Mick Malloy and I (Roy Burgess) first met as teenagers working in the computer operations team of a large financial institution. At the time, I was trying to get started in hospital radio. Working shifts got in the way and I said I would pick up ‘doing radio’ when I had more time. Fast forward 35 years or so (i’d been busy) and I retired from IT. I saw an opportunity to get involved with a small community radio station and was soon hooked all over again. Fate intervened and funding for the station was pulled by the local authority. Within weeks I moved on to Radio Barnsley. Over a few beers with Mick I roped him into joining me as co-presenter of ‘Over The Hump’ and ‘Sidekick Mick’ was born.
After a year or so, technical problems forced Radio Barnsley off-air (a pattern emerging here!). Beer got involved again at this point and we decided to create a new station, closer to our West Yorkshire homes and the idea for Over The Bridge Radio was born.
As Radio Barnsley re-grouped as Barnsley Community Radio, we bought one of the Alice Air 2000 mixing desks and waved farewell. Several months later we had worked out how to plug in most (but not all) of the cables and had a brand new studio ready to go in Shipley.
The aims of Over The Bridge Radio are simple:
- create a radio station we want to listen to
- provide an opportunity to get involved – either as a hobby or a possible way into the industry
Rather than filling the schedule with ads we are funded by a mix of membership subscriptions (for presenters) and sponsorship. If you could fall into either group – get in touch.
Roy