Radio That Knits Rural Perthshire Together

A phone call during lockdown set off a chain of events that reshaped local media in Perthshire. We sit down with Dave Mack and Scoogs to unpack how an online experiment became the force behind a revived Heartland FM—keeping a vital FM signal alive where DAB drops out, building a trusted What’s On guide, and turning a humble studio into a community classroom.

We talk through the sound of the station: a melodic, easy daytime mix built for shops, cafes, surgeries, and workplaces, then a nightly switch to volunteer‑led specialty shows—folk, jazz, Celtic rock, classical, country, and Scottish music. Consistent slots make it easy to find your genre, while the Listen Again feature on the app and website lets you catch up anytime. Behind the mic, the Heartland Radio Foundation powers an education pipeline. With National Lottery support, the Heartland Academy now delivers SQA‑approved radio skills, giving students hands‑on training in audio production, interviewing, scripting, and public speaking. Teacher training multiplies that impact across schools, and adult courses help towns launch their own community podcasts.

We also explore the engine room of growth: a redesigned website with self‑serve event listings, fast local news on socials, and real proof that promotion drives turnout. Venues are seeing more people through the door and more “heard it on Heartland FM” moments. Dave breaks down why FM still matters in hilly terrain, how online listening is rising, and why radio advertising works through memory and repetition. And if you’ve ever wanted to get involved, we share clear paths to volunteer, present, or partner—plus what a strong demo looks like and how we support new voices with training.

If local music, practical news, and real community impact matter to you, this conversation shows how a small station can be a big connector. Subscribe, share with a friend in Perthshire, and leave a review to help more people find the show.

Transcript

Meet The Hosts And Mission

SPEAKER_02 0:06

Hi, I'm Andrew McGarva. I'm rector at Morris's Academy in Crieef and I'm delighted to be here for Strathairn Stories with uh two very key gentlemen who are with Heartland FM. I'm very fortunate as a musician to be a volunteer presenter with Heartland FM, but today we're going to find out a little bit more about the station and everything around this amazing charity that is based right here in the centre of Persia. So in the studio I've got Dave Mack and I've also got Scoogs, and we are going to find out a little bit more about Heartland FM today. So, gentlemen, Dave, would you be able to tell me a little bit about how you got involved with this amazing charity?

Lockdown Origins And Radio Earn

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Yes, well, it's actually down to the person uh sitting next to me, to be honest, uh Scoogs here, because uh during the the the height the heady days of lockdown in 2020, I got this random phone call uh and it basically went along the lines of uh are you the person I need to speak to to start a radio station? And that was almost the the first words that were said to me. Uh and during the lockdown days when it was, you know, things were a bit boring to say the least, I thought, well, in for a penny, in for a pound. And it turned out what was uh happening was uh Creative Creef, the charity, were looking to start up a radio station or look into starting a radio station for Creef in Strathairn. And uh because I've worked in the industry for pretty much all my life on a professional level, uh someone somehow got the the name over to those guys about me and they asked my my advice on it. Uh so basically I said yeah, because up until that point I don't think this this area had any coverage really as regards radio outside BBC or Radio T, which principally has been a Dundee station uh over the past 30, 40 years. So I said yes, I said, but you've got challenges, uh, and that being mainly transmission, because there at that point there was no more scope for FM licenses or DAB in Perlshire from Ofcom. So the idea came along to start up an online station uh which was at Radio Earn. So if you're from Creek, you'll remember Radio Wern on the High Street, and it went really successfully. Um we started off with uh a good schedule of local presenters uh that were doing on a voluntary basis the programmes for us, which was great. Um excellent studios as well, it has to be said. Uh the the investment was fantastic and uh the studios were better than than some commercial stations I've worked on over the years, so it was it was a testament to the committee who put that together. But there was always the um there was always the thing in the back of the head that they could never be what they wanted to be, which was a terrestrial broadcasting radio station because of Ofcom's laws on no more FM. Um so it came down to the wire where we had the conversation and we thought the only way to do this if they want to be and achieve the the ambition of becoming this um broadcasting station would be to take over another radio station's licence. Now, obviously, we don't want to be in a situation where stations are in trouble. That's that's that's never what we want to do.

