Rob Persani and the team of volunteers at Rutland and Stamford Sound have marked three years of the community-run radio station - the year that the team hope to gain an FM licence.

The online radio station was launched in September 2020 when the community radio project was put together by Rutland County Council.

1,200 local people voted to name to radio station Rutland and Stamford Sound, and it has since been running successfully for three years, funded by sponsors, adverts and Lottery funding, support from the Leicestershire & Rutland Community Foundation, Arnold Clarke Community Fund and Stamford Town Council. Generous listeners have also sent donations in support of the station.

As a part of their third birthday celebrations, the team toured the county to give their thanks to the community for their support. They headed to Stamford's Broad Street, Oakham Market Place and Uppingham Market Place, chatting with locals and of course, indulging in a little birthday cake!

Oakham Market Place is a lively spot for events and markets. Image credit: Nub News.

When the station was launched, Rob said: "Rutland has never had a community radio station. Previous stations have all been commercial. It's wonderful, but means that we need a lot of community involvement. There was an opportunity there though to really become one with Rutland and the people of this unique place.

"The hope is for people in the area to think of us in times when they need us and in times when they want to tell us something. We want to be someone who can represent the local community, and become part of it too."

And this has certainly been the case for the local station, which has become a hub of information for residents from across the county and in neighbouring Stamford.

Rob laughed: "We had a good number of listeners from the start. Even on day one, we had so many listeners that it broke the equipment. All the connections had been used up! We couldn't even log on to check how many listeners we had!"

After their first year the station had over 6,000 listeners per month, and this has only grown with time.

The team hope to continue this growth in 2024 as their campaign for an FM radio continues.

The local radio station has been campaigning to get an FM licence since April 2023 and, with the support of Rutland and Melton MP, have been making waves both locally and in parliament.

Because Rutland is so rural, access to the service is limited by poor connectivity and access to the internet in rural areas.

As such, the team are hoping to get an FM licence to allow them to broadcast to a wider audience with more reliability and consistency.

Unfortunately, OFCOM are no longer issuing FM licences and so Rutland and Stamford Sound are unable to use an FM frequency.

However, with the support of the local MP, the matter is being discussed by individuals who are in a position to drive change.

Have you listened to Rutland and Stamford Sound? Image credit: Rutland & Stamford Sound.

Alicia Kearns said: "I am determined to do everything I can to get Rutland and Stamford Sound an FM licence to ensure we can all continue to enjoy their wonderful local news coverage.

"I regularly raise their bid for a licence with the Minister for Media, John Whittingdale MP, and while we may not quite be there yet, a plan is really starting to come together."

For now, those who have not yet had the pleasure of listening to the varied and lively group of presenters on the show can stream the shows online, where advice about connecting to the station is also available.

Rob said: "We're really easy to listen to and can be found almost everywhere – online, on your computer, phone, music device, even in most cars using your phone. Smart speakers are helping too. Smart speakers are so great because so many people have them but they don't even realise they can use them. Fundamentally, we're a streaming service like anything else. Like a very local Spotify but with ultra-local content as well as music."

To stream the station on your smart speaker all you have to say is, "Alexa enable Rutland and Stamford Sound." This will set up the programme on your device, and there's a similar set of instructions for Google Home. After that just ask your device to "play Rutland and Stamford Sound" and you'll be able to listen to Rob and the crew, anywhere, any time.