Angel Radio has its own unique place and purpose, celebrating the past in a warm and inclusive way.
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04/10/2023
Many apologies to Roy Beagley and all his listeners. I did everything possible to get the link between Connecticut and Havant restored, I emailed our tech expert and also the owner of the company that supplies the link stream, but received no answers. Even after 45-minutes of trying various things, still nothing worked. Mark had to leave at 11am so the only option was to find something from our archives to fill the time between 11am and 11.55am. I will try to find an alternative company to supply a reliable link stream before next Tuesday. Thank you to Mark Ross for holding the fort between 10am and 11am.
26/09/2023
Very sad to learn about the passing of Rosemary Squires. Some years ago she was listening to Angel Radio on her car radio and decided to pop in to the studios. She came on-air for an hour impromptu chat about her life and music.
18/09/2023
My surprise on-air guest a couple of weeks ago, Susan from Yoga for Children, and Yoga & You, will be bringing you Yoga for Sleep at 9.55pm this Thursday evening, and 5-minute yoga coffeetime exercises next week https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091644051565
(photos by Candis)
09/09/2023
Saturday 9th Sept: Pete is sitting in for Brian on the 50s show from 11.05 this morning. Mark is back live this evening for his Saturday Party at 6pm.
08/09/2023
Apologies, Keith is unable to present the 4 O'clock Rock show live today due to a family bereavement. We will air a Rock & Roll programme from our archives. No requests please.
08/09/2023
This morning's guests, Kim & Stacey from Barchester Bere Grove Care Home.
08/09/2023
Apologies for loss of transmission on many of our DAB services. This is the fault of the streaming company and is out of our control. Swinging Radio 60s is also off-air.
08/09/2023
Yesterday's surprise guest on New To Me was Susan from 'Yoga for children'. You can get more information by emailing - [email protected]
07/09/2023
Our new recruit, Candis, will be sitting in for Lesley at 11am today (7th September) and presenting Childhood Days.
31/08/2023
A nice email from Hannah ...
Good evening Smiffy,
I hope you're well. Here is the summary of my time at Angel Radio:
My time at Angel has been fantastic! I started my experience by taking requests from the fabulous listeners. Not only was this good for me to advance my communication skills, but I learnt a lot about them. Pay-to-play day. What a day that was! I was asked to help count how many listeners had pledged. I got to listen to the great Pam & Keith and Vic & Eileen giving their Trixie Teasers during their jam-packed shows. I also got to meet the listeners on that day and I did some recorded interviews, I heard interesting facts from them. The listeners were very warm and they gave me very kind messages. Through my initial Work Experience and the summer, I got taught how to mix - thanks to the lovely Mark and Tony. My training with Tony led me up to hosting the Breakfast Bustles for which I thoroughly enjoyed!
The second studio was home to the app 'Audacity'. I used this to record some voiceovers for the Breakfast Bustle and the sponsors for Henry Turtles' programmes. Despite being not so good at putting tracks together, I had lots of fun recording. The second studio is where I met Bob Sevier who records his programme, Gems from the vaults, there. Although I struggled with Audacity, it was a great learning curve for me as broadcasting is an option I would like to undertake. The Angel Radio team were so delightful to work with! I would like to thank Tony for putting me at ease and making my experience one of the best ever!
Best wishes and many thanks,
Hannah
31/08/2023
Here's the address to book your guided tour of the Polish Embassy on their Open Day, as mentioned on the Breakfast Bustle ...
Georgian townhouse built by Robert and James Adam in the years 1776-1780 is a fine example of the Adam style of Neoclassical interior design. Seat of the Polish Embassy in London since 1921, it also houses a collection of Polish artworks.
22/07/2023
Jessie from Falkirk visited our studio and joined Mark & Josie on the Friday request show.
20/07/2023
For those of you who can speak Dutch (no, nor me) here's a newspaper article about our Theo ....
ZUID-SCHARWOUDE / EGMOND - Met trots en dankbaarheid deelt Jeanette het verhaal van haar vader, Theo Bakker. Hij was ongeneeslijk ziek en overleed op 4 juli in het hospice Egmond, omringd door zijn geliefden.
13/07/2023
Here's our Hannah, currently with Angel Radio on work experience -
09/07/2023
I have announced this on-air, but for those who don't already know - It is with great sadness to let you know that our Dutch presenter, Theo Bakker, passed away peacefully in his sleep last Tuesday evening.
His funeral will be held on Wednesday 12th July at 3.30PM Dutch time/2.30PM UK time at the crematorium in Schagen, the Netherlands, with a wake on Tuesday evening.
