1Radio is closing down (for the first time)
In July 2012, I made the surprise announcement that 1Radio would close at the end of the year. For a while I’d become a bit disheartened with the community and what seemed like constant bickering and infighting.
I was disappointed with the listener numbers, the increasing volume of no shows and last minute cancellations and was frustrated by some behind-the-scenes lobbying against individual presenters. I’d also started another community project at this time and was beginning to feel the pressure and stress of running two radio projects simultaneously.
One day, I just snapped and hit the forum.
“At the end of this year I shall be closing 1Radio. It's been a fun venture and I've enjoyed the community of presenters and listeners that have spent time here.
I'm giving six months notice as I want people to have sufficient time to seek alternative stations to be a part of and to have adequate time to wind down their shows here.
I understand it will be a huge disappointment but I hope you will understand my reasons for closing down.
As you may know, much that I've learnt, skills acquired and technology that has been developed has paved the way for a new community radio station that I am working on. The success and strength of 1Radio has been the inspiration. It's becoming increasingly difficult to spread my time between both projects and, regrettably, 1Radio has taken the back seat for much of this year.
I hope that you can continue to make use of the 1Radio platform for the time that it remains and that the experience to date has been fun, positive and fulfilling.
Thank you for your involvement and support. I hope you are not feeling too let down and disheartened by my decision.”
It was a rash decision made in the spur of the moment. The announcement itself was pretty matter-of-fact and left everyone feeling shocked and disappointed. Most were sad, some felt aggrieved and onlookers and lurkers from other stations had a bit of a field day, relishing the future demise of 1Radio. There was a bit of a backlash from some of the newest members as well as some funny messages from complete strangers offering to take the station over. Yeah, that was gonna happen.
Naturally, there were a bunch of messages pleading for the station to continue. The fact was I’d acted in haste at a time of stress and had not really weighed up the pros and cons of keeping things going.
On July 27, I performed a U-turn and said the station would continue after all. But the damage had been done and some rot was to soon set in. Some presenters left, others become a little less positive about the station and yet others felt nervous that I might again threaten closure, just on a whim. The whole thing probably left people feeling nervous, on edge and a little jaded. To be honest, I wasn’t really that enthused about continuing but put on a brave face and let everyone know it was business as usual.
The impulsive 1Radio is closing down statement probably sealed the fate of the station and it was another eighteen months or so before I "took the needle off the record".
Posted by Tim on Tue 11 Jan 2022 at 07:20 and viewed 792 times.
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