Saving Heartland FM And Expanding Coverage

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Um but sadly, Heartland FM and Pit Lochry, which have been going for many, many years, um, fell into financial difficulty. And that became common knowledge through the radio journals, which I obviously look at very carefully week on week when they come out. So that gave the opportunity for me as consultant to go to the board of directors and say there is an opportunity here to approach the current owners of Heartland FN, the current charity, to see if there's any way that we could take the station over, keep it going, and extend its licence. They wouldn't give us a new licence just for the Creef area, but the precedent was there to actually extend a current licence, and that's how it all came about. So we were able at that point to go to Ofcom, ask for an extension of the licence to cover Lowland Perthshire, to cover Creef Octarda and Strathairn and Strath Allen areas, and then tag that on to the existing Highland Perthshire area, um, and that's how it was done. So we're able to take the station over, relocate it into Creef and Radio Air, and became Heartland FM. So that's that's the history.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Okay, so we've got Heartland FM radio station, but even more than that, we've also got Heartland FM as a massive charity. And Scoogs, I think you'd be able to share a little bit of what personality involves.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

That was actually the short version of what happened, but you know, I think to cut the long story short, when we had the idea initially of a radio station, it was it was as simple as a conversation one night in a pub of what what is what do we not have in this area? There are so many fantastic amenities and facilities and places to go, and there's so many amazing charities. What what do we not have that could really add to this place that we all love? And uh in conversation with um with a friend of mine, we we had the idea of a radio station. It is something, as Dave said, that we've never had in this area. And the original idea that having a radio station with you know musical output was one part of it, but the charitable side of it and the community side of it was always a massive part of it. Um and through Radio Earn we made lots of links with local community groups and charities and uh fast forwarding when we uh collaborated with Heartland FM and subsequently took them over and branched out and then extended, we could then really boost our charity and what we could give back to the community. So we uh were able now to provide all the way from you know almost Dalwinia is our reach, you know, down to Dunblane. So the whole of Highland Pershere, Lowland Pershire, every rural community in between every nook and cranny there was how we can tie those communities together. You know, a lot of these places are uh you know out on their own in the sticks that that don't get the news coverage, the stories, the the publicity that uh that they deserve. So that's something that as a media outlet we can now provide. And we've really pushed forward with our mission of providing key services to the local community, of collaborating with community groups, organisations, charities, businesses to really promote the entire area. Um and most recently we've actually managed to branch out even further. One of our key aims of a charity is to provide opportunities, education, skills training and education to the people in the local area, so how we can use Heartland FM and our studios uh to provide opportunities for others.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Okay. Well, look, I'm going to ask you a wee bit about all the charity, but all those opportunities

What Heartland FM Sounds Like

SPEAKER_02 6:40

for young people. But the first thing, if I was someone in their 50s, 60s, 40s, 30s, listening to Radio 1, 2, whatever, and you were trying to get me to come on to Heartland FM. So maybe this over to you, Dave. What are the things that you can get, get the listeners, what is it I can hear on Heartland FM through the week? Is it just your same old, same old sort of playlist that you get in the BBC or your TFMs, or is it something a bit better?

SPEAKER_00 7:06

It's a bit different, I would say, to be honest, Andrew. So what we try and do at Heartland FM is provide something that's um similar to in daytime what you would hear on Radio 2, or maybe more greatest hits radio than than T. You know, it's a more of a middle-of-the-road type of playlist that we have. But the idea is going back to an old principle of radio from years ago that Radio 2 used to be quite heavy on and was successful. And that is where you have a general playlist on during the day, which is accessible to almost everyone. Uh so the idea that we have with our policy is that between the hours of six in the morning and sort of six in the evening, uh our offering can be listened to universally in pubs, cafes, shops, doctor surgeries, all these public local places where people can sort of come together in a workplace and sing along to the songs that they hear on the radio, but interspersed with that, have good local information. So, one thing that we get a lot of sort of praise for through our listeners that get in touch with us is our what's on guides, uh, which we do on every program throughout the day, the day part. And that features all all sorts of things from jumble sales all the way through to yoga classes, um, there's even board games nights in some of our local uh social clubs and community centres. It it's a great way to get the information out. As Scoogs mentioned earlier, there are some areas in Perthshire that can only pick up Heartland FM because of the geography of the area. Lucky them. So we actually have a captive audience, whether it's a good thing or a bad thing is some is for someone else to work out. Uh but because of that, you know, these are the things that bring those communities together. Because if you're in a small hamlet or a small town or a small village and there's nothing going on in your area, there might be something in the next again village, the next again town that will appeal to you. And unless you hear about it or see it somewhere, you're not going to know about it. Um and the principle of Heartland many years ago, when it started back in 1992, pre-internet, was that Heartland was that conduit to try and find out what was going on in those other villages and towns all around you. And I think that continues to this day.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

So you talk about the six to six, and you've got great playlists and lots of information. What about outside of those hours and at weekends? What are the sort of things listeners can can look out for then?

