How BBC Radio Derby brought us closer to our community
Today, 8 June 2023, is the second day in a 48 hour strike by local BBC radio staff after it was announced that cuts were being made to local services.
As many may know, Be Bold Be You was first invited to have “lunchtime with…” Ian Skye radio interview, back in the Autumn of last year. Since being invited back to Radio Derby, as a guest, over the last few months I’ve realised how similar local radio and running an independent, and local, business is… It’s not just a voice to listen to as you’re driving, hanging the washing up or to have on in the background it’s a neighbour. A member of your community who is genuinely interested to learn about what you’re up to and pass messages on about other things happening… It brings people together, in our case, across the East Midlands.
Local radio has made it possible for Be Bold Be You, a humble, local & independent business - specialising in boudoir photography & body confidence - to become accessible by those around us. From interesting concepts to explore, to idea generation to purely having members of our Derbyshire community feel able to reach out and say “hello”… Here’s just one email I received, which inspires me every dam day to keep Be Bold Be You doing what we do… Without Radio Derby, we may never have been able to meet & help this member of our community:
“I heard you on Radio Derby today and thought you sounded so passionate and I loved the messages you were sharing.
I’ve had a tragic year. Basically I gave birth to my beautiful daughter prematurely at 22 weeks and I had to watch her pass away in my arms an hour later. I’ve felt like my body betrayed me and a failure as a woman. I couldn’t look at myself in a mirror for a good while without feeling nauseous or disgust.
But I’ve begun to accept I’m not to blame and learning to love myself again one day at a time. And I was wondering if I’d be able to have a chat with you…”
Local radio isn’t Media City, in Manchester or a studio in the capital of London – it’s right here, on our doorstep. From the presenters letting you know of the bad traffic on the A38 through to the amazing market they may have visited around us, whether it be Barton Marina in Burton or the farmers market at Wirksworth! If we lose our local BBC radio, we lose a vital, and unique, gateway to our entire community and all that it offers us.
Just like independent businesses not being about algorithms or AI, having a “local” fulfills our human needs of social interaction, conversation and a feeling of being listened to. We want to hear about places that actually mean things to people; places that have a real effect on communities. You can feel when someone really cares about the neighbourhood they’re running a business in. They know that “duck” is a social interaction and “cob” is a sandwich… As a Yorkshire woman, I had no idea what this meant when I moved here over 15 years ago and watching my Geordie dad’s face being referred to as a “duck” when I first moved here is something that will always being me such giggles, thanks to a place that I purely moved to for university & stayed because it became my home. Please #savelocalradio.