The funeral will be a livestreamed - https://play.quickchannel.com/play/y54vfva
An online condolence book will be set up too.
The last time I checked Theo's fundraising page https://gofund.me/52ad49a0 raising money for the Egmond Nursing Home, the wonderful sum of €1005
*in Dutch below* This fundraiser is set up on behalf of my Dad, Theo … Martin Bakker needs your support for Donate to help Hospice Egmond in the Netherlands
29/06/2023
Here's our work experience student, Scarlet, in the studio.
25/06/2023
Sharleen Spiteri, lead singer with Texas, who has just performed at Glastonbury Festival, has mentioned Angel Radio in the latest edition of Waitrose Weekend magazine.
19/06/2023
Tony here with the sad news that our presenter Theo Bakker has recorded his final show for Angel Radio from the Hospice Egmond in the Netherlands where he is spending his last days.
Theo has lung cancer which has spread to his brain.
Theo first presented a short series of shows on Angel Radio in 2012 and then joined us full time in 2016 and has presented almost 700 programmes for us.
Theo and his family have set up a Go Fund Me page to raise money for the hospice where the professional care staff and 70 volunteers are enabling our Theo to spend his last days in comfort. For details of how to donate to the fund please visit the Angel Radio website and click the Go Fund Me logo.
Theo’s final show will air on Angel Radio tomorrow, Tuesday 20th June, at 4pm. I must say, it is not all 1960s records, the show is Theo’s tribute to the people looking after him and some of the music he wants played at his funeral. The final show will be followed by another chance to hear Theo’s very first show.
16/05/2023
Raising funds for Angel Radio ...... thank you for your help.
We could recieve £5,000 in the Movement for Good health special draw.
15/05/2023
All bad news today I'm afraid -
Due to rising costs and a shortfall in funding we are switching off our DAB services. Some, like Glasgow, have already gone silent. Others have already been paid in advance and will close when the next invoices are due. But, over the coming few weeks almost all DAB listeners will lose Angel Radio. We will continue to broadcast on FM to Portsmouth and Havant and the surrounding area.
-------------------------
Sad News - Just to let you know that our Dutch presenter, Theo, has gone into hospital with brain tumours. They seem to have spread pretty badly. As it's still early, we're not exactly sure how bad and if there's any treatment possible. Hopefully we'll know more later this week.
Latest update: Monday 15th May 2023
Theo has had a suspected bleed on his brain too, and is partially paralysed. He seems to struggle talking and recognising people. He's had medication which has made him a bit brighter, and he is able to move his right hand a bit more now. As far as I understand, the medical team will discuss the results of his MRI scan on Wednesday and come up with a plan of action.
So, it's just a waiting game at the moment.
Obviously this will mean he's out if action for the foreseeable future and won't be able to make any new programmes but has already recorded shows up to the end of July.
I will let you know if there's any more news.
Tony Smith – Station Founder
18/04/2023
An unexpected email arrived after this morning's Breakfast Bustle -
Hi Tony
Enjoyed listening this morning, but alas only after about 08:45.
I was just in time to hear you back-announcing your clips from the fort-based pirates of the 1960s.
Is there any way of hearing that item again please?
(I was out on Knock John Fort as 18-year-old DJ (‘presenter’) Guy Hamilton, on Radio Essex & BBMS).
All power to your elbow at Angel Radio
Regards
Gerry Zierler (now 74).
14/04/2023
Another couple of photos from Theo's visit yesterday - on the right is in Karma Cafe with Theo's wife, on the left is outside Angel Radio.
13/04/2023
A fabulous surprise this morning when our Dutch presenter, Theo Bakker, dropped in for a visit.
04/04/2023
Dom Chambers visits Angel Radio to hand over the Community Media Champion Award to Anthony Smith who worked every day through the Covid pandemic to ensure ol...
20/03/2023
20th March 2023 - We were delighted to welcome Dom Chambers to Angel Radio today where he presented us with the award for Community Media Champion 2022.
19/03/2023
Thanks to Yvonne for sending this photo of Mildred in one of our 101.1 tee shirts.
Angel Radio broadcast on 101.1 FM from 2002 until 2015 when Ofcom gave us 89.3 FM. We are now on 98.6 FM in Portsmouth, Havant, and surrounding areas.
14/03/2023
From our Mildred's family:
For those who have not heard the sad news, Mildred, our dear Mum, passed away on the 15th of Feb
Her service of celebration will be at St Simon's church, Southsea, on the 16th of March at 10:00 am
For those unable to attend in person, the service will be streamed on the internet
No flowers please but a donation to Angel Radio would be very much appreciated
David, Patsy, Jane and Peter
06/03/2023
A couple more photos taken on Friday.
