Happy 16th Birthday Vectis Radio

Here we are again. Another year older, another milestone reached. Remember the First Crew?

Sixteen years ago today, at 10am on 23 January, Vectis Radio first went on air from a broom cupboard at Quay Arts in Newport. Many said it would not last. Some gave us three months at most. Yet here we are.

Six studio homes later, we have been settled in our current base since 2014. In 2015 we had just over thirty pounds in the bank. Two years later we launched on FM. In 2020 we were honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the equivalent of an MBE. Two years ago we won Gold for Community Radio Station of the Year, alongside seven other Gold awards and more than twenty five Silver and Bronze awards.

None of this happens without people. Huge thanks to the incredible Vectis Radio team, past and present. We raise a glass to those we have lost, especially my best friend Martyn Bully Bull. Heartfelt thanks to the friends who carried me through the hardest times, Kelvin and Maggie Currie, Jonathan Bacon, and others who helped guide us to this moment.

Now, we stand on the verge of DAB.

Happy 16th Birthday Vectis Radio.

A quick video  trip down memory lane ..........