Takeover Radio

Takeover Radio

Broadcast area	Leicester
Frequency	103.2 MHz
Programming
Format	Youth Pop
Ownership
Owner	Takeover Radio Children's Media Trust
History
First air date	5 March 2002
Links
Website	www.takeoverradio.com

Takeover Radio is a community radio station broadcasting on FM to Leicester, specialising in helping kids getting involved into radio aimed at the 8-14 age bracket. Takeover Radio first started out as one of the few licensed Access Radio stations in 2001, before being granted a Community Radio licence in 2002.

History

Takeover Radio is the first station in the UK that gives children editorial control over their programmes and allows them to present the shows live. This rare gamble of giving them full control has paid off and has taken critics by surprise. Rather than hearing a mish mash of songs and un – structured chatter, programmes worthy of any other commercial or BBC station are being formulated with behind the scenes guidance from a dedicated crew of adult radio professionals.

The Beginning

The brainchild behind Takeover Radio was Philip Solo, an entrepreneur and visionary with experience of business in the City of London. Philip’s vision was to allow children to gain access to the media of radio and let them entertain their peers. Philip worked closely with his business partner Graham Coley to generate a station that would make the big players to sit up and notice a new perspective in children’s radio.

The concept of Takeover Radio started back in 1997 when three children took over a Saturday night slot called "In and Out With Philip Solo" on a radio station in Market Harborough, Leicestershire called 'Valley FM'. For 2 hours Ellie (15) Sam (12) and Rayne (10) Menzies took over Philip’s show by bursting in, tying him up and creating a ‘hostage situation’ in the studio. Inspector Lawton of ‘The Radio Police’ had to promise pizza and chocolate before they would ‘release’ Mr Solo and allow him to finish the last ½ hour of his show.

The following year the three kids took over a similar station in Wigston called NOW FM .This time they captured it on 4 consecutive weekends and produced 4 one hour programmes. They recorded a radio version of Roald Dahl's “The Twits”, gave out video game information in The Nerd Zone, local information for kids in Radio Activity and produced competitions and played great music. They convinced local companies including Megazone, Computer Cave and Bounceaway Bouncy Castles to sponsor the four programmes and recruited more mercenaries to help the team including Ruth Truslove (14) as resident kids reporter on Radio Activity and Seth and Louis Bland as actors in The Twits story.

Megazone Laser Adventure and Computer Cave, also gave them games, computer software and promotional event tickets to give away during the programmes. There were also free tickets provided by other organisations that were not able to advertise. These were used for other competition prizes. Both these sponsors also provided experts to join the shows and give interviews about their work from business, personal and technical viewpoints.

Stepping Up

In 1998, the “Takeover Radio children” were invited to conduct four programmes on Big Dial Radio 106.6 FM a radio station based in Market Harborough. An article in the local paper about the project increased the crew number to thirteen regular presenters. After an intensive training programme they were all ready took over the station, it was a great success raising money for local charities.

In January 1999, the children were allowed to work on “The Wall 95.1 FM” another RSL radio station based in Leicester. An advert placed in the local paper ensured that this time 80 more children would be involved in radio production. On 2nd May 1999 the children did their first ever Takeover show on The Wall. “Kids on the Wall” proved a great success and the children returned to take over the airwaves again in June 2000. The proliferation of programmes by the children under the supervising eye of Philip and Graham gained the attention of the House of Lords in London. The Lords invited the children to talk about young peoples use of radio. By August 2000 the group of children had grown so big that it was decided that they needed their own radio station. They took over the studios at the Wall and ran their very own station for 9 days from 9am till 9pm each day. The project was called Radio Activity.

Prepare to be Taken Over

In September 2000, the building of the new Takeover Radio Head Quarters took place and setting up of the Takeover Radio Children's Media Trust rolled into action. The function of the Trust was to enable more children to participate in this unique venture.

In July 2001, Charity status by the Charity's Commission took place and Takeover Radio was chosen to be one of only 15 radio stations to trial the new Access Radio project for the Radio Authority. This took a great deal of time by the children, Philip and Graham to get the station on the air. Finally on 5th March 2002, Takeover Radio was officially launched on 103.2 FM across the City of Leicester and live on the web at www.takeoverradio.com

Takeover Radio has now been on the air for over 5 years now. The Government agreed to allow the new radio authority OfCom to issue full time radio licences in 2004. Takeover Radio were successful in applying for one of these called a Community Radio License. This is a true indication of the importance a government backed agency gives to the vision of Children’s radio in the UK. As well as the radio “Takeover Radio” has branched out into other areas. The station is now in the process of looking for funding to set up cells around the country so other children can benefit from the training and life experiences the children have gained as part of Takeover Radio. The station is also looking to set up educational outreach work and make contact with as many schools as possible to make full use of the educational benefits a project such as this can provide. They now publish a magazine called "Retune" and offer work experience to 15 to 18 year olds.

