Park Radio director thanks station's volunteers and listeners

Park Radio’s station director has said he wants the community to know the broadcaster is still going strong – even after having to leave its home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision to vacate Diss Youth and Community Centre, in Shelfanger Road, was taken around seven weeks ago, with its presenters and off air support teams now working from their respective homes.

Chris Moyse said: “Technology is such a wonderful thing and, although we are broadcasting our service in a slightly different way than usual, we are still managing to produce live and pre-recorded content in exactly the same way.

“Monday to Friday, from 7am to 4pm, our live programmes are coming from three different locations in the area, which is incredible, and just shows how dedicated we are to still bringing people the high-quality music, local news and information that they expect from us.”

Mr Moyse said the station’s 46 volunteers have really stepped up to the challenge and feels this is because they are all dedicated to the continuing aims of Park Radio.

He said: “We all have an obligation to our community to keep ourselves on the air and help them through these strange times.

“We have all really fought exceptionally hard – under the banner of “cometh the hour, cometh the man” – and it is just amazing what we have managed to achieve over the last six weeks.”

The station has grown from broadcasting test transmissions from the basement of Candies shoe shop in Diss in 2010, to now broadcasting 24 hours a day to Diss, Harleston, Eye and the surrounding villages in the Waveney Valley.

With its listeners in lockdown, Mr Moyse feels the station’s upbeat and positive output is now more important than ever and wants to continue that.

He said: “We are providing local information that people cannot get elsewhere on their radio and we aim to lift people’s spirits.

“Another thing we have added is phone interviews, from MP Richard Bacon, Diss Town Council leader Simon Olander and community groups and service providers as we want listeners to hear how Covid-19 is affecting everyone.

“We have received lots of messages of support and appreciation from the public and are very grateful for them still tuning in. Our listeners think of us as part of their extended family, which is really lovely.”