SaintFM Community Radio News, features and entertainment With music, you can dance to it, sing with it, fall in love to it. Unless you’re a Dalek of course.{a}

SaintFM Community Radio broadcasts music, news and features

About this station

SaintFM Community Radio broadcasts a mixture of music, news, features and other entertainment, with live programming between 7am and 9:30pm most weekdays.

Formation and Structure

Following the closure of the original SaintFM, early in January 2013 a new organisation was created as a Company Limited by Guarantee and called ‘SaintFM Community Radio (Guarantee) Limited’ (‘SaintFM Community Radio’). A broadcasting licence was issued on 22nd February and the station launched at 8am on 10th March 2013.

Programming

SaintFM Community Radio broadcasts live on most days from 7am to 9:30pm. At other times uninterrupted music is broadcast. Programming is largely music based with much Country Music and Christian music. Voluntary presenters create many of the programmes. News is broadcast during the day on weekdays. Programme schedules are not currently published.

Transmission

Transmitter coverage is as shown in the diagram, below:

Internet Streaming (for which there is an annual charge) launched on Sunday 21st April 2013. This stream is re-broadcast in the Falkland Islands (available as a cable channel) and on Ascension Island.

Funding

In March 2017 it was announced in The Independent that SaintFM Community Radio and The Independent would henceforth be funded by Lord Ashcroft, in a 3-year deal. Details of the agreement{1} were not disclosed. The agreement was renewed for a further three years in January 2020, again with no details being disclosed.

Regulation

Read More

Article: It’s Official - SaintFM is Coming Back

Published on St Helena Online 21st January 2013{2}

Dusk or Dawn

On Tuesday evening, this week, it was decided to restart SaintFM. The constant requests from almost everyone which have been made to SaintFM staff everyday could no longer be ignored. The new SaintFM will be organised very differently from the SaintFM we all know. After seven years in the hot seat, Mike Olsson is taking a back seat. There will no longer be someone in the studio to answer phone calls from the early hours until bed time. Donna will continue to work at SaintFM and hopefully Sinead will too but Mike’s absence will leave a big hole which cannot be filled completely.

The new SaintFM was launched as a charitable organisation on Tuesday evening. Registration for charitable status has been applied for. Nineteen people gathered at Association Hall to agree the new charity’s constitution and to elect the officers and committee who will be responsible for the new radio station.

The official name of the new SaintFM is SaintFM Community Charity. The chairperson of the charity’s Management Committee is Julie Thomas, Les Baldwin is Secretary and Liz Idan-Johnson the Treasurer. There are seven other members of the Management Committee, including experienced broadcasters, SaintFM employees and of course, someone who knows how to keep accounts properly.

Mike Olsson is not on the Management Committee. Mike will continue to provide the radio news and will be available to sort out the radio equipment when technical problems arise. After seven years of working 18-20 hours a day, seven days a week, Mike is now trying to sort out a normal life for himself.

There are two main reasons why SaintFM is being launched as a charity. First, while the old SaintFM was very popular, had support from many people in all sorts of ways and was very much part of the community, the new SaintFM will have stronger direct links with the people of St Helena through its charitable status. The main direct link will be through official membership of SaintFM Community Charity. Membership will have benefits and the Management Committee is kicking around some ideas of what the benefits will be. Full details will follow later. The second reason for applying for registered charitable status is all about money. A radio station in St Helena cannot expect to make money without extra funds coming in from somewhere. For a private sector radio station most of the money raised is from adverts and announcements but the income from adverts is often only enough to pay the wages, the rent, the phone bills and the Broadband charges. There is little or nothing left over to put aside to pay for new radio equipment when the old equipment doesn’t work properly. There is also no money left over to pay for improvements to the service offered by the radio station; this includes an additional member of the full time staff.

Some of the extra money needed to keep the radio station on the air will be raised by asking listeners and supporters to become members of the SaintFM Community Charity. Becoming a member will mean paying a membership fee. The standard adult membership fee will probably be set at five pounds, with a reduced membership fee of one pound for juniors and people on benefit. There may also be special corporate and overseas membership status.

The computer streaming links with the Falklands, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha need to be re-established and it is not certain yet whether it is still possible to re-connect with all the South Atlantic Islands.

As The Independent goes to print, no firm date has yet been set for launching the new SaintFM on air. Confirmation of registered charitable status and the broadcasting licence are still required.

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