Dumfries community radio station set to open new headquarters

A Dumfries community radio station is getting ready to officially open its new headquarters on Saturday.

Alive 107.3fm’s new base on Shirley Road will be more than just a state of the art studio with plans to offer a recording room and a drop in centre for the local community.

Tomorrow, at 1pm, Provost Tracey Little will officially open the former Lochside Enterprise workshops which a team of hard-working volunteers have spent the last year completely revamping to make it fit for purpose.

Station manager Hugh Taylor, project manager Bill Hogg, Liam Sanders and Kevin Rennie were the crew behind a majority of the transformation along with retired painter Jim King, who is now a member of Alive.

Breakfast presenter Lee Medd (Bobby Geddes)

Hugh said: “It has been hard work but it’s been well worth it. The building is wind and watertight and we have a state of the art CCTV system in place so the site is secure as well.

“We have two studios, one with an adjustable table so it has disabled access, disabled toilets and a live music room which we will make available to young and unemployed people and a drop in centre. D&G Queerier, a local magazine focussing on LGBT+ issues, will be based here as well as Solway Sound, a talking newspaper for visually impaired people.

“We are looking for volunteers to help with the drop in centre so we can operate it for a few hours in the morning and in the afternoon. If anyone is interested they can contact me on hugh.taylor@aliveradio.net.”

Alive would like to thank funders for their enormous help including the Holywood Trust, Summerhill Community Centre, Arnold Clark, Virgin Media, Awards for All and ANCBC.