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Yeah, well, on the six to six itself, obviously, speaking of the sort of music we play, I mean we play everything from the sixties all the way to the present day. Um but it has a more melodic feel to it. Um we're well aware that the the sort of audience demographic in this area is of the slightly older generation, and we do cater for that principally, but then again, we do cater for younger audiences. Um

Specialist Shows And Listen Again

SPEAKER_00 9:33

after six, seven o'clock at night, we do have our specialist programmes, and that's where our volunteer force of presenters really come into the fore, which of course you're one of them, Andrew. Um but on uh different nights of the week we have folk shows, we have jazz shows, we have Celtic rock, uh, we've got country, we've got um there's various classical as well, the Scottish music. Uh so it really covers all bases, and we've got loads of variety there. So it's what I call uh sort of point point of listen. Um so just like you would tune the TV in at seven o'clock on a a Monday night for Emmerdale, you know for a fact if you tune into Heartland FM on a Tuesday evening at seven o'clock, the folk show is going to be there. You can hear folk music. So it's all about stability as well, to make sure that when the schedule comes out week on week, people can rely on what they're gonna hear when they turn on at whatever time of the day or night, they know what's going to be there. So it's all about that stability.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

And if they can't tune in on time, there's also a catch-up service, isn't there?

SPEAKER_00 10:28

We absolutely do, yeah. Nearly all of our programs uh are available on or a catch-up service, which is available both on the app and on our website. Just click on the listen again uh feature. And again, that's something that uh most smaller community stations like us tend not to have. Um, you know, I think we we do sort of punch above our weight in many ways with what we do with the small level of staff and volunteers and resources that we actually have. We try and give the best possible service we can.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Excellent, thank you.

Training Young People Through Heartland Academy

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Um right, Scooks, back to the charity. So you were saying that we wanted to use Heartland FM and the premises and everything to create opportunities for young people. What are the types of opportunities we're talking about?

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Um so most recently, what we started up around this time last year, we we've always had the concept of providing skills, opportunities, training, education. And we were very lucky to receive uh funding from the national lottery. We we wrote a bid to them with our vision of wanting to fill gaps within education. You know, as a teacher by day I understand the importance of pupils getting the skills and the opportunities that they require that are maybe not they're not there, they're not present for a whole host of reasons within schools. So we knew there was a gap. I knew there are children out there that uh have gaps in timetables because there's just that one thing missing that they're that they would love to do. So we uh pitched an idea of being able to provide uh radio podcasting technical skills uh for children, and we we teamed up uh with a college um down in Cumbernauld who uh provided this training to get some ideas of how we could do it up here. So they were a great help with us, and when we wrote to the national lottery, they uh jumped on board with it, they thought this was a fantastic idea. So we've had a brilliant education officer working with us and we set up the Heartland Academy. As part of that, we teamed up with Octa Arder High School, and we were they they became the first school through Heartland FM and um Commodore College to provide a radio skills course at SQA level, SQA approved. And uh they've just recently uh received their um they've just finished all their coursework, all their qualifications in this and are due to get an SQA qualification. Now these are three pupils um who did not have full timetables, who would have finished their year with that gap and are now coming out to the end of the year with recognised qualifications in something that they are really, really interested in. So that is something that we want to take forward. And how how you think taking that one forward then? So we've got there there are various avenues of how to do that. One that we're currently working on is like, well, we've worked with one school, we've had a couple of kids and it's been a great success. But actually,

Scaling Education: Teacher Training And SQA Pathways

SPEAKER_01 13:25

how do we how do we make sure we're not missing kids that have maybe missed that opportunity? So Dave and Michelle, who is our education officer, recently um went to uh an in-service day, and they trained the teachers and they showed the teachers how they can use these skills and this equipment to to their benefit within the learning and the learning and teaching in the classroom. So by training the teachers, you then have a wider audience because they will use that with all the pupils that they do. And uh even more recently, we went and presented at the recent head teacher forum at Perth and Kinross, where we pitched an idea to the heads of authority to say we know there's a gap here, we know there are opportunities missing, we've got the facilities, we've got the trained, skilled staff, we've got fantastic volunteers who can provide that. So what we are currently looking at is being able to provide that platform and push it out across as many schools as possible and make links through transition processes with community link workers and community link assistants as well.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

That sounds impressive. Well, and Dave, so what was it like teaching the teachers?

