Station's bid to stay on the air

A Radio station based in St Paul's has been hailed a success afterbeing on the air for a month and now hopes to be granted a long-termlicence.

Ujima Radio, which played a mix of African, Caribbean and Asianmusic, was set up and run by 150 students and staff at the SEED mediacentre in Dean Street.

Ujima, which means "people coming together" in Swahili, broadcastmulti-cultural music and programmes on local issues throughoutFebruary under a trial licence.

Bristol West MP Valerie Davey presented students with certificatesfor their commitment to the radio station after its trial period cameto an end on March 4.

Tim Kirby of the SEED centre, who founded the radio station withKevin Philemon, said: "The month trial was very successful, even moreso than we expected.

"We have had lots of positive feedback from our listeners and hopethis will help us to put in a strong bid for a five-year licence."

Mr Kirby said there was no way of measuring how many listeners thestation had, but said they could judge that it was proving popularwith listeners from the number of phones calls and emails theyreceived. He said: "Most of our shows were speech-based, dealing withcommunity issues.

"We would discuss anything from Fair Trade to domestic abuse."

The station was on air seven days a week from 7am to 12am and thenplayed a mix of multi-cultural music through the night.

Natasha Park, aged 27, was one of the presenters of the communityshow at the station.

Miss Park, who lives in Clifton, had been studying media at theSEED centre for 10 weeks and said presenting the radio station was avery exciting experience.

She said: "I learned so much about St Paul's and I think it was areally positive thing for the area.

"We got extremely good feedback.

"I think we have a good chance of getting the licence."

The radio station will put its bid to Ofcom, the independentregulator and competition authority for the UK communicationsindustries, later this year.