Our Work
As a community radio station, we put as much effort and emphasis on what goes on behind the scenes as what comes out your speakers.
This page is all about giving you a peek behind the curtain at CamGlen Radio. Our core activities are:
- Training and volunteering
- Being community led and delivered
- Supporting local bands and artists
- and more!
Scroll down for more detailed info on each of the above
Training and volunteering
Since long before CamGlen Radio became a full time station, right from the very start we were clear that we wanted to make radio broadcasting an accessible, enjoyable and beneficial volunteering activity and this very much holds true to this day. Ask any of the thousands of people who have volunteered their time with CamGlen Radio in it’s lifetime!
Anyone who lives in Cambuslang, Rutherglen can just walk in our door and get involved – all we ask is for some time and enthusiasm!
We run a radio broadcast training programme for new volunteers every three months, with six sessions covering key areas: Understanding how CamGlen Radio operates, Using our broadcast system, Creating Good Radio, Audio production & Interviewing, Ofcom broadcasting code and Peer support training.
Attending training is one thing, but the REAL learning happens while delivering CamGlen Radio as a member of the volunteer team!
Being community led and delivered
CamGlen Radio is a community-led organisation but what does that actually mean? It means that volunteers not only deliver CamGlen Radio’s live programmes, produce all station audio, engineer all our live bands etc, but are involved behind the scenes in a range of decision-making committees and working groups, for example: station playlist & artist promotions, station programming & scheduling, news team, events team, technical team and more! Who better to make decisions for CamGlen Radio than the volunteer team that delivers it!
Supporting local bands and artists
Since we began our full-time broadcasting in March 2015, we made the decision that a third of all the music we play will be from up and coming local bands and artists, and not just on music programmes in the evenings and weekends but as part of our daytime music playlist!
We received hundreds of demos and new releases from bands and artists across Scotland and our playlist team pick the best of the bunch to feature on our playlist and to make someone our featured artist!
Pick any of our specialist evening and weekend music shows and there are few who have not hosted a full blown live performance in the studio, professionally engineered by our tech team, filmed on multiple cameras and produced into social media and Youtube fodder for all to enjoy!
Live music events
CamGlen Radio is based in Number 18 - a community facility with studios, training space and a 90 capacity live music venue!
We exclusively book artists and bands who have been featured on CamGlen Radio, to come perform at our bi-monthly live events (see link below for an example of a recent gig).
Our aim is to bring fresh, raw talent to a well-equipped venue for people living in Cambuslang and Rutherglen to enjoy & have a smashing night of great music; all while treating artists fairly (e.g. paying them and looking after them!) and producing music videos (like the one above).
COVID-19
Like the rest of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to completely change how we operate, but here at CamGlen Radio, we are extremely proud of the fact that we never ceased broadcasting fresh content. Our volunteers have been working hard from home, using the resources that they have to hand to record great quality content. To those volunteers who don't have the resources, we have provided the equipment to be able to record. Some of our volunteers have stepped up to the plate to produce shows for others. We have even invited a range of guest presenters to provide content for us, allowing for some of the musicians that we have worked with over the years to continue building their audiences in light of all shows being cancelled for the time being.
Our What's On team have continued to keep CamGlen residents up to date with local services that are available and we are now broadcasting our community announcements every hour, ensuring that locals always have the most up to date information.
Our funded work
As a community led organisation we mostly sustain our running costs & activities by applying for and receiving grants / funding. This enables us to deliver our core activities as well as giving us the capacity to do new and exciting things!
Here are some current funded activities:
CamGlen Peer Support Programme
Funded by:
Integrated Care Fund
When?
June 2016 - Present
What did we do?
This funding allowed us to focus on expanding our capacity to provide supported volunteering placements for people who have a range of personal difficulties / challenges, for example - issues with poor mental health, learning difficulties, low confidence, low self esteem, physical impairments and other acute long term conditions. We have always welcomed and supported people from a range of backgrounds and of varied ability, but since 2016 with this funding in place we have massively increased the number of supported volunteers delivering CamGlen Radio: A third of our entire volunteer workforce (of 100) are people who have or have had difficulties.
Supported volunteers are either involved via groups for example the Information Station show (Tuesdays 1-2pm), the Community Focus show (Wednesdays 1-2pm) or individually. Support is tailored to each person’s specific needs or requirements, with the aim being for all volunteers to participate fully in running CamGlen Radio.
Volunteering gives people a sense of purpose, of belonging. It increases people’s skills and work experience and also gives a boost to their well-being.
CamGlen Radio – Community Led activity
Funded by:
National Lottery Community Fund
When?
April 2018 – March 2021
What did we do?
This Lottery Community Fund monies has supported CamGlen Radio to continue being a community led project – keeping volunteers at the front and centre of delivering the station and involved in key decision making every step of the way.
No volunteers = no CamGlen Radio!
It’s a simple but effective formula: empower volunteers to take responsibility and ownership of a community project like CamGlen Radio, remove worries about finances, ensure volunteers are not out of pocket, provide training, support & encouragement, ensure facilities and equipment are fit for purpose & fully functional and see great things happen!
Previous funding includes:
CamGlen Commemorates the Centenary: Remembering and Learning about the First World War
Funded by:
When?
May 2018 – January 2019
What did we do?
With Heritage Lottery Funding in place over a relatively short period (eight months), we set to work with a campaign to engage with local people to share stories of their families and how they were affected by the First World War. We also appealed for loans of WW1 related artefacts. We interviewed & recorded over 50 people, worked with 80 local school pupils to conduct research and ultimately used all the content to create a four – part WW1 documentary, with a very local focus. You can listen to the shows here.
In addition, we hosted four pop up exhibitions across Cambuslang and Rutherglen, bringing some of our recordings, research and artefacts to the doorstep of local people to experience.
LGBTIQ Radio Inclusiveness project
Funded by:
When?
Aug 2017 – March 2018
What did we do?
Initially we forged connections to a range of LGBT+ organisations across Glasgow and put out a public call for members of the LGBT+ community to join the CamGlen Radio team!
The two key aims of this funded work was to introduce CamGlen Radio to LGBT+ organisations as a viable platform for raising awareness of news, services & activities and to recruit a number of volunteers from the LGBT+ community, train them to make great radio and get them on air!
We currently have two weekly LGBT+ programmes on CamGlen Radio – Born this Way and LGBT Lives.