06/03/2023
Great to have Mark and Josie back. Also nice to hear our work experience student Karenjeet live on-air.
28/02/2023
Our Mark running a studio training session for our work experience student Karenjeet.
21/02/2023
Happy Birthday ANGEL RADIO ... 24 today.
Here's our first short-term broadcast licence.
15/02/2023
15th February 2023: Very sad news ... our Mildred passed away this afternoon. Mildred was with Angel Radio for about 19 years during which time she presented a wide range of programmes and also financially supported the radio station. Her old shows are heard regularly during our overnight service.
14/02/2023
The rolling total for our Pay-to-Play is now £4,019 .... thank you so much .... and happy Valentine's Day ...
08/02/2023
Running total for Pay-to-Play is £2,927 at midday today.
07/02/2023
Pay-to-Play Running Total on 7th February 2023 = £1,106 at 2pm
18/01/2023
Angel's Angel - Iris passed away at the weekend. RiP
04/01/2023
I've been asked "How do you manage to do the Breakfast Bustle from your hotel room in Portugal?" .... in the photo you can see my laptop which connects me to the studio in Havant using a marvellous bit of technology called Teamviewer. The microphone is also plugged into the laptop, and my records are in mp3 format on the black box (hard drive) you can see to the right of the microphone. The aerial plugged into left-hand side of the laptop gets me better internet connection and the other device with an aerial lets me hear the records I'm playing. Simple but effective.
25/12/2022
Hello and Merry Christmas Angel Radio Chums
I’d like to offer my heartfelt thanks for being there with us through our 23rd year on the wireless.
I sincerely hope our vintage music and friendly chat has hit the right spot most of the time.
Our lovely team of presenters, receptionists, and backroom boys & girls, including Ash, Alison and Jo, all work together to bring you the best thing on the wireless, Angel Radio.
At times it’s been a very sad year. We had to say goodbye to our longest serving presenter, Peter Atkinson, who had been with us right from our first broadcast in 1999 but had to retire due to ill health. It’s always sad to hear of the deaths of some of our faithful listeners who have kept us company through record requests by phone or email. It’s those times that remind us most strongly that Angel Radio isn’t just another radio station. Angel Radio is part of the family …. a huge family.
We have new presenters that have joined us in 2022. We are particularly pleased to have Holger in Germany presenting shows for us. Holger was originally a dedicated Angel Radio listener who was persuaded to do a show …. and then another …. and now he also presents a German language version of his show for Radio Ginseng, a German radio station inspired by Angel Radio. Mark Ross has been training up a new presenter, Pat, who will be on your wireless in 2023.
We are also continuing to expand our FM and DAB coverage. Our plans for 2023 are still quite fluid, but we hope to have another FM transmitter on-air on 94.8 in Chichester soon. On DAB we hope to be adding Northern Ireland, Scotland, Lincolnshire, Kent, and a few other places to our coverage.
Anyway, all I really want to say in closing is, whatever your involvement is with Angel Radio, in the studio, behind the reception desk, or a hundred miles away with a DAB radio ….. THANK YOU and MERRY CHRISTMAS.
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Videos
Peter Atkinson presenting his final show.
Pete - June - Anne
June, Pete and Anne .... Tuesday afternoon at At Angel Radio.
Angel Radio was the brainchild of electrician, art & design technician and former pirate radio operator, Tony Smith. This unique station, Angel Radio, was launched in 1999 to bring music and memories into the homes of older people at a time when most other radio stations were concentrating on much younger listeners. It was also Tony Smith’s ambition to provide an opportunity for older people to participate in the running of the station, including the creation and presenting of programmes. Tony himself is 65 and visually impaired as a result of several strokes. He has demonstrated that despite some of the effects of ageing, it is still possible to learn new skills and enjoy being part of a friendly community, whether in person or through the airwaves.
Angel Radio began as a temporary broadcaster in Portsmouth with a licence of just a few days. It was designed as a 24-hour a day ‘memory box’ with presenters playing music from the 1920s to the early 1960s and providing friendly, informal, memory-jogging chit-chat. The first broadcast proved so popular that several further short-term licences enabled the station to become more established. Its unique nature gained national publicity, including a dedicated leader column in The Times newspaper, a five-minute news feature on BBC Radio 4, and Portsmouth City Primary Care Trust awarding Angel Radio ‘Most Effective Public Information Project 2001’.