SPEAKER_00 14:39

It was good. I mean, uh obviously I did the kids. Were they good students? They were very good students, actually. And the good thing was there were there were a couple of spongies that were fantastic, they were soaking this up, they were loving doing it. And it helped the fact that both of them were avid podcast listeners as well, so they they were they were right into the whole concept of how it was put together. And I believe since we've left them, they have actually produced a couple of podcasts for the school. Um so they now have the kit, they now have the experience, and we've uh sort of shook their hand and let them go on with it now and go to the wide world and see what they can produce.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Wow, goodness me. So so what what's the vision now? Because we've got the radio station, we've got the the charitable side of it as well, really impacting young people in the area. So what is the vision for Heartland FM?

SPEAKER_01 15:24

So suppose the vision is is twofold. We have you know very much under the Heartland Radio Foundation, we have the commercial pro professional radio service that we want to provide to all areas that we cover.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

So I'll let Dave cover that bit and then you can come back to me by the other side of it.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

Yeah,

Vision: Service, News, And One‑Stop Local Hub

SPEAKER_00 15:40

absolutely. I mean, obviously the the station itself is um is a commercial station by law under the Ofcom uh code. It is actually a commercial radio station rather than a uh a community station. And that goes way back to the early days of Heartland being one of the first, if not the first, uh community radio station in the UK, actually run by a charity. And back in those days there was no such thing as a community radio licence, there was only one, hence the reason we ended up with a commercial licence that all the big stations have, which has its pros and it has its cons, which is absolutely fine. Uh, but uh what we want to do from here obviously is kick on, get the services as good as we possibly can. It'd be great to have some more uh bodies on board to help us achieve that as well. It's difficult, obviously, if you're asking for volunteers to do uh skilled roles as we are, especially in daytime where people are working. Um and also just make sure that we can get the best possible service out there. Things like news, for example. Um, one of the things we've seen recently is that we've started doing local news stories on our social media and on the station website. Um, and this is just by the the the limited staff we have actually picking things up and reposting them and making people aware of what's happening locally. Uh but that alone has seen us in the last month uh reach over 120,000 clicks on our um on our Facebook page, which is a 40% increase in the last month alone since we started doing that. So and that plus six thousand clicks on the news stories on our website. So all these things are uh are things where we can really grow the station. And where we ultimately want to be, if we can get there, is to make sure that people in Perthshire, when they want to know what's going on, whether it be a news story or a traffic story or whatever's going on, what's on, they come to Heartland FM either on air, through our social media, or through our website to find out that information, to be what I call the one-stop shop. It's a cheesy line, but it's ultimately what I hope we become in the end.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Yeah, and then as far as the the range of the radio station, the FM reach, is there any scope for it to go beyond like further into further over to East or you know, is there any scope for development of that?

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Uh at the moment, no. Um I'll be very honest with you. The cost of running an FM service is is very, very expensive, and that's where we sometimes obviously struggle when it comes down to the financial side as a charity to make sure we can keep that going because uh that that's where the the most of the cost actually is. We are disadvantaged slightly

FM Vs DAB And Why Local Matters

SPEAKER_00 18:02

because generally across the UK right now, digital radio DAB as you probably know it best is the primary source of listening to radio 42% currently on the on the Rajar stats, um whereas FM's only 24%. But in this area, if you drive around Creef in particular and try and listen to a DAB radio station, it's remember Norman Collier with the old microphone back in the 70s, that comedy act, it's like that, it cuts out all over the place. Um because and it's because of the geography, the hills in the area, um, and without being too technical about it, digital broadcasting works on a point-to-point basis. Yeah, and if there's something in in between you and the transmitter, it stops working. Whereas the old analogue will find its way around and it might hiss a little bit, but you can still pick up and still listen to it. Yeah. With DAB, you can't do that. Um, and because there is no scope for DAB in the area, we can only ever really be FM unless some things change, you know, on a fundamental status down the line. I think so.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Sorry, but I think you know, part of that is actually to our benefit, is as a charity, we we focus on the communities that we serve. You know, so by by not branching out and being something bigger doesn't always mean better. What we want to do is what we do and do it very well, and we want to provide that for our community. Lowland Persher, Highland Perser, and stick by the key aims that the Heartland Radio Foundation have always been about, and that is linking those communities together, providing opportunities, providing skills, and being that source of you know community and local outlet.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

