Resonance 104.4 FM is a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

based non-profit

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

station specialising in

the arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive range of m ...

run by the London Musicians' Collective (LMC). The station is staffed by two permanent staff members, including Chief Executive Officer Peter Lanceley and over 300 volunteer technical and production staff. Until September 2007, its studios were located on

Denmark Street Denmark Street is a street on the edge of London's West End running from Charing Cross Road to St Giles High Street. It is near St Giles in the Fields Church and Tottenham Court Road station. The street was developed in the late 17th centu ...

before moving to its second location at 144

Borough High Street Borough High Street is a road in Southwark, London, running south-west from London Bridge, forming part of the A3 road, A3 route which runs from London to Portsmouth, on the south coast of England. Overview Borough High Street continues sout ...

, Southwark. The station is now located at 7 Risborough Street, Southwark, and broadcasts to a radius on 104.4 MHz FM from a transmitter on the roof of

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kin ...

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. Its schedule includes nearly 100 shows catering to many sub-communities of the London area on a wide variety of subjects including a multitude of musical genres, local and foreign current affairs and subjects of local interest. Noted for its policy of giving broadcasters free rein of their creative outlet, it has been described by '' Time Out'' as "brilliantly eccentric". The station receives funding grants from

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

Ethos

The station describes itself as "the world's first radio art station" which aims to provide a radical alternative to mainstream broadcasting. Resonance 104.4 FM features programmes made by musicians, artists and critics who represent the diversity of London’s arts scenes, with regular weekly contributions from nearly two hundred musicians, artists, thinkers, critics, activists and instigators; plus numerous unique broadcasts by artists on the weekday "Clear Spot". The station presents material ranging from a programme presented by the staff of the

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

magazine ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

'' to ''Calling All Pensioners'', which aims to inform the elderly about local events and benefits entitlement.

Live music A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

sessions are featured on shows such as ''Hello Goodbye'', ''You Are Hear'', Hooting Yard on the Air, and ''Glass Shrimp''. Other shows include foreign-language programmes aimed at communities in London that are not served by other broadcasters. In addition to locally produced programming, Resonance is a member of Radia and a rebroadcaster of American news program ''

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long TV, radio, and Internet news program based in Manhattan and hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live ...

''. Resonance FM has received a Sony Award nomination for ''The Good Drugs Guide'', a documentary series presented by Piers Gibbon and David McCandless. The station has been profiled in the pages of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'', ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' and the '' Morning Star'' amongst others. In 2006 the station was nominated for "The Community Award" by the

Sony Radio Academy Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

, but has won the

Radio Academy The Radio Academy is a registered charity dedicated to "the encouragement, recognition and promotion of excellence in UK broadcasting and audio production". It was formed in 1983 and is run via a board of trustees, with a chair and a deputy chai ...

Nations and Regions Award for London for three consecutive years between 2009 and 2011 Station manager Ed Baxter was nominated for "Programmer of the Year" by the Sony Radio Academy Awards in 2010.

History

The London Musicians' Collective originally put together a four-week programme of radio art as part of 1998's Meltdown festival at the South Bank Centre, curated by

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

. The station operated from the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

on a month-long

Restricted Service Licence A UK Restricted Service Licence (often called an RSL) is typically granted to radio stations and television stations broadcasting within the UK to serve a local community or a special event. Licences are granted by the broadcasting authority Ofcom ...

on 107.3 FM. Phil England, an organiser of the original broadcast, described the origins of the station in a text written to accompany the printed programme. The aim, he wrote, was "to raise the specter of radio art in a country where the notion has no common currency". After a four-year hiatus, the station returned on 1 May 2002 as part of the

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

Access Radio Pilot Scheme from studios on Denmark Street in the

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

area of London's West End. Resonance was awarded a five-year Community Radio licence in December 2005, enabling the station to broadcast 24/7. Ofcom extended the station's FM broadcasting licence in July 2010. Resonance FM resumed scheduled broadcasting in September 2007 after a short hiatus whilst moving into a new studio building on

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

; a short walk from the area where they launched in 1998. In 2011, Resonance presented a six-week exhibit at the Raven Row Gallery Exhibit in East London. The exhibition theme was the relation of sound to art, and included work from Max Eastley and Takehisa Kosugi.

Broadcasting

The station is broadcast from a transmitter on the roof of

on 104.4 MHz FM. The transmission power is low compared with London's main radio stations due to the terms of its community radio licence. It can be received throughout

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

but does not cover the whole

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

area. Interference from local

pirate radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...

stations, particularly at weekends, has been and is a problem in some areas. It can also be streamed from the station's web site. Resonance uploads every show to its Mixcloud account throughout each day.

Funding

The station receives funding grants from

as part of the national portfolio funding programme, which began in 2012. The grant for 2012–2013 was £160,000; 2013–2014 £163,680; 2014–2015 £167,936.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Community radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations in London Radio stations established in 2001