AN UNDERGROUND music station is looking to branch out to a wider audience with an FM licence.

Community radio station 1 Brighton FM wants to bridge the lack of “collective mentality” in the city’s music scene.

Influenced by Brighton’s famed club culture, the station’s playlist ranges from rockabilly to techno.

Mickey Jukes and fellow directors Chris Galloway and Sam Buckley, operate from a basement under a shop in Western Road, Hove, after starting a community interest company incorporating the radio station.

According to Ofcom rules, community radio stations must cover a small area and are run on a not-for-profit basis.

Mickey said: “We are not going to appeal to everybody’s ears but the feedback we have had so far has been very good.

“We have been very proactive and are currently selling advertising. But we keep it very much in what we do – we only want five ads an hour at 20 seconds each.

“We feel we can live comfortably without being a commercial station.”

Initially self-funded, Mickey added: “It’s just growing but I can’t keep up at the moment.”

Operational since last November, Mickey said he was expecting the set-up to look “pretty plush” over the coming months.

The 43-year-old said: “I have a varied taste in music from the underground club culture.

“Brighton’s a big musical hub and there’s a lot on but it didn’t seem to me that there was a big collective mentality compared with Bristol or Manchester.”

With shows ranging from rockabilly through to house and techno, 1 Brighton FM is roping in promoters to keep the programming fresh.

Mr Jukes said: “We put an awful lot into this but we are not interested in creating competition. We are providing a service that nobody else is, so we are not treading on anybody’s toes.”

The team are looking to get an endorsement from the University of Brighton and work with other local stations, too.

Ofcom is planning to advertise FM licences for community radio stations in the South East later this year.

 

• Background

Juice 107.2 has put a bid in for a nine-month DAB trial, which would allow the commercial station to bring other community stations into the wider sphere.

The other stations in its application to Ofcom are Radio Reverb, Brighton City Student Radio, Resonance FM, internet station Totally Radio and existing DAB service Smile Sussex.

Daniel Nathan, chief executive of Juice 107.2, said: “We are always very supportive and enthusiastic about people doing new and interesting things in radio in the city.”

Ofcom will make a decision on DAB applications in due course.