Takeover Radio, although Adult-orientated during weekday day-time, is the only station in the UK, possibly the world, that let's kids have full control of their programmes. Will you be Taken Over?

Core Age Group Audience

Takeover Radio aims its music and programming at its core audience of 14-16 year olds for the majority of its programming except for weekday daytime programming between the hours of 10am and 3pm which is aimed at young adults aged 18-25. There's also nursery time between 9:15am and 10:00 a.m which is aimed at children aged 0-10.

MUSIC AND SHOW TIMES!

The Wake Up Call Every weekday 7am till 10am Tune in for the Birthday Farm, Nursery Time, The School Run and Watson's World of the Weird

The Lunchtime Show Every weekday 11am till 3pm Eat your lunch with David and listen to the latest football news, 3 in a row and Leicester's favourite Hairbrush songs

Skoolz Out Every weekday 3pm till 6pm After a busy day, get home and chill out with Gareth for 3 action packed hours of music, fun and competitions

The Big Urban Nite Monday nights 6pm till 8pm Hasmita and DC bring you Bhangra, Urban and R&B tarx to wind down after the first day at school

The Reflex Monday night 8pm till 10pm Corey and DC bring you the very best Urban, R&B and Niche tracks on Leicester's biggest Urban night

Opinion8 Tuesday night 6pm till 8pm Whether you need advice or ave got something to say, don't get angry get it off your chest with Shrez

Planet Pop Tuesday night 8pm till 10pm Plastic pop, boy bands and girly groups... Go figure!!

Midweek Mix Wednesday night 6pm till 8pm Chris and Will bring you a midweek mix of Music, Entertainement and showbiz news and with local music information

Takeover Rewind Wednesday night 8pm till 10pm If you love hairbrush songs and old favourites, you'll love the Rewind. Grab a hairbrush and sing along...

Takeover Top 20 Thursday 6pm till 8pm Listen to the mid week chart along with all the new releasespresented by Niall and Ashill

Dance Fusion Thursday 8pm till 10pm All the latest dance music promo's along with the dance chart and classic anthems

Triple R Friday night 6pm till 8pm Indie, rock and punk what more could you want

Triple R Friday night 6pm till 8pm Indie, rock and punk what more could you want

Sunny Side Up Saturday 8am till 10am The Only Way To Start Your Day with Liss and Chris

D.I.R.T. "it's time to dish the Dirt" Saturday 10am till 12pm Tune in to listen to Anick Soni and Sagar dishing some more Dirt on your fave celebs whilst playine your fave music from across the world.

Tom Ross Show Saturday 12pm till 2pm Keep up with the latest gossip

Hello You Sports Fans Saturday 2pm till 5pm Keep up to date will all the sporting events around the county

Tea Time Treat Saturday 5pm till 6pm Tea time competitions and fun with Daniel and Lauren

R&B Club Classics Saturday 6pm till 8pm Warming up your Saturday with the best R&B tunes. Presented by Kiran and Sara

The Weekend Mix Saturday 8pm till 12am Get with the groove till midnight with a 4 hour marathon of the latest dance tunesa and classic anthems

The Laid Back Show Sunday 10am till 12pm Sunday morning fun with Eleni and Sam

Chan's Music Request Sunday 12pm till 2pm Text your favourite music on 60300. Put "takeover" as your first word

Pop 2 Rock Sunday 2pm till 4pm A great mix of every type of music with Adrienne and Chloe

The Get Away Sunday 4pm till 6pm All you want to know about your town, Movie Madness with Adam and Serena

The Next Generation Sundays 6pm till 8pm The next generation of presenters show you their skills be warned, they're great!

Takeover's Most Wanted Sundays 8pm till 9pm

Takeover's 15 most requested tracks over the past 7 days

News

Takeover Radio broadcasts news bulletins at 8:00 a.m, 1:00 p.m and 5:00 p.m on Weekdays. Weather and traffic reports are broadcast throughout the day, along with news of local events.

Former Presenters

• Jim Gray - Now at XFM Manchester as Breakfast Show producer
• Andy May - Now presenter at BBC Radio 5Live and recently was sports reporter on BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat

Education Centre

Takeover Radio offers training to children aged between 8 to 14 years old who want to take up a career in radio or media. The full training course lasts for 10 weeks and lessons cover everything from production to presenting. After 10 weeks and having fully completed the course, the children then take up a place presenting on the Next Generation Show (Sundays 6pm to 8pm) before eventually moving on to present and produce their own show.

As well as this, Takeover Radio also has links with local education organistations and runs similar courses for children and teenagers involved in those organistations and groups.

See also

• List of radio stations in the United Kingdom