East Leeds FM
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East Leeds FM (ELFM) is a community radio station based in Leeds, England. The station started in 2003 when Heads Together, a Huddersfield based community arts organisation, joined forces with local ease Leeds high school John Smeaton. The two organisations had worked together previously on a number of projects but when the idea of a radio station was put on the table pupils, teachers and Heads Together staff agreed that this was an opportunity not to be missed.
But, very quickly, it was extended to all sections of the East Leeds community: young people from primary and high schools all round the area, and a whole range of interested adults. In fact the age range of people involved in the last broadcast (November 2005) was three to eighty seven years young.
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[edit] Original Aims
To encourage active communication between people of all ages in the communities of East Leeds
To encourage debate about the key issues in the communities of East Leeds and discussion as to how to make the area a better place to live
To give a voice to and to tell the stories of all those people and organisations who are making a difference to the area
To showcase local talent in writing, music, etc
To help affirm a positive identity for the area
To have some fun
[edit] Previous Broadcasts
As of writing (June 2006) ELFM is in the middle of its fifth broadcast. Previous ones were:
Summer 2003 - 2 weeks based at Tesco Extra, Seacroft
Easter 2004 - 2 weeks based at Ring Road, Crossgates Summer 2005 - 1 week based at Roundhay High School, Roundhay (ELFM presents Unity Radio)
November 2005 - 1 week based at Alston Lane, Seacroft
June 2006 - 3 weeks. Week 1 - East Park Community Association, East End Park. Week 2 - Old Housing Office, Lincoln Green. Week 3 - ROundhay High School, Roundhay
[edit] Major Themes
Any ELFM broadcast has a whole range of programming and creative ideas. For the last two broadcasts we have taken major themes: issues concerning refugees and asylum seekers in the summer of 2005, Seacroft Surestart and the EASEL plans in December 2005. Some of the key themes for the summer 2006 broadcast are as follows:
BREEZE
Following discussions with the organisers of Breeze9, the station will promote the activities of the festival including links with all the schools involved; live link-ups from the showcase events at the Carriageworks; profiling the achievements of young artists; and international links with the countries from where the young people are coming from. A partnership with Breeze will also mean inclusion in their publicity to young people around the city, and the possibility of using the Big Screen in Millennium Square as a city centre showcase for ELFM.
EASEL
EASEL is a massive regeneration project planned for East and South East Leeds; over a billion pounds of investment over the next 20 years. A key factor in the success of any regeneration project is effective consultation that involves local people and encourages them to share ownership of the overall vision as well as contributing to the detail of the plans. ELFM first broadcast a series of five one-hour programmes about EASEL in the Alston Lane broadcast in December 2005. ‘Eastern Promise’ provided an opportunity for local residents, councillors, council officers and professionals to discuss the ideas, the vision and the process. The series of programmes had one of the biggest audiences of the broadcasts and we have had many requests to continue tracking and discussing EASEL through our coming broadcasts.10 We will be developing the Eastern Promise strand throughout the 2006 broadcast, working closely with the East Leeds Area Management Team, East and South East Leeds Housing, Yorkshire Planning Aid, and others.
Working with education
ELFM has always worked to include schools in its programming – for example through an afternoon “In and Out of School” segment. Obviously Roundhay has a major involvement and, as last year, we will be working with Roundhay’s feeder primary schools as part of their transition programme. John Smeaton Community High School is involved as always, with the English Department working with a writer-in-residence towards some radio drama work for the broadcast. It’s a key time for John Smeaton with the new Academy about to open in Seacroft and Smeaton itself being rebuilt including a new community sports facility. The school is determined to use ELFM as a means of communicating with families and potential families in East Leeds. Every time we run ELFM, we involve the local primary schools; we plan to do the same this time. We will start by running a competition for programme ideas amongst local schools, running short introductory workshops in interested schools and asking groups, classes or individuals to submit programme ideas; the winners will get to make and broadcast their programmes. With regard to further education, we are developing a good relationship with the creative writing classes run in East Leeds by Thomas Danby College; they are planning to use the broadcast as an opportunity to create and showcase new work from local students of all ages.11
And with the prison and probation service
One of the most moving moments of our first-ever broadcast was when TC brought a friend of his in – straight out of Armley – who wanted the opportunity to tell young people not to follow his example and end up in prison. So, when Mark Hudson from Yorkshire and Humberside Prison Service12 came to us to talk about the possibility of using radio as a tool in a prison setting, we were interested. We are now working with Mark to develop a strand of the summer ELFM broadcast focusing on the prison and probation service, with the involvement of staff, offenders and their families.
