12 March 1998 Edition
A station once again
By Ned Kelly
Every summer for the last three years the airwaves have crackled with the mad wit and irreverence of Triple FM, the people's station. Improved beyond measure, it can now be heard all across Belfast and up in the H Blocks. Running over the last three weeks, and up until St Patrick's day, Triple FM's first non-festival slot has been a brilliant success.
The key to the station's popularity has been its commitment to the principles of providing a platform for people from the community to articulate their views, giving voice to communities previously unheard and showing the true face of Nationalist Belfast. Financed entirely by local advertising, the radio is staffed completely by volunteers.
The other key ingredient to Triple FM has been the people who have involved themselves - powerful examples of the community as a resource. Major players have been the youth group, who have been incorporated at every level of the station, from management meetings to engineering, to presenting and managing the phones.
Triple FM manager Veronica Brown said, ``the atmosphere here is brilliant, so friendly, everyone is welcome.''
From the sideways look at the day's news, care of Jake MacSiacais and Danny Morrison, Fra Coogan's blast from the past, the community services information slot, the current affairs show, the prisoners hour, the pensioners hour, or the regional slot, the range of issues is diverse. And according to Ciaran Quinn from the West Belfast management committee, a core aim of the station is to ``encourage this very diversity that reflects the experience of the community.''
From the 100,000 potential audience there have been over 10,000 phone calls into the station in the last three weeks, calls from all sections of Belfast. One man from Sandy Row, who refused to stop listening despite threats from neighbours, rang in and requested `The Sash' and although no tape could be found an impromptu group from the station gave a live rendition. Loyalist prisoner Sam McCrory rang in on a live debate, only to be frustrated by H Block regulations. Truly `a station once again', where all are welcome.
Every summer for the last three years the airwaves have crackled with the mad wit and irreverence of Triple FM, the people's station. Improved beyond measure, it can now be heard all across Belfast and up in the H Blocks. Running over the last three weeks, and up until St Patrick's day, Triple FM's first non-festival slot has been a brilliant success.
The key to the station's popularity has been its commitment to the principles of providing a platform for people from the community to articulate their views, giving voice to communities previously unheard and showing the true face of Nationalist Belfast. Financed entirely by local advertising, the radio is staffed completely by volunteers.
The other key ingredient to Triple FM has been the people who have involved themselves - powerful examples of the community as a resource. Major players have been the youth group, who have been incorporated at every level of the station, from management meetings to engineering, to presenting and managing the phones.
Triple FM manager Veronica Brown said, ``the atmosphere here is brilliant, so friendly, everyone is welcome.''
From the sideways look at the day's news, care of Jake MacSiacais and Danny Morrison, Fra Coogan's blast from the past, the community services information slot, the current affairs show, the prisoners hour, the pensioners hour, or the regional slot, the range of issues is diverse. And according to Ciaran Quinn from the West Belfast management committee, a core aim of the station is to ``encourage this very diversity that reflects the experience of the community.''
From the 100,000 potential audience there have been over 10,000 phone calls into the station in the last three weeks, calls from all sections of Belfast. One man from Sandy Row, who refused to stop listening despite threats from neighbours, rang in and requested `The Sash' and although no tape could be found an impromptu group from the station gave a live rendition. Loyalist prisoner Sam McCrory rang in on a live debate, only to be frustrated by H Block regulations. Truly `a station once again', where all are welcome.