The Oasis Radio has been up and running since Monday and is broadcasting until 27 January. It’s broadcasting from Birmingham City University and is being played out in the Oasis shopping centre and online.

It’s mainly music and such, but they’ve also put together quite a decent short documentary about the history of the place too:

I hadn’t realised they were in any sort of trouble until I read Robin Valk’s post:

Last month, there was more bad news. Like many community stations, the eccentric but occasionally quite wonderful Rhubarb Radio is feeling the cold winds of recession. The current managerial team is bailing out; an intensive effort is being mounted to build a new and solid structure for the continued existence of the station.

The campaign to shore up Rhubarb Radio is being coordinated, from what I can tell, by some of the current DJs and contributors via a ‘Save Rhubarb Radio’ Facebook page. There have been a few meetings to work out what’s going to happen and things seen to be picking up pace, which is good.

However, from flicking through the FB page, there seems to be a short-term financial hurdle to be overcome. It looks like (put some clear info up somewhere you guys!) they’re need £600 sharpish and are after a few people to chip in £20. There’s a donate button on the Rhubarb Radio website.

There’s also a meeting at the Custard Factory tonight if you want to help out in any way, that’s at 7pm in the Orwell Room.

It’s all there – the story of how the children of those early post-war immigrants came up with a vital new approach to reggae, mixed, matched and mashed up… and invented whole new styles of music along the way.

Here’s part 1 of the Handsworth Evolution documentary:

Handsworth Evolution Part 1 by Radio To Go

Listen to parts 2 & 3 over on Radio to Go.

Radio IPS, will be taking over the airwaves on 87.8FM, broadcasting live from 20 – 25 September, at 12 to 5pm each day. Daily contributions will feature the following independent art organisations;

Monday: Capsule
Tuesday: Pro Choice
Wednesday: The Island
Thursday: Caribic Residency
Friday: Formcontent
Saturday: Longmeg (live)

Inernational Project Space’s next project is ‘MORROR’, at the School of Art Bournville.

This Michael Krebber and Michaela Eichwald exhibition opens Wednesday 7 October, 5 – 7pm, and will run until 6 November, opening Wednesdays at 12 – 7pm and Thursday to Saturday at 12 – 5pm.

Admission is free, contact 0121 331 5763 or visit www.internationalprojectspace.org for more information.

BBC Radio Drama, Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Punch are collaborating on a 2-part workshop to explore the methods, challenges and opportunities of creating new writer-performer work for theatre and radio.

Further knowledge via Script.

She also made a series of ‘audio portraits’ for the council’s ‘Sister Cities‘ project including:

• Steve Stirling – a city taxi driver
• Dannii Killilea – a Roller Girl
• Carl Speigel – sells fresh vegetables in the Bullring Markets
• Mr Ali – runs one of the cities most famous Indian restaurants
• John Mostyn – a Music Promoter working with a wealth of talent in and around The Custard Factory

All the documentaries are up online on the respective websites.

For the time being you can’t listen through your web browser, but will need to use your media player of choice (iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, whatevs).

There are plenty more bits and pieces to come on the site; this is a very early version with the music being provided automagically – at the moment I’m listening to a dubby-breaksy kinda mix.

There’s still plenty of time to get involved with Rhubarb Radio and you can check the development on the Rhubarb Radio blog which is providing a really interesting insight into how a collaborative project can come together.

Congrats to Mark Steadman who’s put the site and live stream together.

Broadcasting from Druids Heath on 87.7FM and online (although that wasn’t working when I tried it) the station is staffed by a mix of volunteers and experienced pros with Chris Gee (ex-Kerrang), Pat de Whalley (ex-BBC WM) and Ranking Roger all presenting shows.

Things seem a little sketchy at the moment – there’s no programme schedule or any indication of whether they’ll major on music, talk or both -  but then they’ve only been going a few days.

Here’s a mission statement of sorts:

• Made by the People For The People
• With news and views from the people of South Birmingham
• Sports reports from local matches
• Music and song from local talent
• Information on local services and agencies
• Information from local business
• Plus gossip competitions and a chance to get involved

The station has funding from the Community Network South West scheme that aims to support communities affected by the closure of MG Rover, so there’s some emphasis on the training and experience that the station can give to people looking to boost their CVs.

There are bound to be loads of ways to get involved with the station if you’d like to help out.  I imagine the best way to do that would be to call Peni Whelan, station manager, on 07828 797 467 or use the contact form.

This is in the Custard Factory unit just opposite reception.  From taking the keys on Monday to getting a makeshift studio installed yesterday, things are moving quickly.  The Rhubarb Radio blog has more details but reports that:

we’re waiting the IT & Telephone sockets to be fitted and made live, so very soon after that, we’ll be able to point the master outgoing feed to a beta website, and run some test transmissions

There’s still more than enough time for people to get involved and help shape the development of the station.  There might be a meeting at The Kitchen tomorrow (31 July) at 6pm to discuss programme schedules, availability, training and so on.  It’s perhaps worth checking the blog or contacting Paul Hadley at Dynamics Arts (who are managing the station) for confirmation on that.

Also reported on the Custard Factory blog and by a slightly apprehensive Steve Gerrard on Twitter.

I went along to the meeting for the previously mentioned Rhubarb Radio on Thursday last week.

Things are still tripping along quickly, with equipment due to move on-site shortly and small teams of volunteers being allocated to look after certain other matters.  As much as possible, discussion about the direction and development of the station will be conducted out in the open. For starters there’s a Rhubarb Radio blog for ideas to be kicked around on.

Paul Hadley (Dynamics Arts) has posted his minutes of Thursday’s meeting on the blog but you can also download or stream the audio from this post.

Most encouragingly, the people involved at this stage have a wide range of expertise to lend to the project and there’s a lot of enthusiasm.  If you want to get involved then either email paul[at]dynamicsarts.com or perhaps leave a comment on the Rhubarb Radio blog – I’m sure it’d be picked up on.