started. 125 hours of broadcasting a week, supporting over 80 volunteers and making the best community radio station the world has ever experienced (not just our opinion).

Wythenshawe FM has seen many changes, the schedule has evolved, the presenters have improved and WFM has gone from strength to strength. Although the station was supposed to broadcast for a year, it actually stayed on-air until the newly formed "Ofcom" had organised it's self for the launch of Community Radio.

One of the first things to change was the Janky logo - sorry but it was. Replaced with a tidier and much more professional logo. The station upgraded it's digs from being in the ground floor of some flats into studios in the Civic centre.

The next change was all the new presenters... some of which are still here today!

In 2005, Wythenshawe FM applied for, and was successful in getting a 5-year Community Radio License. The station has seen many volunteers come and go, some going on to paid work on commercial radio stations, TV and other walks of life.

The 2010s

Radio Regen's commitment to community radio was never about building an empire, which was however the plan for commercial radio. In 2010, Wythenshawe FM became independent after 10 years of support and management under Radio Regen. Wythenshawe Community Media became the new company and charity overseeing the operation of Wythenshawe FM, now entirely volunteer led. 

In 2014, WFM gained the Queens Award in voluntary service in which the work the management and volunteers were recognised with the equivalent of an MBE!

The station continued on with new shows featuring new and upcoming bands and artists, new presenters and continuing it's work within the community.

The 2020s

The decade didn't get off to a great start by anybody's standards. The nation was thrown into lockdown, shops closed, we all had to wear masks and stay at home. This brought a new challenge to the station - how the heck do we run a community station that's not allowed to be in the community?

Well after a couple of weeks of studio upgrades and a bit of tinkering, presenters were able to produce their shows from home

We kept you entertained, and gave you all the information you needed during a very strange and uncertain time.
As lockdown eased, we started some outside broadcasts and gradually came back to the studio.

Today...

Wythenshawe and WFM is at the start of a new era, with WFM's new insight and fresh commitment to its current and future volunteers, and the long-awaited regeneration of the Civic centre, exciting times are in the pipeline!.

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