That's head, schools. That's a good point that Andrew made because the the DAB thing is obviously a question we do get asked a lot because in in the car now, as standard, where it used to be AM and FM back in the day, and a cassette player if you're old enough, um, nowadays it's DAB which is the primary source of radio. And people often ask the question why are you not on DAB? And the simple answer is because the provision is not there. We can't in this area, it just doesn't exist.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

But we've got the internet, heartlandfm.co.uk.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Absolutely, yeah, and the smart speakers as well. And um going by the stats that I run earlier today, just before we came in here to check this out, yeah, um, it's showing that that's there's a massive uptick on people listening online, uh, which is fantastic. It's it's great. Um, but again, in some of the areas where broadband isn't the best, and that is the case in some areas of Perthshire, that's why having the the old-fashioned analogue A FM does come into its own.

SPEAKER_02 20:23

Oh, that works brilliantly. And then Scooks, I think you were going to go into something next about the the sort of vision for the charity.

Community Outreach, Self‑Serve Listings, And Results

SPEAKER_01 20:30

Yeah, so the vision is just to for the charity side of it, is to push that forward. And um we're making a lot of inroads with community organizations, charities, community groups, um the community councils as well has been a key focus this year. We've had an outreach officer going around all our different areas and linking up with the the community councils to to say we're here, we have got a massive reach across the whole of Lowland Highland Persia. If you've got things happening, use us as your one-stop shop and we will be the ones that can publicly put out all your information. So um we've got a couple of community councils on board already who are actively sharing all this stuff with us. We've redesigned our whole website. Um, we've got Lewis who worked for us, who is just fantastic and what he's managed to do with our website to make it such a community asset in itself, because now people can upload their what's on themselves so they don't have to email in, wait for a response, find out what they want to put up. They can input all the details themselves on our website, and that will then get added to our what's on guide so people can self-promote and they can use us as the forum to do that. Um, so we've been linking up with the community councils to get them to do that as well. We've done a lot of work of highlighting the great services that are across the community, and we want to continue that. We've had a highlight on the high street recently, which has gone around some some local businesses, some local charities, and just getting the word out there of look at the amazing things that we have here. Let's use them, let's utilize them, let's but not just for the local people, but to bring people in. You know, we because we're online we have listeners all over the world and you know, all over the country that start hearing where we are and what the what are what's available. So you hear them on the radio, all of a sudden they come. So we'd we'd love to do more community work like that.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

But um There's a great case study as well, which is worth mentioning, and that's uh Octorada, which is one of the areas we've been uh sort of working quite hard on because and for some reason in the radio earned days we couldn't quite crack Octorada.

How To Volunteer Or Present

SPEAKER_00 22:26

It was one of those places that we tried and didn't quite didn't quite get there. Um and Kaylee, who uh Scooks mentioned there, has been doing our community outreach work. She's been doing a phenomenal job, just sort of infiltrating the the local organizations and community groups there. And the one the big one is the picture house, yes, um, which seems to be the sort of hub of where most of these um events tend to happen in in Octo Arda. And they've been taking part in adult education courses with us uh over the past few weeks to learn to do their own community podcast in the town. Um and just a few weeks ago, when I was doing the training with them, the first thing the sort of head of the organisation said to me was he shook my hand and he said, Since we've started using Heartland to promote our uh our events, we have seen a huge uptick in the amount of people coming and they're all mentioning the fact that they heard it on Heartland FM or saw it through our website on the What's On Guide.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

Well that's brilliant. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

And as a result of that, we are now gladly inundated now with with uh people from Alton Arda getting in touch with us saying, Can you can you mention this event? Can you talk about that?

SPEAKER_02 23:26

Well, that's super.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

Which is exactly what we want to do across the the whole of rural Perthshire. Um and it's a great case study. They they really are seeing the benefit in working with us. So we we urge anyone um locally who wants to get the get the information about what they do, come and speak to us.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Brilliant. So if if I'm listening to this podcast right now or watching it, and I'm thinking I'd love to do some presenting or I'd love to do some volunteering, how do how does someone go about that?