At that time, temporary 28-day licences were the only way a small community group could broadcast. The radio waves were primarily under the ownership of the BBC or large commercial stations. However, in 2002 the Radio Authority (now part of Ofcom) invited Angel to run on a full-time licence, as an experiment to test the feasibility and viability of a small group of volunteers running their own community radio service. After Angel, and several other ‘Access’ stations had run, non-stop, for four years, the experiment was judged successful, with one of Ofcom’s leading figures, Kevin Carey, stating “Angel Radio is fabulously offbeat but it has the potential to be a national brand”. The all-round social benefits for Angel’s team of volunteers and regular listeners to the station had proved substantial. Responses from both clearly indicated a rise in self-esteem and a positive effect on reducing both the sense of, and the reality of social isolation. Local charities spotlighted by the station had shown an increase in those taking advantage of their services, listeners and local organisations were contributing to a regular weekly calendar of local events and activities, and the station was providing information and advice on a variety of listener concerns such as scams and cold-callers. In 2006 Ofcom announced that they would be issuing the first full-time community radio licences. There are currently around 240 community radio stations serving small communities of interest around the UK. Having been on air continuously since February 2002, Angel Radio is the longest running community licensee and is still unique in both the music it plays and its aim to offer mental and physical stimulation to older people, provided by older people, in a relaxed, informal atmosphere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Whilst Angel’s uniqueness continued to attract national TV and radio news and documentaries, until 2010 it was still only broadcasting to an area of about 15 miles on FM. There was plenty of feedback from potential listeners living outside the broadcast area, who had read or heard about the station. So, in 2010, Angel Radio began broadcasting on a regional digital (DAB) network covering West Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Initially, this cost many thousands of £££s per year, but the huge rise in listener numbers and their donations offset a major amount of the expense. Although Angel continues to seek financial support from a variety of sources, the largest part of Angel’s funding has always been listener donations. In 2014 Angel Radio attempted to take over Portsmouth’s commercial broadcaster, The Breeze, which would have enabled Angel Radio’s FM signal to be considerably stronger, raising its potential FM audience by tens of thousands. Although the bid failed, Ofcom advertised another community licencence for the Portsmouth & Havant area, which Angel applied for using the mass of positive information originally collected for the bid for The Breeze. Ofcom were impressed by the quality of Angel Radio’s proposals and they granted the station the new FM broadcast licence which provided the extended FM coverage that the Breeze takeover would have provided. FM is often still the radio of choice for older people. Angel Radio is currently seeking Ofcom’s permission for a further expansion of its coverage to include the city of Chichester. In 2015 the increased income from listener donations, and income from Angel Radio’s experimental Small Scale DAB transmissions, enabled further expansion of Angel’s DAB coverage too. For those with digital radios, Angel Radio currently broadcasts to London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Norwich, Brighton, Aldershot, Cambridge and Woking, in addition to West Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. This expansion is due to the groundbreaking work of Angel Radio’s Digital Development Manager, Ash Elford.
Angel Radio also broadcasts on the internet to a world-wide audience. Notable countries where Angel has a developing audience include Germany, France, USA, Israel, and many others. Several magazine articles and TV documentaries shown in Germany have resulted in Angel Radio’s founder assisting a group of listeners there to create their own version of Angel. A documentary about Angel has been produced by South Korean TV to show older people what they can achieve after retirement.
Angel Radio’s team of 70+ volunteers are mostly aged over 60, many in their 70s and 80s. Our oldest volunteer, now sadly passed away, was still presenting 3 shows a week at age 94. But Angel is also keen to encourage inter-generational listening and understanding. At one point our youngest regular phone caller was aged 4 (listening with grandparents) and our oldest was 104 … a 100-year age gap. We regularly provide secondary school students with work experience placements. They learn about the importance of the station for the elderly, particularly those who may live on their own or be housebound, as well as hands-on experience of producing and presenting on radio. A number remain with us and have continued to volunteer for many years.
Angel Radio’s unique record library holds over 160,000 records dating from 1900 to the early 1960s, which are available to listeners through daily request shows. To ensure no listener should be put off contacting the station because of worries over high telephone charges, a free-phone number is provided. Request shows are on air for at least two and a half hours a day, often more. Listeners can call in, request a piece of music and hear it played on their radio within minutes. Some programmes carry a theme, which encourages listeners to think of songs on that topic, or guess the theme of the show. Other programmes provide mental stimulation through quizzes, word games and memory-jogging conversation. There are frequently guests who visit the station and volunteer their time to chat about a particular subject of interest to listeners, or one that will jog memories from the past. Physical stimulation is provided by daily coffee-time exercise programmes, as well as encouraging listeners to get out and about by publicising events of interest. Highly visible Angel Radio lapel brooches can be worn so that listeners can identify one another.
