Welcome  

You can claim yourself a fun radio-related reward by backing your Derby volunteer-run radio🎧 for social good! From youth radio to airplay for local artists, reducing loneliness and connecting you to local happenings, plus specialist music genre shows with local flavour that you can't hear anywhere else, you can help us do more good for Derby by backing our crowdfunder via  http://crowdfunder.co.uk/derbysoundradio  

Our volunteer-run station is ready to grow and we want you to be part of it. We're about local radio for social good, made by and for the community. Help us to keep sharing local stories, amplify the local arts and music scene, and empower volunteers and youth groups onto the airwaves. 

Derby deserves a truly local radio station  for our city, where there have been cutbacks to local BBC radio and specialist music genre shows. Big corporate media companies have bought up local radio stations, often airing regional and national content, overlooking what's happening in Derby and not offering opportunities for people to learn radio skills, as a hobby or new career path. Radio can help keep the community connected, like an audio version of a noticeboard of local news and events, with friendly local voices to keep you company and a place for youngsters to get their first taste of broadcasting.

We want to open up the airwaves and give more people the chance to participate in radio made by and for Derby.   We are delighted to be part of the successful Derby DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) bid to bring a new system to the city  by 2024, enabling Derby Sound and other small or specialist stations to be heard on DAB radios, in addition to listening via the internet. This will reach more people and help us to grow, but we need your help to get through these costly times and make it all possible. Did you see our story   in the local news?  

Your donations can help us to -

* recruit, train, mentor and supervise more volunteer presenters and community reporters  (we can't keep up with current demand, but how great is it that so many people want to get involved?!)

* cover running costs  (price rises in this economy, hey?) such as broadcasting bills, news and weather report service, studio space and license fees to play music

* get ready to broadcast on the new small-scale Derby DAB+ transmitter, with additional license fees, reaching people without internet access/confidence who can tune in on a DAB+ radio  

Longer-term - exciting plans ahead!  We are also working on grant applications and raising income via radio advertising and sponsorship so that we can recruit staff to run our station, keep up with demand, fill the 24/7 schedule with great hosts and content, plus investing in mobile / outdoor broadcasting kit to support local events and do more of our youth radio workshops and Love Music Reject Hate roadshows  with local artists and venues.

The people of Derby will soon be able to tune in to a wider range of radio stations via their DAB   (Digital Audio Broadcasting)radios. DAB   has increased significantly over the last decade, as a modern, greener, more energy-efficient platform than FM and AM analogue radio. 

Ofcom, the radio regulator, considered applications to build a transmission service that could revolutionise local radio and chose Derby DAB to make it happen. Derby Sound is delighted to be part of the successful Derby DAB bid.

Vanessa Boon from Derby Sound said " We are proud to amplify the city's music scene and provide a microphone for local voices by training up volunteers and running youth radio workshops to give more people a chance to get on the airwaves. We were really moved by listeners’ response to us keeping them company, reducing loneliness and lifting spirits during the pandemic. The chance to reach beyond internet broadcasting and also be on people’s DAB radios across Derby, in their homes and on the move, will enable us to connect with more people and grow our grassroots station further. This will help us to keep filling the gap in truly local, diverse radio content that you can't hear anywhere else. The lower energy consumption with DAB supports our aim of radio for social good and will help us to support Derby's ambition to be a modern City of Culture".  

Derby Sound contributed efforts to the bid to bring the small-scale DAB transmission service to the city and has a 5% share on the Board of Derby DAB  which will also open up opportunities for other broadcasters such as student radio and local specialist language and culture stations too.