Christmas Comes Early for Inishowen Community Radio!

Inishowen Community Radio (ICR) is celebrating Christmas early this year with the news that it has won not one, not two, but THREE awards at the inaugural national community radio awards held in Athlone. The event was organised by Craol, the national forum representing community radio in Ireland. The Craol Achievement Awards were for 'The Sunday Sports Show' (Sports Category), 'Lets Talk Old Times' (Commissioned Programming), and 'Learning With Kitty & Joey' (Arts & Culture).

Everyone involved with the local station is understandably delighted with the news. "This is great news," said Station Manager Jim Doherty "and shows what a talented, hard-working and dedicated crew of people we have here at the station. I think it's important to point out that much of the credit here goes to the army of volunteers and contributors who worked on the programmes. This is the community making programmes for the community, a large part of what we're about."

The main purpose behind the Craol awards is to recognise programming that involves and contributes to the local community and that promotes the ethos of community development. "Anyone in the community can get involved in making radio programmes, there's no great mystery to it," Jim said "it gives people satisfaction on many levels and everyone has their own reasons for getting involved. Community radio has a role to play in helping the community and we're delighted for this acknowledgement that we're doing it well."

There was further good news for the station with the decision by the BCI to approve funding for the Sunday Sports Show, one of the shows that won a Craol award. The show, which has been going for a year now, will continue to be funded until the end of 2009. "The funding will ensure that we can keep the show on the road for another year. It will cover about two-thirds of the costs and the station will cover the rest. The show is truly a community effort as there are so many volunteers, sporting groups, clubs and contributors involved. Also, the contribution of the local press is vital to the shows quality and its continued success," said Jim.

The BCI acknowledged the strong community involvement in the programme and its role in promoting local sporting activity as deciding factors in approving the funding application.

Back