THE University’s of Bedfordshire’s radio station, Radio LaB, celebrated its second birthday last week.
The station, formerly known as Luton FM, was granted a community radio licence in 2010, and since then has been going from strength to strength.
It broadcasts across Luton and Bedfordshire, and plays everything from new bands to poetry written and read by members of the public.
It is run by students, five of whom act as station managers, under the supervision of principal lecturer in radio, Dr Janey Gordon.
“We’re very pleased with how the station has come on,” said Dr Gordon.
“We had a whole series of temporary licences for 13 years, so now we have a full time community licence and we’ve moved into a purpose built studio.
“For the students it’s great because it’s a real, on-air station. But we use it in all sorts of different ways, getting people from the community involved.
“And we play music that isn’t really heard elsewhere, trying to encourage new musicians.”
More than 100 people attended a party to mark Radio LaB’s second birthday at the university’s student union on Friday night, with DJ sets and live music from Shades of Sound.
One of the station’s managers, 21-year-old Niall Dunkley, said Radio LaB was different from any other station.
“We have got the freedom to offer content that you won’t find on other stations,” he said.
“Our programming is aimed at students in the afternoon and evenings, but obviously they’re not really around in the mornings, so we have our breakfast show, which plays music from the 60s, 70s and 80s.
“It’s non-stop music and we’ve had lots of really good feedback from the public on that, people love the music.”
In the evening the station plays specialist music shows from the student DJs.
Tune in to Radio LaB on 97.1fm, and for more information visit www.beds.ac.uk/radiolab