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Yeah, principally get in touch with us. Um the address is easy to remember, it's hello at heartlandfm.co.uk, nice and easy to remember. Uh, and we'll get back in touch with you. If you do want to be a presenter, because we we do set our standards probably higher than some community radio stations without naming any names out there, we do like you to have some um not experience in broadcasting as such, but certainly send us a demo in the in the in the first instance, a voice reel, what you sound like, um just so we can get a feel for for what you are, who you are.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

Could you do that on just record it on your phone?

SPEAKER_00 24:21

You don't need any special equipment or absolutely that's absolutely fine, no problem at all with that.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

And honestly, as part of what we do, you know, following that is that provision of skills, education. You know, it's you know, if you've got that little something to begin with, we can work with that, and we'll do all you know. Dave is a full industry standard expert, you know, he will go, you know, go through all the training and what you kind of need to know and the do's and don'ts, and you know, that's something that we pride ourselves on, is what we provide as part of the service as well.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

And do you think we can maybe get some of these young people that have been through the course to be presenters and the shows?

SPEAKER_00 24:53

We'd like to do that.

Why Radio Advertising Works And How To Support

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Uh that's that's that's my hope actually, through the the educational classes we are running at the station, is that we find um some willing people or some diamonds in the rough that we can polish. Because in the in the past, um I've brought quite a few presenters through over the years, different stations I've been at, someone who are working at a very high level in the industry, um, and they've came from the small acorns as well. It's it's there. Um you can only tell within the first 10 minutes of speaking to someone if it's for them or not. If they've got the confidence to do it, they've got the voice for it, the rest we can teach. That's the only prerequisite.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

And it doesn't necessarily mean live radio. You know, there are so many different skills involved in radio production podcasts that you know from advertising, voiceovers, public speaking, these are all skills. So even if it's not radio itself you're interested in, as part of the courses we run, all of those things are incorporated. You know, people learning how to do public speaking interviews, asking questions, answering questions, how we do that. You know, if they just want to build confidence, and those are things that we can provide that they can then either take on with us or use those skills and take on to something within the same region somewhere else.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

Right. Is there anything else you think we need to let everyone know about that we've missed so far?

SPEAKER_01 26:07

I think the only thing, you know, they they've touched on how we've we've got a concept now that's clearly working. People are saying we are getting people through the door. We you know, we've we've heard back testimonies from quite a few different venues and businesses to say Since we've put the advert up, since we've put on the What's On Guide, we are getting visitors through the door, we're getting people and it and it clearly works. Um the prime example of that, another one was my dad was driving back from somewhere with my mum and she was looking for a specific shop and he instantly reeled off the says, Is that not where it is? It's a such and such high street. How do you know that he says it's on the radio, it's on Heartland every day, and it was ingrained in his head that you know these things stick.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

And that's how radio advertising works. I mean, people often think, and this is where radio advertising can be a bit of a dark art in many ways, because I always say to people who sell radio advertising when I've been sort of training people over the years in the industry, you're selling fresh air. Yeah, it's the hardest thing to sell because you can't touch it, you can't feel it, you can't smell it, it's not a product, it's such that you can quantify in any way, shape, or form. It literally is selling fresh air. Um, but the subconscious is what you're actually selling because when you hear an advert time and time again, and you can probably reel off some of it in your head right now from the TV with a catchy jingle or anything else, but in that catchy jingle is the company name, where to find them, what they do. So ultimately, when it comes to if you're looking for a service, that pops in your head subconsciously, and you go there. Yeah, and that's how radio advertising actually works. So if if anyone again, just just going back to that point, you know, we we have got instances, testimonials where this has worked for people, and obviously us as a charity organization and as a station, we rely on that to survive. Um, so you know, if if businesses want to partner with us, work with us, um, come and see what we're all about, have a chat with us, and we'll see if we can work together. And we know it works. We know it works.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

And I suppose you know that's what it comes down to for us to be able to continue the great work we do for the community, to continue to provide these skills and opportunities and education, we rely on the amazing funders we do have, on the sponsorship we get, and on these businesses that buy into the product and buy into what we can do for them. You know, we we can't survive on fresh air. We we need we rely heavily on funding, sponsorship and advertising. So you know, but it's not for free. You know, they they're not getting nothing out of it. So if we can do your business some good, yeah, it would in turn not just keep the radio station afloat, but will help to provide everything that we do as well.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

Fantastic. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Dave Scoogs.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

Thanks very much. Thank you, Andrew. Thank you.