Despite its name, Angel is not a religious station. Starting with ‘A’ puts the station at the top of many alphabetical lists. The name ‘Angel’ was chosen to signify ‘heavenly music and devilish fun’. Although it not a religious station, it does provide an old-fashioned Sunday morning church service for those listeners who can no longer get to the church of their choice. As far as possible, Angel tries to provide what is asked for by its audience. When a number of listeners asked for more 1960s records it was found that some of the later pop songs did not always sit comfortably alongside the big bands and crooners of the 30s, 40s and 50s. So, several 60s-only programmes were introduced on Angel, and a sister station, ‘Swinging Radio 60s’, was launched playing only music from that decade so that listeners could choose the station that best suits their taste.
Over the past twenty years on air Angel Radio has received many awards for its unique work, including: Best Radio Station Serving Listeners in the South of England, 2014. The judges of this prestigious award from the Radio Academy described Angel Radio as; “A station with its own unique place and purpose, Angel Radio celebrates the past in a warm and inclusive way and is clearly adored within its target demographic. With a charming mix of fun, nostalgia and practical support for its listeners, the station serves a very powerful purpose in bringing together a community and giving them a place to belong.”
Angel Radio’s other awards include:
· Community Action Award, 2000
· Most Effective Public Information Project, 2001
· Daily Mail Unsung Hero, 2002 (station’s founder)
My wife was just delighted to hear a repeated “shout out” to her, “Hilary Squillery”, from her lovely best pal Milly of Mill Hill when she popped into see Tony and Angel Radio! Thank you Tony and of course Milly from Hilary
Are we playing more modern records now then? Or was it a mistake. There was a song from 2002 this morning. No names though.
Hi all. Noticed that the daily programme schedules for Tuesdays & Wednesdays on the Angel website haven't been updated for a while. Sometimes miss the schedules so rely on the website. Thank you.
Hi all. Seems Angel not available on Alexa or DAB London. Internet ok at the moment. ☹️
Anyone know a Richard teversham from Paul's grove porttsmouth
Firstly, many apologies for the loss of transmission of the mid-morning show this morning at approximately 11.30 BST/6.30 EDT. This was due to a problem with the internet and was totally out of the control of myself and Angel Radio. I am not sure what the fault was but it also affected listeners to TuneIn in the U.S.A. TuneIn ceased to work because of the fault with the internet, not the loss of transmission. During this period I could access the internet for all other purposes with no problem.
Obviously this is not what we want and we are going to try an alternative method of communication between me in Danbury at Angel Radio which should bypass the problem we experienced today.
However, what is important to me, and I am sure you, and I am sure the management, is a good program each week with good music and a bit of fun thrown in. I love interacting with you, the listeners, each week and playing your records as well as my own, but if for any reason we cannot sort this problem out then I think it would be better to have a more reliable source of program. We, (Tony, me and others) are working hard to try and remedy the problem which I very much hope we can.
Did you hear Cllr Julie Butler on Angel Radio this week talking about the upcoming Dementia Festival?
The festival is taking place on Friday 8 April and is the perfect place for anyone with a connection to dementia to find out more about it. There will be stalls, performances and a cuppa available for all in attendance.
Great show Pete. Lovely words re Warnie and Bacchus (Rodney Marsh). We are all shocked in Melbourne, brilliant men. Lots of dance music is required! Have fun!
I don't do bucket lists but if I did, you have allowed me tick off the one item that would be on it. Thanks for playing My Friend by Roy Harper just now.😄
Hello, Greetings from INDONESIA.....
Single Release :
Song : Hello, My Darling
Artist : REGI WEKING (Ex-Vocalist Of A Heavy Metal Band "GARUDA FORCE" )
Songwriter : REGI WEKING
Genre : Rock / Alternative Rock / Dance Rock
Available on digital platforms :
• https://t.co/sa03W2HwkB (YouTube)
• https://t.co/xBXWxtpjXm
(Spotify)
• https://t.co/RFip9r0nZY (Soundcloud)
• https://t.co/RSg0jRgzmG (Bandcamp)
Thank you 🙏
Join me Roy Beagley LIVE at 10.00am this coming Tuesday (Jan 25) for music and competitions and you can email me at [email protected] if you would like a request or you can call Ann in the studio on Tuesday once we kick it all off. That's 10.00am UK, 5.00am EST, Noon in South Africa, 9.00pm for Sydney-siders, right here on what I think is the world's best vintage radio station.
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