World Radio Day w/ Reform, Steam & Rainy City Radio

In celebration of World Radio Day on Sunday the 13th of February, we teamed up with STEAM Radio, Rainy City Radio and one of the first Reform’s residents Jenna G, for a very special guest show discussing all things radio, hosted by Jasmine Rowland. 

During the show, they touch on the importance of online radio, podcasting and why, if not how, radio is still surviving in this day and age. As well as this, the guests delve into their careers and how they started up. Let us introduce you to the special guests… 

Joining us from STEAM Radio is their Programme Director Hannah O’Gorman. Also the Label Manager to Rhythm Lab Records, and a presenter to us at Reform Radio. 

Digby Barrowcliff also joins Jasmine on the show, the Station Director and co-founder of Rainy City Radio. As a newly established radio station in 2021, RCR is broadcasting from Digby’s dining room in Old Trafford – be sure to check out their platform and see what they’re all about! 

Our third guest, Jenna G, was one of the first DJs on Reform Radio and has plans to set up her very own radio station in the near future called ‘From Manchester With Love’. Jenna first became acquainted with Reform when she met one of our directors at Digital Teapot, a tech initiative run by Sharp Futures encouraging more women to go into the tech industry. After an amusing twitter-based run in, she was invited to join the team and had the honour of recording a show in the days of the basement studio.

We wanted to keep the show personal to us on this celebratory day, inviting people that work closely with us, the realms of radio and the Manchester community. 

With radio being such a broad, but prominent asset of 21st century life and post lockdown innovation, Jasmine kickstarts the show with the question – why do you love radio?

Jenna G opens up discussion around the table about how radio as a medium for communication can often feel like someone having a conversation with you, and that’s good radio at its core. The simplicity of feeling like somebody else is in the room, dishing out information to you that you might not ever come across otherwise. 

As well as radio being a key provider of information it can be an ‘anecdote for loneliness’ as said by Hannah. Throughout lockdown, radio had the power to create online communities and acted as a tool for creatives and innovators alike. 

Rainy City Radio’s approach to radio is more about the sense of community it can facilitate. By inviting people into the room, RCR provides a meeting place for musicians & creatives in Manchester. 

Although some of the guests’ radio careers kickstarted through lockdown, looking back now, it is agreeable just how powerful radio’s attributes remain in post-lockdown life.

During a time in which people became disconnected from one another (in the physical sense), gave radio an opportunity. It connected people, creating communities of listeners, launching important conversations and proving how crucial it still truly is.

Let it be said, we have come such a long way since the beginning! And, we could not have been happier to celebrate World Radio Day with these amazing stations. 

Collaboration with fellow friends & peers has been essential to our success and we would not have done it any other way. Shout out to all the people who help us keep Reform alive, big love to you all. 

To hear more about our special guests’ ventures & their involvement with Reform, you can now listen back to the show down below.

The show was also broadcasted on Steam Radio at 1PM and Rainy City Radio at 3PM on the Sunday the 13th of February.